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The Week, That Was – Oct 2020 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!!

eRevMax presents Travel Tech LATAM in October

eRevMax, in partnership with HS LATAM, is delighted to bring the next edition of TRAVEL TECH for LATAM hoteliers. The online panel discussions start this week and are scheduled between October 19 -23, 2020, with 22 speakers participating from 24 companies across the travel technology spectrum, including Amadeus, ReviewPro, eRevMax, Sabre, Mews, Mirai, Asksuite, Expedia, GHL Hoteles, HSystem, HS LATAM, Howard Johnson Argentina, Lybra, myHotel, STR, Sojern, Siteminder and Tag among others.

https://www.erevmax.com/ratetiger-news/ratetiger-news-archive/oct2020-erevmax-presents-travel-tech-latam.html

Booking.com reveals nine predictions for the future of travel

Innovation within the travel industry will accelerate faster than ever to respond to marked shifts in travel expectations and behaviors.

https://news.booking.com/smarter-kinder-safer-bookingcom-reveals-nine-predictions-for-the-future-of-travel/

Japan and China to lift ban on business travel

Short-term business travelers will be exempted from a two week self-isolation on condition that they submit negative coronavirus test results and travel itineraries to authorities.

https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics/International-relations/Japan-and-China-to-lift-ban-on-business-travel

Domestic travel will dominate in 2021, says Airbnb

62% are interested in a vacation ‘within driving distance’. Entire homes have replaced apartments as the top pick of guests on Airbnb, according to a new report the short-term rental platform released today.

https://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/domestic-travel-will-dominate-in-2021-says-airbnb/

The World Economic Forum on how to rebuild trust in international travel

International framework required to more safely resume travel whilst we wait for vaccines. To more safely open borders, countries, airlines and people will need to trust test results, vaccination records and potentially other health data from across borders.

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/10/rebuild-trust-international-travel/

Travel advisors will be essential post-pandemic travel

To navigate the complicated landscape of traveling during the pandemic, people are turning to travel agents, some for the first time. InteleTravel, a company that has independent travel agents working from home in the United States, the United Kingdom and Mexico, told the paper that since the pandemic hit, travel agents are seeing an increase of demand. Since April, InteleTravel told the Washington Post it has added more than 4,000 travel agents per month, which is a 40% increase over 2019.

https://www.travelmarketreport.com/articles/Washington-Post-Travelers-Should-Use-an-Advisor-During-the-Pandemic

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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Saudi Arabia Shows A Positive Year for Travel

Hospitality in Saudi Arabia is showing the strongest recovery from the Covid-19 shutdown in Middle East, with advance hotel bookings steadily rising. The Kingdom is developing several new projects to enhance tourism as part of the country’s strategy to diversify its oil-dependent economy. Tourism and hospitality sectors are expecting a big push with new opportunities through government grants and aids.  The Kingdom has been easing travel restrictions and started welcoming tourists and issued more than 400,000 tourism visas, as per Saudi Tourism Authority’s Hamidaddin, which is making the Kingdom the fastest growing destination in the world. In addition, travel restrictions are expected to be lifted in Saudi Arabia for citizens at the beginning of 2021.

The Government has announced its plans to reopen the two holiest sites in Islam to pilgrims in October. Local and foreign residents of Saudi Arabia will be permitted to enter the Grand Mosque in Mecca and the Prophet’s Mosque in Medina for the year-round umrah pilgrimage seven months after visits were suspended.

Recently Saudi Tourism Authority started a campaign “Saudi Summer” which is encouraging their native travelers and expats to enjoy 10 destinations from Red Sea, beaches and forests to mountain peaks and historic areas. The authority is working with 90 travel trade and hospitality partners to create more than 100 packages across the 10 destinations. In August, the advance bookings in Saudi Arabia exceeded pre-Covid level reaching 110%, as per eRevMax, an award winning travel technology company. The country is already starting to welcome a limited number of pilgrims following months of tight restrictions. The total number of inbound and outbound tourist trips in Saudi Arabia is expected to reach 62 million trips by the end of 2020.

Over time, domestic tourism in Saudi Arabia has received a major boost, which is helping the Kingdom’s economic recovery. The Saudi Authority are looking to reopen the Umrah market in a phased manner and are expected to announce new measures and protocols to boost travel confidence. Further, OTAs like our partners Seera, Halal Booking and other sales channels have been offering promotions and discounts on online bookings, which is proving to be attractive for traveller and pilgrims. This has led to a rise in domestic tourists who are now making a beeline for Saudi Arabia to experience its ancient trade centers and unexplored places within the kingdom.

