The Week, That Was – December 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!!

Carton House Resort, Ireland recommends eRevMax for online connectivity

Carton House, a historic luxury hotel in Ireland has recommended eRevMax solutions for online distribution. The property has been using RateTiger Channel Manager to maintain real-time rate and inventory updates across online sales channels including booking engine.

https://bit.ly/2SuD7UX

Expedia to Hoteliers: Alternative accommodations won’t steal your business

Expedia wants to create value for hotels by providing them with tools to make them more efficient rather than hurting them with the increased presence of vacation rentals, the company said at its Explore partner conference in Las Vegas this week.

https://skift.com/2018/12/06/expedia-to-hoteliers-vacation-rentals-wont-steal-your-business/

 How Real-Time, Transparent Bidding Can Fix a Broken Travel Search Ecosystem

Today, even before most travelers ever step foot on a plane, they’ve already gone on an epic journey while planning their trip. According to Skift’s The State of Online Travel Media 2018 report, 73 percent of global travel searches begin with no brand or destination listed.

https://skift.com/2018/11/30/how-real-time-transparent-bidding-can-fix-a-broken-travel-search-ecosystem/

Why European Biz Travelers Go Outside Their Companies to Use Online Travel Agencies

Business travelers tend to book their trips through whatever channels they prefer, regardless of whether there is an online booking tool or agency that their company wants them to use. The research found that while travelers consistently use a company’s online booking tool to book air and hotel, they are increasingly turning to online travel agencies and direct channels as well. In fact, online travel agency use has pulled into near parity with a company’s travel agency department in many countries.

https://skift.com/2018/12/03/why-european-biz-travelers-go-outside-their-companies-to-use-online-travel-agencies/

Data pinpoints hotel mismanagement of inventory allocation and availability

The management of room inventory on both a hotel’s brand site and through contracted online travel agency partners is at the core of an effective distribution system. The findings are based on data gathered from brand websites and contracted OTAs for 7,600 properties around the world during a two-month period beginning in September. In its report, Fornova says it calculated demand as a function of room rate – when rates were below the median, it considered it to be a low-demand period and when rates were higher than median it considered it high demand.

https://www.phocuswire.com/Fornova-allocation-availability-report

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 – September 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!!

eRevMax completes integration with IDS Next PMS

Hotel connectivity expert eRevMax has completed integration with leading hospitality technology solution provider IDS Next.Mutual hotel customers can now get the benefit of automatic distribution of availability and rate to third party online booking sites whenever they are updated in the property management system and receive reservations from OTAs.

http://bit.do/ewp76

How hoteliers are setting their tech budgets for 2019

Hotel companies are preparing their annual budgets for 2019, and technology is an important investment as guests expect more and more out of their stays.

http://bit.do/ewp8h

How travel agents are working differently with technology

In an article on Phocuswire in March 2018, Trisept Solutions’ president and CEO John Ische positions the relationship between agents and technology as the ability to create what he termed “genuine intelligence” about a traveler.

https://www.phocuswire.com/Travel-advisors-technology-changes

Airbnb for Work expands beyond travel

Team-building, relocations and off-site meetings are part of the new strategic direction for Airbnb For Work as it looks to capitalise on its “exponential growth” in providing accommodation to business travellers. A few weeks ago it announced that some 700,000 companies have had employees sign up and book with Airbnb for Work, with more than 275,000 enterprises directly engaged with Airbnb to help manage their travel.

https://www.tnooz.com/article/airbnb-for-work-expands-beyond-travel/

Why Middle East travel deserves a closer look!

Travel spend by travellers from just some of the countries, the six who make up the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) – Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) – is likely, says Statista, to grow from $64 billion three years ago, to $94 billion by 2020. In 2025 the sum could reach $140 billion, it adds. The GCC is assessed by the World Tourism Organisation as accounting for well over 60% of the region’s outbound market.

http://bit.do/ewp8K

China’s Big 5 hotel platforms have 96% of the market

Analysis of China’s online hotel booking market in the second quarter of the year shows that almost the entire market is controlled by five businesses. Trustdata, a mobile internet big data monitoring company in China, found that Ctrip, Meituan, Qunar, Tongcheng-eLong and Fliggy accounted for 96.4% of online hotel bookings in the second quarter. The big five were also the fast-growing platforms for the quarter, suggesting that their dominance is getting stronger.

https://www.tnooz.com/article/chinas-big-5-hotel-platforms-have-96-of-the-market/

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

Thanks and have a good day!

