Microsegmentation is the practice of dividing your guest database into smaller, behaviorally distinct groups based on specific characteristics. These characteristics can include their booking habits, amenity usage, loyalty tier, communication preferences, or spending patterns.
NB: This is an article from Revinate
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Unlike traditional hotel market segmentation, which focuses on basic demographic data (age, spend, location), microsegmentation hones in on why a guest behaves the way they do and what that means for your marketing, service delivery, and revenue strategies.
This approach enables hotels to deliver hyper-personalized experiences, communications, and offers that align with the unique preferences and motivations of each guest microsegment. The result? More relevance, more resonance, and more revenue for your hotel guest segmentation efforts.
So, what do these microsegments look like? Here are a few examples of microsegments:
- Spa seekers who book weekend stays and always add-on wellness services
- Guests who frequently book during shoulder seasons using mobile devices
- Loyalty members who prefer mid-week stays and opt for early check-in
- OTA bookers who cancel often but return after email campaign offers
Building behavior-based microsegments
Now that you know what these hotel guest microsegments look like, let’s dive into how to build them.
To build effective microsegments, start by analyzing historical guest behavior through your CDP. Instead of looking at static characteristics, focus on dynamic patterns. Here are key behavioral criteria that can power your microsegmentation strategy:
- Booking behavior: lead time, channel used, frequency of bookings, average rate paid
- Amenity usage: spa, dining, room service, valet, late checkout
- Communication preferences: email open/click behavior, SMS engagement, phone, language
- Loyalty status and offers used: tier, perks redeemed, repeat purchase cadence
- Feedback history: NPS scores, survey responses, online reviews
By combining these data points, you can create segment personas that are both insightful and actionable. Now let’s take a look at examples of segment personas you may discover:
- “Luxury Upseller Lucy.” Lucy books premium rooms, responds to upgrade emails, and dines onsite.
- “Last-Minute Luke.” Luke is a predictable mobile-first booker, always books within 48 hours of arrival, and prefers automated check-in.
- “Weekend Wellness Whitney.” Whitney almost always travels solo, books spa package stays, and is very active on Instagram and TikTok.
- “Deal Hunter Dave.” Dave originally booked via an OTA, used a promo code, and has only ever responded to flash sales.
You can see how these personas differ drastically, and how your messaging to each will differ as a result.
