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Dubai based star hotel experiences 600% growth in online business with RateTiger

Astoria Hotel in Dubai shared recently that it experienced 600% growth in online business over the last 3 years with RateTiger channel management and rate intelligence solutions.
Alankar Borkar – Manager –Sales & Reservation at the hotel says “Rate parity & accurate inventory management are must to maintain your property at par with your competitors, specially clusters like Bur Dubai which are very price sensitive. Being heritage property in Dubai was a tough transition period for us to market on dynamic platforms – we can say eRevMax – RateTiger is our most important partner in this transition. We have stretched our online market to 38 % in the last 3 years due to excellent support & tools from RateTiger. We highly recommend RateTiger products especially in Dubai.”

Astoria Hotel is a three-star property with over 100 rooms. RateTiger’s real-time connectivity with over 300 online sales channels has facilitated the property to connect to the better producing OTAs, resulting in an increase in online business share from 5% to 38% over 3 years’ period.

The Middle East is the fastest-growing region for travel with the UAE being the dominant market. With over 15 million overnight visitors, Dubai has seen double digit growth in mid-market travel segment. RateTiger solutions have enabled Astoria Hotel to maintain real-time rate and availability in OTAs based on sound business intelligence.

Ali Kansou, Regional Sales Director at eRevMax will be present at Arabian Travel Market in Dubai from 24 – 27 April 2017. To set a meeting, contact marketing@erevmax.comtoday.

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Booking.com fires away strict rate parity: What it means for hoteliers – Part II

In the first part of my article (see here) I’ve focused on Booking.com’s new rate parity agreement and how hotels now have regained control over their pricing. Here is the next part of the article.

Loosening rate parity with a caveat
The commitment comes with a caveat: the hotels had to maintain same rates and booking conditions on Booking.com as they do through their own direct website. Term this as a narrow ‘Most Favored Nation’ agreement, the OTAs require a minimum allocation, or some availability, from hotels. Predictably, hotels are not happy.


They fear that the big OTAs, with their marketing budget would be able to manipulate the search results, which they claim would continue to affect their business adversely. In a strongly worded statement, the British Bed and Breakfast Association calls Booking.com a “bully” and says, “that this new settlement, thrashed out behind closed doors in Europe, is wrong and anti competitive, and against the interests of consumers.” The powerful British Hospitality Association has shown similar disappointment, and terms the commitment as falling short of progress and not benefit customers or hospitality businesses in a meaningful way.

Paris based Accor, Europe’s biggest hotel chain has taken a cautious approach and expressed satisfaction. However, InterContinental Hotel is not impressed. In a market, where close to 70% reservations come through OTA with Booking.com alone contributing over 43%, no one can afford to kill the goose that lays the golden egg.
For now, they have the option of promoting discounted rates to their closed groups for more direct bookings. But then again, Booking.com with its excellent loyalty program, which accounts for close to 50% of their overall reservation will give then a tough run. In fact, industry watchers believe that the next war will be fought over loyalty programs between the OTAs and major hotel brands. Elimination of rate parity might trigger ‘price cannibalism’ between OTAs and brand sites that could (at least potentially) lead to a worse-case scenario for the industry as a whole.
Make the most of the opportunity
As travellers spend more time on research, hotels need to be present at every touch point to their target audience. This is why, hotels need to evaluate each channels for the opportunities they present, and create tailor-made pricing strategies – all while staying within rate parity constraints – for optimizing rate and revenue.
To start with, hotels need to look at analyzing margins from each channel and allocate rate and inventories with margin as base-line. Select channels that bring key value to their properties – ones that support not just when the circus is in town but on a rainy day. With access to reservation reports to identify the customer demographics, hotel can develop intuitive packages to help customers actually find what they are looking for. The basic of every pricing strategy is to know the value of the product and the elasticity up to which consumers would be ready to pay.


Which leads to the importance of evaluating different distribution platforms. Without a foundation of platform based pricing it will be extremely difficult to manage pricing to the players sitting on the various levels of distribution, such as  traditional OTAs, Same-day booking sites, GDS, Tour Operators, Own Website, social media, mobile applications, fenced groups, loyalty programs, specific credit cards, and so on. By introducing a platform based pricing methodology, hotels can optimize their rate matrix while staying within their contractual obligations.

