Harnessing Digital Marketing Analytics for Knowledge-Driven Digital Transformation in the Hospitality Industry

In the digitally saturated hospitality environment, research on digital transformation remains dominated by macro-level adoption trends and user-generated content, while the potential of micro-level web-behavioural data remains largely untapped. Recent systematic reviews highlight a fragmented body of literature and note that hospitality studies seldom address first-party behavioural data or big-data analytics capabilities. To address this gap, we collected clickstream, navigation and booking-funnel data from five luxury hotels in the Mediterranean and employed big-data analytics integrated with simulation modelling—specifically fuzzy cognitive mapping (FCM)—to model causal relationships among digital touchpoints, managerial actions and customer outcomes. FCM is a robust simulation tool that captures stakeholder knowledge and causal influences across complex systems. Using a case-study methodology, we show that first-party behavioural data enable real-time insights, support knowledge-based decision-making and drive digital service innovation. Across a 12-month panel, visitor volume was strongly associated with search traffic and social traffic, with the total-visitors model explaining 99.8% of variance. Our findings extend digital-transformation models by embedding micro-level behavioural data flows and simulation modelling. Practically, this study offers a replicable framework that helps managers integrate web-analytics into decision-making and customer-centric innovation. Overall, embedding micro-level web-behavioural analytics within an FCM framework yields a decision-ready, replicable pipeline that translates behavioural evidence into high-leverage managerial interventions.