The Week, That Was – June 2018 Week 5

In five minutes or less, keep track of the most important news of the week, curated just for you. We present to you hand – picked news on latest industry perspectives and some general updates. Read on!!

HospitalityUnited.Club highlights OTA duopoly in American Online Hotel Booking Space
HospitalityUnited.Club presents ebook on ‘USA Travel Trends 2018’ highlighting key travel metrics and indicators in the region.

Click  https://goo.gl/UM8foa to download the ebook.

Hotel booking websites told to stop ‘one room left’ warnings
Hotel booking websites have been told to stop “one room left” warnings designed to pressure holidaymakers into booking, under a crackdown by competition watchdogs.

https://goo.gl/8Yvw6V

Watchdog takes aim at hotel booking sites
Hotel booking sites must review the way they rank and display rooms, the UK’s competition watchdog has said.

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-44633411

A Few Friendly Suggestions for Modern Hoteliers
The state of hospitality is indeed strong, but there’s always room for a few nips, tucks, and optimization. Here are a few ideas that modern hoteliers can crib from.

https://skift.com/2018/06/19/a-few-friendly-suggestions-for-modern-hoteliers/

eDreams Odigeo hits record revenue milestone
Our partner  eDreams Odigeo has reached €500 million in annual revenue for the first time in its history, crediting growth in mobile as a significant factor.

https://www.phocuswire.com/Edreams-Odigeo-results-2018-full-year

Europe Travel Launch 2018: WIHP Hotels
The platform connects hotel CRSs and channel management tools to the main hotel search engines such as Trivago, TripAdvisor, Kayak, Skyscanner and Google.

https://www.phocuswire.com/Launch-focus-WIHP-Hotels

Connect with us for your connectivity needs to make the most of online revenue.
https://goo.gl/3gKUJZ

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HospitalityUnited.Club highlights OTA duopoly in American Online Hotel Booking Space

HospitalityUnited.Club, a consortium of travel technology companies, has published an e-book titled ‘USA Travel Trends 2018’ highlighting key travel metrics and indicators in the region, in partnership with HRS Group, LiveOS, RateTiger and Sojern.

The e-book highlights the dominance of Expedia and Booking.com group companies in the USA online hotel booking space, controlling almost 95% of the OTA market.

The e-book shows that while traditional channels like voice, call center and tour operators are still preferred means of hotel reservations, growth of online booking is outpacing them by over 300%. Interestingly, unlike Europe, hotels are getting more online bookings through their brand website, indicating robust digital presence.

While metasearch remains strong as ever, Google has emerged as a serious channel, ranking first, when travellers look for pricing information. The search engine is also sending the most qualified leads to the hotel websites, even though, metasearch channels are dominated by OTAs.

The e-book also highlights that inspite of being one of the most matured online markets, one out of three people still feel uncomfortable booking hotels on mobile. This explains why mobile booking growth is lower in USA when compared to APAC.

To get more interesting insights, download the free infographic here.

The Week, That Was – June 2018 Week 4

In five minutes or less, keep track of the most important news of the week, curated just for you. We present to you hand – picked news on latest industry perspectives and some general updates. Read on!!

HITEC: Industry must think holistically about tech
A panel of top-level executives speaking at the Hospitality Industry Technology Exposition & Conference said the hotel industry has to adopt more broad technology solutions that work together.

http://www.hotelnewsnow.com/Articles/286985/HITEC-Industry-must-think-holistically-about-tech

Travelers losing interest in home-sharing, Google gaining ground as travel resource
For all the chatter of Airbnb stealing scene time away from hotels, traveler interest in home-sharing seems to be waning. According to MMGY Global’s Portrait of American Travelers study, which surveyed nearly 3,000 US adults that have taken at least one trip over the past 12 months, just 33% of respondents are interested in sharing economy accommodations, down from 41% in 2017 and 37% in 2016.

https://www.phocuswire.com/MMGY-Global-portrait-of-american-travelers-2018

How strategic use of technology drives guest loyalty and hotel revenue
Technology is creating new opportunities and challenges for hospitality brands, and the ones that use it effectively will be rewarded with a loyal following of guests and, ultimately, more profits.

https://www.phocuswire.com/HITEC-CEO-technology-panel

Google: Travel’s closely watched obsession
Google’s entry into metasearch may be more than half a decade old, but it continues to be a closely watched obsession for the travel industry. Since the very beginning, Phocuswright has carefully tracked the evolution of Google travel products and their growing role in travel’s search-shop-buy funnel.

https://www.phocuswire.com/Google-travel-obsession

How hotel managers can generate profits above and beyond owner’s expectations
There is a lot happening in 2018 that hotel owners should be happy about. After the best Q1 on record earlier this year, it is shaping up to be another stellar year in hospitality with demand (2.4%) outweighing supply (2%); occupancy increasing by 0.4%; ADRs growing by 2.6%; and RevPAR increasing by 3% (STR, PWC).

https://www.hebsdigital.com/blog/hotel-managers-generate-profits/

How RevPAR growth translates into profits
Hotel profitability is the primary measure of success for hotel owners, managers and operators. However, revenue and top-line data continue to be the focus of the industry.