Mature distribution markets are moving from daily rate changes to real-time changes from a revenue management perspective which has a positive impact on profit optimization.  Remember, price is only one of the four P´s of marketing. Give equal importance to other 3, namely product, place and promotion. Parity is not so evil after all, only misunderstood.



Cristina Blaj is Sales Director at eRevMax.  She can be reached at cristinab@erevmax.com
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Booking.com fires away strict rate parity: What it means for hoteliers

Just when we have been thinking that the rate parity issue have been sorted out, comes the news of Booking.com amending their parity agreement in Europe. In an announcement last week, the OTA giant has said that they are abandoning its price, availability and booking parity provisions with respect to other online travel agencies. Putting it simply, this means, as an hotelier, you can now sell the same room in another OTA at a lower price. As Booking.com CEO says: “We welcome and encourage fair competition in the marketplace because competition drives innovation, efficiencies, and most importantly, greater value for consumers.”



For independent hoteliers, and smaller OTAs, this development can be ‘THE BEST THING’ that has happened to them for a long time. And they are thanking regulatory bodies in Sweden, France and Italy, who have forced Europe’s biggest online channel to bend its rule. Investigation on Booking.com’s alleged ‘anti-competitive clauses’ are going on in Germany, Austria and UK. So does that mean that the rosy days are in the corner for the hotel industry?
A quick recap of rate parity controversy
For long smaller OTAs have been alleging against unfair arm-twisting by big OTAs to maintain rate parity. Based on claims made by Skoosh, a pan-European hotel booking site, UK’s Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has investigated allegations that hotels are colluding with Booking.com to keep room rates at an artificially high level. Following a three-year investigation by the OFT in 2013 ruled that InterContinental Hotels Group, Expedia and Priceline Group could no longer enforce rate parity agreements for certain types of bookings.
Since then, hoteliers in the U.K. have been able to offer discounts to “closed groups,” such as members of their loyalty program. And third-party distributors will be allowed to reduce their commissions and margins in order to discount hotel rooms to certain “closed groups,” such as website members or travellers who download their mobile app.
Europe now, world awaits
The latest move by Booking.com is somewhat similar to their stand in UK after the OFT verdict, but has broader scopes. Effective from July 1, the amendment will allow an accommodation provider the freedom for properties to offer different pricing and booking policies (e.g. free cancellation, WIFI, breakfast) through different online travel agencies. For independent and smaller hotels, who cannot afford to stay away from the mighty channel, but are burdened with  paying high commission (up to 20% in some cases), price parity has always been a bone of contention.

With the recent changes, does it mean hotels now have regained control over their pricing?

In my next edition I’ll talk about how hoteliers can utilize maximum opportunity from the rate parity amendment by Booking.com

Cristina Blaj is Sales Director at eRevMax.  She can be reached at cristinab@erevmax.com
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Oakwood selects RateTiger for channel management and competitor intelligence

Oakwood Hospitality Group, the world-class accommodation provider has selected RateTiger Channel Manager for its twelve properties to manage rates and availability across multiple sales channels from single platform.
“We are looking at implementing a channel management system that helps us achieve rate parity efficiently. RateTiger will help us save valuable time and give us a better overview of the market, enabling us to concentrate on the strategic aspects of marketing,” said Tabatha Ramsay, Vice President Sales, Marketing and Revenue.

The group has 28 properties in 15 cities across eight countries and territories, operates under three brand names Oakwood Premier, Oakwood Residence and Oakwood Apartments which offer distinct guest experiences to cater to different lifestyles. Leveraging RateTiger solutions Oakwood Asia can maximize its revenue opportunity and reduce its distribution costs by quickly and efficiently increasing its distribution reach.


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Citybaseapartments.com uses RateTiger Corp for optimizing rate strategy

UK based agency Citybase Apartments, an online sales channel catering to serviced apartments, has selected eRevMax to enforce rate parity and best rate guarantee for all connected properties. The company will be using one the most sophisticated business intelligence tool in industry RateTiger Corp for monitoring suppliers’ rates across competitor sales channels to analyse its market position and identify any discrepancies.