Luxury Ukrainian Hotel Leopolis Improves Revenue with RateTiger

Leopolis Hotel, a landmark Ukrainian hotel has successfully optimized online distribution connectivity to improve their hotel occupancy and revenue, by leveraging RateTiger. The property, which has been using RTConnect for channel management, ARI updates and Reservation Delivery has seen a substantial improvement in efficiency resulting in minimizing overbookings and reducing workloads.

Leopolis is the only luxury hotel in Lviv located right in the heart of the historical part. Located in the restored building that is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Leopolis is a popular choice for both business and leisure travellers. Given that the hotel attracts guests from across the continent along with domestic travellers, it is important for the hotel to be present in all leading online sales channels and metasearch sites in Europe.

RTConnect, the SaaS based distribution solution providing fully integrated, two-way XML connections to over 350 global and regional online booking sites, is helping the property to establish seamless connectivity between the OTAs and its PMS.

“By using channel manager by RateTiger we are saving a lot of time and get a lot of extra revenue. Everything works very efficiently and during our cooperation we did not have any overbookings at all,” said Ostap Shpachuk, Director of Sales and Marketing, Leopolis Hotel.

“My favourite tool is rate weight, as it allows to manage rates for separate channels, room types and rate plans – we use it a lot indeed. I also like the velocity of the support team,” said Ostap Shpachuk, Director of Sales and Marketing, Leopolis Hotel.

Leopolis has been accessing Reservation Reports, a key module in RateTiger to monitor channel performance and map demographics of their customers. Through the booking analysis, the hotel is identifying the top-performing channels to offer customized packages to their key markets. They are also utilising RateTiger’s on-demand intelligence toolRateTiger Shopper, to monitor the competitor rate movements and improve pricing decisions for better profits.

 

The Week, That Was – August 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!!

Online Travel in LATAM

Do you know the most productive online travel channels in LATAM? Improve your online revenue by selling on the right channels with RateTiger.

Read further to know more –  https://www.erevmax.com/blog/?p=539

Abasto Hotel experiences 65% revenue growth with RateTiger Channel Manager

Abasto Hotel Buenos Aires, a property in Argentinian capital, has improved its online sales by over 80% leveraging eRevMax‘s gold standard of connectivity with leading OTAs.

Are you looking to expand your hotel channel connectivity?  https://www.erevmax.com/blog/?p=542

Online accounts for 80% of under-30s travel bookings, OTAs dominate (for now)

The New Horizons IV report found more than 80% of bookings were made online by under-30s in 2017, with an increasing number of bookings being made on mobile devices and through social media channels.

https://www.tnooz.com/article/youth/

What Are Bumper Ads And Why Does Your Hotel Need Them?

Bumper ads are the 6 second video formats that are saving the longest 30 seconds of any consumers time. However, it is not just consumers that should be praising them to the skies. They can provide your hotel with countless benefits, including high impact brand building.

https://blog.netaffinity.com/what-are-bumper-ads-and-why-does-your-hotel-need-them/

What hotels need to know about evolving metasearch distribution trends

Metasearch engines (MSEs) hold the promise of helping hotels increase their share of direct bookings. For any hotel or chain to pursue a direct booking strategy, the MSE channel needs careful planning and consideration.

https://www.phocuswire.com/Fornova-global-metasearch-trends

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 – July 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!!

Hotel GDS Description – how to get it right?

The GDS still is, and will most likely remain, a noteworthy channel for ARI distribution and reservations for hotels. Both recreation and corporate travel operators utilize it to search and book hotels. Numerous OTA sites likewise utilize the GDS for room stock. Hence, it is critical that your hotel is available on GDS.

https://www.erevmax.com/blog/?p=531

Expedia: The travel trends of Latin American consumers

Most Latin American travelers are more likely to spend their travel budgets on domestic trips, according to a study from Expedia Group Media Solutions.