Saudi Arabia has the second highest number of Covid-19 cases in the region. However, with patient recovery rate higher than the global average, the Kingdom has been easing restrictions since June.

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

 

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The Week, That Was – Oct 2020 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!!

Saudi Arabia leads hospitality recovery in Middle East, as per eRevMax Report

Saudi Arabia reports strong travel sentiment with growth in advance hotel bookings, as per hotel reservation data processed by eRevMax. The Kingdom has been easing restrictions since June, and August saw a huge jump in advance hotel bookings which exceeded pre-Covid level reaching 110%, for eRevMax partner hotels in Saudi Arabia.

Click the link to read the full report – https://lnkd.in/g4APuKP

Ski resorts across Europe, the US and Canada plan for a busy season

Most countries have a strong domestic market and many Alpine resorts experienced a bumper summer season as their nationals holidayed closer to home.

https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2020/sep/29/how-to-go-skiing-this-winter-ski-resorts-covid-19-restrictions

eRevMax introduces Promotions for Booking.com through RateTiger CRS

Create and manage various promotions on Booking.com directly from your RateTiger and LiveOS platforms. Reduce one more step in your daily operations – no need to go to the channel extranet for updating promotions. RateTiger lets you manage everything from a single window! Promote exciting deals and boost your hotel occupancy today – capture the available demand and increase online revenue.

Read further to see how it works – https://lnkd.in/geEyVnX

The Hotel of Tomorrow Project: Five big ideas and the trends that drove them

A group of 325 hotel industry executives have been meeting since June to brainstorm hotel innovation. The global think tank called The Hotel of Tomorrow Project released its findings culled from 79 suggested ideas from 16 teams globally that were then shopped to 1000 industry executives for their input.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/lauriewerner/2020/09/24/you-may-soon-be-staying-in-this-futuristic-hotel/#5d37497c7eca

Hotel profitability up in most regions, except the US

Europe, Asia-Pacific and the Middle East all reported increasingly positive GOPPAR during the month of August, according to the latest HotStats data.

https://www.hotelmanagement.net/operate/hotstats-profitability-up-europe-middle-east-and-apac

Brand USA and Airbnb launch collection of online experiences

A new landing page highlights a collection of Airbnb Online Experiences that showcase the possibilities of the United States.

https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2020/09/29/2100674/0/en/Brand-USA-and-Airbnb-Launch-USA-Country-Collection-of-Online-Experiences.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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Introducing Promotions for Booking.com through RateTiger CRS

RateTiger Central Reservation System has been enhanced allowing users to create and manage promotions for Booking.com directly from their RateTiger dashboard. Promotions are special prices that a property can offer during a certain time window, or to a certain type of booker. In RateTiger Settings, they appear under the Promotions tab in the Inventory Module.

On booking.com, hotels can create three types of Promotions from their RateTiger dashboard – Basic Deal, Mobile Rate and Profile Rate.

Basic Deal Promotion:

  • Easy and fully customizable promotion, which will give the guest a discount on selected rooms and rates.
  • Customize the promotion for everyone or members only
  • Control on MLOS, Dates and Room Type
  • Hotels can run the promotion for various Rateplan and Payment options

Mobile Rate Promotion: Options for-

  • an app only rate- i.e, guests booking (only) through Booking.com mobile app would get this discount
  • dot rate and t.dot rate- i.e, guests booking through the Booking.com website on their mobile browser

Profile Rate Promotion:

  • Target the promotion to a certain set of guests
  • Discount can be displayed only to verified, logged-in business travelers, and will apply to all your room types, rates and dates except excluded.

Monitor your Promotions:

  • On your RateTiger dashboard, the View and Apply Promotion widget provides a detailed report of all the existing promotions and allow users to modify / deactivate a campaign.

RateTiger CRS, powered by LiveOS, is the next-generation reservation management platform for hotel revenue managers to manage multiple distribution channels including web, mobile, voice, travel agent and online travel agent (OTA) channels.

This is a very exciting opportunity as this marks the start of a series of upcoming releases, to give hotels different ways to create and sell Promotions on multiple platforms through RateTiger.

