When you make decisions about your property, what are they based on? Data? Gut feeling? Anecdotal evidence from guests and fellow hoteliers?

It's likely that you rely on a mix of all three. But as more sophisticated tools for data capture and analysis emerge in the hospitality tech landscape, data is becoming essential in planning and decision-making.

So, how do you capture data efficiently? How do you track what products your guests are consuming, and when, in a way that gives you actionable insights to improve performance? We’ll discuss all of that as well as a solution that makes it easy, but let’s kick things off with a brief word on data in general.

Table of contents

Data in sharper focus

There's certainly no shortage of data. Current estimates put the amount produced globally every day at 328.77 million terabytes. That sounds like a lot. And it is; if all that data was in full HD CCTV footage and your security team watched it for 24 hours a day, it would take around 7.5 million years to get through it all. It would be the night shift that never ended.

This mind-boggling statistic highlights an essential point, though. Vast amounts of data may appear impressive (especially when made into pretty charts and graphs), but it only has value if you gain insight from it and apply that insight to improve future performance. In other words, data must be actionable.

But you may still be scratching your head and saying, that’s great. But... how can I get on that bandwagon? Well, you're in luck, because that’s what we're going to look at next.

Capturing actionable data

As a hotelier, you handle huge amounts of data about your guests (names, nationalities) and your property (hours spent on housekeeping, F&B budget) and so on. Then there’s data that’s not really data i.e. the metrics you think you know, but don’t record systematically. Things like seeing that the restaurant is crowded at 7:15am and concluding that must be peak time. Or observing an excess of bagels at 9am and deciding that must be when the breakfast rush starts slowing down.

With all this data available, how do you capture it – in a form that’s easy to analyze – and derive value from it?

The Digital Product Checklist is one of the exciting capabilities in Mews that enables you to put data behind how guests are consuming your products, from breakfast and beyond. Here’s what it offers:

  • Real-time, comprehensive product reporting. Track when guests consume or use products across both bookable and additional services and make data-informed decisions to optimize costs.

  • Valuable insights for efficient planning. Analyze product usage by age and time to effectively manage restaurant capacity and staffing. Reduce guest waiting times and ensure top-notch service during peak times.

  • Digital convenience at your fingertips. Access the Product Checklist from anywhere (computer, tablet, or smartphone), eliminate paper waste, and slash your printing costs.

Wondering what that looks like in practice? Let’s take breakfast as an example.

Digitalizing the breakfast list

Picture the traditional breakfast routine at a hotel.

Staff are scanning printed lists of names and room numbers (with potentially sensitive information on display). Guests are getting impatient waiting in line, staff are visibly stressed, and there’s a backlog of dirty tables. There may also be lots of food going to waste without the information to plan accordingly.

Hotels operating this way can probably track things like how many guests add breakfast to their stay, who shows up, and get a vague idea what days and times are busier than others. Some patterns might emerge from a basic look at the data. This is how it’s always been done: manually and with rough estimates.

We realized that there was an opportunity to digitize this process, transforming it from cumbersome, inaccurate and non-actionable to easy, error-free, and insight-rich. Here’s what we mean.

The benefits of the Digital Product Checklist

Let’s revisit that breakfast scene, this time with the Digital Product Checklist in action.

Staff are accessing the digital breakfast list via iPads or tablets rather than paper printouts. A quick tap confirms that the product has been consumed, seamlessly adds it to the guest profile or reservation, and logs the time. The staffing level is perfect: no frustrated guests, stressed staff or dirty tables in sight. (And because Mews is cloud-native, sensitive guest information is always secure – phew).

Using the Product Checklist, hotels can effortlessly capture great data related to their breakfast product and optimize every aspect of operations:

  • identify peak times accurately

  • plan staff levels

  • advise guests of optimum times

  • prevent waste by forecasting consumption and adjusting stock levels

  • reduce guest waiting times

  • offer top-tier service

It also shows the products and services paid for versus how many were consumed, for example, how many pre-paid breakfasts weren’t eaten.

Essentially, the Product Checklist, and Mews reporting more broadly, enables you to make smarter business decisions with less effort.

Beyond breakfast: What else can the Product Checklist track?

Breakfast might be the most important meal of the day, but let’s dream bigger. The Product Checklist tracks anything you enter as a product in Mews, from breakfast and bike rentals to spa treatments and gym access.

Let’s look at a couple more examples that illustrate the benefits of real-time, comprehensive product reporting on how guests consume your products and services.

Example #1

Imagine it’s summer and you have a pop-up ice cream stand. With the Product Checklist, you can see who’s eating the most ice cream (adults or kids), when in the day it’s most popular, and trending flavors. You can even see that the kids in room 323 have a particular penchant for pistachio. Armed with this data, you can optimize staff and stock levels (and maybe even offer those kids a free favorite ice cream on their last day).

Example #2

Now, imagine you branch out into bike rentals. With the Product Checklist, you can instantly see the busiest times of day and advise guests about the best slots to collect and return to avoid queues. And for those busy hours, you can make sure extra staff are on hand to guarantee top-tier service.

Not only does the Product Checklist drive efficiencies, but it also enables you to act on available data to create a better guest experience. You optimize your operations and provide remarkable experiences by knowing what guests want and when they’re going to want it.

Unlock the value in your data with Mews

So, to sum up. While gathering guest data is a great starting point, it won’t magically translate into more revenue or improved service. Data isn’t valuable in and of itself; real value comes when meaningful analysis yields actionable insights that you can use.

So, when you feel like you should be getting more insight from those 328.77 million terabytes of data, think about how our Product Checklist can cut through the noise and help you make smarter, data-driven decisions.

Want to see how the Product Checklist works in Mews? Here’s a detailed step-by-step guide.
Liz Rosenblum profile picture

Author

Liz Rosenblum

Liz is Mews' Senior Product Marketing Content Manager and she has a real passion for grammar. Seriously, don't get her started on m dashes and n dashes...