One major reason for this is the availability of revenue-per-available-room data, which is directly linked to the success of STR at aggregating rooms revenue data across a substantial portion of the industry. Alternatively, profitability data is much more difficult to amass because hotel ownership and management groups are much more fragmented than hotel brands.

http://www.hotelnewsnow.com/Articles/286892/How-RevPAR-growth-translates-into-profits

Amazon’s latest focus on hotels comes via Alexa
Amazon is launching a new service for hotels to introduce its voice-controlled assistant Alexa for guests to use in their rooms. Alexa for Hospitality will allow hotel guests to make verbal requests through an Amazon Echo device, including room service, housekeeping and contacting the property’s concierge.
https://www.tnooz.com/article/amazon-hospitality-alexa-hotels/

Fake hotels becoming a massive issue for OTAs
The rise of fake hotels is a phenomenon that has left both consumers and online travel agents (OTAs) frustrated and out of pocket. And they’re becoming more sophisticated and believable too. In recent months, the travel industry has witnessed a tidal wave of fake chalet websites, with one website, Alps-stay.com, conning unsuspecting holiday-makers out of tens of thousands of euros.

http://travolution.com/articles/107814/guest-post-the-fake-hotels-phenomenon-targeting-otas

Connect with us for your connectivity needs to make the most of online revenue.
https://goo.gl/3gKUJZ

Thanks and have a good day!

HospitalityUnited.Club brings Cocktails & Conversations to Houston

HospitalityUnited.Club, a consortium of travel technology companies, brings its classic Cocktails and Conversations event to Houston in June. The Club will be hosting an exclusive evening for hoteliers on 19 June 2018, with HRS Group, LiveOS, RateTiger and Sojern joining as co-hosts.

The high energy networking event will bring together hotels and tech providers in an informal relaxed setting at The Lake House, in the heart of Houston’s Convention District, to explore innovative technology and new ideas.

“We are proud to collaborate with HospitalityUnited.Club to co-host the networking event in Houston. It gives us an opportunity to meet and greet hoteliers and technology partners and demonstrate our client appreciation. HUC organizes events that are co-located with major tradeshows around the globe, providing partners a perfect backdrop for showcasing new ideas and technology innovation.” Edward Perry, Head of Partnerships, Americas, HRS Group.

The Houston event is the sixth in the series, following successful networking parties in Toronto, Singapore, London, Madrid and Berlin.

To join us for the Cocktails & Conversations in Houston, register today – https://bit.ly/2kT5PAk

About HUC: HospitalityUnited.Club brings together hotels and technology providers to exchange ideas and knowledge in an informal relaxed setting. It is a social platform for like-minded professionals. The HUC events are co-located with major tradeshows around the world including ITB, WTM, HITEC, FITUR etc, where technology partners come together to host networking drinks at exclusive locations for their industry peers. Join HUC to get to know the latest in hospitality innovation. For more details, contact marketing@hospitalityunited.club

The Week, That Was – June 2018 Week 2

In five minutes or less, keep track of the most important news of the week, curated just for you. We present to you hand – picked news on latest industry perspectives and some general updates. Read on!!

 

Hotel Beacon NYC recommends RateTiger as the most effective Channel Manager
The upscale hotel has been using RTConnect for 2-way XML connectivity between its property management system and online sales channels for the last three years to effectively manage all its demand partners seamlessly.

https://goo.gl/tJt9yX

How TripAdvisor ranks hotels
Online guest reviews have become worth their weight in gold to hotels. Today, a huge 95% of people read a travel review before they book a trip, which means building a strong online reputation plays a fundamental part in attracting guests and driving bookings.

http://www.traveltripper.com/blog/how-does-tripadvisor-rank-hotels/

Securing last-minute bookings during peak season
Peak season in travel presents its own unique challenges. The article explores why deep discounting may not always be the winning recipe to secure late bookings and how thinking outside the box is necessary to maximise revenue. Every hotelier and property has to deal with peaks and troughs in demand, but if rooms need to be filled at the last-minute, being able to think beyond dropping prices and taking a more strategic approach could give you that crucial competitive edge.

https://click.booking.com/features/2018/06/04/securing-last-minute-bookings-peak-season/

Are hoteliers too skeptical of artificial intelligence?
AI disruption has already begun in the business world, and the hospitality industry should pay close attention. Hotel companies must already be strategizing about how they can take advantage of this inevitable new wave of automation and guest-experience evolution.

https://www.phocuswire.com/Hoteliers-skeptical-of-AI

How and why you have to deal with the watershed that is GDPR
The GDPR is a watershed event that will impact every business that collects personal information, wherever located, and no industry will be more impacted that the hospitality industry. Other companies can choose not to do business with EU citizens; some companies have determined that it is impossible to comply and have actually closed. That is not an option for hotels. Hotel companies need to understand the goals and requirements of the GDPR. The nature of hotels and the various data holding sources such as OTA bookings and PMS systems escalate the regulation for travel and hospitality industries.

https://ehotelier.com/global/2018/06/08/deal-watershed-gdpr/

In land of the giants, smaller OTAs find ways to grab customers
According to Phocuswright’s U.S. Online Travel Overview 17th Edition Report published in February, OTAs’ market share rose to 19% in 2017 from 17% in 2015. Booking Holdings brands Priceline and Booking.com accounted for 23% of the U.S. OTA market share last year, while Expedia brands (excluding Egencia and HomeAway) accounted for 69%.

http://www.travelweekly.com/Travel-News/Travel-Technology/Smaller-OTAs-find-ways-to-grab-customers

Connect with us for your connectivity needs to make the most of online revenue.
https://goo.gl/3gKUJZ

Thanks and have a good day!

