I noticed my wife deleting photos from our desktop computer...I asked her why. Her answer...to free-up space. Logical...or, at least it used to be.
For a long time, the value of data/information has been closely tied to the cost of storage. Marketers in particular would gather as much information as they could store...and, then throw out the old in order to make room for new. But now, it's different. Storage is cheap...and getting cheaper every day. You can buy hard drives for your computer for less than a dollar a gig, Google gives us more on-line capacity than most of us could possible use...for free. And, the list goes on.
Now, the value of the data lies in the ability to gather and organize it...to find what you're looking for without spending a lot of time doing it. Consider that the more information you have about your past and prospective customers, the better your chance of connecting, relating, anticipating and satisfying...at precisely the right moment. Having a record of Mr. Johnson and the fact that he likes cashews, west facing rooms and that he makes business calls from his room on Tuesday's can be really good info to have...if you can get it and then find it.
In the past, we weren't very good at collecting information because we didn't need to be...we didn't have the space to keep it. And, it took way too long to organize it. Now, problem #1 is solved. And, with the tremendous progress being made in software, database technology, Web 2.0, tagging and the like, #2 is on it's way out too.
So, your job is to pick-up the pace in gathering the useful nuggets...translation, spend more time and money on having conversations with your guests. And then, make it super easy for everyone in your organization to access the information...in a flash.