The Week, That Was – November 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!!

eRevMax upgrades its integration with Miki Travel

Hotels using RateTiger Channel Manager and RTConnect for online distribution and connectivity now can use the seamless interface to publish their contracted rate and availabilities to travel agents affiliated with the wholesaler and receive reservations generated in the channel in real-time.

https://www.erevmax.com/ratetiger-news/ratetiger-news-archive/nov2019-erevmax-completes-2-way-integration-with-miki-travel.html

6 Great Types of Content for Hotel Website for Increase in Bookings

A good hotel website that is rich in content can help you to attract potential customers and influence them enough to book a room in your hotel. Good content can also improve your hotel website’s search engine ranking. Here are 6 types of great content for your hotel website that can increase bookings.

https://www.erevmax.com/blog/index.php/2019/11/6-great-types-of-content-for-hotel-website-for-increase-in-bookings/

Brands see ROI in direct bookings, member discounts

A slowing growth environment in the hotel industry prompts hotel companies to assess the strength and success of their efforts to grow loyalty for their brands. The world’s largest hotel companies are pushing hard for more loyalty members to book directly with them to ensure they get a bigger piece of the pie before the pie starts to shrink.

http://hotelnewsnow.com/Articles/298891/Brands-see-ROI-in-direct-bookings-member-discounts

Japan: Rakuten eliminates all parity requirements

Japan’s largest domestic online travel platform has officially committed to remove all rate and availability parity obligations in its contracts with the nearly 33,000 hotels listed on its site.

https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=2abc6aab-b710-41c2-af7a-be0285ea3ba1

Airbnb to verify all of its listings

Airbnb properties will soon be verified for accuracy of photos, addresses, listing details, cleanliness, safety and basic home amenities. All rentals that meet the company’s new standards will be “clearly labeled” by December 15, 2020.

https://techcrunch.com/2019/11/06/airbnb-to-verify-all-of-its-listings/

 Kayak launches Kayak Guides

The new feature allows users to create and share personalized travel itineraries with friends, family and fellow travelers. In the near future, travelers will be able to search within Guides for specific locations, themes and more.

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-kayak-guides-help-you-find-your-one-in-a-billion-trip-300952032.html

 Booking.com launches third Booking Heroes competition

The competition invites Booking.com customers to tell the world their story of an accommodation provider that made their trip unforgettable. The Booking Heroes competition champions the outstanding hospitality of accommodation providers that offer their guests far more than a place to rest their head. By sharing their stories, customers can earn a chance to win €25,000 of Booking.com travel credit – both for them, and their Booking Hero.

https://globalnews.booking.com/bookingcom-highlights-hospitality-heroism-and-outstanding-travel-experiences-with-its-third-booking-heroes-competition/

Google Promoted Hotels available on mobile

Promoted Hotels placements have been introduced to mobile, expanding their presence on Google Hotel Search. As is the case in desktop search, Promoted Hotels will appear in one to two placements on the first page of the search query and will update based on the filters provided.

https://koddi.com/google-promoted-hotels-available-on-mobile/

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

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The Week, That Was – October 2019 Week 5

Pontresina, Main Road, Engadin, Switzerland, Rhätikon

Things to Consider Before Choosing a Hotel Channel Manager in 2019

It is necessary to have a seamless hotel channel manager to manage distribution. It will let you sell rooms efficiently, maximise revenue and reduce the amount of time that you waste on manually managing OTAs resulting in empty rooms or overbookings. Before picking a hotel channel manager, here are a few things that you need to consider.

https://www.erevmax.com/blog/index.php/2019/10/things-to-consider-before-choosing-a-hotel-channel-manager-in-2019/

The real value of the bedbank distribution model

Reach, Growth, and Occupancy: the real value of the bedbank distribution model has been commissioned by Hotebeds and explores the unique role that bedbanks play in the hotel industry.

https://www.phocuswire.com/Hotelbeds-value-of-bedbanks-report

Ctrip is now Trip.com

The recently concluded 2019 annual general meeting of shareholders adopted the resolution to change the name of the company from Ctrip.com International to Trip.com Group.

https://www.hotelmarketing.com/articles/ctrip-is-now-trip-com

U.S. travel industry intensifies efforts to draw Chinese tourists

Across the country, the U.S. tourism industry is trying to counter one of the casualties of the trade war with China that is still raging despite a temporary truce this month: a drop in the flow of affluent Chinese visitors to the U.S.

https://www.travelweekly.com/North-America-Travel/US-intensifies-efforts-to-draw-Chinese-tourists

 The top 5 things you need to know now in hotel digital marketing: October Edition

This month, the latest digital innovations include Google testing search results without URLs, the benefits of being GDPR-compliant, and the colors that will be making a splash in 2020 design.

https://www.hotelmarketing.com/articles/the-top-5-things-you-need-to-know-now-in-hotel-digital-marketing-october-edition

Meet Team eRevMax at WTM London, Stand TT211 from 4 – 6 November 2019 – contact marketing@erevmax.com to set up a meeting.

