The hotel industry operates in a highly competitive, real-time environment where small pricing differences can dramatically impact bookings and revenue. That’s why David Martin Riveros, CEO of Iceberg Data, believes leveraging web data is crucial for hotels to maximize their performance.
“The hotel industry is very sensitive to real-time analytics because conversion is highly elastic or sensitive to changes in prices,” David explains. “A small change in price could put you at the top of the rankings and help a hotel make money, but if your price is too high, you could rank at the bottom with no bookings.”
Beyond pricing, David notes that how hotels present their listings on online travel agencies (OTAs) and their own websites also impacts conversion rates and bookings. This is where Iceberg Data comes in. The company builds real-time web scrapers, APIs, datasets, and AI agents to help hotels collect and act on data.
Scraping Competitor Data for Insights
A key offering from Iceberg Data is competitor web scraping. This allows hotels to find out if competitors in their market segment or neighborhood are getting booked out or raising prices due to demand.
“By using web scraping data, you can track competitor prices and see if they are increasing prices because they are running out of rooms,” explains David. “We also provide detailed information about the comments people are leaving throughout the year about competitors.”
Armed with insights on competitor price points, reviews, and remaining room inventory, hotels can make better decisions about their own pricing, promotions, and room allotments. “Based on the prices, reviews, and number of rooms left, you would be able to take better decisions for your own hotel, rooms, and how you present pricing to customers,” David states.
Optimizing Listings for Maximum Conversion
In addition to monitoring the competition, Iceberg Data focuses on helping hotels optimize their own OTA listings and website room descriptions for higher conversion rates.
David points out that photos are a crucial factor. “Our system goes through each image and makes a decision on which we should keep or not to maximize conversion for these types of ads,” he explains.
The company’s AI reviews images to check for issues like repetitive or unclear photos that don’t match room descriptions. The goal is presenting each room in the best possible light to drive bookings.
Room descriptions are another area the company analyzes and optimizes. “Descriptions should be detailed enough so the customer understands clearly if the offering matches what they’re looking for,” David advises. “The keywords should also match the seasonality of the year, as there are some keywords that would make your ads rank better and maximize conversion.”
Instead of manually updating descriptions, Iceberg Data collects data on the top-performing keywords each month. “We optimize a set of keywords so you can just copy and paste the room description that you need to maximize conversion,” says David.
A Data-Driven Approach in a Fast-Paced Industry
For hotels trying to keep pace in an increasingly competitive industry, David emphasizes the importance of a data-driven approach. Monitoring competitor pricing, reviews, and demand provides crucial insights for pricing rooms and promotions appropriately.
Similarly, optimizing OTA listings and website room descriptions with the right photos, details, and keywords can significantly lift conversion rates and bookings. Rather than relying on manual updates, leveraging AI and web scraping technology allows hotels to work smarter.
“If you want to keep up to date and maximize conversion, you need to keep your eyes wide open to the data that’s being generated day to day,” David urges. “There you will find tools that as a hotel you can use to collect data and improve conversion metrics.”
In a fast-paced industry where small differences in pricing and listings can impact bookings, the companies best leveraging technology and data will have a competitive advantage.
To learn more about Iceberg Data and David Martin Riveros, check out his website and LinkedIn profile.
