Using big data from Customer Relationship Management information systems to determine the client profile in the hotel sector

Abstract

Client knowledge remains a key strategic point in hospitality management. However, the role that can be played by large amounts of available information in the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems, when addressed by using emerging Big Data techniques for efficient client profiling, is still in its early stages. In this work, we addressed the client profile of the data in a CRM system of an international hotel chain, by using Big Data technology and Bootstrap resampling techniques for Proportion Tests. Strong consistency was found on the most representative feature of repeaters being traveling without children. Profiles were more similar for British and German clients, and their main differences with Spanish clients were in the stay duration and in age. For a vacation chain, these results suggest further analysis on the target orientation towards new market segments. Big Data technologies can be extremely useful for analyzing indoor data available in CRM information systems from hospitality industry.