A hotel channel manager allows properties to manage multiple online distribution channels from a single solution, Hotels can update rate and availability and receive reservations directly to its systems like PMS and CRS in real-time. Advanced channel managers provide 2-way XML connectivity with online sales channels including OTAs, GDS, metasearch, wholesalers and booking engines for seamless data transfer.
What is Hotel Booking Engine?
The Internet Booking Engine or Hotel Booking Engine is an application that allows customers to book online directly on the hotel brand website.
What is a Hotel PMS?
PMS or Property Management System is a software solution which can be installable or cloud-based for managing hotel operations like handling guest profiles, check-in and check-out, occupancy management, checking room availability and bookings.
The Week, That Was – November 2019 Week 2
Russian upscale hotel recommends RateTiger for optimizing online revenue
Russian upscale property Petro Palace Hotel has recommended RateTiger, powered by LiveOS, for stable connectivity with online sales channels and competitor rate intelligence. The hotel has been a long-standing customer of RateTiger, using Channel Manager and Shopper for its online distribution.
https://bit.ly/2XkNf6A
Wholesalers impact on corporate hotel bookings
A study from American Express Global Business Travel and GfK finds that as many as 40% of US business travelers book outside of policy. This is not good news for hotels that still agree to static net rates, because as wholesale rates start to appear on the CBTs, these hotels will find their negotiated direct corporate rates undercut yet again.
http://www.eyefortravel.com/distribution-strategies/hospitality-staying-open-race-bottom
TripAdvisor: Trip.com deal ‘exciting opportunity’ in China
The strategic partnership between Trip.com Group, the company formerly known as Ctrip.com International, and TripAdvisor includes content agreements, a joint venture and a seat on TripAdvisor’s board for Trip.com Group.
Google pushes travel websites down in free search results
Google dominates the online search market, with at least three quarters of the market. People use the search engine to research trips, so for at least a decade online travel agents have refined their websites with trustworthy content and easy booking tools to show up high in Google results.
Booking Holdings sees brand collaborations as key to restoring growth on steroids
Are online travel agencies’ glory days, when revenue was growing 25 or 30 percent and room nights booked were jumping at similar clips, long-gone history? Is today’s competition in online travel, with Airbnb breaking through and Google asserting itself ever-more intensely, too rigorous to replicate the robust growth of a few years ago?
Business Travelers Sentiment Remains Strong With Most Frequent Travelers Wanting Even More Travel
Business travelers remain optimistic and sentiment remains strong despite economic headwinds in some parts of the world. Senior-level business travelers including senior/executive management (74 percent) and directors (77 percent) agree the health of the economy is excellent, according to the second wave of research out today from the GBTA Business Traveler Sentiment Index™ in partnership with RoomIt by CWT™, the hotel distribution division of CWT.
https://www.hospitalitynet.org/news/4095846.html
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 – November 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!!
eRevMax upgrades its integration with Miki Travel
Hotels using RateTiger Channel Manager and RTConnect for online distribution and connectivity now can use the seamless interface to publish their contracted rate and availabilities to travel agents affiliated with the wholesaler and receive reservations generated in the channel in real-time.
6 Great Types of Content for Hotel Website for Increase in Bookings
A good hotel website that is rich in content can help you to attract potential customers and influence them enough to book a room in your hotel. Good content can also improve your hotel website’s search engine ranking. Here are 6 types of great content for your hotel website that can increase bookings.
Brands see ROI in direct bookings, member discounts
A slowing growth environment in the hotel industry prompts hotel companies to assess the strength and success of their efforts to grow loyalty for their brands. The world’s largest hotel companies are pushing hard for more loyalty members to book directly with them to ensure they get a bigger piece of the pie before the pie starts to shrink.
http://hotelnewsnow.com/Articles/298891/Brands-see-ROI-in-direct-bookings-member-discounts
Japan: Rakuten eliminates all parity requirements
Japan’s largest domestic online travel platform has officially committed to remove all rate and availability parity obligations in its contracts with the nearly 33,000 hotels listed on its site.
https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=2abc6aab-b710-41c2-af7a-be0285ea3ba1
Airbnb to verify all of its listings
Airbnb properties will soon be verified for accuracy of photos, addresses, listing details, cleanliness, safety and basic home amenities. All rentals that meet the company’s new standards will be “clearly labeled” by December 15, 2020.
https://techcrunch.com/2019/11/06/airbnb-to-verify-all-of-its-listings/
Kayak launches Kayak Guides
The new feature allows users to create and share personalized travel itineraries with friends, family and fellow travelers. In the near future, travelers will be able to search within Guides for specific locations, themes and more.
