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Five Things for Hotel Revenue Managers’ Checklist in 2017 – II

In Five Things for Hotel Revenue Managers’ Checklist in 2017 – PartI; we identified what hotels need to capitalize on for stronger performance in the coming months. Here we present to you the second part of this series – read on!
3.       Do invest on seamless booking experience

Online has made people more impatient, more demanding. I posted a query to an Airbnb host, and received a message within an hour. Today’s travellers want quick answers and simple processes – a phenomenon Booking.com calls ‘instant gratification 2.0’. According to an American Express survey, “78% of consumers have bailed on a transaction or not made an intended purchase because of a poor service experience.”Customer friction has a negative impact on the experience, and can lead to an overall negative feeling about the brand. With major OTAs and Airbnb investing hugely on guest experience with personalized trip planning, and easy cancellation features, hotels need to up their game. As booking moves to mobile, hotels can’t afford to not to have a responsive, mobile friendly, content rich and secure website for more conversions.
4.       Do implement revenue intelligence

Hotels have been struggling to handle the huge unstructured customer data they gather from online and offline channels. Advanced revenue and reservation analytics like pace, price-per-conversion or optimal position help hotels to accurately estimate occupancy and optimize ADR, based on season, weather and special dates. Platforms like LIVE OS from eRevMax, provides revenue and reservation insights along with actionable strategic inputs to help hotels implement total revenue management.
5.       Do open up to platform based technology


Looking at travel trends for the last 15 years, I can safely predict one winner –technology. From Expedia to TripAdvisor to Airbnb – every success story in the last one and half decades has technology at its core. There is an observation by TechTarget’s Tom Goodwin making social media rounds which say “The world’s largest taxi firm, Uber, owns no cars. The world’s most popular media company, Facebook, creates no content. The world’s most valuable retailer, Alibaba, carries no stock. And the world’s largest accommodation provider, Airbnb, owns no property. Something big is going on.”

As technology moves towards platform based model, hotel industry needs to look for a platform which can bring all their technology tools in one place. The platform based approach unifies all operation tools like PMS, OTA, Channel Management, Market Intelligence, Review Management etc and allows for the integration of external tools, channels, and vendors – providing an opportunity to leverage technology holistically. Yes, investing in technology comes with a price tag, however that doesn’t mean just not doing anything is an option.
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Five Things for Hotel Revenue Managers’ Checklist in 2017

2017 is going to be the year when online finally overtakes offline in Europe. We all have been listening to online becoming big, and getting bigger – but the reality was that offline travel bookings continued to get the lion’s share. All that is set for change though, as digital travel penetration in the continent finally crosses the halfway mark to reach close to 52% of all bookings by end of 2017, per PhoCusWright. With North America, also closing in to the tipping point, and Asia Pacific catching up faster than the average with 23% growth in digital sales, it’s time for hotels to take corrective actions.
In this article, we share what we think hotels need to capitalize on for stronger performance in the coming months.
1.       Do warm up to Demand Analytics

Rate intelligence for years have focussed on shopping rates for competitor set selected by the hotel. While monitoring rate of local competitors is vital, focussing on a small subset of the overall market, hotels often overlook the larger picture, missing out the demand data on most productive sources of business in their market. Advanced demand analytics solutions, like Demand Central, helps hotels measure their performance relative to their market performance from vital sources, like channels and regions and suggest situation-specific and channel-specific actions and alerts to increase business.
2.       Do make friends with OTAs
For long, hotels and OTAs have been in a tumultuous frenemy relationship. For hotels, OTAs were a disruption which they had to accept, however reluctantly. With the newest disruption looming over hotel industry in the form of Airbnb, hotels need more than ever to improve their presence in OTAs. With more people preferring experience over everything when it comes to travel, and Airbnb slowly consolidating its presence even on the luxury market, no hotel is in safe zone now. OTAs with their reach and marketing power can help hotels to increase exposure and improve online business.