“As an online booking agent specifically tailored towards serviced apartments, it’s imperative that our customers can trust that we are offering them the best rates possible.” said Louise Rogerson, Supplier Relations Team Manager, Citybase Apartments. Through RateTiger Corp, Citybase Apartment will be able to automatically capture and analyse rate parameter data and can improve brand position on all connected channels.

Read the full story here. 
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Three Strategies to Boost Direct Bookings and Still Appease OTAs

Travelocity, Hotwire, Priceline and other travel deal sites require hotels to pay significant commission fees in exchange for bookings. While this is an important revenue source for the industry, some hotels have experienced an increasing percentage of their business moving to these channels (effectively reducing the amount of undocked reservations they receive).

One primary reason for this trend is the assumption that these online travel agencies (OTAs) will always have the better deal. While rate parity clauses prevent hotels from publicly advertising rates for less than what’s on the OTA, there are strategies property owners can use to entice more customers to book direct.

Recently, my company interviewed several hotel management software and hotel marketing experts to help brainstorm several ways hotels can drive direct bookings. Here’s what they suggested:

Blog About Great Deals and Share The Posts
Your blog is a great avenue for both reminding potential customers why that moment is a great time to travel, and for pitching them on deals relevant to whatever event or season might be happening. You can send these articles to your email list, as well as optimize them with keywords that have high search traffic. This latter strategy can drive more organic traffic to your website. For example, “SXSW hotels” receives 170 searches per month, so Austin-area hotels could write blogs optimized for that keyword so they rank when people search for that term in Google. Here’s an example of a blog post advertising Spring time events in the area around The Sanctuary Beach Resort in Monterey Bay:

Hook Viewers with Strategic Design
Often, travelers shopping on OTAs visit the hotel’s website to learn more about the accommodations offered. This is your chance to capture those site visitors and stop them from going back to the OTA. This takes smart web design.

First off, make it as clear and hassle-free as possible to book. Provide “book now” buttons on every page that link to your hotel booking automation system. These buttons should be located at the top of the page so they are the first thing customers see. Also, include call-to-actions on every page that encourages visitors to “sign up for our email list for exclusive discounts,” or “Like on us on Facebook for special deals.”

Also, many customers assume they will get the “least desirable rooms” if they book on an OTA. So you need to show them what your best rooms look like immediately. This could convince them it’s worth splurging on your room rather than an OTA room. Make sure your most attractive rooms, views and balconies (if you have them) are front and center (like on your homepage). These images need to be professionally taken, high quality and show the best parts of your most desired rooms – soaking tubs, incredible views, large windows and so on.

By implementing these tips, savvy hotel managers can drive customers to their own website without upsetting their OTA and still reap the clear benefits of using OTAs. Rather than a battle, it can be a win for everyone involved.

Interact with Customers on Review Sites
Many times when customers use OTAs, they get a list of five or so properties in a similar price range. In addition to visiting the hotel websites, they might also go to something like Yelp or TripAdvisor. This presents another opportunity to draw customers to your own site, rather than having them go back to the OTA to book.

When customers post reviews about your hotel, you need to try your best to answer as many as possible, where they’re positive or negative. Review, a web-based tool by eRevMax, makes monitoring these reviews as easy as checking emails. The application scours all hotel review sites and collects every mention of your hotel in one location. It also lets you respond directly to guests without ever leaving its interface, cutting down time spent hopping from one review site to another for an effective hotel guest review management process.

Besides just viewing and responding to comments, the tool gives you a deeper understanding of your customers. You can see exactly what’s working and what’s not, trends among customers, and also how your hotel stacks up compared to your competitors.

How do you increase direct bookings? Let us know!


Alan S. Horowitz contributed to this report.

Ashley Verrill is an analyst with Software Advice. She has spent the last six years reporting and writing business news and strategy features. Her work has been featured or cited in Inc., Forbes, Business Insider, GigaOM, CIO.com, Yahoo News, the Upstart Business Journal, the Austin Business Journal and the North Bay Business Journal, among others. She also produces original research-based reports and video content with industry experts and thought leaders.

