Hecansa signs an agreement with eRevMax to bring new technologies to the management of tourism enterprises Canary

An initiative of the Government of the Canary Islands, HECANSA, has signed a partnership agreement with eRevMax, with the goal to bring new online distribution technologies to the Canaries. The Deputy Minister of Tourism, Ricardo Fernandez de la Puente Armas, and Director of Sales for Spain and Portugal at eRevMax, Cristina Hernandez, were responsible for signing the agreement at the Hotel Escuela Santa Brigida, in Gran Canaria.

         

Being aware of this new source of employment, Revenue Management, acknowledged  by the National Public Employment Service, HECANSA signs the present agreement for the utilization of the product RateTiger Suite with the purpose of giving an answer to the new necessities and improvement of the competitiveness of the Canary Islands’ tourist sector.” commented Ricardo Fernández de la Puente Armas, Deputy Minister of Tourism for Canary Islands.
The premiere hotel school of the Canary Island will be using RateTiger Suite for their two schools to power their students’ education in the Distribution and Revenue Management fields.

See full story here

FITUR 2013


One of the biggest international travel trade fairs, FITUR, took place from January 30 to February 3, 2013 in Madrid. It continues to be a global meeting point for travel professionals and it being the 33rd edition speaks about the popularity of the event.

Team eRevMax was happy to be back at FITUR, as it really is one of the key shows to meet Spanish and international hoteliers. The company’s stand saw RateTiger Spanish clients turning up in droves to speak to the Sales and Account Managers.

“We heard a lot of positive news and some excellent feedback. In addition, we had many new visitors keen to find out about RTSuite 3.0 and how it differentiates in the marketplace; well really quite simply — a) integrated product for both channel management and pricing; b) automated inventory distribution; c) full service account management; d) greater product flexibility,” said Ryan Haynes, VP Marketing.

He further added, “FITUR did have less exhibitors this year and at times there was a lull, there didn’t seem to be much discussion on the state of the Spanish economy, but this is now old news. Instead everyone focused on business. I’d be interested to see what FITUR can do to bring the magic back to the tradeshow.”

Automated distribution and allocation is becoming a hit with hotels – they are open to new product and ideas – hoping to overcome the current crisis. “We witnessed an increase in the enquiries – people were keen to know how it would help them in their distribution. Further I also noticed rising interest among Portuguese hoteliers this year,” says Flavio Bastos Amiel, PR Representative.

Nuria Bermejo, Service Manager thought that there were fewer stands and the attendance was low.  “However I was glad to see that a lot of people came to our stand specifically to see us knowing the range RateTiger offers,” quipped Nuria.

From a sales perspective, Cristina Hernandez, Sales Manager for Spain noticed that the event was lacking in delivering for exhibitors – “The number of exhibitors are reducing year on year, however the good part was that hotels were excited to see our offerings. I was amazed to see that many small independent hotels knew exactly what they wanted and were glad to choose us.”

BW Belgium Achieves 5% Revenue Growth in 2012

Hospitality Solutions has reported 5% growth in revenue for Best Western Belgium with a slight increase in direct online sales for the regional property portfolio. The Group which is using RTSuite in its 25 properties has achieved this growth by using RateTiger channel manager and pricing reports, to improve benchmarking and visibility of prices and packages across third party sales channels (OTAs), while systematically improving operational efficiencies for the revenue management team.

“By implementing a quality standard in strategy and technology we can homogenize the sales environment for hotels to make it easier for all staff members to understand. RateTiger, for example, will allow any member of staff to simply Close-Out the hotel across all sales channels should it become fully-booked. This control ensures we maintain good relationships with OTAs.” said Michael Thiry, Distribution Manager.
The key strategy for Hospitality Solutions was to draw reservations from OTAs towards the direct brand website of the member property. In 2012 OTAs achieved a minimum revenue increase of just 1.02%, compared to the 5% increase in overall revenue performance. 
    Full story on erevmax.com
     

    Newshound: Trends and Reports – Hotel Online Distribution


    eRevMax Restructures Customer Service To Deliver Product Consultancy

    eRevMax International has restructured its customer service to deliver 24/7 technical support and full service product consultancy for revenue managers. Customers of the RateTiger Suite portfolio and RTConnect will benefit from immediate attention on all technical issues relating to product performance and channel connectivity with a ‘Follow the Sun’ approach adopted by the hotel technology specialist.
    http://www.hospitalityupgrade.com/_news/showNewsDetail-docID-5809.asp

    Individuality is key for proper channel mix

    An overall strategy for managing a hotel’s distribution channel mix should include individual plans for each of the channels, according to several industry experts on the topic. Experts said that while revenue management and channel management practices have become more technical over the years, neither of them should be considered rocket science.
    http://www.hotelnewsnow.com/Articles.aspx/9081/Individuality-is-key-for-proper-channel-mix