Thanks and have a good day!

The Week, That Was – October 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!!

Argentina based Europlaza Hotel & Suites recommends eRevMax for channel connectivity

Europlaza Hotel & Suites, a midscale hotel in the heart of Buenos Aires has recommended eRevMax solutions for managing online distribution. The property has been using RateTiger Channel Manager since 2014 to maintain real-time rate and availability across multiple online sales channels and receive reservations.

https://bit.ly/2BFN2ki

How to Promote Your Hotel to Business Travelers?

Business travelers form one of the major groups of travelers, and this group is increasing with time. Expenses on global business travel are expected to rise by 7% by the year 2020, which means hoteliers have to go that extra mile to attract business travelers to their properties.

https://www.erevmax.com/blog/index.php/2019/10/how-to-promote-your-hotel-to-business-travelers/

TripAdvisor jumps on the hotel direct booking bandwagon

TripAdvisor is introducing a direct-booking feature to its Sponsored Placements product for accommodation providers designed to help them boost revenue. With the new feature, sponsored listings will now include a prominent link directly to a hotel’s website to facilitate a booking. Previously, listings linked through to an OTA.

https://www.phocuswire.com/tripadvisor-sponsored-placements-direct-bookings

Google vacation rentals: Booking Holdings is gone, Airbnb is in

Airbnb listings have begun appearing for the first time in Google’s vacation rentals feature in several European cities, including Paris, Amsterdam, and Madrid. Airbnb’s appearance in Google vacation rentals could be a cameo — a small test to see if participation is worthwhile.

https://skift.com/2019/10/22/airbnb-makes-debut-in-google-vacation-rentals-for-now/

Independent hotels disappearing as chains grow

More independent hotels are either joining the big chains or shutting their doors. One of the biggest reasons independent hotels are disappearing is that they’re getting acquired by the large hotel companies or joining them as affiliates to tap into their marketing power.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/21/business/independent-hotels-airbnb-boutique-chains.html

Phocuswright: Capturing the Chinese travel consumer

1.4 billion people strong, the Chinese make up a large percentage of APAC travelers. Capturing Chinese travelers is like netting a big fish. They travel in throngs and have money to spend. This is proven by the travel bookings from the region amounting to USD 420 billion in 2018 and is expected to increase to USD 480bn in 2020.

https://www.traveldailymedia.com/capturing-the-chinese-consumer/

Agoda on moving beyond accommodation

In the past, Agoda was all about hotels. That has changed. Today the company sells flights, tours as well as alternative accommodation which has become a strong pillar of the business. Thailand-based travel platform Agoda says it is focusing on finding the “best inventory” for its customers, operating with the “best tech” and fending off the intense competition in Asia armed with the “best weapons.”

https://www.phocuswire.com/Agoda-John-Broughton-Brown-interview

Meet Team eRevMax at WTM London, Stand TT211 from 4 – 6 November 2019 – contact marketing@erevmax.com to set up a meeting.

Thanks and have a good day!

The Week, That Was – October 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!!

Openhotelier completes technical integration with eRevMax

With online sales growing at a fast pace in Maldives, hoteliers can benefit from such integrations as it offers them more distribution options directly from their Frontdesk PMS. This partnership is aimed at creating a frictionless environment offering hoteliers end-to-end solutions for their online distribution and connectivity needs to attract more guests.

https://bit.ly/2BfRHZY

Accor and Expedia believe there’s a path to save the hotel-OTA relationship

On a panel at the WiT Singapore 2019 Main Stage, Louise Daley, deputy CEO for Accor in Asia Pacific, and Melissa Maher, senior vice president for marketing and innovation at the Expedia Group, entered diplomatic talks about how the hotel-OTA relationship should really function and what will it take for both sides to come out as winners.

https://www.phocuswire.com/Accor-Expedia-Group-online-travel-agency

How to Increase Bookings from Hotel Booking Website?

