The Week, That Was – Dec 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!!

Sabre on planning beyond the pandemic

Sabre’s mindset now is to prepare the business for the period after the mechanics of the industry have started warming up once more over the course of the next 12 months.

https://www.phocuswire.com/Sabre-on-planning-for-2022-and-2021

Americans eager to travel in 2021

While the pandemic has induced more time spent at home than abroad, the flip side is that there’s greater opportunity for advertisers and travel brands to engage with potential audiences. 51% plan to travel for a vacation or business trip next year, according to new YouGov data.

https://today.yougov.com/topics/travel/articles-reports/2020/11/30/americans-eager-travel-2021

Charting the travel industry’s path to recovery

Tripadvisor traffic data and consumer survey analysis all point in the same direction: depending on the speed with which the development of a vaccine progresses, the journey to a sustained recovery for the global travel sector is likely to be prolonged. Tripadvisor and Phocuswright chart the shifting trends in traveler demand and behavior during 2020.

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Covid19WhitepaperNovember2020

Trip.com returns to profit as China travel rebounds

The company said its international business – which accounted for nearly 50% of revenue before the pandemic – will take more than a year to recover.

https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Travel-Leisure/Trip.com-returns-to-profit-as-China-travel-rebounds

CWT on what matters in travel right now

Let everyone know that you’re open for business and have built the necessary resilience into your daily lives to ensure health & safety is paramount in everything you do.

https://news.mycwt.com/blog_posts/open-for-business-what-matters-in-travel-right-now-97328

Cvent: Seven ways to impress hotel guests and earn more business

From pre-stay to post, the way you communicate can mean the difference between a poor, average, and great stay.

https://www.cvent.com/en/blog/hospitality/impress-hotel-guests

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!

Travel Tech EMEA Day 5 – Tech Trends – How to reinvent the hotel management with small teams?

One major fallout of Covid19’s impact on the hospitality industry is the retrenchment across segments. The pummeling occupancy and revenue have forced hotels to take a hard look and reduce their workforce. According to the American Hotel and Lodging Association, the American hotels has lost over 870,000. Across the world, the number has been several millions.

The disruption is brutal. However, as with life, business must go on. People will eventually travel and stay in hotels. And the industry must adapt to the new way of managing things with smaller resources. As hotels prioritize operational cost control, technology is expected to take the central stage to optimize business efficiency in a reduced workforce and increased workload environment.

According to a Gartner report, 85% of customer interactions is expected to be managed by artificial intelligence by 2020. Automation has become a major player in customer experience, and in the post-Covid world, technology adaption is going to get accelerated to ensure resilience. With hotels have been using technology solutions like PMS, CRS, Channel Manager, IBE, RMS, POS etc, a data driven integrated platform where each solutions talk to each other breaking the silos would go a long way to help hotels identify service and performance gaps and boost operational productivity. Hotels would need to embrace advanced AI technologies designed to improve the overall customer experience by being proactive, anticipating customer needs and engaging on an emotional level.

In the last session of this series Travel Tech EMEA, Co-founder Vinicius Geraldo with Alejandro Gomez and Clarissa Trezzi will discuss the critical issue facing the hotel industry – how to reinvent the hotel management with small teams? Joining him in the panel are Jirka Helmich  of Mews, Alfredo Chiaramonte of CHAPP Solutions, Luís Brites of Clever Hospitality Analytics, Tiago Araújo of HiJiffy and Prithwish Dutta of eRevMax. Join us – register now – https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/6930318956520107533

The Week, That Was – Nov 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!!

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 innovations. 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/?sh=58106e8a7eca

The decline in Chinese tourists has hit the luxury sector

Large groups of Chinese visitors have become a pillar of the global tourism industry. Coronavirus has not only put paid to this enormous source of income for major cities and sights around the world, it is having a massive knock-on effect for the luxury goods business.

https://qrius.com/how-the-decline-in-chinese-tourists-around-the-world-has-hit-the-luxury-sector/

Hotel profitability up in most regions

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

How travel booking behavior has changed

While consumer behavior is influenced by regional responses to the virus, there are some distinct trends that have emerged throughout the course of this year.

https://koddi.com/how-travel-booking-behavior-has-changed-due-to-covid-19/

Booking.com: Flexible policies are in higher demand

Half of travelers would book a trip if it allowed for free cancellation. One-third said they would book if they could reschedule for free.

https://partner.booking.com/en-gb/click-magazine/emerging-traveller-trends-and-behaviours-revealed

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/

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!

