Situation:
Predictive Data Lab (PDL), a leading data analytics and business intelligence organization, was looking to address declining hotel occupancy rates for one of its DMO clients. The DMO aimed to improve real-time campaign performance monitoring and establish a foundation for analyzing consumer behavior to increase hotel demand.
PDL partnered with Azira, a global consumer insights platform, to deliver marketing intelligence solutions for the DMO. By leveraging a data-driven approach, the DMO could gain deeper insights into their visitors, refine their marketing strategies, and ultimately boost hotel occupancy.
Challenge:
The DMO was seeking solutions to three primary challenges:
Reversing Declining Hotel Occupancy: Hotel occupancy rates fell significantly in 2023 when compared to previous years, indicating fewer visitors and a lack of interest in overnight stays. It was critical to address this downward trend for long-term sustainability.
![How a DMO Used Predictive Data Lab and Azira to Increase Hotel Occupancy](https://azira.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/chart-1024x462.webp)
Accessing Real-Time Campaign Insights: To solve the first challenge, the DMO needed a unified reporting platform to consolidate multiple data streams and provide real-time insights. With a reporting structure in place, they would better understand visitor behavior and improve the effectiveness of their marketing campaigns.
Preparing the Destination for a Cookie-Less Future: With the pending removal of third-party cookies from Google and other search platforms, the DMO needed to develop an in-house customer database to replace third-party data and merge behavioral and persona data for accurate contextual targeting in their campaigns.
Solution
PDL leveraged Azira’s consumer insights platform to create 15 additional persona audiences, providing valuable insights into visitor demographics and behavior. This data helped the DMO gain a better understanding of annual versus seasonal visitors, interests, family makeup, income levels, and proximity to the destination. From there, PDL was able to establish:
- A comprehensive media strategy for fiscal year 2024, including segments for maintaining baseline visitation and attracting new visitors.
- An enhanced Current Traveler Report incorporating the new personas for better tourism trend insights.
- Custom data pipelines for real-time campaign performance tracking.
- Four successful campaigns with intuitive reporting and real-time analysis.
- With the help of AVA AI, a tailored customer database for the client to replace third-party data and expand Azira’s attribution data with demographic, socioeconomic, and behavioral attributes.
![How a DMO Used Predictive Data Lab and Azira to Increase Hotel Occupancy](https://azira.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/dashboard.webp)
As a result, the DMO achieved a more targeted and impactful marketing approach, significantly improving visitor metrics and destination appeal.
“We’ve used Azria’s technology to provide the foundation for us — we have helped this DMO capture their target audience to increase their occupancy levels and ultimately drive more visitation to their destination”
Results:
Through their partnership with Azira, PDL’s client was able to yield impressive results:
- The solutions implemented by PDL at the beginning of fiscal year 2024 immediately impacted hotel occupancy, reducing the year-over-year gap from -7% to -2.7% in October.
- Hotel occupancy overtook fiscal year 2023 in November and December by 4% and 2.8%, respectively.
- Leveraging Azira’s technology and real-time campaign performance data, the DMO not only reversed the occupancy decline but also saw positive growth in average daily rate (ADR) and revenue per available room (RevPAR).
The DMO will continue leveraging data-driven insights and advanced marketing strategies to optimize visitor engagement and enhance destination appeal.