How To Segment Your Hotel CRM Database

Types of CRM Segmentation

Age

Segmenting your CRM database by age is a simple yet powerful way to personalise communication and make your guests feel seen. Different age groups have distinct needs, behaviours, and preferences, which means your messaging, offers, and tone should vary accordingly.

How to use it:

• Birthday Journeys: Automate birthday emails with special offers or complimentary perks to encourage celebratory bookings, whether that’s a free dessert, a discounted spa treatment, or a bottle of bubbles on arrival.
• Targeting Over 60s: Promote relaxing midweek breaks, wellness packages, or traditional experiences like afternoon tea. Include imagery and language that reflects their lifestyle and pace.
• Millennial and Gen Z Guests: For younger audiences, focus on experiences. Things like cocktail-making classes, social events, rooftop bars, or last minute deals are the best bet here. Then, with the actual messaging, adapt your tone to this audience to really appeal. 

Why it matters:

Tailored messaging increases open rates, engagement, and conversions. Not only this, but you’ll avoid irrelevant or off-putting campaigns going to the wrong audience. Using this strategy, guests are more likely to return if they feel the offer suits them specifically.

Age segmentation allows you to match the right product with the right audience at the right time, helping drive more direct bookings and making your CRM work much harder for your business.

Gender

Segmenting your CRM database by gender allows you to craft more relevant and emotionally resonant communications, particularly when promoting experiences that tend to appeal more strongly to certain audiences. While it’s important to avoid assumptions or stereotyping, gender segmentation can still be a valuable tool when used thoughtfully and respectfully.

How to use it:

• Spa & Wellness Offers: Women are often the primary audience for spa breaks, so you might find it beneficial to tailor email content to highlight relaxation, pampering, or wellness journeys, especially around key dates like Mother’s Day.
• Father’s Day or Men’s Experiences: For male-identifying guests, spotlight experience-led packages like steak dinners, whisky tastings, or golf-and-stay offers. Use a confident, refined tone and visuals that speak to their preferences.
• Couples & Occasion Gifting: Gender segmentation also helps with crafting communications aimed at partners. For example, emails suggesting gift vouchers for her/him, or “treat your partner” messaging around Valentine’s Day or anniversaries.

Why it matters:

Personalised content feels more thoughtful and targeted, which naturally drives higher engagement and conversion rates. When guests receive communications that genuinely resonate with their interests, they’re more likely to click, book, and interact with your brand.

Gender segmentation also allows for more effective cross-selling, such as suggesting beauty treatments, grooming packages, or tailored dining add-ons, based on what your guest is most likely to respond to. Used well, this approach can help uplift guest spend, build long-term loyalty, and reduce your reliance on OTAs by delivering intentional, data-driven communications.

City/Town

Segmenting your CRM database by city or town allows you to adapt your communications based on geographic location. This is particularly useful for distinguishing between local guests, domestic travellers, and international visitors, each of whom will engage differently with your hotel or venue depending on how far they have to travel.

How to use it:

• Local Guests: For guests based within close proximity, focus on last minute availability, seasonal dining, spa days, or wellness escapes that don’t require overnight stays. You can also promote events like afternoon tea or festive lunches. Locals are more likely to engage with frequent, low-commitment offerings and offers that can be redeemed at short notice.
• Domestic Travellers: For guests travelling from elsewhere in the country, target weekend getaway deals, seasonal offers, or family holiday packages. Provide information on nearby attractions or “What’s On” guides to help inspire longer stays and boost guest spend.
• International Guests: Overseas travellers benefit from content with more planning lead time. Focus on full-stay packages, concierge tips, airport transfers, and itinerary inspiration. These guests often spend more per visit, so use this segmentation to upsell room upgrades, dining experiences, and in-house services.

Why it matters:

Location-based segmentation makes your communication feel intentional rather than generic. Guests want to feel seen and understood, whether they’re ten minutes down the road or flying in from another country. Tailoring your message to reflect their travel style and needs increases the likelihood of engagement and drives stronger results across campaigns. It also allows you to balance your offering between local loyalty, regional interest, and international reach, ultimately boosting direct bookings and reducing OTA dependence.