 

Hotel Beacon NYC recommends RateTiger as the most effective channel manager

 Hotel Beacon, a landmark in New York City has highly recommended RateTiger for managing online channel connectivity. The upscale hotel has been using RTConnect for 2-way XML connectivity between its property management system and online sales channels for the last three years to effectively manage all its demand partners seamlessly.

Located in  Upper Westside, right next to Beacon Theater, the hotel with 284 rooms, caters to tourists and business travelers. Given the intense dynamic nature of New York’s hotel market, it has become imperative for the hotel to maintain rate parity and online availability across all major sales channels and metasearch sites. The revenue management team is leveraging RTConnect to update rates and inventory in real-time and receive reservations directly into the PMS thereby giving a clear picture of actual availability at all times. They are also using the advanced analytics available on the LiveOS dashboard to fine-tune their pricing strategy, monitor their booking pace and performance in real-time.

“We highly recommend RateTiger by eRevMax to anyone looking for an effective, online channel manager. We are very pleased with the personalized support and excellent response time, due to which they seem like an extension of our own team,” stated Milja Perkovic, Director of Revenue Management, Hotel Beacon NYC.

“As a technology partner, we are committed to empowering our customers for all their connectivity needs. Being trusted by a prestigious property like Hotel Beacon NYC for streamlining their online distribution shows how well we deliver when it comes to best-in-class technology and premium customer service,” said Alex Moura, Regional Sales Director for North America at eRevMax.

The Week, That Was – June 2018 Week 1

In five minutes or less, keep track of the most important news of the week, curated just for you. We present to you hand – picked news on latest industry perspectives and some general updates. Read on!!


How travel brands should tackle attribution

Knowledge of your customer is a must-have, but complex journeys across multiple devices present travel brands with huge challenges. A new report from EyeforTravel investigates how to conquer attribution. Travel brands need to undertake an extensive and multifaceted approach because attribution requires capturing interactions at so many touchpoints over extended periods and from different devices.

http://www.eyefortravel.com/mobile-and-technology/how-travel-brands-should-tackle-attribution 

eRevMax announces 2-way integration with Nitesoft
The connectivity between RateTiger and Nitesoft PMS has proven to be highly reliable and easy-to-use. It means more sales and higher margins for our hotel customers. They can now exploit the full potential of a vast selection of OTAs, GDSs, Metasearch and Wholesalers available via the eRevMax Channel Ecosystem to expand visibility and revenue potential.

https://goo.gl/RdwgMr

PATA reports Another record year for foreign arrivals into Asia Pacific in 2017
With a cumulative count of 636 million foreign arrivals into the region in 2017, Asia Pacific sets a new record – according to a report released today by the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA). The distribution of these arrivals was such, that in terms of the destination regions and sub-regions covered in the report, Asia received the majority of these arrivals in 2017 with a 72% share, followed by the Americas with 24% and the Pacific with the remaining four percent.

https://www.hospitalitynet.org/performance/4088660.html

GDPR: Why Hoteliers Should Take the new EU Regulations Very Seriously
New EU rules on data protection – or GDPR – , seven years in the making, come/came into effect on May 25. The advice from IT experts to hoteliers is: take the new rules very seriously or risk heavy fines of up to 20 million euros or four percent of the company’s global turnover, whichever is higher.

https://www.hospitalitynet.org/opinion/4088620.html

Sojern Offers Insights on Early Summer Travel Trends Around the Globe
Sojern published its latest Global Travel Insights report, which offers a quarterly look at travel trends from around the world. Sojern’s data shows that the 2018 World Cup is a primary travel driver across Europe, the Middle East and Africa for the summer. Looking at travelers’ paths to purchase, mid-east and African tourists are opting to either return to their families following the end of Ramadan on 15th June, or they are immediately beginning to travel for the World Cup

https://www.sojern.com/blog/global-travel-trends-report-summer-2018/

Is working on vacation key to enjoying it?
Among the key findings:
⅓ of workers intend on being available to work on vacation.
For many, working during vacation helps them enjoy vacation more.
Men are 10% more likely than women to say they plan on working during vacation.
Millennials mirror the working habits of their boss when they take a vacation.
https://ehotelier.com/global/2018/05/29/working-vacation-key-enjoying/

Connect with us for your connectivity needs to make the most of online revenue.
https://goo.gl/3gKUJZ

Thanks and have a good day!