This year marked my 10th Adobe Summit, and it was one of the best I’ve been to. There was so much interest in optimization and personalization strategies. We talked about new and exciting ways marketers can interact with customers. For instance, I shared with the audience how I have taken hundreds of pictures of my sons’ toys over the years. It’s never been easier to share — and even personalize — those photos before today! And, the same applies to marketers.
This point was brought home during a session I had with MGM Resorts International’s vice president of revenue optimization, Geoff Waldmiller. I shared results from the Hotels 2020: Beyond Segmentation survey of hospitality executives from Fast Future and Amadeus. Ninety-two percent of those surveyed acknowledged that, in the future, “hotel guests will expect their stay to be personalized around a set of choices they make at the time of booking or prior to arrival.”
Hoteliers must be able to meet those expectations.
One of Geoff’s and the MGM team’s tasks is to attract some of the 42+ million (and growing) Las Vegas visitors each year. Approximately 85 percent of those travelers are repeat visitors, so they have local experience; but per-person visits occur only once or twice per year. There is a high experience rate but not a lot of expertise. So, MGM must educate visitors about their hospitality, gambling, dining, and entertainment options.
Geoff continued, explaining they found that 97 percent of lodging decisions are made before arriving in Las Vegas, while only 40 percent of gambling and 33 percent of entertainment decisions are made prior to arriving. These conditions present an opportunity to impact 60 percent or better of the decisions made while visitors are in the area.
Once they get visitors to their properties, they can offer world-class experiences and impact future lodging decisions through personalized digital experiences. This kind of optimization can have significant impacts on driving traffic to their resorts and enhancing the physical experiences visitors have while there.
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