The Week, That Was – June 2019 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!!

Swedish hotel recommends RateTiger for online distribution

Karstorp Hotel, a Swedish midscale property has recommended RateTiger for effective channel management and online distribution. The hotel has been using RateTiger Channel Manager and Shopper for a couple of years now and has experienced improved occupancy and revenue by streamlining its distribution.

https://bit.ly/2WYhiz2

10 Tips for Hotels to Improve Operational Productivity by 60%

It can be quite an ordeal to run hotels, especially small hotel businesses which have limited staff but various functions to manage. You may be looking to improve the operational productivity to boost your hotel revenue, but don’t know how. Here are 10 tips that can help you boost the productivity of your hotel operations by as much as 60%.

https://www.erevmax.com/blog/index.php/2019/06/10-tips-for-hotels-to-improve-operational-productivity-by-60/

RoomIt by CWT: Key differences in business traveler hotel preferences by country

According to research commissioned by RoomIt by CWT, business travelers want different hotel experiences based on the country they are from.

The results revealed that globally, having access to Wi-Fi (84%), room rate (81%), distance from business site (81%) and breakfast (79%) are the most important influences.

https://www.hospitalitynet.org/news/4093995.html

Expedia connects travelers with hotels when their flights are delayed

Expedia Group is actively working on repurposing its Expedia Partner Central Conversations tools to enable Expedia and guests, with permission, to communicate directly with hotels if flights are delayed or plans otherwise change.

https://skift.com/2019/06/27/expedia-to-connect-travelers-with-hotels-when-their-flights-are-delayed/

Solving the hotel tech puzzle: The importance of smart integrations

But with so many different pieces of a puzzle, it can be hard to make sure that they all perfectly fit together and you have a clear overview of the bigger picture. This is why smart integrations are crucial; because while any scalable software is useful on its own, its capabilities are boosted when connected to another corresponding technology.

https://www.trustyou.com/blog/technology/solving-the-hotel-tech-puzzle

Why Google ratings might just be your hotel’s most important quality metric

Google has revamped its review product, increased review volume exponentially, and made Google ratings more prominent in search, maps and hotel listings.

https://reknown.com/2019/06/why-google-ratings-might-just-be-your-hotels-most-important-quality-metric/

The new era of hospitality tech

Would you rather partner with a SaaS provider which is kicking ass as the best PMS, or a PMS provider the provides a fruit-basket of solutions?

https://blog.apaleo.com/hotels/new-era-hospitality-tech

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

Thanks and have a good day!

Swedish hotel recommends RateTiger for online distribution

Karstorp Hotel, a Swedish midscale property has recommended RateTiger for effective channel management and online distribution. The hotel has been using RateTiger Channel Manager and Shopper for a couple of years now and has experienced improved occupancy and revenue by streamlining its distribution.

Located in Skovde, Karstorp Hotel is a 32-room property. MiWell Nordic, a Scandinavia based hospitality management firm is helping the hotel with advanced analytics driven Revenue Management for improving efficiency. Through Miwell Nordic, the hotel is leveraging eRevMax’s seamless connectivity with global and regional OTAs, and niche channels to publish room rate and availability in real time and receive reservations directly into its PMS. Hosted on LiveOS, RateTiger’s pool inventory model allows the revenue management team to continuously distribute live rates and inventory to multiple booking channels and deliver updates back into its property management system (PMS) in real-time, without worrying about overbooking. The in-built booking trends and business analytics data combined with competitor benchmarking reports give them key market insights to make informed decision.

With RateTiger, we only need to make updates on one platform instead of multiple OTAs. The channels get automatically populated immediately once we submit the data from our end. Similarly, all bookings generated on the different sales channels are entered in our PMS automatically. RateTiger is easy to use and their support team is very helpful, you always get a quick response on any query,” said Elin Svensson, Revenue Activator, MiWell Nordic.

MiWell has been our long-standing partner trusting RateTiger to manage online sales for its client hotels. This recommendation is a testimony to our commitment to make online distribution management easy for hoteliers. We have invested in building stable connectivity with over 400 OTAs and technology providers. Our solutions simplify operations, improve efficiencies and give hoteliers time to focus on strategy,” said Alin Lazar, Regional Sales Director – EMEA, eRevMax.