More than 50 percent of Latin American travelers use online travel agencies (OTAs) during the trip planning process, ahead of airline, hotel or destination websites. Forty-nine percent of travelers book their trip on an OTA – the strongest conversion from planning to booking among Latin American travelers. More than half use their smartphone when looking for travel inspiration and more than one-third conduct travel research on their mobile device. Unsurprisingly, mobile usage spikes in-trip, when more than 75 percent of Latin American travelers utilize their smartphone.

http://hotelnewsnow.com/Articles/287311/Expedia-The-travel-trends-of-Latin-American-consumers

Open pricing: A new strategy for maximising hotel revenue

Open Pricing is changing the way that hoteliers set hotel room rates. For properties from large to small, it has the potential to increase revenue and forever change hotel revenue management practices. So, how does it work? Is it a good fit for you? If you wanted to try it, where would you start?

Read on to find out more- https://suite.booking.com/blog/hotel-revenue-management-pricing-strategy-basics/

How independent hotels extend peak seasons

Independent hotels around the U.S. are boosting business outside of peak season through special events and promotions. Whether it’s a hotel that’s open year-round or one that’s only open a few months during the year, hoteliers and sales-and-marketing experts at independent hotels have found ways to bring in business beyond their peak season.

http://hotelnewsnow.com/Articles/287492/How-independent-hotels-extend-peak-seasons

What does the future hold for hotel booking websites?

The hospitality industry is regularly changing and hotel booking websites are no exception. Observing the current changes in the OTA market can give us a clue on what will it look like in the future.

https://insights.ehotelier.com/insights/2018/07/27/what-does-the-future-hold-for-hotel-booking-websites/

Google on why consumers like to know more before they travel

Google, which derived the insight by analyzing search trends as well as speaking to consumers, says that building anticipation, boosting confidence around traveling to somewhere new and stretching budgets are the primary drivers for consumers wanting to know more before they go.

https://goo.gl/ukWC8y

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 GDS Description – how to get it right?

The GDS still is, and will most likely remain, a noteworthy channel for ARI distribution and reservations for hotels. Both recreation and corporate travel operators utilize it to search and book hotels. Numerous OTA sites likewise utilize the GDS for room stock. Hence, it is critical that your hotel is available on GDS.

We have put together a few tips and tricks on how hotels are getting the most out of their GDS channels through descriptive content. The Hotel GDS Description (HOD) goes about as your hotel’s electronic leaflet. It is conceivably your brand brochure for tour operators and travel agents to access and get all the pertinent details with your property description, hotel amenities and data about neighborhood attractions etc. Here are the top GDS HOD Tips:

  1. General hotel description – Try to keep your hotel description very targeted – put the hotel USPs and try to provide key differentiators and why a guest must chose your hotel over competitor’s.
  2. Facilities and Services – List out all your amenities and services – provide restaurant details, timings, cuisine along with details of in-house services like salon, spa, gym, pool etc. Also, drop in a line about safety and security as these tend to be a key concern today.
  3. Area Information: Mention any specific locational advantage you might have. Or else list out the nearby attractions to draw interest. Whether your hotel is downtown or near the airport, remember to put your Geo code for correct location identification.
  4. Property Address – Make sure you put your hotel’s full address and zip code correctly. Sabre uses the official street address to geocode the property. If you don’t have a street number, use 1, to ensure better visibility and bookability.
  5. Driving Directions – Provide details on the easiest way to reach your property, whether it is from the airport, train or bus stations or from downtown. Also, provide a phone number in case a guest is stuck and wants to connect to the hotel.
  6. Room Type Name – GDS’s provide 30 characters to cover this, so be creative. But remember to make sure that it’s easy to understand the room type by the name you provide to it.
  7. Room Type Description – Try to use this section to attract your guests with room details and inclusions like in-room coffee machine, free wi-fi, luxury bathing products, etc. The description should also adhere to the kind of property it is – luxury, corporate, budget etc.
  8. Presentation – It is best to keep the description language crisp and fluid. Travel agents prefer short sentences or bulleted description. It helps to capture relevant points while covering all the necessary information.
  9. Nearby Attractions – Include details about attractions in the area, timings, distance and directions to the place. This makes your hotel more appealing and train your concierge or front office staff to have details about shows /tickets at these attractions.

Keep your Hotel GDS Description up to date. Whenever you introduce a new service or roomtype or if there are new attractions nearby, remember to update your hotel description. Always provide correct information and present in a nice and concise manner. Always keep your USPs on the top to catch the attention of the travel agents.

Indian budget hotel endorses RateTiger Channel Manager for online distribution

Kolkata based IndiSmart Hotel has endorsed RateTiger for simplifying online distribution. The property has been using eRevMax’s cloud-based Channel Manager and Shopper for managing their online sales channels and has improved their business operational efficiency.

