Understanding the Power of Tracking Technologies for Your Hotel

Imagine you're a hotel marketer ready to launch your next big campaign. You have a budget to allocate across various channels, but without tracking technologies, you're essentially watering your marketing garden blindly, hoping for growth. Tracking technologies transform this guesswork into a strategic masterpiece, allowing you to understand customer behaviour, evaluate campaign effectiveness, and maximise direct bookings. These insights are not just numbers; they are the keys to boosting your hotel's revenue and refining your marketing strategies. Let's dive into the world of tracking technologies and uncover how they can revolutionise the hospitality industry.

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Why Do We Need Tracking?

Tracking technologies serve multiple vital functions in the hospitality industry:

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• Evaluate the Effectiveness of Marketing Campaigns: By tracking key performance indicators (KPIs) such as clicks, revenues, and conversion rates, hotels can assess which campaigns are driving the most engagement and bookings.

• Identify High ROI Channels & Campaigns: Tracking allows for a more efficient allocation of marketing budgets by identifying the most profitable channels and campaigns.

• Offer Personalised Recommendations: Through technologies like remarketing, hotels can provide personalised recommendations to guests based on their previous interactions.

• Understand Customer Behaviour: By tracking user behaviour, hotels can identify high-value customers and segments, tailoring their strategies accordingly.

• Detect Issues in the Customer Journey: Tools like web analytics help in identifying and rectifying issues in the customer journey, enhancing overall user experience.

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Different Tracking Technologies

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1. Cookie Tracking

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Cookies are small pieces of data stored on a user’s device by a web browser. They track user activities and preferences across websites. There are various types of cookies:

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• Session Cookies: Temporary cookies that expire once you close your browser.

• First-Party Cookies: Set by the website you are visiting.

• Third-Party Cookies: Set by domains other than the one you are visiting, often used by advertisers to track user behaviour for analytics and personalised ads.

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Limitations: Implementing a Consent Management Platform (CMP) can significantly impact your data tracking capabilities. For instance, after one of our clients implemented a CMP in March, their conversion rate dropped from a consistent 4.7% to less than 3.0%, despite an increase in the number of clicks. This drastic reduction in tracked data illustrates the challenge: users rejecting non-essential cookies and technical blockers can severely inhibit cookie tracking. As a hotelier, this means it becomes much harder to measure campaign performance accurately, complicating your ability to gauge the true effectiveness of your marketing efforts. 

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2. Session Tracking

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Session tracking keeps track of a user’s activities and preferences during their visit to a website. Methods of session tracking include:

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• Cookies: Store a session identifier linking user actions to a session on the server.

• URL Rewriting: Appends a session ID to the URL of each page request.

• Hidden Form Fields: Store session data within hidden fields of web forms.

• Server-Side Storage: Keeps session information on the server, linked to a session ID.

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Limitations: Session tracking is limited to the duration of a single visit. Especially when addressing users over multiple touchpoints and handling the checkout on a separate domain, a session alone won't fill the gap left by blocked third-party cookies completely. This can lead to fragmented data and an incomplete understanding of user behaviour across their entire journey.

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3. Fingerprinting

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Fingerprinting identifies and tracks users across websites based on unique characteristics or attributes of their device or browsing behaviour. This technique gathers data for targeted advertising, personalization, and analytics purposes but raises significant privacy concerns.

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Conclusion

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Understanding and utilising tracking technologies is essential for hotels aiming to increase direct bookings and optimise their marketing efforts. By leveraging tools like cookies, session tracking, and various pixels, hoteliers can gain valuable insights, personalise guest experiences, and make data-driven decisions that enhance their revenue and guest satisfaction. In upcoming articles, we will delve deeper into the differences and challenges faced by providers such as Google, Facebook, and others, and share the solutions we are developing to overcome these obstacles. Stay tuned to learn more about how to navigate the evolving landscape of digital marketing effectively!

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