In 2017, about 52% online hotel bookings in USA and 71%% of all online bookings for independent European hotels will be made on OTAs. Most often they are the first point of call for potential guests. Studies suggest, OTAs spend an average of USD 300 per hotel on promotions and marketing. For hotels to compete with OTAs on their own in digital marketing, the cost can go up to USD 7,000 to USD 10,000.  The trade-off between OTA commissions and direct customer acquisition cost remains a paradox for many hotels. While larger brands with a substantial marketing budget can compete with OTAs on visibility and presence, independent properties have to depend on OTAs for brand awareness, given their budget constraint.

Stay tuned for part two of this series which will be posted in next week.
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Visit SATTE 2017 to take benefit of attractive RateTiger offers

SATTE, the largest travel trade show in South Asia is going to be held from 15 – 17 February 2017 at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi. The 24th edition of the event is expected to have over 870 exhibitors and participants from over 40 countries. Almost all of Indian State Tourism Boards are expected to be present at the event which provides a perfect platform for the companies to meet industry veterans and hospitality professionals across the world.

Image: SATTE

In last couple of years, the increased use of mobile phones and high internet penetration in India has changed the travel space dramatically. The country is one of the fastest growing travel markets in Asia that attracted 8.89 million international tourists in 2016 – a 10.7% growth compared to last year. Since thousands of hospitality professionals will be visiting SATTE, this will be the perfect platform for us to promote our award-winning RateTiger ChannelManager solutions.

eRevMax is known for its stable solutions with 99% product uptime. While other companies struggle to offer continuous connectivity, eRevMax has invested in building a robust infrastructure to provide hoteliers with uninterrupted service over the last 15 years. The company offers excellent connectivity with over 300 online channels and provides 24×7 support. Leading hotel groups including Accor, Kempinski, Oberoi Hotels, Dusit Hotels, Carlton Hotel Singapore and Golden Tulip, among others, have been the company’s loyal customers over the years.

To discuss your online distribution requirements, meet me at SATTE – drop me an email rammohand@erevmax.com to book an appointment.
For more details about our products and services, visit our website – www.erevmax.com.

Ram Mohan Dubey is the Regional Sales Manager at eRevMax. He can be reached at rammohand@erevmax.com.

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Top Spanish travel trends from FITUR 2017

Every year I come across a whole range of publications and various industry pundits who define hot new travel trends that keep trending across social platforms. This has become a kind of New Year ritual. This year I decided to join them and be in the news J


I was at FITUR recently and it gave me the perfect platform to hob-nob with my fraternity members. I noticed that there are certain hot-ticket items that cropped up in most of these discussions. This made it easier for me to put together what I call my list of ‘top Spanish travel trends for 2017’. While I got the topic items from my meetings at FITUR, a lot of research has been put behind digging out relevant statistics to make this an interesting and useful piece. So grab a cup of coffee and enjoy the read.
Personalized Service at every touch point

Spain is the third largest county in the world in terms of international tourist arrivals and second most popular country in Europe after France. In 2015, around 68.2 million international tourists visited the country. Being a Spaniard, I have witnessed how technological shift from the last decade has changed travel planning and guest behaviour. A booking.com survey shows that 44% of travellers expect to be able to plan their holiday in a few simple taps on their smartphone and over half (52%) of respondents expect their use of travel apps to increase in 2017. There is no doubt that a country having 74% internet penetration with young and affluent travellers, Spaniards will expect personalized services at every touch point whether it is travel booking or during the stay.
Automation

How much time do you spend on travel research when planning a holiday? Remember the Google study which stated that a traveller visits around 22 websites before makes a booking! We all know that travel planning and research can get ridiculously time consuming and boring. However if you look at the right places, you can crack a great deal in a matter of minutes. Channels like Kayak which offers price comparison have come in very handy for quick travel decision making.


