How to Organize Guest Preferences in Your CRM

Why Guest Preferences Are Your Competitive Edge

In hospitality, the difference between a good stay and a great one often comes down to details — the guest who arrives to find their preferred room temperature already set, the member whose dietary restriction is noted before they reach the restaurant, the VIP whose anniversary celebration is acknowledged without prompting.

These moments are only possible when guest preferences are captured, organized, and surfaced at the right time. The question is: how should you organize this data in your CRM?

Two dominant approaches exist: pinned priority notes and structured tags/categories. Each has strengths. The best operations use both. But first, you need to know what preferences are worth tracking.

What Preferences to Track

Before choosing a tracking method, define the categories of preferences your team needs to capture. Most hospitality and membership businesses should track these four areas:

• Dietary and allergy requirements — food allergies (nut, shellfish, dairy), dietary restrictions (vegetarian, vegan, halal, kosher), and medical dietary needs (diabetic, low-sodium). These are safety-critical and must be captured accurately.
• Room and accommodation preferences — bed type, floor level, view preference, quiet location, proximity to elevator or pool, extra pillows, room temperature settings.
• Accessibility needs — wheelchair access, ground floor requirement, visual or hearing alert systems, accessible bathroom fixtures. These affect room assignment and must be known before arrival.
• Communication preferences — preferred contact channel (email, phone, WhatsApp), language preference, preferred time for outreach, opt-in/opt-out status for marketing.

The more consistently your team captures these data points, the richer your guest profiles become over time — and the better your service gets with every visit.

Approach 1 — Pinned Priority Notes

Pinned priority notes are freeform text entries attached to a guest profile and elevated to the top of the screen. They are the first thing staff see when they open a profile — no scrolling required.

When to Pin: VIP Flags, Allergies, Accessibility

Pin information that is urgent, safety-related, or changes how staff should interact with the guest:

• VIP status — "Board member — always greet by name, comp welcome amenity"
• Allergies — "Severe peanut allergy — notify kitchen before every meal"
• Accessibility needs — "Wheelchair user — ground floor room, accessible bathroom"
• Complaints — "Previous stay: AC issue in room 204, was very dissatisfied. Ensure room is pre-checked"

The strength of pinned notes is immediacy. They catch attention. They are hard to miss. TacTech.ai's pinned priority notes feature ensures critical information is always visible at the top of any guest profile.

Approach 2 — Structured Tags and Categories

Structured tags are predefined labels that can be assigned to guest profiles for filtering and segmentation. Unlike freeform notes, tags follow a consistent vocabulary that the entire team shares.

Dietary, Room, Communication Preferences

Common tag categories include:

• Dietary — vegetarian, vegan, halal, gluten-free, no shellfish
• Room — high floor, ocean view, quiet location, king bed
• Communication — prefers email, prefers phone, prefers WhatsApp
• Interests — spa, golf, children's activities, business center

The strength of tags is searchability. You can pull a list of all guests who prefer ocean-view rooms and send them a targeted offer when a premium room block opens up. Freeform notes are not searchable in this way.

Combining Both for Maximum Effectiveness

The most effective CRM setup uses both approaches together:

• Pinned notes for critical, safety, and high-priority information that staff must see immediately
• Structured tags for searchable, filterable preference data used in segmentation and marketing

Think of it this way: pinned notes are for the front desk. Tags are for marketing and operations. Both serve the guest, but through different workflows.

Real Scenarios: How Staff Use Preference Data

Scenario 1: Check-in. A returning guest approaches the desk. The staff member opens their profile. A pinned note says "VIP — prefers quiet room away from elevator." The staff member selects room 412 without the guest having to ask.

Scenario 2: Marketing campaign. The marketing team wants to promote a new spa package. They filter the CRM for guests tagged with "spa" interest and "repeat visitor" lifecycle status. The result is a targeted list of 340 guests most likely to convert.

Scenario 3: Restaurant preparation. The kitchen receives a list of tonight's bookings with linked dietary tags. They see three gluten-free guests and two vegetarian guests, and prepare accordingly — before anyone has to call.

What guest preferences should hotels track? At minimum: room preferences (floor, view, bed type), dietary requirements, communication channel preference, accessibility needs, and interest areas. Safety-critical preferences like allergies should be pinned for immediate visibility.

How do pinned notes improve front desk service? Pinned notes appear at the top of a guest profile the moment a staff member opens it. This means VIP flags, allergy alerts, and prior complaints are seen before the interaction begins — not after the guest has already had to explain themselves.

See how preference tracking works in practice. Schedule a demo with our team.