IndiSmart is a budget hotel with 76 rooms, conveniently located in the IT hub of Kolkata, India. The property caters to business travellers and hence the booking window is lesser than the usual duration with 48-72 hours. Given most bookings are coming from online, it’s important for the hotel to have real-time rate and availability on OTAs.

“We have been able to bring all OTA channels under one window for all possible modifications like rate and inventory. The option of changing rates and inventory at any point of time on a single click has really made online distribution really simple. Rate shopping also helps us to analyse the market condition, to understand our stand and projection,” said Jayanta Bhattacherjee, Front Office Manager, Indismart Hotel.

Prior to RateTiger, the hotel has tried other solutions. However, the result was far from satisfactory.

“The main issue was rate disparity and manifold changes in the extranets manually were really cumbersome. We can handle the OTAs easily and in a better way now with RateTiger. The support team is very good as well,” concluded Mr. Bhattacherjee.

 

The Week, That Was – July 2018 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!!

Expedia says packages are better for hotels than room-only

Hotels are achieving higher average daily rates (ADR) from consumers who book packages rather than just rooms, according to data from Expedia Group.

The online travel giant said consumers buying packages paid around 30% more in ADR than those making standalone hotel bookings.

https://www.tnooz.com/article/expedia-says-packages-are-better-for-hotels-than-room-only/

 Indian budget hotel endorses RateTiger Channel Manager for online distribution

Kolkata based IndiSmart Hotel has endorsed RateTiger for simplifying online distribution. The property has been using eRevMax’s cloud-based Channel Manager and Shopper for managing their online sales channels and has improved their business operational efficiency.

https://goo.gl/gyX3Jr

Hotels.com launches hideaway hotels category

Hotels.com has introduced the Hideaway Hotels category in response to a lift in bookings in the last two years, with a 60% spike in guests leaving positive reviews for off-the-grid hotels.

https://goo.gl/N3SCFX

Is hotel luxury dead?

When hotel discount brokers offer “luxury” accommodations at $49 a night, as occurred during the recent Independence Day holiday, does the word “luxury” have any useful meaning?

Read the interesting article: http://exclusive.multibriefs.com/content/is-hotel-luxury-dead/travel-hospitality-event-management#When:13:51:00Z

 How Booking.com is trying to solve travel’s pain points

The CMO of Booking.com explains how the company is trying to ease some of those unhappy surprises. Learn more about it by watching the video.

https://goo.gl/4AoyiF

Google tests location tab for hotel knowledge panels

Google is testing a new location tab and section within the hotel knowledge panels. The location tab contains information that tells you what is around the hotel, including sections such as highlights, top sights and a getting-around section.

https://goo.gl/v4eKcn

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

Thanks and have a good day!

eRevMax completes integration with Argentinian Booking Engine

Interface with Div-it to allow hotels manage their booking engine from RateTiger

eRevMax has completed 2-way integration with Argentina based internet booking engine developer Div-it. Hotels using RateTiger and RTConnect, can leverage this interface to make real-time rate and availability updates and receive bookings generated on their direct channel directly into their property management systems.

Buenos Aires based Div-it is one of the upcoming internet booking engine providers catering to over 200 hotels in Argentina and Uruguay. The Div-it booking engine features rich functionality, content customization with real-time reporting, and is fully manageable from the RateTiger dashboard.

“Our interface with RateTiger will be beneficial for our partner hotels to quickly and efficiently manage room rates, availability and restrictions to their direct channel. In addition, connecting with the eRevMax Hotel Ecosystem will give us the opportunity to explore new supply partners and improve our global inventory supply,” said Nicolás Boccacci, CEO, Div-it.

“Latin America is a growth area for us. We are connected with some of the biggest OTAs and PMS providers in the region.  Being a preferred connectivity partner of Div-it will further improve our portfolio in the region. A greater number of hotels can now leverage the benefits of our Ecosystem while streamlining their distribution efforts,” said Ashis Saha, SVP – Project Management, eRevMax.

eRevMax offers seamless connectivity with over 350 OTAs and 90 technology providers. The company is developing its connectivity solutions to offer sophisticated real-time revenue management functionality to the hospitality industry. This includes solutions for the independent market and scaling up through the Tier One enterprise hotel groups. eRevMax’s Channel Ecosystem facilitates quality certified connectivity and relationship management services to support complex revenue generation strategies.

