The hotel sector continues to be plagued by data accessibility challenges and fragmented systems.
According to a survey conducted by customer data and direct booking platform Revinate and hospitality data and connectivity solutions provider Hapi, 49% of hoteliers struggle to access data they need for revenue and operational decisions, with 40% citing disconnected systems as their main obstacle.
The survey was conducted between April 14 and May 7, including responses from approximately 170 hospitality industry professionals in North America (47.9%), Europe (24.55%) and Asia (22.75%). Respondents also represented different company types, including individual properties (52.69%), management companies (26.35%) and brands (20.96%).
“Data is the foundation for every company, but most hotels still struggle to access and connect it effectively. Hotels are sitting on vast amounts of underutilized data, and disconnected systems and poor data quality are holding them back from creating the personalized, frictionless experiences guests expect today,” said Luis Segredo, Hapi co-founder and CEO.
Subscribe to our newsletter below
Hoteliers also cited barriers such as inaccurate data (17.96%), disconnect between departments (13.77%), duplicate data (8.38%), lack of timely data (7.19%) and disconnect between properties (7.19%).
Personalization presented obstacles as well, with nearly one in five (19.4%) of respondents saying it is “one of the top areas impacted by data accuracy issues.” Additionally, 16.6% said they struggle to identify personalization opportunities, while 18.8% have lag times in communication and service delivery.
In conversation with PhocusWire, industry players said they’ve seen this fragmentation firsthand, with Tata Crocombe, hotel owner and executive chairman of The Rarotongan and Aitutaki Lagoon Private Island Resort in the Cook Islands, calling it “an endemic disease of hospitality tech.”
“Most hoteliers are trapped in silos, each system hoarding its own partial truth,” Crocombe said.
Ksenia Tarasova, customer relationship management (CRM) and brand loyalty manager for Penta Hotels, agreed.
“The challenges around fragmented data is something we (as whole industry) have been struggling for years. Hotels have historically relied on siloed systems—PMS, CRS, CRM, POS, guest apps—that rarely communicate seamlessly. Unfortunately, legacy tech stacks never made it easy,” she said.
“This fragmentation not only slows down decision-making but also prevents us from unlocking the real value of guest data. It also affects heavily operations within hotels, making it time consuming for front office staff to act on any data received from guests.”
Loyalty & personalization
Nearly half of the hoteliers surveyed (46%) identified CRM and loyalty systems as primary areas for data quality improvements. Without clean data in guest profiles, interactions become “generic” and inhibit the ability to form lasting connections, the survey pointed out.
According to Revinate and Hapi, “loyalty begins with data,” and for Tarasova, this area is definitely in need of some TLC.
She emphasized that fragmented data often leads to incomplete guest profiles, with missing data potentially causing “embarrassing errors” such as sending the wrong language or offering a discount to a guest who already booked at full price.
We do not want our guests to feel we are watching every step. We want to respect privacy and at the same time be relevant.
Ksenia Tarasova, Penta Hotels
Clean data allows brands to then employ strategies based on guest behaviors and offer “real-time personalization across channels.”
It also allows for “smarter loyalty strategies that reward not only frequency but also value and engagement and even just a simple sign up, acknowledging the fact that we were chosen within the world of million options.”
“More and more it is becoming about the ‘feeling’ that guest have rather than price,” she said.
But at the same time, companies need to strike a balance.
“We do not want our guests to feel we are watching every step. We want to respect privacy and at the same time be relevant,” Tarasova said, adding that guests will take their loyalty elsewhere if they feel they’re being watched too closely.
“The emphasis on CRM and loyalty as top areas for improvement aligns exactly with where I see the industry needing to invest. I believe CRM to be a core solution in the future, making a shift from PMS-centered organizations,” she said.
AI
Revinate and Hapi also said AI is a key tool for improving personalization and efficiency, citing priorities such as complete guest profiles in a centralized system, targeted segmentation, real-time alerts and omnichannel guest communications.
Survey respondents were also optimistic about the technology’s ability to streamline data processes and improve hoteliers’ decision-making abilities.
The survey suggested that hotels using AI strategically “will gain a competitive edge”—so long as it doesn’t become a disruption. And leaders in the hotel space have previously stressed the need for clean and well-organized data to power AI.
According to Crocombe, who describes himself as an “AI first hotelier,” this technology offers a clear path forward.
“Most hoteliers are trapped in silos, each system hoarding its own partial truth. AI will change that,” he said.
Most hoteliers are trapped in silos, each system hoarding its own partial truth. AI will change that.
Tata Crocombe, hotel owner
“Unlike current stacks, which depend on endless integrations, a learning system can aggregate and normalize data far more efficiently. We don’t need billions of datapoints—within 90 days, AI can learn everything it needs to operate at a superhuman level of insight.”
Tarasova sees the benefit, too, stating that “AI and automation are becoming central to loyalty evolution.”
Even further, by improving data accuracy with AI, Crocombe asserts hotels will also be able to “reallocate human capital.”
“If AI can learn who the guest is, anticipate needs, and generate profit-improvement plans, then humans can focus on high-touch, high-empathy moments. This is the ‘humans-as-luxury' paradigm: As AI takes over the heavy lifting of data, humans become the premium differentiator,” he said.