Big data has empowered hospitality businesses to learn more than ever before about their guests, helping them fine-tune the sales process, guest services, and personalization of the guest experience. On a business level, it allows them to predict revenue from certain products and services, and more accurately measure and forecast their occupancy rates.
Hospitality is arguably the most customer-centric industry. Hotels need to create an enjoyable guest experience throughout the entire process, and maximize revenue while doing so. Big data plays a huge – and growing – role in this important business process.
But what if hospitality brands applied this same logic to the built environment? Using big data, you could test a new lobby design with varying elements such as alternate versions of check-in stations, furniture, flooring and fixtures, and even community-centric elements like local art or entertainment. For example, you could record how many customers use that space during the slow mid-day hours, you can pinpoint what elements are more inviting to crowds during these times and keep them in the hotel and spending money.
This approach, coupled with an automated design management system, could allow various elements to be rolled out across multiple locations while still accounting for elements that reflect local demographics.
With an automated design program that uses big data, you can manage and track design data across hundreds or thousands of locations. You can know which furniture, fixtures, and equipment is located where, how old it is, and when it will need to be updated. In this database you can control prices for these elements which may need to be replaced, allowing you to accurately estimate the cost of a Property Improvement Plan (PIP) for a single remodel or a design refresh across all sites.
When you decide what kind of 
furniture works best in your lobby, you can roll in that change in construction documents across all locations without missing a beat – and then you’ll be able to tell which sites have already made the change, and which have not yet completed the refresh.
An automated design management system could also help you ensure ADA compliance across all sites through a database of barriers, and certifications of compliance when they are fixed.
In today’s world, if you want expansion, consistency, and to stay ahead of the curve, you have to harness technology and use the data already at your fingertips to make smart business decisions. Data-driven design management offers a bridge from corporate brand to franchisee that allows both to understand and analyze the performance of the brand and of the individual properties more accurately. Although technology is constantly evolving, data-driven business is here to stay.