A Tale of Two Technologies

How the Seamless Merger of Hotel Systems Leads to Better Results

The travel and hospitality business might have started small, with people lending a space in exchange for a certain tribute, but it has now reached a point in history when it is completely reliant on technology. Between a multitude of hotel systems and software that have become absolute necessities in the 21st century, many hoteliers might feel somewhat lost or overwhelmed. So many options, so much to do, so little time.

In a time like this, the integration between technologies is not only welcomed by both hoteliers and travelers, but it is also deeply needed by the industry itself. In an effort to save time and increase efficiency, as well as strive for a wider, global exposure, hospitality technology providers are partnering up and creating intelligent connections like never before.

In 2016, eRevMax and TrustYou, two leading companies in the hospitality field, started a collaboration that, to this day, results in benefits not only for them but for a high number of hotels from all over the world. By merging TrustYou’s guest feedback platform with eRevMax’s hospitality operating platform, hotel managers can oversee and manage various hotel operations like revenue management, online distribution, as well as their hotel’s online reputation among various other segments.

eRevMax’s platform, LiveOS, works around the “Profits in Unity” concept, which means that it gathers dozens of technology providers and partners in one place, for easy access and increased efficiency to “Make Life Simple” for Hotels. From PMSs, RMSs, OTAs, to ORMs like the TrustYou platform, LiveOS has currently more than 50 technology partners integrated.

So why is it so important to merge systems and software and how exactly does it pay off? It’s not a secret anymore that we live in a fast-paced world and that modern hoteliers and consumers are in a constant rush. While having so many technologies to rely on, signing into different platforms multiple times a day can be an unnecessary and time-consuming process.

eRevMax’s vision is to enable hoteliers to have access to a more complex and intuitive tool, in order to manage a multitude of hotel operations from a single sign-on platform. Users can select and use their preferred technologies, even ones that are not owned by eRevMax, therefore enjoying a customizable and personalized experience. The platform provides real-time updates and it also flags any arising issues, to bring immediate attention to them.

In the last two years, TrustYou’s guest feedback platform was used by eRevMax customers, through the LiveOS platform. Hoteliers can keep track of their hotel’s overall score and reputation while getting real-time updates about guest reviews. Receiving valuable insights into the guest journey is for many hoteliers the first step towards adjusting future strategies and services, in an effort to exceed expectations and improve the reputation – which, in the long run, leads to more booking and a higher revenue.

LiveOS users have free access to features integrated into the TrustYou feedback platform. Moreover, when accessing the TrustYou data inside LiveOS, users get an overview of their hotel’s overall score, along with the exact number of verified reviews that determined it.

The incoming reviews are displayed in the TrustYou dashboard and highlighted, in order to create a thorough examination of the best services provided and the ones that need improvement. This way, certain features, such as the location, the breakfast, the pool area, get their own score and guest sentiments. The feedback is also structured by language and by traveler type, such as business travelers, families, couples, etc.

Beyond the analytical part of the feedback platform, LiveOS users can also opt to use the TrustYou Stars Lite feature, which enables the use of a customizable guest survey. Hoteliers can encourage guest feedback by asking for reviews and opinions, through a quick and efficient survey – which TrustYou’s latest study revealed to be the best way of getting positive feedback.

Only one year after LiveOS users started to utilize the TrustYou survey tool, the overall number of collected reviews had almost tripled: from 1878 reviews in 2016 to 6990 in 2017. This comes as a confirmation of the necessity and utility of a guest survey, as a tool to get valuable guest feedback.

This seamless integration between two leading hospitality technologies has proven to be most beneficial for both eRevMax and TrustYou, as well as hoteliers from all over the world, who use and rely on LiveOS and the TrustYou feedback platform. eRevMax has enabled a way for users to make the most out of their software and have every single technology necessary available with one sign-in. Their portfolio provides every technology that impacts the guest journey, as TrustYou’s latest eBook described it.

TrustYou’s leading guest feedback solution gets more exposure through LiveOS and reaches a larger number of hoteliers, interested in managing, overseeing and improving their online reputation.

And hoteliers, well, they get best of both the worlds. By being able to make use of multiple must-have hotel technologies in one place, they not only save valuable time, which can be invested in other areas, but they also improve operations, manage and boost the hotel’s reputation and work towards achieving better results, more popularity, bookings, and revenue.