Free Access Data Sources with an Impact on Demand
Free Access Data Sources with an Impact on Demand
Continuing with the posts about the multiple sources of data that are currently available to hoteliers and analysts, to be used as inputs that generate knowledge and facilitate decision-making, today I come to tell you about some lesser-known sources, but which may, in some cases, prove to be important for demand analysis.
I start by talking about holidays because, as is common sense, many people take advantage of so-called “bridges” to go on mini-vacation or “ city-breaks ”. Therefore, it is normal to analyze which national holidays are in order to identify those points of greatest demand. Why not do the same for international markets? At least for the main issuing markets. This allows, for example, to identify when digital campaigns aimed at each of these markets can be carried out. The best part: this information is free and available on countless websites like timeanddate.com .
Another type of useful information for predicting demand are the dates of events in the region of the hotel units, mainly events that induce an increase in demand, such as international conferences, concerts by major musical bands, festivals, sporting events, among others. Nowadays this information is also accessible online, free of charge, on websites such as eventful.com or lanyrd.com .
There are also other types of data, which despite being more complex to analyze, can contribute to a better understanding of demand behavior. For example, analyzing data from sources such as exchange rates, stock market indices or economic development indices, such as industrial production indices, can provide us with clues about demand trends in different markets. Of course, analyzing this data for all countries that source a hotel's customers can be complicated, but doing it for the main markets is not that complicated. These types of data are also made publicly available, and free of charge, on websites such as The Wall Street Journal .
Why let opportunities pass you by? Hotel units - especially Revenue Management and Marketing departments - should take advantage of this data to better understand their demand. This way, they will be able to generate better forecasts and optimize their resources.
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