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Daan Utsav: eRevMax celebrates the Invaluable Joy of Giving

Daan Utsav, also known as the ‘Joy of Giving’ festival is celebrated every year from 2 – 8 October in India. It brings together people across the country to participate in their own ways and give back to the society.

eRevMax, the leading hospitality technology solutions provider, has been celebrating the ‘Joy of Giving’ festival over the last few years. The company organizes internal collection drives to raise funds or gifts as per the wish list of the children it works with under its CSR initiatives. This year’s event was aimed at providing school bags for all the children of two primary schools in Kolkata.

By encouraging and enabling employee volunteering, eRevMax brings together people and good causes to create a wave of change. Volunteers from across different eRevMax offices took an active interest in this noble cause. It is moments like these when we choose to be warm, generous and kind that marks the quality of our lives and makes a difference to the world around us.

We aim to spread this movement by encouraging one and all to come forward and spread kindness and be generous. Here are some glimpses from eRevMax Daan Utsav 2019 celebrations –

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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!

 

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Is Your Hotel Website ADA-Compliant

ADA or The Americans with Disabilities Act demands that every business need to make sure that customers can get access to the same services, irrespective of how physically capable they are. The Government is taking active steps to make sure that ADA-accessibility extends not only to offline businesses but also to online properties like mobile apps and websites. If you have a hotel website, you have to make sure that it is ADA-compliant, or you could be staring at trouble before long.

Is Your Hotel Website ADA-Compliant

Focus on the text

Your website should have text that can be resized easily. Make sure that there is a high-contrast mode option which can make it easier for slightly vision impaired visitors to read the text. The site should have a text-only option, and all the functionalities need to be accessible via a keyboard for guests with mobility problems. Ensure that there is minimal formatting for the text. Those who experience problems in seeing might be incapable of reading colored text on colored backgrounds or text that is especially small in size. It is best for you to adhere to a common, large-sized font with dark colored text on white background.

Look at the photos and images

The photos must have proper text descriptions. Your social marketing strategies and website videos should comprise of transcripts and audio descriptions for all those who are hearing impaired. There is a text-based analog for all the visual media. The images must have “alt” text for content description. Suitable descriptive text must be added to videos. You can use screen reader software to describe your website images.

Offer accessibility information all through the site

Throughout your website, you have to feature accessibility information. Say a disabled traveler wants to know whether she can arrive and reach his room, get inside, take a shower and sleep and move about without problems, your hotel website should make all the details easily accessible. You have to include full information about how his experience with your hotel property would be upon arrival. You have to describe every space in your hotel, as well as how it would be like to move to and from each space. Mention all possible obstacles along your way, and also specify any inaccessible area.

Keep in mind that room details are not enough. Your hotel site needs to spot as well as describe every accessible area of your property in complete detail – such as the common spaces, the pathways from and to these spaces all through the hotel, the on-site amenities and more. There can be lawsuits in the absence of all these details. Due to this reason, hotel sites have to include entire accessibility content for every area of the property.

After you make all such changes to your hotel website to satisfy ADA guidelines, get your site evaluated by a web development firm that is familiar with all the issues of ADA compliance. Make sure that visitors using screen readers and other assistive technologies can fully access your website content.

Get Hotel booking channel manager software

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Google Hotel Ads – Beginner’s Guide to Increase Bookings

Google Hotel Ads

The huge reach of the internet and social networking websites have changed how people view the world about them. Many travelers are using the World Wide Web and search engines such as Google to know where they can go for their next vacation and which hotel they can stay in. Many of them begin the booking process only after they carry out a Google search. As a hotelier, you have to use SEO best practices in order to boost your chances to get a high ranking on the SERPs. You can also use Google Hotel Ads for proper marketing of your hotel property. Google has undergone an evolution over time and there is a change in how hotels show up in its search results. If you are a beginner, find out how you can use Google Hotel Ads to increase your hotel bookings.

Register for Business View

For people across the world who use the Google search engine for almost every query, Google Street View has turned into an expectation. These days, businesses – including hotels as well as others in the hospitality industry – the Google Business View Tool can be used for displaying the insides of properties.

Capture high-quality videos and photographs

With Google Hotel Ads, you can get the ability to regulate which things show up under your search results. As a matter of fact, you may change the photos that get displayed whenever a user makes a search for a property similar to yours. Keep in mind that Google has very high standards, so that people using it for search queries can enjoy the best information and data. If you wish to feature photos of the insides of your hotel, and add the same into Google Hotel ads that you publish, you would have to post videos and photos in high-resolution and superior quality. The photos have to show your property in full focus, typically in natural light and minus too many filters. The images have to be a minimum of 14MP or higher, so as to be regarded by Google as high-quality. You may also introduce interactive tours into the ad display section.

Advertise special features and offers

While creating an ad copy, you would of course have to highlight all the special features that make your hotel property special and outstanding from the others. Also mention any discounts that you would like to offer. Mention any promo codes or discounts that you are running at present. In case you have recently constructed a new suit or room at your hotel, your description needs to feature that along with photographs of the same in high-resolution.