It is important for hospitality business to have a brand website of their own as it has a strong digital identity to attract maximum visitors. When you are building a website for your hotel property, here are some important factors that hoteliers need to take into account. Read more –

https://www.erevmax.com/blog/index.php/2019/10/how-to-increase-bookings-from-hotel-booking-website/

OTAs in prime position to benefit from rising APAC internet penetration

Internet penetration in APAC is expected to breach the 50% mark and continue growing as it overtakes the US. Results of joint research from travel data co-operative Sojern and Phocuswright involving a survey of 5,782 online travel customers from seven countries was recently presented at the event – read further for the findings.

https://www.travolution.com/articles/112894/web-in-travel-otas-in-prime-position-to-benefit-from-rising-apac-internet-penetration

Chinese tourism growth slows as overseas travel loses its luster

Chinese tourist sites received 782 million visits during the holiday, up well over 7% from last year’s 726 million, according to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. But that’s slower than reported growth of more than 9% in 2018, and down from a 10% increase in 2017.

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/09/chinese-tourism-growth-slows-as-overseas-travel-loses-its-luster.html

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

Thanks and have a good day!

The Week, That Was – October 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 & Conversations in Singapore

The consortium of travel technology specialists, HospitalityUnited.Club, is ready to host its exclusive ‘Cocktails & Conversations’ evening in Singapore this month, on 16th October 2019. The Club will be hosting the event in partnership with AgentX101, HotelTonight, Ecommpay, LiveOS, RateTiger and WIHP, to present the latest in travel technology.

Register today – https://www.hospitalityunited.club/events-register/singapore-oct19.html

Booking.com’s top travel trends for 2020

The company predicts 2020 will be a year of travel exploration like never before, fueled by technology as well as a growing sense of responsibility and deeper connection with the people and places we visit.

https://travelpredictions2020.com/#5

If you think email is dead, think again

Adobe’s recently released Email Usage Study for 2019 reveals new insights about consumer habits and preferences around receiving marketing emails. The respondents are spending up to five hours a day checking their emails (both work and personal). In fact, they actually feel that the amount of time they are spending is ‘just right.’

https://www.clickz.com/email-usage-study-adobe-2019/255955/

RoomIt by CWT expands channel manager connectivity

RoomIt by CWT the global hotel distribution division of CWT, announces new strategic partnerships with multiple global hotel guest acquisition platforms. The partnerships provide business travelers with more choice and hotels with greater access to customers.

https://news.carlsonwagonlit.com/pressreleases/roomit-by-cwt-expands-hotel-distribution-with-new-strategic-global-partnerships-2924419

Hotels are start, end points of travel experiences

As affluents become more drawn to experiential travel, the role of the hotel has evolved to become more about the destination than simply about hospitality. During a panel at Condé Nast Traveler’s Points of View Summit, industry experts discussed how high-end and boutique hotels are becoming more reflective of their location. Design, sustainability practices and programming are different ways hotels can incorporate local elements.

https://www.luxurydaily.com/hotels-are-start-end-points-of-travel-experiences/

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

Thanks and have a good day!

The Week, That Was – September 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!!

Saudi based SAS Hotel recommends eRevMax for its Mobile Channel Manager

SAS Hotel, an upscale 4-star property in Saudi Arabia, has strongly recommended RateTiger and its Mobile App for hoteliers to effectively manage their online business. The property has been using RateTiger’s web-based channel management solution from eRevMax and has been a prolific user of the RateTiger-LiveOS mobile app.

https://bit.ly/2nqPtDu

What blockchain in corporate travel could mean for GDSs, TMCs

Technology companies, from startups with hardly any funding to the likes of IBM, are exploring how blockchain can be used in travel, including in the corporate space. One such company is Blockskye, which is using the technology to solve issues around distribution.

https://www.phocuswire.com/the-beat-live-blockchain-corporate-travel

50 years of the hotel PMS (and why it matters)

The hotel PMS has been around for about 50 years. Despite the technological progress made during all of those years, for most of that time hotels have relied on legacy systems with relatively basic functionalities and mainframes that kept everyone glued to a desk. Then in 2010, the cloud-based system came along, which changed so much more about the PMS than most hotels realize. And now, we’ve come even further to the API-first era.

https://www.hotelmarketing.com/articles/50-years-of-the-hotel-pms-and-why-it-matters

Hotels are gaining brand power

The demise of Thomas Cook is a testament to the profound changes faced by the tourism industry. It also contains clues as to its future direction of travel. However, something fundamental did change: brand power. Before the rise of online booking – let alone when Thomas Cook was born in 1841 – travelers relied on the tour operator brand not just for simplicity and peace of mind, but also to ensure a certain level of quality when staying in unknown countries.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/what-thomas-cooks-collapse-says-about-modern-tourism-11569248853