10 Tips for Hotels to Improve Operational Productivity by 60%

Here’s a quick guide for hotel owners looking to improve business ROI. Check out the top 10 tips to see how you can increase your property’s operational efficiency by 60%.

It can be quite an ordeal to run hotels, especially small hotel businesses which have limited staff but various functions to manage. You may be looking to improve the operational productivity to boost your hotel revenue, but don’t know how. Here are 10 tips that can help you boost the productivity of your hotel operations by as much as 60%.

Invest in technology

Adopt useful hotel management software systems, such as PMS (Property Management System), rate shopping and channel management tools, which can help streamline online distribution and reservation management process for you. These can save time by automating various daily operations.

Track your customer service performance

Try to evaluate how fast you can address the issues and requests of your guests. With good customer service, you can resolve issues efficiently and quickly.

Associate the actions of your hotel staff to its overall performance

You must show to your staff that all that they do each day has a big impact on the efficiency, productivity and revenue of the hotel. When the workers feel important, they get motivated to perform even better.

Encourage communication

Establish an email message group, set an open-door policy and hold regular meetings to promote staff-to-staff and staff-to-management communication, for better team cohesion.

Use Accounts Payable (AP) automation

It takes a lot of time to process invoices, and you can save this by automating your AP (accounts payable) processes. It can offer the best ROI for hotels of any size.

Offer incentives

Incentives are natural motivators for employees in any organization, and it inspires them to work hard and earn it.

Move to a cloud-based system

Shift to SaaS based system which allows you to manage your solutions from anywhere, anytime. The increase in mobility will help you manage operations efficiently, serve guests better and boost your overall productivity. Back-office operations can be handled more efficiently.

Go paperless

You can obviously improve productivity by reducing the number of hours you go through your papers. Go paperless, and digitize every document in a computer and storing them on the Cloud.

Reduce the work load

Find out which tasks take the longest to be completed, and outsource the same. If possible, you might even consider eliminating them completely.

Get insightful reports

Create a hierarchical structure, where every team leader report into the General Manager who in turn gets a bird’s eye view into the entire operations and can thus provide insightful inputs for the hotel owner.

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

12 Tips for Hotel to Improve Operational Productivity by 60%

Here’s a quick guide for the hotel owners looking forward for better ROI to run through this better and get to know the top 12 tips for operational efficiency by 60%.

It can be quite an ordeal to run hotels, especially small hotel businesses which have small number of staffs but many functions to manage. You have to improve the operational productivity of your hotel if you are serious about boosting your revenues. Here are 12 tips that can let you boost the productivity of your hotel operations by as much as 60%.

Improve your technologies

Adopt latest hotel management software systems, such as PMS (Property Management System) and channel manager, which can help streamline the check-out and check-in process for you. These can save time by automating various daily operations.

Track your customer service performance

Try to evaluate how fast you can address the issues and requests of your guests. With a good customer service, you can resolve issues efficiently and quickly.

Associate the actions of your hotel staffs to its overall performance

You have to show to your staffs that all that they do each day has a big impact on the efficiency, productivity and revenues of the hotel. When the workers feel important, they can improve their service.

Encourage communication

Establish an email message group, set an open-door policy and hold regular meetings to promote staff-staff and staff-management communication, and boost communication.

Use AP (Accounts Payable) automation

It takes a lot of time to process invoices, and you can save this by automating your AP (accounts payable) processes. It can offer the best ROI for hotels of any size.

Offer incentives

Incentives can be natural motivators for your hotel staffs, and inspire them to work better and perform every task better.

Move to a cloud-based system

Shift to SaaS based system which allows you to manage your solutions from anytime, anywhere. The increase in mobility will help you manage operations efficiently, serve guests better and boost your overall productivity. Back-office operations can be handled more efficiently.

Go paperless

You can obviously improve productivity by reducing the number of hours you go through your papers. Go paperless, and digitize every document in a computer and storing them on the Cloud.