Booking History

Segmenting your CRM database by booking history gives you insight into patterns (what, when, and how your guests book) and lets you personalise communications based on actual behaviour, not assumptions. This kind of first-party data allows you to connect more meaningfully with returning guests, high spenders, and even lapsed customers who haven’t returned in a while.

How to use it:

• Frequent Bookers: Target guests who return often with loyalty rewards, VIP perks, or early access to offers. Use messaging that recognises and rewards their loyalty, such as "Just for our regulars" or "Back for more? We've saved your room." This not only drives further bookings but deepens their emotional connection to your brand.
• High-Spending Guests: For those who typically opt for suites, spa treatments, tasting menus or premium upgrades, send bespoke offers for the services they value most. You can even alert them to the availability of their preferred room type, or introduce new luxury experiences before launching to your full list. A high-end guest deserves a high-touch email strategy.
• Booking Preferences: Use past stays to personalise future offers, e.g., if someone always books a deluxe sea view, send a targeted message when that room type has low occupancy. If they dined at your steakhouse or always ordered lobster, let them know when you launch a new dish or offer a limited-time tasting menu.
• Seasonal & Day-of-Week Trends: If a guest consistently visits in winter, create seasonal staycation emails with cosy imagery, mulled wine, or spa winter warmers. If they typically book for midweek breaks, don’t waste weekend-centric offers; craft targeted messaging that reflects their unique travel habits.
• Spa & F&B Users: For those who always use the spa or dine in your restaurant, highlight new treatments, tasting menus, or package add-ons to encourage them to book these extras again. These cross-sell opportunities are low effort and high return when you already know what the guest enjoys.

Why it matters:

Booking history segmentation turns your CRM from a list of names into a goldmine of insights. By tailoring your offers to real guest behaviour, you improve relevancy, increase click-throughs, and ultimately drive stronger conversions. This not only encourages repeat bookings and upsells but also reduces your reliance on OTAs by making the direct booking journey more personal and rewarding. It's smart, strategic, and exactly what modern travellers expect.

Engagement metrics

Segmenting your CRM database by engagement metrics allows you to tailor your communications based on how actively your guests are interacting with your emails. This is essential for maintaining a healthy sender reputation, boosting your email performance, and ensuring that the right people receive the right messages at the right time. Whether a guest is a frequent opener or hasn't clicked in a while, their behaviour provides valuable clues for how and when to engage them.

How to use it:

• Highly Engaged Guests: If someone consistently opens your emails, clicks through quickly, or responds to promotions, treat them like your VIP audience. You can send them early access to offers, sneak peeks of new packages, or even exclusive content. These guests are your most receptive segment—give them a reason to keep coming back, and consider them ideal for upselling higher-value experiences.
• Lapsed or Low-Engagement Guests: Guests who haven’t opened your last few emails may need a different approach. Try win-back campaigns with attention-grabbing subject lines, more personalised messaging, or incentives like limited time discounts. You can also test different send times, formats (like plain text vs image-led), or even re-permission emails to re-engage them.
• Click Behaviour: Some guests might open your emails but never click, or consistently click through to specific sections (e.g. spa offers or restaurant bookings). Use this to your advantage by adjusting your email layout to prioritise what they interact with, or creating mini-segments based on their click history.

Why it matters:

Engagement segmentation helps you optimise your campaigns for relevance and performance. By communicating differently with your most loyal readers versus disengaged ones, you preserve your email deliverability and improve ROI. This approach drives more direct bookings from your warmest leads, re-engages cold ones, and ultimately reduces your reliance on OTAs by building a stronger, more attentive database that actually responds to your messaging.

Life Events

Segmenting your CRM database by life events allows you to connect with your guests in ways that feel personal, timely, and emotionally resonant. By recognising milestones like birthdays, anniversaries, or guest loyalty achievements, your communications become more than just marketing; they become part of your guests’ celebrations. This creates stronger brand affinity and opens the door to increased guest spend and repeat bookings.