 Behind Airbnb’s purchase of HotelTonight and push into hotels

Sam Shank, co-founder of HotelTonight, now heads up Airbnb’s hotel division and spoke about the push last week at the Skift conference in NY. Shank noted that his team is building out the hotel category on Airbnb for the San Francisco-based company, which purchased HotelTonight, an app that popularized the last-minute booking trend, in March.

https://adage.com/article/cmo-strategy/behind-airbnbs-purchase-hoteltonight-and-push-hotels/2198561

The cause and effect of slowing business travel

With geopolitical and macroeconomic issues causing some concern for large businesses, hotel executives speaking during second-quarter earnings calls noted a drop-off in business transient. Global geopolitical issues apparently had businesses feeling anxious in the first half of 2019, and that impacted how much they were willing to spend on employee travel.

http://hotelnewsnow.com/Articles/297668/The-cause-and-effect-of-slowing-business-travel

Managing RevPAR for profits

To assist revenue managers, CBRE Hotels Research analyzed the impact of the components of RevPAR (occupancy and ADR) on changes in profits. Per the name, the historical role of revenue managers has been to maximize revenue – specifically rooms revenue or revenue per available room. RevPAR growth is achieved by increasing occupancy and/or average daily rates.

http://hotelnewsnow.com/Articles/298239/Managing-RevPAR-for-profits

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

Thanks and have a good day!

 

The Week, That Was – September 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!!

Morocco Enjoys A Positive Year for Travel

The tourism sector in Morocco is experiencing a significant growth. Over 12 million tourists visited the country in 2018. Morocco witnessed an impressive ten-fold increase in Chinese tourist arrivals over the last three years – from 10,000 in 2015 to nearly 180,000 last year.

https://www.erevmax.com/blog/index.php/2019/09/morocco-enjoys-a-positive-year-for-travel/

Mapping your hotel’s 2020 digital marketing budget

It’s budgeting season, which means your hotel is probably ready to start planning how, when and where you’ll be investing during 2020.

https://www.traveltripper.com/blog/budget-season-tips-mapping-your-hotels-2020-digital-marketing-budget/

Google reintroduces promoted hotels to hotel search

After a brief appearance during 2018, the long-awaited and high-impact product from Google, Promoted Hotels, is back on the front pages of Google Hotel Search.

https://koddi.com/google-reintroduces-promoted-hotels-to-hotel-search/

The Future Of Travel: Hotel game-changers

The annual Radical Innovation competition challenges the hotel industry to elevate the guest experience by calling for new ideas in design and operations. This year, the 13thof the competition, the three finalists were selected from over 50 entries, submitted from 20 different countries.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/angelinavillaclarke/2019/09/15/the-future-of-travel-hotel-game-changers/#7cb75c9b603c

Hotels could look like this by 2034

An interactive hotel room created by Guestline, in collaboration with technology, AI (Artificial Intelligence) and hotel experts, revealed how the hotel of the future will look and function by 2034. The highly accredited experts provided their predictions and valuable insights, to show what we can expect to see in our hotel rooms over the next 15 years.

https://www.traveldailymedia.com/hotels-could-look-like-this-by-2034/

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

Thanks and have a good day!

The Week, That Was – September 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!!

EuroParkHotel International’s formula for success with online distribution –  RateTiger + BookOnlineNow

Optimizes connectivity and improves online room sales

https://bit.ly/2kxDSS7

Analysis of Google’s Room Booking Module and its impact on direct sales

Google Hotel Ads is the fastest-growing metasearch engine, attracting over 60% of all investment in metasearch. And Google continues to move forward at a giddy pace, surprising us every now and again with new and significant developments.

https://www.mirai.com/blog/analysis-of-googles-room-booking-module-and-its-impact-on-direct-sales/

Why hoteliers are primed to be the ultimate retailer

The days of hotels simply providing rooms and rates are numbered. Armed with guest data, physical space and local perspective, hoteliers are in a prime position to become the ultimate retailer.

https://www.sabrehospitality.com/blog/why-hoteliers-are-primed-to-be-the-ultimate-retailer/

Expedia to use AI to improve online search in Asian languages

Expedia will use Artificial Intelligence to enhance travel search query understanding and improve the accuracy of search query resolution in Asian languages. The group announced it is collaborating with AI Singapore (AISG) under its flagship 100 Experiments (100E) program to develop an artificial intelligence (AI) solution.

https://www.webintravel.com/expedia-to-use-ai-to-improve-online-search-in-asian-languages/

Ctrip changing name to Trip.com Group

Ctrip will become the third major online travel agency to change its name since 2018. The new proposed brand for the Shanghai-based company would be Trip.com Group Ltd. That follows the Priceline Group rebranding to Booking Holdings in 2018, which was followed shortly thereafter by Expedia Inc. becoming Expedia Group.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ctrip-changing-name-trip-com-020042959.html

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

Thanks and have a good day!