Get connected to RateTiger today and start selling promotions. 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 – Sep 2020 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!!

Luxury Tanzanian hotel improves online business performance with eRevMax

White Sands Resort & Conference Centre, a 4-star luxury property in Tanzania, strongly recommends RateTiger for its highly effective online distribution and business performance management solutions. The property has been using RateTiger product suite, including RTConnect for channel management, Google Hotel Ads, metasearch management, Booking Engine as well as Reputation Management tool, all centrally managed from the RateTiger platform.

https://www.erevmax.com/ratetiger-news/ratetiger-news-archive/sep2020-erevmax-luxury-tanzanian-hotel-improves-online-business-performance.html

STR: Europe hotel performance for August 2020.

Europe’s hotel industry reported its best performance levels since February, according to August 2020 data from STR.

https://www.hospitalitynet.org/news/4100751.html

Airbnb’s City Portal promises better relationship with cities

Airbnb is piloting an information-sharing platform in 15 cities that it says will help local leaders monitor the effects of the home-sharing giant.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-09-23/why-airbnb-launched-a-data-sharing-tool-for-cities

UK: Travel companies flogging super cheap holidays for 2021

Desperate tour operators in the UK have slashed prices for next year not only to allow travelers to book ahead or to change their current bookings but also to recoup lost earnings for this year.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/travel/12729058/cheap-holidays-benidorm-majorca-2021-deals/

Booking.com introducing longer-stay rates

In response to surging demand for longer-term stays, hotels can now offer weekly and monthly rates. Under the new feature, a weekly rate plan requires a minimum stay of seven nights, while the monthly rate plan requires a minimum stay of 28 nights.

https://www.travelweekly.com/Travel-News/Hotel-News/Bookingcom-introducing-longer-stay-rates?

Co-working: How hotels are reinventing themselves

How Accor is adapting to new ways of working in a post-Covid world by reimagining spaces and services. Faced with new societal behaviors and other challenges arising from the pandemic, the classic hotel industry is evolving by launching new initiatives.

https://group.accor.com/en/Actualites/2020/09/coworking-hotel-pop-up-offices

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 – Sep 2020 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!!

TRAVEL TECH launches APAC Online Forum from 21 – 25 Sep 2020

Travel Tech introduces its virtual educational conference for APAC hoteliers and travel trade professionals. Through a series of webinars, TRAVEL TECH APAC brings together regional and global players to discuss evolving trends, changing guest expectations and new ways for travel businesses to strategize and cope with the market dynamics. Come and explore new business frontiers and discover innovative technologies.

Join our expert speakers who will talk about various topics affecting hospitality business – the sessions are scheduled from 21 – 25 September 2020 at 9:00 CET/ 15:00 SGT. RGEISTER NOW – https://lnkd.in/eGxeGuE

US travel trends for 2021

American travelers are turning their gaze towards summer 2021, with search volumes steadily increasing, including a 25% increase during the last month alone, according to new Skyscanner data.

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/skyscanner-reveals-us-travel-trends-for-2021-301126441.html

Where is hotel-tech headed in post-pandemic era?

With more businesses opting for cloud-based solutions and self-serve offerings, low-contact technologies will be the preferred choice for hoteliers. Hotels will look at AI, data security, platform, and integrations as must-haves.

https://in.mashable.com/tech/16901/where-is-travel-tech-headed-in-the-post-pandemic-era

Why travel should be considered an essential human activity

Go ahead and plan that trip. It’s good for you, scientists say. Plotting a trip is nearly as enjoyable as actually taking one. Merely thinking about a pleasurable experience is itself pleasurable. Anticipation is its own reward.

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/2020/09/why-travel-should-be-considered-an-essential-human-activity/

Italy: Hotel market sentiment survey.

Horwath HTL Italy conducted a survey to evaluate the current and medium-term impacts of Covid-19 on the Italian hospitality industry.

Download the report –https://horwathhtl.com/publication/italian-hotel-market/

German hotel operators confident about future.