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Chinese hotel chain signs eRevMax for market expansion and revenue growth

Rosedale Hotel Group has recently partnered with eRevMax to expand its online visibility to further improve market share. Intense competition in the Chinese hospitality sector has made it important for accommodation providers to optimize all demand sources. Online travel booking is growing in double digits in China and is expected to reach USD 48 billion by 2016.
“We chose RateTiger Channel manager as it is considered one of the best online distribution tools in the industry. It helps our Reservations team save valuable time while reducing workload, we can now make all updates directly from the RateTiger dashboard.” said Mr. Louis Cheng, General Manager of Rosedale Hotel Kowloon and Rosedale on the Park. Headquartered in Hong Kong, Rosedale Hotel Group will also be using RateTiger Shopper, the leading price intelligence tool to monitor rate parity across all its channels. This will empower the property with better room rates and price forecasting to generate more revenue. 
Read the full story here.
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LifeClass Hotels doubles direct booking with RateTiger

Slovenia-based LifeClass Hotels has successfully utilized the Billboard Effect to increase direct bookings by over 100% with the help of RateTiger, the integrated channel manager, pricing data and guest review monitoring tool.

“RateTiger has certainly made it easy for us to set rates and update all the sales channels very quickly.” said Alen Milosevic, Revenue Manager, LifeClass Hotels & Spa. The 4/5 Star hotel group of six properties has been able to introduce a substantial expansion of its product offerings from one room rate plan for four room types to 16 rate plans for 6 to 7 room types. With the help of RateTiger review the property has been able to monitor guest review on various social channels like TripAdvisor, Facebook yelp etc. this has resulted in 30% revenue growth in 2012.

To read the full story, click here.

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Newshound: Leonardo continues with RateTiger, Bookings through Multi-channel management, More on Review Express & Hotel price-fixing lawsuit

Leonardo Hotels extends contract with RateTiger for future-proof eDistribution and company expansion

Leonardo Hotels is extending its contract with RateTiger by eRevMax to support the development of the company’s sales and distribution processes. This follows Leonardo Hotels‘ acquisition of 20 properties from the QMH Hotel Germany Group, in one of the biggest deals the European hotel industry has seen in recent years.
http://www.hospitalitynet.org/news/4060480.html 


Maximising booking in a multichannel environment requires serious knowhow

It is impossible to invest time in every available channel, so how should distribution managers allocate their time? Being responsible for desktop and mobile websites on a daily basis as well as coordinating e-commerce projects and keeping up relationships with global online travel agencies is a challenge. Indeed senior distribution executives must display sound judgement, because one wrong move can have a profound impact on overall channel profitability. 

More on TripAdvisor’s new hotel review collection service “Review Express”

TripAdvisor announced the expansion of its suite of review collection services with Review Express, a powerful, free solution available exclusively on TripAdvisor. The new service makes encouraging fresh reviews easier than ever by giving registered businesses the option to send customizable, bulk emails to their guests asking them to write a review about their experience.
Hotel price-fixing lawsuit adds EyeForTravel, Hyatt and Wyndham as defendants

The lawsuit alleges that EyeForTravel “facilitated the conspiracy and agreements at issue” from 2004 to 2012 by conducting “private, industry-only conferences” in which presentations and discussions covered various hotel pricing strategies, and the need to enforce rate parity in all distribution outlets.

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The Paul Hotels Achieves Online Rate Parity

The Paul Resorts & Hotels has further developed its revenue management operations to improve rate parity across multiple online sales bookings channels. The group implemented advanced allocation management capabilities through RateTiger’s Channel Manager to improve its position and rate management with third parties.
The award-winning luxury property in India has been selling across 15 online channels and wanted to ensure the same rates were available to customers across all channels. However, managing so many OTAs manually was becoming a challenge, especially when guests were discovering rate inconsistencies. To main group sales sells across global booking portals as well as regional OTAs with the prospect to add more channels the properties chose RateTiger.

“Given our small inventory and high occupancy rates throughout the year it’s essential we engage in more future planning across our sales channels.” said Shelley Thayil, Director of Revenue Management.