Most of the providers are now toying with automation and coming up with platforms that will provide travellers with everything they need. They just need to feed in their requirements and platforms like Hipmunk do all the needful. Hipmunk is currently beta-testing what it calls ‘Hello Hipmunk’ – a feature that atomically finds best deals for you and notifies when there is lowest available price. I like the feature and tested it on my Skype which is really cool. Instant messaging platforms like Facebook Messenger and newly launched Google Allo let users get travel related information instantly.
Mobile Travel on the rise

Mobile technology is enmeshed in our daily lives so much so that it affects every decision we take – whether it is booking a movie ticket or the way we travel. Most of our activities and planning today start from the mobile. Starting from looking for a preferred accommodation to booking taxi or sharing travel experience in social media – all are connected to mobile. I was talking to an OTA and we got talking about mobile apps. Today most of the big travel brands have invested in developing their own travel apps to woo travellers and through various ‘in-app offers’ they are trying to convert these travellers into loyal customers.


I realised that hoteliers are not far behind – major hotel chains like Hyatt, Marriott, Starwood and Hilton among others, have their own app where guests can book the hotel directly from their mobile device. With mobile taking centre stage, it is expected that mid-sized and smaller travel brands will soon jump into the fray to offer mobile experiences and offers to their guests.


Ximo Garcia Argent is Sales Manager for Spain and Portugal at eRevMax. He can be reached at ximog@erevmax.com


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Are you at FITUR 2017? Meet RateTiger at Stand 8D08



The whole Spanish travel industry assembles every January at Feria de Madrid for the international tourism trade fair – FITUR. 

Hotel technology expert eRevMax – the company behind leading channel manager and rate shopping brand RateTiger, is currently there to meet hoteliers and discuss their connectivity needs. If you are at FITUR, drop in to Stand 8D08 for a quick chat.

Company COO Yoram Ben-Zvi who is attending the event says “Spain is one of our biggest markets in Europe. Over the years, we have studied the region closely and observed that the consumer buying journey has evolved like never before. Guests increasingly expect top of the line personalized services from hotels. To help hotels focus on their key task of serving guests, eRevMax continues to develop technology solutions to help automate their back-end distribution and rate shopping requirements.”

Spanish hotel groups including NH Hotels, Vincci and Acta Hotels have been using eRevMax solutions for their distribution and connectivity needs over the years.

While RateTiger channel manager continues to lead the market, eRevMax has now launched LIVE OS, an innovative new platform that brings multiple hotel service providers together so hotels can easily manage them from a single screen. Various international hotels chains have already signed up for LIVE OS and eRevMax is keen to showcase it to Spanish hoteliers who are considered to be early adopters when it comes to new innovative technology solutions.

To book a meeting with us, contact marketing@erevmax.com today.

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We strongly recommend RateTiger – says Prague based luxury hotel

2017 has started well for eRevMax – we have been receiving good comments and recommendation from clients for our top quality products, services and support.

Prague based luxury hotel, The Charles, noticed a marked improvement in its online business due to efficient rate and inventory management. The boutique hotel property states that by leveraging RateTiger Channel Manager they have been able to expand online visibility which translated into increase in online revenue.



Happy Walia, General Manager at The Charles Hotel says, “The extremely competitive nature of the Prague hospitality industry, with constant changes in occupancy and rates, make it really challenging for small hotels like us. Managing OTAs, 24X7 bookings and rate queries was taking a toll and obstructing our focus from the core business of hospitality. RateTiger is great support system for a hotel like The Charles. With its elegant, simple interface and a responsive customer service, now everyday life is on cruise mode for me and my team. I am very happy with the service, support and the analytics of RateTiger. I strongly recommend it.”



Prague is one of the most popular European leisure destinations and receives over 5 million tourists every year. Located in a medieval building, the charming Charles Hotel has been beautifully restored whilst retaining many of its original features from the Renaissance period. The hotel is part of the Czech national heritage and offers 31 luxury rooms via multiple online channels that it effectively manages through RateTiger.

