Apple’s Latest IOS 18.2 Update: What Hotel Marketers Need to Know

Significant upcoming privacy updates from Apple are coming in December and they will impact email marketing strategies. For hotel marketers, these changes are crucial as they will alter how engagement metrics like email opens and clicks are tracked. Understanding and adapting to these updates is essential for maintaining effective communication with guests, ensuring personalized experiences, and leveraging first-party data to drive direct bookings and enhance overall marketing efforts.

Here are the main points hotel marketers need to be aware of:

• A.I. message summaries: Apple is introducing AI-driven message summaries that will replace pre-header content in emails. This means that instead of seeing the pre-header, recipients will see a brief AI-generated summary of the email content. Marketers will need to ensure their emails are engaging enough to make these summaries interesting.
• Apple categories: Similar to Gmail’s tabs, Apple Mail will now categorize emails into four categories: Primary, Transactions, Updates, and Promotions. This categorization is done on-device for privacy reasons. Marketers should be aware that there is no reliable way to force emails into the Primary category, and they should be cautious of anyone claiming otherwise.
• User preferences: The article notes that many Gmail users turned off tabs, indicating a preference against automatic categorization. However, Apple seems to believe users are ready for this feature. Marketers should monitor how this change affects engagement and adapt accordingly.

Overall, these changes highlight the need for email marketers to stay informed and adaptable, focusing on creating compelling content and understanding new metrics for success. Here are the key takeaways for hotel marketers from the article:

• Privacy changes: Apple is introducing significant privacy updates that will impact email marketing. These changes will make it harder to track email opens and clicks, affecting how marketers measure engagement.
• Focus on first-party data: With these privacy updates, it’s crucial for hotel marketers to prioritize collecting and utilizing first-party data. This means leveraging data directly from your guests to personalize their experiences and communications.
• Enhanced email content: Since tracking will be more challenging, the emphasis should shift to creating high-quality, engaging email content that encourages direct responses and interactions from recipients.
• Adaptation to new metrics: Marketers will need to adapt to new metrics for measuring success, such as focusing on conversion rates and direct bookings rather than traditional email open rates.
• Increased importance of consent: Ensuring that you have explicit consent from your guests to receive communications will be more important than ever, aligning with the broader trend towards greater data privacy and protection.

These changes highlight the need for hotel marketers to be agile and innovative in their strategies to maintain effective communication with their guests. If you have any more questions or need further details, please contact us at info@cendyn.com.

Haydee Fernandez is the Associate Director, Customer Benchmarking & Recommendations at Cendyn. Connect with Haydee on LinkedIn.

About Cendyn

Cendyn is a global hospitality cloud-based technology company that enables hotels to Find, Book, Grow – driving revenue, maximizing profitability, and creating deeper connections with guests through its integrated solutions.

Serving hoteliers for nearly 30 years, Cendyn has over 32,000 customers in more than 150 countries including brands Outrigger Hospitality, Hyatt, IHG, Aman Resorts & Hotels, Relais & Châteaux, Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts, Coraltree Hospitality, and Onyx Hospitality Group – generating more than $20 billion in annual hotel revenue. The company supports its growing customer base with offices across the globe.

To find out more, visit cendyn.com.