Cateys 2025: Best Use of Innovative Technology Award: Point A Hotels

When faced with fragmented data spread across different customer relationship management, booking and property management systems, the team behind this year’s Best Use of Innovative Technology award knew they had to take action to ensure vital opportunities to engage guests were never missed.

The solution was a smart, streamlined approach that’s now driving stronger guest engagement as well as fuelling growth.

When Point A Hotels builtits customer d ata platform (CDP) - internally named GuestPulse following its partnership with GuestPulse - it revolutionised how it understands and interacts with its guests.

By using AI profiling and upgrading the connections between its systems, storage and networks, GuestPulse accessed personalised offers, smarter marketing and created a more seamless guest experience. And the 11-site hotel group did this, not within the 18-month timeframe that is usual for a custom-made CDP of this scale, but within weeks, receiving its first set of insights and reports within three months. The results have been nothing short of transformative.

One of the main reasons for the creation of the CDP was to reduce the reliance on online travel agent (OTA) bookings and to boost direct bookings. In the last quarter of 2024, there was a clear and considerable reduction in OTA bookings, with all of Point A’s hotels achieving a reduction – for example, its Liverpool Street and Kensington hotels achieved reductions of 8% and 9% respectively. Alongside this, a competitive rewards structure was established, where staff were incentivised through financial bonuses to push direct bookings instead of OTA bookings through distributing QR codes linking to the hotel landing page, so guests could re-book stays directly.

GuestPulse has also played a role in boosting brand loyalty and driving repeat business. The system helps the hotel group identify its most loyal and high-value repeat guests – for instance, the 20% who have stayed between four and seven times – which allows the hotel to provide personalised offers and tailored communication to customers, fostering stronger connections and leading to higher conversion rates. The approach is clearly working, with repeat guest bookings increasing by a remarkable 46% year-on-year.

The targeted strategy has boosted email engagement too, with a 44% email open rate generating a five-figure boost to revenue. This success not only underscores GuestPulse’s enhanced guest segmentation capabilities, but is also shaping the hotel’s new loyalty programme, which aims to create even more rewarding stays for its returning customers.

GuestPulse isn’t just benefiting one hotel group – its success has resulted in Queensway Group, Point A Hotels’ parent company, rolling out and expanding the solution across its entire portfolio of hotel brands.

Point A Hotels has moved from significant technological hurdles to a system where every interaction fuels smarter marketing, fundamentally reshaping how the group engages, retains and rewards its guests.

What the judges said

“Excellent submission and business case. Great for a small hotelier in the budget category to use tech in an innovative way.” Samina Hussain-Letch

“Really impressive commitment to tech. For tech to touch clients in the way this does is unusual to say the least. Normally, hospitality is people-driven, but there, they have succeeded in making tech hospitable. Well done!” Charles Boyd

“I was particularly impressed with the forward-looking, strategic and bold solution that Point A Hotels has implemented. Great to see a smaller group punching above their weight.” Liutauras Vaitkevicius

The shortlist

• Delaware North UK
• Levy UK & Ireland at Birmingham City FC
• Point A Hotels
• The Swan Hotel & Spa, Ulverston

The judges

• Charles Boyd, 8 Northumberland
• Leon Jones, CH&Co/Compass
• Harry Ridley, Built by Levy
• Liutauras Vaitkevicius

If you would like to enter the 2026 Cateys, or you know someone who you would like to nominate, register your interest for updates