Use the Google Ad Preview Tool

The Ad Preview Tool from Google is a great way to track your competition. It can help you to confirm whether or not your ads are performing the best, or as expected. You may use particular keywords to check the ads and ensure that these are giving the best results. You need to find out how exactly your ads are showing up before vacationers who are searching for a hotel property similar to yours.

 

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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!

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Morocco Enjoys A Positive Year for Travel

Morocco, considered as the gateway to Africa, is a country offering heritage cities, sprawling mountain ranges, golden deserts and warm hospitality. The country has been experiencing a surge in tourism over the last few years and continues to feature in the bucket list of many travelers.

Between 2000 and 2018, Morocco has averaged an annual growth of 6 percent in tourism arrivals, which is two points higher than global tourism growth. In 2018 itself, Morocco received 12.3 million tourists, up 8% from the previous year. Marrakech, the most visited Moroccan city, recorded over 2.4 million tourist arrivals from January to November, in addition to 2.6 million scheduled hotel stays through the end of 2018.

These figures are a testimony to Morocco’s growing prominence as a major tourist destination as well as the contribution of tourism revenue towards the country’s GDP. Research studies show that this growth is partly due to the rise of internet and mobile bookings, allowing people from far off places to be able to research, compare and make flight and hotel bookings online – easily and conveniently.

While the traditional offline booking channels continue to remain strong, the growth of online sales channels and travel intermediaries have been phenomenal over the last few years. So much so that online and offline booking numbers now have very similar levels of value sales. This growth, however, has not been overnight and has various factors that led to this change.

Over time, domestic tourism has received a major boost, especially with the introduction of secure online payments. Further, OTAs and other sales channels have been offering promotions and discounts on online bookings, which is proving to be attractive for travellers. Not only has this impacted domestic tourism – it has led to a rise in international tourists who are now making a beeline for Morocco to experience its rich culture and ornate architecture.

With the Government chipping in to increase tourism by relaxing visa requirements for certain countries, 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.

Further, the rapid development in mobile technology and popularity of social media platforms has literally put travel research and booking into the hands of people. Not only can travelers search and book, travel suppliers too can advertise on these platforms to get in front of potential guests and generate online bookings by providing a defined customer journey through various touchpoints.

With increasing competition and price sensitive guests, hoteliers need to ensure they are visible on multiple OTAs and metasearch channels as well as keep their brand website updated to be able to achieve maximum occupancy and meet revenue targets. Hence, knowing the right channels that bring business to your city is a key and being connected to them is very important for your online sales strategy. To find out how you can improve online revenue, contact us today and speak to our connectivity advisor – https://goo.gl/3gKUJZ

*source- mordorintelligence, moroccoworldnews

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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!

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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!

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Bahrain – Middle East’s new hotspot

For a country of 1.4 million people, Bahrain,the small island nation in the Persian Gulf, receives about 16 million visitors every year. Driven largely by business travel, Bahrain has recently witnessed a surge in leisure travelers which together is expected to place the country’s tourism industry on track to reach its $1 billion 2020 target. The tourism sector is one of the key investment sectors and contributes 6.3% to the country’s GDP, and is set to grow significantly, as the number of visitors and leisure activities increase.

A popular destination for neighbouring countries, Bahrain has aggressively promoting tourism in the Indian luxury segment and has also emerged as a prime wedding destination. the occupancy of Bahrain’s five-star hotels stood at 53 percent during the quarter, compared to 50 percent in 2018. In the first quarter of 2019 the total number of nights by tourists reached 4.1 million nights, an average of 3.3 nights per tourist.

Online travel is growing significantly in the GCC driven by high penetration for smartphones and adoption of e-commerce. Online travel bookings represent approximately 32% of the overall bookings which is projected to reach 40% by 2021. Bahrain, which has almost 100% internet penetration, makes it an attractive option for hotels to sell more on online.

Hotels are increasingly adopting to the technology. According to a recent study by eRevMax, hotels in the region now use at least three travel technology applications. In lieu with the growth in online bookings, Channel Manager or OTA connectivity solution has become a must have to manage online sales channels.

As the online travel market becomes the key component of tourism ecosystem in the GCC, it has open up new digital opportunities for hotels to engage with their consumers and the rapidly growing young segment of the GCC population.

Bahrain is now a perfect hot spot for every nationality Americans, Europeans, and Middle Eastern travelling in the region. As a travel destination, Bahrain is perfect for all; from families with children to even solo women travellers.

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

           

 

Source – *voyagersworld, travelwirenews, arabianbusiness,zawya, economictimes

                                            

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A playground where children’s creativity can run wild – Part 2

It’s time to rejoice as the children of Hatgacha Primary School in Kolkata, India now have their own playground. Further to our last update, the playground is ready and helping bring smile to the faces of young kids.

On one side it has helped reduce absenteeism while on the other, it helps children develop learning and creative skills. By playing together, they learn to get along, agree on rules and resolve conflict – all of which are necessary when building social skills.

If you want to encourage the link between playground equipment and child development, you need playgrounds that are designed to be beneficial for children. We are glad to be able to contribute in a very small way, to help some children get benefited from our CSR initiatives.

Here are some joyful glimpses –