For decades, cab companies measured success based on the number of bookings and average fares – until platforms like Grab and Uber rewrote the playbook. By putting the passenger, not the ride, at the centre of their strategy, they shifted the focus from monetising trips to understanding the customer. From anticipating takeout orders to simplifying travel plans, apps like Grab now deliver seamless, personalised services that cater to one’s lifestyle.
Such a revolutionary shift in hospitality is long overdue. According to the Agilysys 2024 APAC Hospitality Impact Study, 68% of APAC travellers are willing to spend more on personalised experiences. Yet the industry continues to rely on RevPAR, a metric which reduces guests to the revenue per available room. While travellers increasingly expect tailored, memorable stays, many hotels remain fixated on one-time bookings and short-term revenue.
Now imagine applying that same customer-centric principle to hospitality: when your system remembers a guest’s preferred tee time, it doesn’t just schedule a round – it unlocks an opportunity to offer tailored golf packages with club rentals, post-game dining recommendations, and even a lesson with the club pro. This is RevPAG (Revenue Per Available Guest) in action, where every interaction and data point transforms into a revenue opportunity and relationship-building moment that keeps guests coming back for more.
Why Personalisation Matters for Hotels
The genius of such ride-hailing platforms lay in harnessing data to turn commoditised services into tailored experiences – proving that guest data is the key to unlocking infinite revenue streams.
Similarly, hotels have an opportunity to look beyond room sales to foster long-term loyalty and deepen guest relationships. As occupancy rates plateau and OTAs tighten their grip on bookings, forward-thinking operators are focusing on RevPAG. This is because while a room is a limited asset, the total value of guests’ journey and expenditure on their favourite dining spots, spa treatments, or curated local experiences go far beyond.
Disjointed Data Keeps Hotels from Knowing Their Guests
Many hotels struggle to personalise at scale and deepen engagement as they lack a unified view of the guest. The issue is data fragmented across disparate systems, making it impossible to build a holistic profile and prompt relevant recommendations.
Moreover, with OTAs controlling multiple bookings, hotels often have little to no visibility into their guests’ preferences while intermediaries profit from upselling flights, car rentals, and activities.
Unified Profiles: The Foundation of Personalisation
The solution lies in unified guest profiles like those powered by Agilysys’ PMS with Single Guest Itinerary (SGI) technology. By integrating booking history, spending habits, and real-time behaviour from app interactions to service requests, hotels can gain a 360° view that goes beyond basic demographics.
Properties using unified guest profiles could unlock substantially more revenue. The key is moving from reactive personalisation predictive hospitality. This requires breaking down silos and embracing platforms that centralise data at every touchpoint.
Imagine a business traveller who books a standard room but upgrades to a suite after receiving a tailored offer via the hotel app. Later, they dine at the property’s restaurant, where the sommelier recommends a wine based on past preferences. Upon checkout, they join a loyalty programme that rewards them with exclusive access to future events. It is these thoughtful gestures that will turn them into a repeat guest.
Where Automation Meets Personalisation
Additionally, by automating routine administrative tasks like check-ins, billing, inventory management, hotels can free staff to focus on what truly matters: crafting unforgettable guest experiences.
With technology seamlessly handling paperwork while the front desk team delivers handwritten notes for returning guests or pre-assigning their preferred suite before arrival. This shift from transactional service to meaningful personalisation transforms guests into loyal advocates.
The future of hospitality is not just about tapping into ancillary revenue but leveraging technology to offer a thoughtful, customised touch where it matters the most.
Guest-Centric Future
The wake-up call for the hospitality industry cannot be overstated: guests are increasingly holding hotels to the standard of their last Grab ride, their perfectly timed Amazon delivery, and their customised Netflix recommendations.
While 86% of guests report a satisfied stay, only 37% choose to rebook the same property. This glaring gap reveals the critical missing piece: scaling personalisation through unified guest data, predictive insights, and a RevPAG driven approach is no longer a choice, but a necessity.
This is where Agilysys delivers future-forward hospitality technology that Goes Beyond. Its innovative technology doesn’t just streamline operations – it turns Return on Experience into your most powerful growth engine. By unifying every touchpoint into a Single Guest Itinerary, Agilysys helps properties transform one-time stays into lifelong revenue.
So, the billion-dollar question isn’t whether hotels can adopt this model, but whether they’ll act fast enough to claim their share of value waiting to be unlocked.