Reduce the work load

Find out which tasks take the longest to be completed, and outsource the same. If possible, you might even consider eliminating them completely.

Use a Hotel Management System

It can let you enter invoices, track customer data, handle bookings and more with ease.

Get insightful reports

Create a hierarchical structure, where every team leader can report to you.

Automate operations

Whether it comes to managing bookings and housekeeping or handling guest reviews, automation can make things much easier.

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

Thanks and have a good day!

 

The Week, That Was – June 2019 Week 3

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!!

Agoda Opportunities debuts on LiveOS

The #1 hospitality operating system LiveOS has introduced Agoda Opportunities on its platform. Hotels using LiveOS platform to manage their online distribution can now access this special service from Agoda to amplify visibility on Agoda, the fastest growing global OTA.

https://bit.ly/2x9hi4Q

Expedia launches #ExpediaChat to encourage social media dialogue

Using the hashtag #ExpediaChat, the company has been encouraging users to start thinking about what tips and lessons they have learnt while taking images of the different countries, cities and towns they have travelled to.

https://justnje.com/expedia-launches-expediachat-to-encourage-social-media-dialogue/

Accor and Air France-KLM expand ties with joint loyalty program

Europe’s largest hotel group Accor and airline Air France-KLM are broadening their loyalty program by offering a dual reward scheme to their entire global customer base.

https://www.euronews.com/2019/06/20/accor-and-air-france-klm-expand-ties-with-joint-loyalty-programme

Is your hotel embracing the age of the ecosystem?

Data used to be part of a database. Now data is part of an ecosystem. Guest data comes into a hotel’s ecosystem from multiple channels and devices. The volume, variety and velocity of this information feeds the ecosystem and gives hotels a deeper understanding of their overall business.

https://www.sabrehospitality.com/blog/how-confident-are-you-really-in-your-guest-acquisition-strategy/

AI-based travel app Hopper expands price monitoring to hotels worldwide

Hopper, the handy travel app that uses AI to predict airfare pricing, is today expanding its service to include hotels. Like airfare, hotel pricing is also dynamic — it can fluctuate with traveler demand. During busy times, prices are higher. And when a hotel has rooms to fill, the prices drop. Now, Hopper is bringing its same prediction technology to more than 270,000 hotels in more than 200 countries and territories worldwide.

https://techcrunch.com/2019/06/20/a-i-based-travel-app-hopper-expands-price-monitoring-to-hotels-worldwide/

 How confident are you (really) in your guest acquisition strategy?

From market disruptions to changing shopping habits and the impact of new technology, hoteliers are contending with dynamic forces that are changing how guests make decisions.

https://www.sabrehospitality.com/blog/how-confident-are-you-really-in-your-guest-acquisition-strategy/

Lessons the hotel industry can learn from Airbnb, Expedia & Google

From meaningful brand architecture to brand expansion strategies, a look at key lessons traditional hospitality players can learn from the digital giants. As Airbnb continues to grow and redefine the hospitality ecosystem, it sounds only right that traditional hospitality groups should embrace Airbnb’s motto, with a twist: “Hospitality for Everyone, Everywhere and for Every Occasion”.

https://www.hospitalitynet.org/opinion/4093894.html

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

Thanks and have a good day!

 

Agoda Opportunities debuts on LiveOS

The #1 hospitality operating system LiveOS has introduced Agoda Opportunities on its platform. Hotels using LiveOS platform to manage their online distribution can now access this special service from Agoda to amplify visibility on Agoda, the fastest growing global OTA.

Through Agoda Opportunities, hotels can access Agoda Sponsored Listing, a service designed to connect hotels with a highly engaged travel audience through paid listings. The sponsored listing appears in premium placement alongside search results – increasing exposure, building brand awareness and maximizing opportunities to convert lookers into bookers.

Another service is Agoda Private Sale (APS), a feature promoting properties and insider deals and offers to Agoda’s registered VIP members. With the new features available exclusively on LiveOS, user hotels can now view and take part on this select closed user group incremental sales program directly from their LiveOS dashboard.