Travel Tech EMEA Day 4 – Operations – Automation vs Human touch: the impact on operation and customer experience

Hospitality, by definition, is the relation between the guest and the host. Since the very beginning, guest engagement is determined by human interaction. Even with the growing popularity of automation, the key differentiation between a good hotel and a great one has been the human intervention. All that has changed now.

If automation was one of the considerations for hoteliers in the beginning of the year, it has become the top most priority now. Covid-19 has been the biggest disruptor in modern times with guest behaviour and preference gone for a radical shift. Social distancing and minimal contact have become the norm forcing hotels to look beyond human-centric service and embrace automation.

If the smiling front desk and house-keeping staff were a key contributor to guest satisfaction, in the post-Covid world, the expectation is self-check-in and robot cleaning with personalized service in place. As hotels readjust their operations to minimize touch points, striking a balance between automation and human touch has become the biggest challenge now.

In today’s session at Travel Tech EMEA, Vinicius Geraldo of HS LATAM is joined by Neha Ginoria of eRevMax  to discuss with industry experts – Neil James of ReviewPro, Felix Said of myHotel, Erik Tengen of Oaky, Chris Alexadre of GuestRevu, Amit Rahav of HyperGuest regarding Automation and impact on hotel operations and customer experience. Join us – register now – https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/6930318956520107533

 

Travel Tech EMEA Day 3 – Digital Marketing – New ways and changes on guest booking journey

We all have been hearing about the change in guest behaviour and booking journey. Truth be told, the world has changed. Social distancing has become the norm. Everyone is extra cautious, and it looks like this is the ‘new normal’.

The new buzzword for the hospitality industry is ‘hygiene and sanitization’. ‘Safety’ has become the foremost consideration for travellers and they are ready to pay a price for it. While online still remains the most preferred way of booking, guests are giving far more weightage to remote check-in, digital key and remote services replacing the earlier expected face-to-face interaction.

While breakfast buffet was the earlier norm, no-contact in-room dining is the preference now. Weekend DJ evening is a thing of the past, instead you need to highlight safety measures and seclusion that you offer.

As for booking window, predictable seasonality is over for the time-being. With Europe and USA facing the second wave, there is apprehension and fear which is reflected in the irregular booking behaviour. Sadly this is expected to stay so and hoteliers need to adjust to shorter lead times. Non-refundable early booker rate is a thing of past. Guests now expect extra flexibility and support.

Brands across the globe are now coming to terms with the volatile business environment. What does this mean for hotels and their online digital marketing?

In today’s session at Travel Tech EMEA, Cofounder Vinicius Geraldo joins Alejandro Gomez and Rita Jusztina Varga along with the expert panel of speakers – Rodrigo Teixeira from Asksuite Hotel Chatbot, Nicola Seghi from SimpleBooking, Alberto Recanatesi from Bookassist, Theodoros Katsimpras from Bookonlinenow and Pavlina Zychova from MyStay to discuss Digital Marketing – news ways and changes in the guest booking journey. Register to exchange ideas and insights with the stalwarts – https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/6930318956520107533

 

Travel Tech EMEA Day 2 – Online Sales and Distribution – Demand generation strategies

For over nine months now, the hotel industry is in a survival mode. The global hospitality industry has been facing its worst crisis, and with Europe again going for stricter restrictions and lockdown, hoteliers are grappling with the distribution challenge. The revenue needed to stay afloat in business is putting pressure on hotels to focus on occupancy. However, the long-term profitability requires a hard look at the distribution approach given the traditional channel-mix has become a thing of past.

As seen in the past crisis of 2008, this is also the time for hoteliers to rely on OTAs for driving demand in the post pandemic world. A smart distribution manager would also ensure there is no brand dilution due to price cutting. With guest behaviour going through a radical shift, hotels need to adapt to changes, and focus on the value addition through transparency, visibility, promotions and personalized communication on key channels while preventing inventory leak.