How to use it:

• Guest Birthdays: Set up automations to send personalised birthday messages that include a celebratory offer, such as a complimentary dessert, spa treatment upgrade, or discounted stay. Frame it as a gift from your hotel to them, making them feel special while gently nudging them to book.
• Anniversaries (Romantic): If you know when a guest has celebrated an anniversary with you, schedule a follow-up email 10-11 months later, inviting them back with a tailored couples’ package. Include a thoughtful message like, “Celebrate with us again this year.”
• Customer-to-Business Anniversary: Mark the anniversary of their first stay or booking with a “thank you” email and reward. This is a great opportunity to build brand loyalty with a personalised note and an exclusive offer.
• 10th Visit / Loyalty Milestones: Reward repeat guests with special recognition when they reach a specific number of stays or spend milestones. Whether it’s a free room upgrade, complimentary drinks, or a thank you note from the GM, small gestures have the power to go a long way.
• Partner or Family Birthdays (if known): If your CRM captures family or partner details, you can tailor messages to encourage celebratory stays or gift vouchers. For example, “Treat your partner to something special this birthday—our couples’ retreat packages are made for it.”

Why it matters:

Life event segmentation builds an emotional connection with your audience. Guests feel remembered, valued, and seen, not just as data points but as real people. This drives repeat bookings, strengthens loyalty, and provides a perfect platform for upselling experience-led packages. In turn, this reduces your reliance on OTAs and helps position your brand as the go-to for life’s most memorable moments.

How to Collect Data for Segmentation

To effectively segment your hotel CRM database, you first need to gather the right data. Strong segmentation starts with strong foundations, and that means ensuring every possible touchpoint with your guests is contributing useful, actionable information. When set up correctly, these data sources don’t just support segmentation, they fuel smarter marketing, more relevant messaging, and ultimately more direct bookings.

How to start collecting valuable segmentation data

• Reservation Systems & PMS Integration: Your Property Management System (PMS) and reservation platforms are often your richest sources of data. Names, dates, room types, booking frequency, guest origin, spend behaviour, it’s all there. Ensure your CRM integrates cleanly with your PMS so that this data flows automatically and can be used in segmentation.
• WiFi Sign-Ups & Digital Check-In: When guests access your WiFi or check in digitally, prompt them for useful insights, birthdays, travel reasons, or preferences. These moments feel natural for data capture and can be used to shape future communications.
• Surveys & Post-Stay Feedback: Surveys aren’t just for reviews. Use them to gather information on the stay purpose (romantic getaway, business trip, celebration), travel party details, or experience preferences. With the right wording, guests are often happy to share.
• Loyalty Schemes: A well-run loyalty programme encourages guests to volunteer detailed information about themselves, especially when there’s value in it for them. This might include preferred room types, spa usage, or dining habits.
• In-Person Conversations: Encourage your front desk or reservations team to add notes to guest profiles when they learn something meaningful: “visiting for an anniversary,” “travelling with kids,” or “vegetarian.” This kind of soft data can be gold when building hyper-personalised journeys.
• Website Forms & Pre-Arrival Comms: If you offer pre-arrival upgrades, add-on experiences, or dinner bookings, these present great opportunities to collect guest intent and preferences ahead of time.

Why it matters:

Without a healthy flow of first-party data, your CRM can’t reach its full potential. The goal is to create a single, centralised profile for each guest that combines behavioural data, personal preferences, and past interactions. When that data is segmented thoughtfully, it allows you to deliver relevant messaging that feels personal, driving more direct bookings, increasing guest spend, and reducing the need for broad, expensive OTA strategies.

Conclusion

We can’t stress enough how powerful a tool CRM segmentation is to hospitality businesses today. By breaking your guest database into meaningful segments, you can deliver hyper-personalised communications that truly resonate. This personalisation leads to stronger relationships with your guests, increased booking frequency, higher spend per visit, and more loyalty over time.

Rather than relying on generic campaigns or discount-heavy OTA bookings, segmentation allows you to speak directly to the right people, at the right time, with the right message. Whether it’s celebrating a birthday, recommending a spa treatment based on past usage, or reconnecting with a lapsed guest, segmentation ensures your marketing feels intentional, not intrusive.