    Victory for value: good deals drive bookings for corporate travel

    Corporates are getting savvier about the way they choose and procure accommodation, and a key influencer today is value for money. Firms are trying to extract more for their hotel stays by cashing in on value-added incentives.  Recent data released by hotel distribution technology provider Hotelzon has highlighted the growing popularity of five-star hotels with business travelers.
    http://www.eyefortravel.com/distribution-strategies/victory-value-good-deals-drive-bookings-corporate-travel

    Distribution challenge: how OTAs are making appropriate use of online technology

    To ensure the best possible yield for hotel partners, online travel agencies (OTAs) must ensure that they are compatible with most of the key channel management solutions. At the same time they must aim to increase accommodation choices for travellers. The ultimate aim of the OTA is to expand their global coverage to offer a range of properties from ordinary global chains to elite hotel groups and unique, independent hotels around the world.
    http://www.eyefortravel.com/mobile-and-technology/distribution-challenge-how-otas-are-making-appropriate-use-online-technology

    Infographic:Turning social media reaction into booking action for travel brands

    We know the basics – social media allows travel companies to engage with existing and potential customers and can act as an unofficial watchdog of products. But with 61% of travellers apparently referring to some kind of user review and almost a third posting reviews of placed they’ve visited, for example, what can companies do to increase booking conversions as a result of activity on social networks.
    http://www.tnooz.com/2012/10/04/news/turning-social-media-reaction-into-booking-action-for-travel-brands-infographic/#FH7CCAC6MYpKpQ7g.99 

    Online travelers in Europe visit fewer websites

    When it comes to online travel shopping, European consumers are keeping it simple. According to PhoCusWright’s European Consumer Travel Report Third Edition, a Global and European Edition report, online travel shoppers in France, Germany and the U.K. trimmed down the number of websites they visited when shopping for travel in 2012. The percentage of online travel shoppers who used only 1-2 websites to shop for travel products increased within the past year – to 41% in France, 30% in Germany and 37% in the U.K. http://hotelmarketing.com/index.php/content/article/online_travelers_in_europe_visit_fewer_websites

    Tradewinds Hotels and Resorts diversifies product offering with distribution control

    Tradewinds Hotels and Resorts Sdn Bhd has increased online bookings by improving its visibility in new markets while diversifying its product offering. The hotel group installed RateTiger’s channel manager, RTSuite, to manage up to 12 channels across five of its nine properties to gain control over room availability and introduce new packages.
     

    Hamidah Ishak, Asset Manager at Tradewinds Corporation said: “We experience excellent occupancy levels during peak season at our Tradewinds Hotels & Resort, but we needed more exposure to ensure consistent sales throughout the year.”

    One of the largest hotel owners in Malaysia, the group introduced additional sales channels to expand into China and Taiwan and grab a larger market share. From now the hotel can enjoy
    greater flexibility in rate management and inventory distribution and thereby introduce three new product types, Advance Purchase, Discounted Rates and Minimum Night Stay, to offer travelers greater choice.
    Find out the full story here

    HITEC 2012 – The Show That Was!

    For four years I was whiling away in the London office, coordinating the prestigious North American tradeshow that is HITEC. Over 5,000km away, the RTConnect and RTSuite sales team along with management members swooned the delegates and built relationships with some of the biggest and brightest hotel tech companies. I waited in earnest to find out their experience, with often William Goldsberry getting overly excited by the opportunities.

    2012 – and I am told I get to go. The prospect was daunting, Goldsberry and our CEO tried to reassure me that it is not the big bad beast I imagined. (I was having nightmares of conversations with CIO and CTOs about the best system integration techniques). Indeed they are right, HITEC is a friendly show and much smaller than that of WTM and ITB, but much more specific in its approach.

    I met journalists from across all the North American publications; it was a pleasure to meet them in person after 5 years. And their enthusiasm to finally meet the face behind all the emails on product updates, customer wins and case studies, was inspiring. We talked distribution, channel mix, sales opportunities and how RateTiger will be in more places in 2013 than it has done in its 10-year history.

    The rest of the team had a good show, in fact I never saw them for the number of meetings they had. The RTConnect team were talking about seamless connectivity, and channel integration as more companies look to direct connect, from CRS to PMS and plenty of channels.


    We were pleased to be joined by Trust and Travel Tripper for our post – HITEC meal. We even had chance to head to Fells Point, on the edge of the Baltimore harbour. The old cobbled streets, red brick buildings and array of small restaurants, eateries, bars and pubs reminded me of a quaint town of England – home! We made sure we had some of their finest seafood delicacies including fish and mussels. But, Must go back for the Crab! 


    Ryan C Haynes
    is VP – Marketing Communications at eRevMax and is responsible for driving all PR and Marketing activities for RateTiger and eRevMax brands globally. Ryan is based out of London and can be reached at ryanh@ratetiger.com