The Power of First-Party Data: How Hotels and Restaurants Can Future-Proof Their Marketing
10/14/2025
The Cookie Crumble: Why Hospitality Must Adapt
For years, hospitality marketers leaned on third-party data — ad networks, OTAs, and social platforms — to find and target guests.
But that era’s ending. Google is finally phasing out third-party cookies, and privacy laws (GDPR, CCPA) are tightening.
That means your ability to reach guests now depends on first-party data — the information you collect directly through your own channels.
Hotels, restaurants, and venues that don’t adapt risk losing control of their audience to OTAs and aggregators.
What Is First-Party Data (and Why It’s a Goldmine)
First-party data is everything you collect from direct interactions with your guests:
Booking data and contact details.
Preferences captured during stays.
Behaviour from emails, upsell clicks, and in-stay requests.
Post-stay reviews and feedback.
Unlike rented data from platforms like Meta or Google, this information is yours — compliant, precise, and infinitely reusable.
How to Start Building a First-Party Data Strategy
1. Own the Guest Relationship
Encourage direct booking — through incentives like perks, upgrades, or loyalty points. Every direct booking gives you richer, more actionable data than an OTA ever will.
2. Centralise Data Across Touchpoints
If your booking data lives in one system and your upsells in another, you’re losing insight. Platforms like EMS unify this data so every automation, message, and offer feels personal.
3. Capture Contextual Signals
When guests click “Add Champagne on Arrival” or “Book Dinner for Two,” that’s a preference worth saving. Use it to tailor future offers.
4. Automate the Feedback Loop
Use automation to collect reviews and follow-ups. Every response adds a new layer to your understanding of what drives satisfaction — or churn.
From Data to Personalisation
Data is only useful if it shapes action.
Here’s how to apply it:
Segment guests by behaviour (romantic stays, family trips, business travel).
Send personalised pre-stay recommendations.
Trigger in-stay offers based on known preferences.
Automate post-stay loyalty nudges that reference past visits.
This is what true guest relationship marketing looks like — human, relevant, and scalable.
The EMS Edge
EMS Grow helps hospitality operators build their own first-party data engine:
Automatically collect and unify guest data across channels.
Trigger personalised automations that increase spend and loyalty.
Turn fragmented contact lists into a real marketing asset.
With privacy changes accelerating, the brands that own their guest data will win. EMS is helping them get there.