The Week, That Was – September 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!!

Hoteliers take a harder look at how they set room rates

Amateurs cut rates to fill hotel rooms. Pros take more sophisticated approaches, such as coordinating to stimulate demand from the most profitable customers. Revenue managers tend to focus on price-setting. Sales and marketing teams typically look at stimulating demand, such as by running email marketing campaigns or advertising on search engines like Google.

https://skift.com/2019/09/03/mgm-resorts-bet-on-rate-setting-tech-catches-notice-of-rivals/

Metasearch: What hotels get wrong

Metasearch is the industry’s fastest-growing distribution channel, yet many hoteliers still struggle to match the success of OTAs on the platform. So what are hotels doing wrong?  In this latest webinar, Dr Jan Sammeck, Director of eCommerce at Deutsche Hospitality, discusses the twelve biggest mistakes hotels are making in their meta strategy.

Listen the recording – http://email.triptease.com/yoLV8mES0O03DJf05D00020

Hotels embrace role as curators of niche products

One of the most interesting opportunities for hospitality brands is to be a new and intimate discovery channel for consumers. This idea is nothing new, of course. Brands have been placing themselves in hotel rooms for ages: Aesop likely owes some of its initial rise to being placed in the rooms at Park Hyatt Tokyo before anyone knew the brand. The taste-making audience who stays there helped with global pollination at an early stage. It was old-school seeding. Right people, right context, new-feeling product. Magic can happen from that.

https://skift.com/2019/09/03/hotels-embrace-role-as-curators-of-niche-products/

Booking.com, Skyscanner, Ctrip and TripAdvisor join travel sustainability pact

Booking.com, Skyscanner, Ctrip, and TripAdvisor, alongside payment giant Visa, have come together to form Travalyst in an effort to “mobilize the travel industry as a catalyst for good, aiming to transform the future of travel for everyone.”

https://www.phocuswire.com/Sustainable-tourism-online-travel-launch-Travalyst

2020 Budget season tips: Mapping your hotel’s digital marketing budget

Should we invest in search marketing, display advertising, and/or metasearch advertising? In truth, there isn’t one standard way to divide your marketing budget up – it really varies from property to property. However, adopting a multi-channel approach is best to expand your reach and target different customers throughout their travel journey.

https://bit.ly/2lzohRY

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

Thanks and have a good day!

The Week, That Was – August 2019 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!!

Booking.com and Expedia are growing in very different ways

eRevMax partners Expedia Group and Booking Holdings reported total revenues of $11.2 billion and $14.5 billion in 2018, respectively. Moreover, both the company’s revenues have grown at a similar CAGR of 19% since 2016.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2019/08/26/booking-holdings-and-expedia-are-both-growing-steadily-but-in-very-different-ways/#7515a5d21f04

A blockchain to reconcile hotel commissions

Travelport working with IBM, BCD Travel and three hotel chains—has created a minimum viable product solution that uses blockchain to reconcile the commissions hotels pay travel management companies.

https://www.businesstravelnews.com/Distribution/A-Blockchain-Way-to-Reconcile-Hotel-Commissions

Learning from the past: Cutting rates hurts everyone

An analysis of how quickly hoteliers responded to other hotels dropping rates in their competitive sets during the recession shows no one comes out a winner.

To have a better idea of what a potential downturn could mean for the U.S. hotel industry, it’s worth observing how hoteliers behaved during the last one.

http://hotelnewsnow.com/Articles/297755/Learning-from-the-past-Cutting-rates-hurts-everyone

How Google’s machine learning technology can ace up the travel industry

The technology of machine learning is benefiting almost every industry but the most significant modification can be seen in the travel sector. Interestingly, tech-giant Google is making a major shift into the travel industry while enabling customers to book air tickets, hotels, and packages. It is also aiding customers in accessing stuff which they might have never come across on their own.

https://www.analyticsinsight.net/googles-machine-learning-technology-can-ace-travel-industry/

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

Thanks and have a good day!