In this concise article, we’ll explore what’s the Hotels’ data silos killer: Data Governance. Typically, enterprise data governance initiatives are first driven by risk avoidance, regulatory compliance or fixing data quality hiccups. I propose a different approach for the accomodation industry: to apply data governance (DG from now on) for information silos elimination, as well as adding value with data.
Forget the notion of data governance being a buzzkill – in advanced industries, DG is the secret sauce to break down information barriers and boost value. Let’s see how!
But first… What is a data silo?
Ever felt like your data is throwing a party, but no one’s invited, except the data generating guys? That’s a proper data silo! It’s when information stays isolated in different departments or business areas (those dreaded Excel collections!), creating miscommunication, conflict and ultimately missing out on the best networking opportunity the entire company has.
How to kill silos?
Want to break the ice at the data party? Open the gates with democratized data access and a fancy, inexpensive data catalog. A what, now? The formal definition is this: a data catalog is “a centralized inventory that organizes and describes data assets, providing a searchable and structured overview of available data within an organization, facilitating efficient data discovery, understanding, and utilization“. Pretty clear, uh? But asset is the key word here. To consider data as an asset, the company needs basic data literacy, a certain level of “data maturity”… In other words, data management should be a bit more sophisticated than just hundreds of spreasheet reports! Hence, as for any other company asset, data (and its catalog, of course) need governance to keep the party classy!
Once democratization is achieved, teams from sales & marketing, the RM, the PM and even housekeeping will be able to collaborate seamlessly and share their datasets, so everybody is on the same page. Well, not their entire datasets: sure enough, housekeeping should not access guests personal data! Security is also a big component of a global governance program, which should enforce access policies based on role, department, etc. In fact, this aspect should be a main business case for DG adopting enterprise-wide.
How else does DG add value to hotels?
Picture this: a data breach fiasco may be worse than a natural disaster or a fire. Enter Data Governance, your knight in shining armor. Risk, privacy, and GDPR fines – DG saves you from becoming the talk of the town for all the wrong reasons. Remember Prestige’s oopsie in 2020? See here for details >> – That was caused by a massively stupid governance overlook. Guests won’t blame the PMS, will they? Surely not, they’ll point fingers at the hotel chain! How’s that for your brand?
And trust me, European governments are playing hardball with GDPR fines – have those audits ready, or your bottom line won’t be the only thing feeling lighter.
But wait, it’s not just about defense aginst creepy stuff! In the age of Big Data, drowning in information is a real threat. DG is your lifeguard: the bigger the volume of stored data, the more governance you need, the higher data quality should be. Clean, trustable data isn’t just for show either; it’s your key to detecting trends, innovating, and nailing that sweet spot in pricing, for instance. More importantly, data quality is a must for anything related to AI, and helps you to avoid wrong decisions taken from bad data! On one occasion, we had a dispute over the number of guests in a couple of hotels of a small chain. The discrepancy? A GM counting day-use guests as overnighters. Enter master data management for a consistent definition of business objects across your entire hotel chain. However, MDM is a critical subset of DG that deserves an entire article (or a bunch of books).
Conclusion
What I am stating here isn’t just a wild idea; it’s a wake-up call for hoteliers to start considering DG right now, in a quest to put order into their data chaos. While there are more business drivers for DG, significant resources and a certain data maturity are required to overtake such monumental initiative. But please, don’t dismiss it!
Over a decade ago, most people in the industry laughed at my ideas of automating pricing and segmentation with machine learning (see original article here >>). Then they took the mickey out of me when I proposed that tour operators, DMCs and bedbanks should implement revenue management (see an example here >>). Who’s launghing now?
Sure, DG it’s a complex endeavour, but fear not – I’m here to help you design a program that’s as smooth as your room service. Reach out >>, and let’s make your data management as stellar as a five-star review!
Marcello Bresin
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