Are you looking to improve online revenue? Do you want to monitor competitor rates on multiple channels? Contact us on marketing@erevmax.com for a quick discussion on how we can assist you on your online journey.

Team eRevMax wishes you a very Happy New Year!


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eRevMax forms an Industry-Academia Partnership with Centro Europeu

Last month I attended the Centro Europeu (The European Center), a premier professional training institute in Brazil to give students hands-on training on multiple hotel technology solutions that has become critical for new professionals. The university has partnered with eRevMax the global leader in hotel connectivity solutions to collaborate on skill development and research.
As the hospitality industry in Brazil shifts towards online and mobile, the demand for skilled individuals who understand how technology can be deployed effectively to achieve productive and inclusive growth will only increase. As part of the partnership, the students of Centro Europeu Hotel Management Program receive training from accredited professionals from eRevMax on revenue management and how to use technology products like RateTiger.
eRevMax is the leader in channel management industry from last 15 years and the company has been transforming the hotel online distribution from its inception. Hospitality industry is one of the booming sectors which still lack skilled professionals and our partnership will connect the dot between technology and skilled workforce.

It was an enormous pleasure to see how the future hospitality professionals are keen to learn how technology is shaping the industry. Luis Fernando Queiroz Maingué – Academic Director, Centro Europeu was very excited about this partnership saying, “The use of the eRevMax software in the Revenue Management discipline of the Hospitality Course is in line with the Centro Europeu teaching proposal, which is to meet the real needs of the market and training of professionals for different areas.” He also added, “We are very grateful to eRevMax, because it is partnerships like these that make the course so popular for over 20 years.”

This partnership will help eRevMax to not only build its functional expertise through research collaboration but also contribute to strengthening the industry readiness of the talent stepping out of campuses through curricula building, live projects and various engagement activities.

Posted by Alex Moura, Regional Sales Director North America, Brazil and Caribbean at eRevMax


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Did you know what trended at WTM 2016?

One of the leading travel trade events, WTM attracts thousands of hospitality and travel trade professionals from across the globe every year. This year was no different with over 51,000 visitors in attendance. The show has grown at an unprecedented rate in recent years making it the event where the industry conducts business.

eRevMax attracted a lot of visitors with its innovative product offering as well as unique stand design hosting a giant tree with colourful beach balls lending vibrancy to the Travel Technology Hall.

The company was there to promote its new hospitality operating system LIVE OS which is a one-of-its-kind platform in the industry today. It received a lot of positive comments with technology veterans using terms like ‘awesome’, ‘revolutionary’ and ‘mind-blowing’ to describe LIVE OS. Hotel clients were happy to talk about their association with the company and how they are benefiting from using eRevMax products on a daily basis. Here is a video of one such happy customer!

Reuel Ghosh, CEO, eRevMax was invited to present a session on Hospitality Operating System at the Travel Tech Theatre on Monday, the day when attendance is by invitation only at the show. The session saw an attendance of over 100 trade visitors, many of whom later visited the eRevMax stand TT550 to find out more about eRevMax offerings. Here is a quick glimpse of the session recording for those who missed it.

 
The event proves to be a perfect platform for hoteliers and travel technology companies from Europe, Middle East and Asia Pacific to explore new technology offerings and partnership opportunities.

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3 ways to gain market share from OTAs

The online travel agents are becoming more powerful day-by-day and they are eating others lunch, especially of hoteliers. The more powerful OTA means higher commission for hotels that lead to lower profit for the hotels and this has become the pain points or bottlenecks for the hoteliers. This is the high time for the hotels to take action to gain market share from the OTA’s to retain their profit percentage. In this case hoteliers are left with two choices either to increase their room rate to maintain their profit or to find out other way where they can increase direct booking maintaining a fair balance with OTAs to get maximum outcome from their revenue strategy. Since hotel business is very price sensitive the first option is little difficult to implement in this competitive market – if a hotel increases its room rate then they may not get business at all. Now the hoteliers are left with the second option and they can better think of increasing direct booking coming from their Brand.com.