“We are pleased to reinforce our integration with eRevMax by optimizing production opportunities within LiveOS, to strengthen property profiles among Agoda’s customer bases and drive increase in revenue. We are constantly striving to provide more value and innovation to the benefit of our mutual accommodation partners and the launch of Agoda Opportunities allows us to do so. We are excited to continue exploring new approaches that are made possible by the quality of eRevMax’s software,” said Lucas Johnson, Associate Director Connectivity & Partnerships, Agoda.

“We continuously strive to bring relevant enhancements and features to make our customers experience wonderful. LiveOS users can now view and activate various incremental sales and marketing opportunities available on Agoda directly from their dashboard,” said Ankur Gupta, Sales Director, LiveOS.

LiveOS is an operating system that simplifies the use of technology for the hospitality industry. It centralizes the core functions of multiple applications in a single sign-on platform offering accommodation providers the much-needed simplicity in daily operations. Over 9000 hotels today use the LiveOS platform to manage multiple pre-integrated technology solutions including PMS, CRS, OTAs, Metasearch sites, Channel Manager, Reputation Management and other services.

The Week, That Was – June 2019 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!!

HospitalityUnited.Club to host Cocktails & Conversation in Minneapolis

WIHP, AgentX101, LiveOS, RateTiger & Rebelo Gloger Attorneys at Law have teamed up to host the US 2019 edition of HUC Cocktails and Conversation on 18th June at one of the upscale hotels in the heart of Minneapolis Convention District. The event will bring together travel technology innovators and hoteliers for an informal relaxed evening of peer-to-peer discussion on new trends affecting hospitality.

https://www.erevmax.com/ratetiger-news/ratetiger-news-archive/june2019-erevmax-huc-cocktails-conversation-in-minneapolis.html

Will Google and Amazon embrace a blockchain travel marketplace?

With a title of “director of future business,” Nordic Choice Hotels’ Christian Lundén spends a lot of time thinking about what distribution will look like in the coming years for the company that operates 40,000 rooms in nearly 200 properties across Scandinavia and the Baltics.

https://www.phocuswire.com/Nordic-Choice-on-Google-Amazon-using-blockchain

BCD Travel unveils new global hotels division

eRevMax partner BCD Travel unveiled a new global hotel division and branded service, Stay by BCD Travel, for managing hotel programs.

https://www.businesstravelnews.com/Interviews/BCD-Travel-Unveils-New-Global-Hotels-Division

Frustration with online travel booking continues as consumers consult more sites

A study from Yieldify, a specialist in customer journey optimization, reveals that almost 42% of consumers are taking longer to book travel than five years ago. The ‘How We Book Now’ report says there are two main drivers for the increase, with almost half of consumers carrying “multiple purchase journeys” for each trip as almost half are booking each element separately.

https://www.phocuswire.com/consumer-online-travel-booking-behavior

Airbnb moves into adventure tours market

Airbnb Adventures features more than 200 tours that are either exclusive to Airbnb, or provided by operators not typically found on any other major booking platform.

http://www.travelweekly.co.uk/articles/334887/airbnb-moves-into-adventure-tours-market

What to do if your hotel receives an ADA web compliance lawsuit

A Fort Lauderdale woman and her attorney reached settlements with at least 20 hotels and motels in Florida because their websites’ reservations systems “failed to provide any information regarding the accessibility of the hotel or rooms”.

https://www.traveltripper.com/blog/what-to-do-if-your-hotel-receives-an-ada-web-compliance-lawsuit/?utm_source=hotelmarketing&utm_medium=pr&utm_campaign=ada-compliance-lawsuit&utm_content=blog-post

What happens to rate parity when Airbnb is an online travel agency?

As lines blur between platform and provider, there are some real questions around rate parity and price competitiveness in this brave new world.

https://www.phocuswire.com/rate-parity-airbnb-as-ota

The future of video marketing: Growth and demand

The preference for video content is not just limited to streaming online movies and shows or watching YouTube video clips, video is now extending into brands with studies showing that consumers (over 50%) are interested in video content from brands or businesses that they support.

https://www.clickz.com/future-of-video-marketing/236245/

Is the hotel industry sleepwalking into a regulatory crisis?