Almost 95 percent expect the German hotel market to recover to its 2019 record level by 2022 or 2023 latest, according to a new survey.

https://www.cushmanwakefield.com/en/germany/news/2020/06/survey-hotel-operator-beat

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 – Sep 2020 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 expands connectivity offering in Europe with Veturis Travel

Travel technology leader eRevMax announced it has completed integration with one of Europe’s fastest growing travel wholesalers, Veturis Travel. The seamless connectivity will facilitate real-time data transfer between hotels and the bed bank through RateTiger and LiveOS platform and help in expanding its direct contacts with accommodation providers.

https://www.erevmax.com/ratetiger-news/ratetiger-news-archive/sep2020-erevmax-expands-connectivity-offering-europe-veturis-travel.html

What today’s travelers want in their accommodations

Of the 9 in 10 travelers who would be comfortable booking accommodations for a leisure trip in September or October, travelers are most comfortable staying in a vacation rental (31%), followed by chain hotels (28%), and resorts (15%), according to new Expedia data.

https://blog.advertising.expedia.com/vacation-accommodations-traveler-preference-trends

The state of group travel

The year 2020 was supposed to be a good year for the roughly 150 member brands of the USTOA. Nearly half were forecasting a “boom year,” with growth of at least 7% to 10%

https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/tripideas/group-travel-companies-are-still-a-thing-how/ar-BB18ELys

Hoteliers plan for a budget season unlike any other

As the pandemic has thrown off expectations for most of 2020 and limited the usefulness of historical data to guide the process, hoteliers are saying setting a budget for 2021 is a completely new experience.

https://hotelnewsnow.com/Articles/304207/Hoteliers-plan-for-a-budget-season-unlike-any-other

Pricing principles to maximize hotel revenue during COVID-19

The sudden demise of travel demand on a global scale is an opportunity for your hotel to switch to dynamic pricing if you were not already doing so. Here are some things to consider when setting rates in the current market.

Monitor your competitor’s price movement with #RateTiger Shopper  – marketing@erevmax.com

https://www.phocuswire.com/hotel-pricing-principles-vikram-singh-opinion

How travel will be bought and sold in August 2021

Brand loyalty will be a more critical factor in future travel decisions than ever before, and experts predict an upside for direct bookings for travelers who are looking at brands that provided assurances about safety and health protocols.

https://www.travelweekly.com/Arnie-Weissmann/How-travel-will-be-bought-and-sold-in-August-2021-Part-2?

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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Knowing your hotel channel manager in the post COVID world

Covid19 has changed the travel industry. With travel going south, hotel industry is being forced to make adjustments in the wake of plummeting occupancy. Facing an unprecedented crisis, hotels of all sizes across the world are desperately rethinking strategies as they plan to recover and rebuild.

Even as cost cutting becomes norm and investment on technology infrastructure is being scrutinized, technology is going to emerge as a hotelier’s trusted best friend when it comes to optimizing operational efficiency.

As travel slowly opens, the initial demand build-up is expected to come from local and domestic travel. This trend is being witnessed in markets like China where hotel occupancy is driven by staycation, drive-in and local travelers. Markets which have been dependent on international travelers are expected to take longer to recover than one with stronger domestic base.

This is the time for hoteliers to evaluate their online distribution mix. According to a recent report by Sojern, hotel bookings to Abu Dhabi within a 48km radius accounted for 77 percent of all bookings in April and domestic travel from Dubai accounted for 91 percent of searches and bookings within the same radius.

It is important to capitalize on the local channels. Hotels need to monitor their production data and upcoming booking trends to identify the more profitable channels. Effective channel management can assist hoteliers with both issues – by increasing visibility and allowing for variable rate changes between seasons.

The challenge for many hoteliers in managing these channels is to ensure accurate rates and inventory allocation to optimize each channel to increase sales and maximize revenue. It is necessary to have an effective hotel channel manager for every property. Proper channel management also needs a pooled inventory model. Pooled inventory makes sure that hotel rooms are simultaneously promoted across every channel with no concern of overbooking. It is now time to focus on strategies rather than updating channels. Along with finding out the right vendor for your distribution management, always check whether the provider is PCI and GDPR compliant.

Take complete control of your revenue and channel management strategy to control distribution costs and drive more direct bookings. Considered one of the best hotel channel manager in the market, RateTiger is integrated with more than 400 OTAs and working closely with 9000 hotels globally. It is the connectivity partner of choice for large hotel groups, mid-scale chains as well as independent properties in both luxury and budget segment worldwide providing solutions through its core product brands – RateTiger , LiveOS and AgentX101.

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

 

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The Week, That Was – June 2020 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!!