In last couple of years I’ve been constantly reviewing how the hospitality industry is changing and how hoteliers are looking into more direct business. Here in this article I’d like to suggest three ways in which the hotelier can gain market share from the OTA’s.

User driven design:
Responsive Design: You should have a responsive website which should be used in mobile because now a day’s most of the people only use mobile for doing their hotel booking. 
Content Marketing: The content is powerful. The photo gallery, room details are something what a user look for and content drives new traffic from the search engine. A website with good and organised content always drives more traffic to your website that can convert your potential guest to loyal customers.
Website- Your Best Salesman
Your hotel website is your sales conversion engine. You should design your website in a manner where it will help you to increase your look-to-book ratio. The increase in look-to-book ratio means more sales and your attempt should try to convert each of the visitors as your potential customers. For doing this you need to keep few things in mind: 

    Meta Search Allows for Direct Bookings
    Meta search is considered to be one of the biggest digital marketing trends for hoteliers in current time. It is anticipated to be the fastest growing method of brand awareness and growth, and hotels should be encouraged to utilize these channels, including them as part of their distribution portfolio.
    While OTAs continue to lead the third party sales industry, they have one very big disadvantage for hoteliers – bookings are made exclusively through the merchant site, for which the brand will pay a nominal fee.
    Meta search allows for visitors to book either through OTAs or through the brand website, helping to increase direct sales. Meta search sites such as TripAdvisor have been criticized for favouring OTAs with which they have a partnership, but direct information is available, which is more than can be said for OTAs themselves.
    Turning OTA booking into direct booking
    The hotelier should always try to convert the OTA booking into the direct booking. The first step to this can be to have the guest email address and to add him to your loyal customer’s data base. One of the best ways to attract these guests can be emailing them about the special rates and plans of your hotel.  In addition to this the hotelier can reply to the comments and reviews of guests on different OTA’s. Replying to the reviews help a lot in increasing the loyalty of your brand and converting them from OTA to direct booking.
    As technology advances with enormous pace we’ll see more hoteliers will implement a clear balance of direct and OTA strategy to drive more revenue.
    Posted by Omprakash Singh, Business Analyst, eRevMax
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    Introduction of TrustYou Tile – Manage Guest Reviews from LIVE OS Platform

    As a hotelier, you know that engaging with your guests is crucial for developing loyalty and converting them into your biggest brand ambassadors. We know you want to monitor each and every conversation, and respond to it. That’s why we are pleased to present to you the world’s largest Guest Review Management platform – Trust You in LIVE OS.
    You can now access your guest reviews and ratings directly on your LIVE OS dashboard. From booking your hotel until after the guests check out, TrustYou’s products help hotels leverage guest feedback to impact the entire guest journey.
    It is the undeniable truth that guests are the King in hospitality sector and in this age of digital era they rule the industry. You’d perhaps agree that reputation has a positive correlation with the hotel’s overall Average Daily Rate and revenue – thus we’re happy to bring Trust You in LIVE OS. This will help hotels to access guest reviews and ratings collated by TrustYou, directly on the LIVE OS platform for informed decision making and take actions to improve their ratings.
    TrustYou is the world’s largest guest feedback platform that analyzes millions of travel reviews scattered online and transforms them into actionable insights and data visualizations for hotels and travel intermediaries worldwide. You can provide guests with better services and enhanced offerings by monitoring, surveying and acting on these reviews and feedback. TrustYou helps intermediaries to improve travelers’ search-shop-buy experiences by providing structured information like Meta-Reviews.
    You can also turn your opportunity into business by leveraging reputation management tool by TrustYou directly from your LIVE OS dashboard.
    Want to know more how it can help your hotels to improve guest satisfaction quotient? Contact us today!

    Posted by Omprakash Singh, Business Analyst, eRevMax