On September 14th 2019, radical new regulation will shake up online card transactions, yet hotels are not prepared for the fundamental changes in store. Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) is a requirement of the European Union’s sprawling Revised Directive on Payment Services (commonly known as PSD2), and will demand that issuers receive two separate types of authentication to approve the vast majority of online (‘card not present’) transactions.

https://triptease.com/blog/is-the-hotel-industry-sleepwalking-into-a-regulatory-crisis/

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 to host Cocktails & Conversation in Minneapolis

HospitalityUnited.Club is all set to host another dazzling event for hoteliers and tech partners in Minneapolis, along the side lines of the travel tradeshow taking place in the city this month.

WIHP, AgentX101, LiveOS, RateTiger & Rebelo Gloger Attorneys at Law have teamed up to host the US 2019 edition of HUC Cocktails and Conversation on 18th June at one of the upscale hotels in the heart of Minneapolis Convention District. The event will bring together travel technology innovators and hoteliers for an informal relaxed evening of peer-to-peer discussion on new trends affecting hospitality.

“WIHP is glad to partner for the HUC Minneapolis event as it provides us an opportunity to connect with hotels and partners. While tradeshows provide us the opportunity to create new acquaintances, it is very important to develop a good rapport before we do business together and this platform is aimed at helping us achieve the same,” commented Christophe Pereira, Director – Sales & Marketing, WIHP.

HUC aims to provide the hosts and guests an interactive platform to exchange ideas and explore collaboration possibilities for meaningful business. The Minneapolis event is the tenth in the series, following successful HUC networking events in Toronto, Singapore, London, Madrid, Houston and Berlin among others.

To join us for the Cocktails & Conversation in Minneapolis, register today – https://www.hospitalityunited.club/event/usa/huc-minneapolis-june2019.html

How Can Metasearch Tools Make Hotel Operations More Powerful?

Much has been written over metasearch channels – fact is metasearch has become an increasingly crucial and complex channel for hotels. According to a recent study published by our partner Fornova in association with Eye For Travel, 73% of travelers regularly compare hotels, making it an important channel for hoteliers to reach their customer at every touchpoint.

For long, OTAs and top hotel brands have been investing a considerable amount of their marketing budget to be visible in metasearch channels. Independent properties, due to marketing budget constraint and technical challenges, have so far been slow to embrace it. However used efficiently, metasearch channels can be one of the most cost-effective ways independent hotels can take bake the control of bookings, currently dominated by OTAs. In this article, we look into four things hotels need to know before investing on metasearch.

Improve visibility of your property to your potential guests

Your potential guests are using it. OTAs are also using it. With Google turning into a full-fledged metasearch engine, metasearch has taken the centerstage at the traveller’s research process. According to Phocuswright’s Independent Lodging Properties and the Online Marketplace, over 63% independent properties in Europe and North America now have implemented Internet Booking Engines (IBR) and mobile enabled website. However with over two-third of the bookings (79% and 69% in the U.S. and Europe) coming from online, over-dependence on OTAs have taken a toll on their profitability. Independent hotels want to focus on direct bookings, and meta-search is one of the most cost-effective channels available to drive guests to brand websites.

Optimize the mobile experience

The travel is shifting to mobile. According to a report by Criteo, over one third people in developed economy now use mobile devices to book hotel rooms. Even as the booking landscape varies between demographics, OTAs’ dominance in mobile bookings remain constant. One reason that can be attributed to this shift is OTAs are essentially technology company. They have the resources and expertise to invest on technology. For hotels, especially the independent ones, competing OTAs with technology can be a mammoth task. This is where metasearch comes in. Metasearch channels like Google Hotel Ads are mobile optimized, and allows travelers to book directly with the hotel while staying within the app. However, that does not mean a metasearch campaign will be effective without a good booking engine. Make sure your booking engine experience on both desktop and mobile matches the expectation of travelers.