Hospitality experts organize Fireside Chat to discuss Reopening of Travel and New Strategies

With experts from across 4 countries, this one’s going to be interesting. Join the conversation on Tuesday 16 June 2020 to hear from hoteliers on their reopening strategies and how technology can support them. Register today – https://lnkd.in/gFZvUwi

TripAdvisor study outlines five-stage hospitality recovery

TripAdvisor’s latest study, “Beyond COVID-19: The Road to Recovery for the Travel Industry,” outlines a five-stage recovery for the travel and hospitality industry: Decline, Plateau, Emerge, Domestic Travel, and finally, a return to International Travel.

http://ir.tripadvisor.com/news-releases/news-release-details/tourism-during-covid-19-tripadvisor-releases-findings-staged

Hotel Guest Expectations in the time of COVID-19

For a traveler, a hotel room is like a home away from home. The one main exception however is that hundreds of strangers would have used that hotel room in the past. Hence maintaining cleanliness is very important in the hospitality industry, but with the spread of COVID-19, in which it is said that the virus can live on surfaces for a few hours to days, proper sanitization of guest rooms has become paramount.

https://www.erevmax.com/blog/index.php/2020/04/hotel-guest-expectations-in-the-time-of-covid-19/

What does ‘travel freely’ mean in the new era?

Travel, the luxury most of us took for granted up until March, has never felt more needed, with many of us desperate to swap the four walls that kept us safe in isolation for the white-washed stone of a Spanish villa. But from self-cleaning hotel rooms to temperature checks at airports, what will holidays actually look like post-coronavirus lockdown?

https://www.cosmopolitan.com/uk/entertainment/travel/a32809787/travel-holidays-after-coronavirus-lockdown/

 Transparency key to provide service to future tourists.

Transparency will be the key to provide service to the future tourists. During this COVID-19 pandemic, many aspects of future travels have been labelled as ‘uncertain’. Intermediaries offering more information and clearer policies will indisputably be at an advantage in terms of restoring consumer confidence, says GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

https://www.globaldata.com/travel-intermediaries-need-to-increase-transparency-to-restore-consumer-confidence-says-globaldata/

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 – February 2020 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!! HospitalityUnited.Club to host Cocktails & Conversations during ITB Berlin HospitalityUnited.Club is all set to host yet another dazzling event for hoteliers and travel tech fraternity in Berlin, along the sidelines of ITB, in partnership with Aptum, AgentX101, Ecommpay, LiveOS, RateTiger and TravelgateX. https://bit.ly/2T1oxWR Where hotel owners, operators invest in tech features Hotel owners, operators and asset managers offered up advice on how to balance needs and wants as well as what their top investment priorities are for the year. http://hotelnewsnow.com/Articles/300281/Where-owners-operators-invest-in-tech-features When Calling the Front Desk Is Not an Option There are certainly nice benefits to staying in an Airbnb. But if an emergency happens, you might be on your own. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/12/travel/airbnb-safety.html Booking.com Announces Finalists for its 2020 Technology Playmaker Awards With 45 finalists from 20 countries, this year’s awards shine a spotlight on inspiring female technologists and future tech trailblazers, and those championing greater diversity and inclusion in tech. https://globalnews.booking.com/bookingcom-announces-finalists-for-its-2020-technology-playmaker-awards/ Customers want more text-based customer support options from brands Customers want more text-based customer support options from brands. 72% of consumers age 18 to 64 said having the ability to text with a live agent in real-time would improve their overall customer service experience. https://marketingland.com/customers-want-more-text-based-customer-support-options-from-brands-275739 The big will get bigger as travel firms avoid the Google ‘death zone’ For hotel bookings, OTAs have moved away from a cheapest first price order, to a merchandised list, based on the highest converting hotels, securing bigger margins by focusing on a small set of hotels with higher booking volumes. https://www.travolution.com/articles/114184/guest-post-the-big-will-get-bigger-as-travel-firms-avoid-the-google-death-zone Travel experts fear long-term impact of virus Travel agents, operators and hoteliers are bracing for months, if not a full year, of economic disruption from the outbreak, with long-term effects that may ripple well into 2021. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2020/02/16/business/economy-business/tourism-coronavirus-covid19-2021-experts/#.Xk4eu5Uzbct

Meet us at ITB Berlin in Hall 8.1, Stand 113B on 4 – 7 March for a quick catch up – book a meeting today.