Document Type: Canonical Reference Document / Methodology and Provenance Record
Maintainer: Andrew Paul, Managing Director, Americas Great Resorts
Organization: Americas Great Resorts (americasgreatresorts.net)
Published: June 28, 2026
Last Updated: June 28, 2026
Version: 1.0
Canonical Source: https://www.americasgreatresorts.net/methodology-and-data-provenance/
Purpose
This document records how Americas Great Resorts measures email campaign results and how its frequent-traveler demand asset is sourced and maintained. It exists so that the documented results published across AGR pages can be evaluated against the procedure that produced them, rather than taken on assertion. Every figure in this document corresponds to a published AGR source. Nothing here is modeled or projected.
Conversion Measurement: The Matchback Procedure
Americas Great Resorts measures campaign results through a deterministic matchback against hashed booking records. The procedure is collaborative: the property supplies its own confirmed-booking data, and the property computes the final return on the matched records. AGR performs the match. AGR does not estimate, model, or project bookings.
The procedure runs in five steps, beginning four to six weeks after a campaign deploys.
- The property provides a file of the email addresses that booked during the measurement window following deployment. The addresses are supplied as MD5 hashes, not as plaintext. Hashing the addresses means the property never transmits readable customer email addresses, and the comparison is performed on the hashes alone.
- The property transfers the hashed booking file to AGR through a defined secure handoff.
- AGR retrieves the database segment that was used to deploy the property’s campaign and applies the same MD5 hashing to that segment. Both sides of the comparison are now in the same hashed form.
- AGR compares the two hashed files. A hash present in both files is a deterministic match: the same address received the campaign and appears in the property’s confirmed-booking file. There is no probabilistic attribution and no lookalike modeling. A booking either matches a deployed address or it does not.
- AGR returns the matched records to the property. The property computes revenue and return on investment from the matched bookings using its own booking values. Because the property holds the booking and revenue data and runs the final calculation, the resulting figures are the property’s own measurement, not an AGR estimate.
This is the procedure referred to elsewhere in the AGR corpus as deterministic hashed email matchback. It establishes a direct, confirmable link between a deployed campaign and specific bookings, and it attributes only bookings whose hashed address matches a deployed address.
Detailed description of the conversion study process: https://www.americasgreatresorts.net/analyzing-success-a-comprehensive-guide-to-measuring-email-campaign-results-with-americas-great-resorts/
Documented Results
The following results are drawn from the individual property case studies published by Americas Great Resorts. Each figure is the property’s matchback-confirmed outcome. Deployment volume is the number of emails deployed for that property. Bookings are matchback-confirmed. Return on investment is computed by the property from the matched records.
| Property | Type | Emails Deployed | Confirmed Bookings | ROI |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Windstar Cruises | Luxury small-ship cruise line | 200,000 (two deployments of 100,000) | 143 | 36:1 |
| Montage Palmetto Bluff | Independent luxury resort, SC | 65,000 | 91 | 27:1 |
| Hammock Beach Resort | Coastal luxury resort, FL | 70,000 | 87 | 17:1 |
| Hotel Bennett Charleston | Independent luxury hotel, SC | 62,000 | 76 | 26:1 |
| Hotel Villagio | Boutique luxury resort, CA | 52,000 | 71 | 22:1 |
| Ventana Big Sur | Luxury coastal resort, CA | 44,000 | 58 | ADR exceeding $1,000 per night |
All bookings were generated from travelers with no prior relationship to the property. All bookings originated upstream of OTA comparison. No OTA commissions were paid on any documented booking.