In today’s TRAVEL TECH EMEA Day 2 session, HS LATAM Founder Vinicius Geraldo joins Lybra- Zucchetti’s Jennifer Nagy and FunnelTV’s  Enzo Aita to discuss Online Sales and Distribution – Demand generation strategies in difficult times, with our panelists – Francine Heywood from OTA Insight, Rudi Azevedo from RM_Academy, James Bishop from SiteMinder and Claudio Limacher from YieldPlanet. Do join the session – https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/6930318956520107533

 

Travel Tech EMEA Day 1 – The New Normal of Pricing Strategy

With the second phase of lock-down and restrictions in many countries in Europe, the hotel industry is again facing confusion and uncertainty. The pandemic has made the job of the hotel revenue manager even more difficult. With historical demand patterns, key metrics for forecasting becoming obsolete, hotels need to overhaul their traditional revenue management technology.

Historically, every time the industry has hit a crisis, many hoteliers resort to discounting in order to stimulate demand. However, experts warn that price cut is not the solution. Far from the easy way of price war, it is time for the hospitality industry to reset the traditional way of revenue management and rebuild a recession-proof pricing strategy.

In today’s session at the Travel Tech EMEA, founder Vinicius Geraldo will be discussing all this and more with Paula Carreirao. Joining them on the panel is Damiano Zennaro from IDeaS Revenue Solutions, Erik Muñoz from Lybra | Assistant RMS, Fernando J. Cuesta from Amadeus and Philip Niemann from Atomize. Do join the exciting session on Revenue Management: The new normal of pricing strategy. Register now if you haven’t yet – https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/6930318956520107533

The Week, That Was – Nov 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!!

Mexico’s hotel industry gain momentum, as per eRevMax report

Mexico was among the first LATAM countries to reopen travel back in June, and since then it has been leading the travel recovery with easy entry requirements and extra safety measures taken by the government being cited as a case study on doing things right. The certification to showcase the government’s seriousness is clearly paying dividends with advance bookings now reaching 76% of pre-Covid level for our partner Mexican hotels.

Read the full report- https://www.erevmax.com/ratetiger-news/ratetiger-news-archive/nov2020-erevmax-mexico-hotel-industry-gain-momentum.html

Tripadvisor on latest travel trends and top recovering destinations

Two-thirds of consumers surveyed say the ability to avoid crowded places when traveling is now a more important factor in their choice of destination than it was pre-pandemic.

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Covid19WhitepaperNovember2020

NH Hotel Group launches new digital platform.

eRevMax’s client NH Group launches The ‘Mobile Guest Service’ allows customers to use a mobile device to order room service, make spa, gym and restaurant reservations, request extra amenities, and order products from a ‘virtual minibar’.

https://www.businesstraveller.com/business-travel/2020/11/14/nh-hotel-group-launches-new-digital-platform/

Booking.com launching minimum cleanliness standards for short-term rentals

Company taking giant step toward guaranteeing quality stays in home rentals. The phased initiative will require rental managers and homeowners to maintain a Minimum Cleanliness Score of 6 out of 10 in order to remain on the platform.

https://vrmintel.com/booking-com-affirms-commitment-to-quality-with-minimum-cleanliness-score-requirement

“Perfect timing” – travel industry reacts to Airbnb’s IPO filing.

Airbnb surprised many in the travel industry when it announced its intent to list on the public markets earlier this year despite a crisis year for the travel industry. Though the home-share giant stated in 2019 that it would, in fact, file for its IPO in 2020, the pandemic upended plans for nearly every business around the globe.

https://www.phocuswire.com/travel-industry-reacts-to-airbnb-ipo-filing

Trivago preparing for a long-term shift in travel patterns.

While the perception will be much more positive towards travel, people at first will probably feel safer to travel within their regions than on long-haul flights, the company says.

https://www.barrons.com/articles/travel-wont-go-back-to-normal-even-after-a-vaccine-top-exec-says-51605522600

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!

The Week, That Was – Nov 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!!

Webinar – eRevMax partners with HS LATAM to host TRAVEL TECH EMEA

Join us for Travel Tech EMEA from 23 – 27 Nov to explore new business frontiers and discover innovative technologies. Hear from experts on how they are adapting to the new normal and generating revenue opportunities for their business.

