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Trent Goerge
Dr. Sherrin Frances
ENG-212-90
March 28, 2015
Red Roof Inn Big Data

Vacations can be an extremely exciting, but also a nerve racking time. When arriving at
the destination, the time can be full of relaxation and fun, but the trip there can often times be a
nightmare. Cancelled flights are often at the root of this problem. Cancelled flights can leave
people abandoned on the way to a relaxing vacation with nowhere to stay while they are waiting
for the next flight, sometimes even over night. While almost all people see this as a major
problem, a hotel company seen this as an opportunity to fix a problem and increase business. The
company, Red Roof Inn, created an algorithm from big data to find when flights are most likely
to be cancelled due to inclement weather and created an ad to go out to mobile devices near their
hotel locations (Schaeffer). This is an example of how big data is being used in the hotel business
and how it is revolutionizing the business.
The hotel chain, Red Roof Inn, used big data to their advantage to increase their own
profits. This chain saw an opportunity to increase their sales selling rooms to the travelers that
were stuck with cancelled flights. With almost one to three percent of all daily flights being
cancelled, there are 150-500 cancelled flights which is nearly 25,000 to 90,000 plane passengers
that are left without anywhere to go (Schaeffer). Using this information and information about
where flights are canceled on specific days, the company created ads that are sent to popular
mobile apps to people with a canceled flight near their hotel. All of these changes were done due
to the availability of big data, and this caused a ten percent increase in their business due to these

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changes. This example could be revolutionary to the hotel industry. Big data can be used to boost
business in other similar ways. Big data could also be used to find other scenarios where hotels
have spiked demand. One scenario that could be looked into is hotels that have sporting events
near them. If big data supports the claim that these hotels are in high need near these events then
hotel companies could use similar tactics to sell their rooms in these situations.
The use of this big data in the example with the Red Roof Inn is astonishing. Using mere
data, this hotel chain is allowed to find when flights are being cancelled and where these flights
are being cancelled. From this information they seen the trend that hotel sales in this area
increased and they were allowed to exploit this trend. This is incredible how big data can supply
the company with these trends and cause the business to increase by ten percent. If big data
continues to produce vibrant results like the results given in this example, companies will
continue to spend more of their budget on big data researches to help increase their overall
business. Big data, in general, allows companies to be more precise than previous analytics.
Instead of relying on human intuition and instincts, data can now be used to predict future trends.
Big data relies on volume, velocity, and variety of information to predict future trends, and each
of these three aspects were not previously available for analytics (Brynjolfsson). These aspects
allow large masses of widespread data to be quickly processed into useful information for
companies, which can save, or create more money for the companies
The major debate associated with this example of big data usage is privacy. In this
example of big data with Red Roof Inn, the location of cell phone searches looking for hotels are
being recorded and looked into. This touches on the privacy of the phone users because it
accesses where they are making the Internet searches. Not only the location of the search, but the
contents of the search are also being used for this example. The question of privacy is if the

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location and contents of these searches should be allowed to be monitored at all times. According
to Mayer-Schonberger and Cukier, we must protect privacy by shifting responsibility away from
individuals and toward the data users (Mayer-Sconberger, 193). This means that the privacy of
the user must be held anonymous by the data interpreter. This example touches on the major
problem of privacy with big data. Instead of private information being easily identifiable, due to
big data and big data interpretation, personal information is less distinct and harder to protect.
Mayer-Sconberger believes that instead of the user being able to fully protect his own privacy,
the data collectors may also have to aid in protecting their privacy.
This pitfall of potential privacy problems do not outweigh the vast potential of big data
analytics. In the example of the Red Roof Inn, the hotel chain used big data to increase their
business and advertise their business at the most appropriate time and place. Big data helps
people to see the overall trends compared to understanding each detail about the trends. This
allows business to exploit new opportunities, sometimes without completely understanding why
the opportunity is available. Big data help to gain insights that people were previously unaware
of and this can cause companies, like Red Roof Inn to gain a competitive advantage over their
competition (Sagiroglu).
Overall, big data analysis can be a huge asset to companies. Companies can gain insights
as to when their business is in high demand and gain more business through correct advertising
because of this. Although there is a potential problems with privacy, big data has much more
upside than downside. Analysis of this data can allow companies to create a competitive
advantage over their competition and greatly increase sales. In the example of with Red Roof Inn,
this company used big data to locate where plane trips have been cancelled near their hotels and
they used advertising through mobile phones to create a competitive advantage over other hotel

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companies in the area. This caused their business to increase by ten percent.

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Work Cited

Brynjolfsson, Erik, and Andrew McAfee. "Big Data: The Management Revolution." Harvard
Business Review. Web.
Mayer-Schonberger, Viktor, and Kenneth Cukier. Big Data: A Revolution that will transform
how We Live, Work, and Think. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing
Company, 2013. 193. Print.
Sagiroglu, S, and D Sinanc. "Big Data: A Review." IEEE Xplore. N.p., 20 May 2013. Web.
Schaeffer, Chuck. "Big Data in Retail Examples." CRM. N.p., n.d. Web.