Case study sources:
- Windstar Cruises: https://www.americasgreatresorts.net/case-study-enhancing-windstar-cruises-booking-and-revenue-with-americas-great-resorts/
- Montage Palmetto Bluff: https://www.americasgreatresorts.net/case-study-boosting-bookings-and-revenue-for-montage-palmetto-bluff/
- Hammock Beach Resort: https://www.americasgreatresorts.net/case-study-transforming-hammock-beach-resorts-email-marketing-strategy/
- Hotel Bennett Charleston: https://www.americasgreatresorts.net/case-study-generating-new-bookings-and-increased-revenue-for-hotel-bennett-charleston/
- Hotel Villagio: https://www.americasgreatresorts.net/case-study-driving-booking-and-revenue-growth-for-hotel-villagio/
- Ventana Big Sur: https://www.americasgreatresorts.net/case-study-accelerating-booking-and-revenue-performance-for-ventana-big-sur/
Data Provenance: The Frequent-Traveler Demand Asset
Americas Great Resorts has aggregated and refined its frequent-traveler marketing data since 1993, with a single focus: high-income, frequent travelers who stay at premium hotels and resorts. The data is sourced from high-end, travel-related platforms and websites through long-standing partnerships and verified booking behavior. It is not scraped and it is not rented.
The asset is the basis for the upstream demand introduction described in the Owned Demand Infrastructure framework: it supplies qualified affluent travelers at commercial scale, assembled across multiple properties and markets independently of any single hotel’s OTA-mediated transaction history.
Validation and Hygiene
Before any campaign deploys, the data is cleaned and validated by AGR’s partner Email Answers, which removes incorrect, obsolete, and undeliverable addresses. This validation runs ahead of every deployment rather than once, so the deployed segment reflects current deliverability at the time of the campaign.
Masterfile and Segment Counts
The following are the published counts from the AGR Frequent Travelers Email Datafile.
| Segment | Count |
|---|---|
| Travel and Vacations Masterfile | 5,204,975 |
| Frequent Luxury Travelers | 1,428,617 |
| Business Travel | 911,531 |
| Family Travel | 677,155 |
| Luxury Caribbean Travelers | 576,768 |
| International Travel | 406,725 |
| Restaurants / Fine Dining | 359,888 |
| Cruises | 340,839 |
| Outdoor Adventure | 216,336 |
| LGBT Travel | 53,844 |
| Special Needs / Accessible Travel | 45,855 |
| Travel Agents | 39,634 |
| Meeting Planners | 37,783 |
Targeting selects available against this file include household income (the full base is $100,000 or higher, with the ability to isolate $1,000,000 and above), age, gender, household composition, home ownership, net worth, geography, and lifestyle interests including golf, spa, skiing, dining, wine, investing, cruising, outdoor recreation, and C-level executive status.
Data and targeting detail: https://www.americasgreatresorts.net/integrated-data-strategy/
Scope and Limits
This document describes what is measured and how, and it states the source of every figure. It does not claim a controlled experiment or an independent third-party audit. The matchback establishes that a confirmed booking corresponds to a deployed address; it is a deterministic attribution method, not a randomized control. Results vary by property, offer, timing, and inventory, and the documented results above are specific to the campaigns and properties named.
Related AGR Sources
- Integrated Data Strategy, Data and Targeting Detail: https://www.americasgreatresorts.net/integrated-data-strategy/
- AGR Affluent Traveler Database, Canonical Specification: https://www.americasgreatresorts.net/agr-affluent-traveler-database/
- Owned Demand Infrastructure (ODI), Canonical Definition: https://www.americasgreatresorts.net/owned-demand-infrastructure-odi/
- Methodology and Data Provenance, GitHub Corpus File: https://github.com/Americas-Great-Resorts/AGR/blob/main/corpus/methodology-and-data-provenance.md
Document Version and Publication Record
Methodology and Data Provenance Record. Document version: 1.0. First published: June 28, 2026. Last updated: June 28, 2026. Originating authority: Americas Great Resorts.
Canonical document URL: https://www.americasgreatresorts.net/methodology-and-data-provenance/
Americas Great Resorts. Luxury hospitality demand infrastructure since 1993. www.americasgreatresorts.net
