Geographic information systems (GIS) are powerful tools when married to data. Simply put, a GIS system allows the end user to see patterns and trends that might not reveal themselves when looking at raw data.
For example, I've geo coded the STR census database of more than 50,000 hotels, and we now have a visual representation of virtually every property in the country. With a few command lines I can highlight properties by chain scale, age and even performance.
Recently I wanted to find what areas of the country are rebounding from the downturn in 2009 and what areas are still struggling. STR has over 600 "tracts" defined for the country, and each tract is comprised of a number of zip codes. After layering the tracts into GIS software and then uploading tract performance data, I was able to geospatially discern what areas of the country are headed in which direction.
The map below shows the results of this search, detailing year-to-date (April) RevPAR change from 2009 to 2010. Due to space limitations, I'm only showing the continental U.S. here.
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