Hoteliers on hiring, keeping analytics talent

An analytics team that brings a variety of viewpoints and perspectives is an essential part of any hotel team, and it’s not always easy to find, or to keep, a panel of experts said.

Speaking on a panel at August’s Hotel Data Conference titled “Analyzing the analytics profession,” Kathryn Kilburg, senior manager of competitive analysis at Marriott International, stressed the importance of diversity on analytics teams.

“We have economists, mathematicians, hotel people, Wall Street folks—we even have a rocket scientist. We have all of these amazing minds and lenses coming together to make an analysis team robust,” she said.

Once that team is in place, “we need to make sure people don’t get stale and bored, so investing in technology is important,” said Colleen Birch, SVP of revenue optimization at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas.