Insights from Cendyn World Tour 2024 – London

Not knowing your niche, too-aggressive marketing, and failing to re-market effectively to OTA traffic…these are all key challenges facing hoteliers at the moment. But there are some profound opportunities, too. Find out more about the insights that came out of the Cendyn World Tour 2024 – London event.

From staff shortages and capturing bookings in a cost of living crisis to increasing operational costs and constantly adapting to changing consumer expectations…it’s a pretty tough time to be in the hotel business.

Throughout 2024, Cendyn embarked on a World Tour to understand the challenges and opportunities for hoteliers at this moment in time. By meeting our customers, having open conversations with hoteliers, and taking a closer look at how different markets are behaving, we wanted to pinpoint exactly what the industry is grappling with right now.

But where there are problems, there are also solutions. Meeting with hoteliers from different contexts highlighted the value of honing in on three distinctive strategy areas that we champion at Cendyn: Find, Book, and Grow. How do you find the right customers, and how do you focus on the high-value business for your hotel? How do you drive direct bookings and avoid hefty commissions? How do you grow your loyal customer base, generate tangible value from loyalty schemes, and increase spend per guest?

It’s all about smart revenue and smart marketing. Here are some of the challenges and exciting opportunities facing hoteliers at the moment.

Challenge in finding new guests

A common misconception in marketing is that the bigger the audience, the greater the return. Pushing out adverts and messages to a wide audience can seem like the easiest option, but this creates two issues: 1) it spreads yourself too thin, and 2) it leaves you trying to convey a brand story to everyone. Both often result in ad spend that won’t drive the right results, lower ROAS, and a brand story that may feel generic.

“Don’t try to be everything all the time,” advised Jurriaan de Vos, Commercial Director for the Montcalm Group. “Define what is your DNA and build your segmentation on that… It will take time. But the closer you stay to your own product and your own DNA, the bigger the chances you will be successful.”

Challenge in driving more direct bookings

Guests who book through an OTA/third party can be converted to potential ‘direct’ guests by capturing all-important personal data. Simple tactics like capturing email addresses at check-in or through in-house Wi-Fi providers offer the ability for hotels to communicate directly with the guest to encourage future direct bookings. However, many hotels are not doing this.

The former CEO of Expedia Group once said: “If they come back to us again, shame on you.” Remarketing to these customers means you could save on OTA commission fees next time and should broaden your loyal direct customer base.

But be careful not to push too hard for data and consent. As important as first-party data is, hotels must earn the right to obtain it, so work hard for consent and market to those guests in a targeted, strategic manner. Effective strategies could include offering member rates, running effective loyalty programs, and matching the flexibility in making booking modifications that OTAs offer.

“We’re luxury hotels, so we cannot be too aggressive with our messaging or with capturing the data and pushing the customer to click that consent,” shared Kasia Rudnik, Senior Director of Marketing at The Set Collection. Putting time into ensuring you have quality data can pay off. “Every year, we clean up our database. We have an amazing engagement rate – anything between 52 to 58% unique opens and an 80% click-through rate on our email marketing communication with Cendyn CRM.”

Challenge in growing a loyal customer base

Every hotelier knows they should have a loyalty program, but there’s no point in having a program if it is not leveraged effectively. Considering the difference between loyalty and reward is also key. Are you giving guests something in exchange for their custom (reward), or are they genuinely engaged and faithful to your brand (loyalty)?

According to Richard Cooper, Global Business Travel and Sales Director for Dalata Hotel Group, the key to loyalty is quality. “Look at the airline community,” he said. “You’ve got five [airlines] on one route, and they’ve all got loyalty programs. What they focus on, which is what we focus on, is that product quality.”

Opportunity to find guests on social search

Many hoteliers look towards social media channels to generate brand awareness during the dreaming stage of the customer journey. Hoteliers hope that having an organic and paid presence at this point means users will think of them when they’re ready to make a booking. However, an increasing number of hotels are now generating direct bookings through social media.

“Social media is such a big search engine, especially for travel,” Rudnik said. “We’re getting direct bookings from social media…we’re looking at double-digit numbers in returns on investment.”

Opportunity to book more direct corporate customers

There is an increasing number of Travel Management Companies (TMCs) booking corporate travel for businesses. According to Cooper, this is an opportunity that a lot of hotels are overlooking. “We’re working with that TMC community because, in most cases, that’s bringing a direct customer to our door,” he said.

Stemming from this, Dalata Hotel Group has built a booking platform specifically for agents who don’t use a Global Distribution System (GDS). “About 40% to 50% of agencies do not work on the GDS,” Cooper explained. “So we’ve really worked this year on building that innovation. It’s still in its early stages, but we’re [booking] £30,000 to £40,000 per month on the tool.”

Opportunity to grow ROAS on Google

With so many marketing and advertising channels, hoteliers can struggle to pinpoint the best ones to invest in. A number of hoteliers at the Cendyn World Tour – London were talking about the benefits of Google Performance Max for travel goals, as it specifically helps hotels reach potential guests across Google’s advertising channels.

“We relaunched our website, increased our conversion rate, and reached the point where our strategy was to go a bit more upper funnel and increase our reach,” Celine Mamane, Head of Digital Marketing for Meininger Hotels, explained. “We activated Performance Max in 2023 and managed to keep our ROI targets while decreasing our ad spend. And, of course, the revenue we generate is direct revenue.”

Ultimately, hoteliers at the Cendyn World Tour – London agree there’s a need to move to first-party data to deliver better marketing success. Many also agree there’s a need to better leverage the opportunities of advertising and the digital space to find the right customers. There’s no one-size-fits-all solution in the hotel world, and it’s difficult for hotels of all shapes, sizes, and structures in the current climate, especially in competitive marketplaces like London.

Things move fast in hospitality, yet sometimes structure and hierarchy can prevent hotel teams from reacting quickly to the fast-paced environment. Enabling and encouraging employees to be agile and innovative – plus ensuring joined-up working between teams – can be key drivers of success. “Revenue, marketing, and sales should be working as a triangle in one team and speak probably more often than they do, especially in individual hotels,” Rudnik said.

“We all work together in a very agile environment, so if things need to change, they change by the hour, they change by the minute,” Cooper said. “We innovate every day. That’s part of our DNA; that’s part of our strategy.”

“Being able to meet hoteliers in person and really dive into the challenges and opportunities they face every day is invaluable,” said Nicola Graham, Senior Vice President, Global Marketing, Cendyn. “It’s a way for us to pool our knowledge, ideas, and expertise to collaborate and define the way forward for our industry. The Cendyn World Tour has been hugely beneficial, and we’re excited to continue to evolve these events in 2025 and use the knowledge we’ve gained to continue making a tangible difference to our hotel clients.”

About Cendyn

Cendyn is a global hospitality cloud-based technology company that enables hotels to Find, Book, Grow – driving revenue, maximizing profitability, and creating deeper connections with guests through its integrated solutions.

Serving hoteliers for nearly 30 years, Cendyn has over 32,000 customers in more than 150 countries including brands Outrigger Hospitality, Hyatt, IHG, Aman Resorts & Hotels, Relais & Châteaux, Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts, Coraltree Hospitality, and Onyx Hospitality Group – generating more than $20 billion in annual hotel revenue. The company supports its growing customer base with offices across the globe.

To find out more, visit cendyn.com.