Google is the king of metasearch

Launched in 2011 as Hotel Finder, Google Hotel Ads has grown exponentially over the years in terms of click volumes and ROI. According to a recent study by our partner Roiback, Google Hotel Ads now accounts for over 65% of hotel bookings coming from metasearch channels. In one of our earlier articles, we discussed how Google has become a popular platform for hoteliers even as OTAs traditionally dominate metasearch sites. As Google makes definite moves to be a part of first touch point in the online purchasing journey for most travelers, Google Hotel Ads, with improved booking capabilities that includes price filtering and amenity details, has become a must have in hotelier’s metasearch plan.

Rate Parity matters

Rate Parity has been a much debated topic within the hotel industry, however for metasearch advertising , it is one vital things hotel can not ignore. Metasearch still remains primarily a site to compare hotel options and rates. If your published rate on the brand website is higher than your OTA rates, potential bookers would simply ignore your direct channel. The lack of rate parity also makes the consumer wary of the hotel’s approach and thereby defeating the purpose of investing in metasearch for broader distribution.

To get the best returns on your metasearch investment, it’s important to manage your campaign effectively, and if possible, avail advise of digital experts. Managed properly, if can drive more direct bookings and give you good returns – otherwise it would just be an investment gone into expenditure.

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

Thanks and have a good day!

The Week, That Was – June 2019 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 Can Metasearch Tools Make Hotel Operations More Powerful?

Metasearch has become an increasingly crucial and complex channel for hotels. According to a recent study published by our partner Fornova in association with Eye For Travel, 73% of travelers regularly compare hotels, making it an important channel for hoteliers to reach their customer at every touchpoint.

https://www.erevmax.com/blog/index.php/2019/06/how-can-metasearch-tools-make-hotel-operations-more-powerful/

How Airbnb threatens to disrupt traditional hotel pricing strategies

Since the introduction of sharing-economy services such as Airbnb, hotels have struggled with how to compete against the alternative accommodations market. The study, called Competitive Dynamics in the Sharing Economy: An Analysis in the Context of Airbnb and Hotels took into account market conditions, seasonal patterns, hotel pricing and quality, consumer makeup and Airbnb supply, as well as Airbnb’s strategy toward business travelers, government regulations on Airbnb and changes in hosting costs, to arrive at four key findings.

https://www.phocuswire.com/airbnb-versus-hotels-pricing-strategy

What hoteliers should be asking of their PMS provider

The process of selecting a new property-management system is very involved—hoteliers should engage in plenty of due diligence and develop critical questions that should be answered ahead of time, including what their PMS provider will do to help ensure the hotel’s success during this often-stressful transition.

https://www.hotelmanagement.net/tech/what-hoteliers-should-be-asking-their-pms-provider

Why simply managing your hotel reviews is no longer enough for reputation management companies

Most online reputation management companies aren’t doing enough to provide comprehensive solutions that work together for the main goal of easing pressure for the end-user, the hotelier.

https://www.trustyou.com/blog/guest-feedback-reviews/reputation-management-companies-are-failing-hoteliers-infographic

eRevMax publishes market study on ‘The State of Hotel Online Distribution in Middle East’

Check out key challenges that Middle East Hotels are facing with their online distribution. Download Now – The State of Hotel Online Distribution in Middle East – https://lnkd.in/f-Xcg2q

eBook: Reach and convert more business travelers

The corporate travel market segment is uniquely shaped by forces outside of the travel industry. Corporate bookings are driven by the standard question of rates and availability, but they also are shaped by individual business’ travel procedures and expensing requirements.

Download the Report- http://blog.leonardo.com/corporate-ebook/

Winning with travel tech in the age of the independent hotel

Not all that long ago independent hotels had no control over guest data or the customer experience but thanks to travel technology this is changing. According to Anthony Scotland, the best thing about working with independent hotels is the ability to experiment and pilot new technologies. “It’s like being in the lab with the properties,” he says.

https://www.eyefortravel.com/mobile-and-technology/winning-travel-tech-age-independent-hotel

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

Thanks and have a good day!