Where Your Hotel Guests Come From and When They Travel — Boost Your Bookings Today!

"Understanding where your hotel guests come from and when they travel can help you optimize marketing, improve operations, and increase bookings. Discover how data-driven insights can transform your hotel’s performance."

Many hotels may overlook this, but knowing where most of your guests come from and when they prefer to stay has a significant impact on boosting your bookings and improving your hotel’s operational efficiency. Let’s explore why this insight is important and what actions you can take.

 

Start by understanding your own hotel
First of all, you need to clearly understand your hotel’s identity. What is your hotel’s style? Where is it located? What attractions are nearby? Knowing your hotel's strengths and location is a crucial first step to gathering guest data.

1. Visibility

Once you know where your main customer groups come from, you can fine-tune your hotel’s visibility strategy more effectively, such as:

Marketing channels: If most of your customers are from China, you may want to focus your marketing efforts on Chinese platforms like WeChat or Weibo instead of just Facebook or Instagram.

Language: Having your website or hotel information available in your target customers’ native languages — such as Chinese, Japanese, Korean, or European languages — can help them access information and make booking decisions more easily.

Promotions: Design offers that specifically appeal to travelers from those countries. This could include packages featuring popular local attractions or discounts aligned with their national holidays.

 

2. Public Holidays

Knowing where your core customers come from allows you to plan around holidays more accurately.

National holidays: Long weekends in Thailand may not coincide with those in other countries. Understanding when countries like China, Japan, or European nations have holidays helps you anticipate guest volumes and prepare your operations in advance.

Launch promotions early: You can roll out special offers for travelers from specific countries ahead of their holiday periods, giving you a competitive edge and driving early bookings.

 

3. How to Gather the Data

So how can you gather this guest information?

Property Management System (PMS): Most hotel management systems already store booking data. You can extract guest nationality information from past stays for analysis.

Online Travel Agencies (OTAs): Platforms like Agoda, Booking.com, and Expedia often provide statistical reports about the guests booking through them.

Surveys: Consider using short surveys during check-in or check-out to collect more insights — such as how guests discovered your hotel or why they chose to stay.

Google Analytics: If your hotel has a website, data from Google Analytics can show you which countries your site visitors are coming from.

 

4. Evaluate the Impact

Once you’ve started applying this data and the suggestions above, don’t forget to evaluate the results.

Compare booking volumes: Review your bookings before and after implementing data-driven actions to see how much your numbers have increased.

Operational efficiency: Has knowing your customers helped you better plan staffing, inventory, or service preparation?

Customer reviews: Are your guests more satisfied? Are your reviews more positive?Truly understanding your guests is the key to unlocking higher bookings and greater operational success in your hotel business. Try applying these strategies and don’t forget to share your feedback with our team!