Register Now to attend all the sessions – https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/6930318956520107533

Google adds more COVID-related health and safety info to Google Travel

Starting this week, when users search for hotels through Google Travel, they may see new information about COVID-19 safety precautions at the property – like enhanced cleaning procedures, or if there’s an option for a contact-free check-in, among other things.

https://techcrunch.com/2020/11/10/google-adds-covid-related-health-and-safety-info-to-google-travel/

Tips for how to travel – and host travelers – safely this holiday season

CNBC’s Global Traveler asked doctors for medical advice on how travelers and holiday hosts can more safely celebrate the next seven weeks.

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/11/11/how-to-travel-safely-and-host-travelers-over-the-holidays.html

Hotel CEOs see big improvement in 2021

Speaking on a panel of CEOs, he said that by the second or third quarter of 2021, there will be “an increasing sense that Covid is getting behind us,” and as that happens there will be a step up in travel – “not instant but pretty quick.”

https://www.travelpulse.com/news/hotels-and-resorts/hotel-ceos-see-big-improvement-in-2021.html

Over half of Americans still traveling for Thanksgiving

Recent Tripadvisor site data shows Key Largo, Fla., Sedona, Ariz., Key West, Fla. and Scottsdale, Ariz. are recovering from the pandemic much faster than other U.S. travel destinations.

https://tripadvisor.mediaroom.com/2020-11-09-Tripadvisor-Reveals-2020-Thanksgiving-Travel-Index-Over-Half-56-of-Americans-Still-Traveling

Hospitality bookings continued to lead travel industry improvement, says Sabre

In Q3, Sabre saw positive signs as GDS and hospitality bookings steadily improved, along with passengers boarded, as leisure bookings recovered faster than corporate bookings.

https://www.fool.com/earnings/call-transcripts/2020/11/06/sabre-corp-sabr-q3-2020-earnings-call-transcript/

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!

The Week, That Was – Nov 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!!

5 things to look for when switching your Booking Engine

Whether you have a small hotel in a quiet town or an independent boutique hotel or managing hotel chains in some of the best destinations across the world, you have to show your presence through your website. Know some important factors that hotels need to take into account when switching their booking engine

https://erevmax.com/blog/index.php/2020/11/5-things-to-look-for-when-switching-your-booking-engine/

The five emerging trip types of 2021, according to Booking.com

The impact of the pandemic is changing not just our choice of destination but also the type of trips we’re most likely to take in the coming year. Booking.com’s new research reveals the five emerging trip types for 2021 to motivate and inspire travelers to take a trip (or five) to best fit their newfound travel preferences.

https://globalnews.booking.com/the-five-emerging-trip-types-of-2021/

A reset in hotel bookings is happening right now

For the first time in recent history, the travel industry is learning how to start a new. While a lot remains unknown, what is evident is that the new behaviors and preferences of today’s traveler are likely to linger, if not become permanent changes for some.

https://www.phocuswire.com/a-reset-in-hotel-bookings-is-happening-right-now

Winding Tree, Skyware Hospitality Solutions and Veturis Travel join the eRevMax Partner Ecosystem

Staycations are now popular in and around, hotels are now giving lucrative packages and deals to the customers. Domestic tourism is expanding rapidly with the dominance of last-minute bookings. Various OTAs have launched multiple programs to help hotels attract more guests as well as offer a safe and clean stay environment. Knowing the right channels that bring business to your city is a key and being connected to them is very important to increase your hotel’s presence online.

https://erevmax.com/blog/index.php/2020/11/winding-tree-skyware-hospitality-solutions-and-veturis-travel-join-the-erevmax-partner-ecosystem/

Trivago hopes for travel recovery in mid-2021

Reporting third quarter 2020 results the hotel metasearch company says increases over that period were driven by nearby trips to nature spots in “developed Europe.” The company is launching a local travel discovery product in core markets.

https://www.phocuswire.com/trivago-q3-2020-soft-demand

How the US election might determine the future of travel

When demand is back to normal, the real bottleneck will be airport infrastructure. With the travel industry decimated by Covid-19, the presidential response could determine whether the industry revives or is crushed beyond repair.

https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/us-election-2020-trump-biden-travel/index.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!