Booking.com launches third Booking Heroes competition
The competition invites Booking.com customers to tell the world their story of an accommodation provider that made their trip unforgettable. The Booking Heroes competition champions the outstanding hospitality of accommodation providers that offer their guests far more than a place to rest their head. By sharing their stories, customers can earn a chance to win €25,000 of Booking.com travel credit – both for them, and their Booking Hero.
Google Promoted Hotels available on mobile
Promoted Hotels placements have been introduced to mobile, expanding their presence on Google Hotel Search. As is the case in desktop search, Promoted Hotels will appear in one to two placements on the first page of the search query and will update based on the filters provided.
https://koddi.com/google-promoted-hotels-available-on-mobile/
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 – October 2019 Week 5
Things to Consider Before Choosing a Hotel Channel Manager in 2019
It is necessary to have a seamless hotel channel manager to manage distribution. It will let you sell rooms efficiently, maximise revenue and reduce the amount of time that you waste on manually managing OTAs resulting in empty rooms or overbookings. Before picking a hotel channel manager, here are a few things that you need to consider.
The real value of the bedbank distribution model
Reach, Growth, and Occupancy: the real value of the bedbank distribution model has been commissioned by Hotebeds and explores the unique role that bedbanks play in the hotel industry.
https://www.phocuswire.com/Hotelbeds-value-of-bedbanks-report
Ctrip is now Trip.com
The recently concluded 2019 annual general meeting of shareholders adopted the resolution to change the name of the company from Ctrip.com International to Trip.com Group.
https://www.hotelmarketing.com/articles/ctrip-is-now-trip-com
U.S. travel industry intensifies efforts to draw Chinese tourists
Across the country, the U.S. tourism industry is trying to counter one of the casualties of the trade war with China that is still raging despite a temporary truce this month: a drop in the flow of affluent Chinese visitors to the U.S.
https://www.travelweekly.com/North-America-Travel/US-intensifies-efforts-to-draw-Chinese-tourists
The top 5 things you need to know now in hotel digital marketing: October Edition
This month, the latest digital innovations include Google testing search results without URLs, the benefits of being GDPR-compliant, and the colors that will be making a splash in 2020 design.
Meet Team eRevMax at WTM London, Stand TT211 from 4 – 6 November 2019 – contact marketing@erevmax.com to set up a meeting.
Thanks and have a good day!
The Week, That Was – October 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!!
Argentina based Europlaza Hotel & Suites recommends eRevMax for channel connectivity
Europlaza Hotel & Suites, a midscale hotel in the heart of Buenos Aires has recommended eRevMax solutions for managing online distribution. The property has been using RateTiger Channel Manager since 2014 to maintain real-time rate and availability across multiple online sales channels and receive reservations.
How to Promote Your Hotel to Business Travelers?
Business travelers form one of the major groups of travelers, and this group is increasing with time. Expenses on global business travel are expected to rise by 7% by the year 2020, which means hoteliers have to go that extra mile to attract business travelers to their properties.
https://erevmax.com/blog/index.php/2019/10/how-to-promote-your-hotel-to-business-travelers/
TripAdvisor jumps on the hotel direct booking bandwagon
TripAdvisor is introducing a direct-booking feature to its Sponsored Placements product for accommodation providers designed to help them boost revenue. With the new feature, sponsored listings will now include a prominent link directly to a hotel’s website to facilitate a booking. Previously, listings linked through to an OTA.
https://www.phocuswire.com/tripadvisor-sponsored-placements-direct-bookings
Google vacation rentals: Booking Holdings is gone, Airbnb is in
Airbnb listings have begun appearing for the first time in Google’s vacation rentals feature in several European cities, including Paris, Amsterdam, and Madrid. Airbnb’s appearance in Google vacation rentals could be a cameo — a small test to see if participation is worthwhile.
https://skift.com/2019/10/22/airbnb-makes-debut-in-google-vacation-rentals-for-now/
Independent hotels disappearing as chains grow
More independent hotels are either joining the big chains or shutting their doors. One of the biggest reasons independent hotels are disappearing is that they’re getting acquired by the large hotel companies or joining them as affiliates to tap into their marketing power.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/21/business/independent-hotels-airbnb-boutique-chains.html
Phocuswright: Capturing the Chinese travel consumer
1.4 billion people strong, the Chinese make up a large percentage of APAC travelers. Capturing Chinese travelers is like netting a big fish. They travel in throngs and have money to spend. This is proven by the travel bookings from the region amounting to USD 420 billion in 2018 and is expected to increase to USD 480bn in 2020.
https://www.traveldailymedia.com/capturing-the-chinese-consumer/
Agoda on moving beyond accommodation
In the past, Agoda was all about hotels. That has changed. Today the company sells flights, tours as well as alternative accommodation which has become a strong pillar of the business. Thailand-based travel platform Agoda says it is focusing on finding the “best inventory” for its customers, operating with the “best tech” and fending off the intense competition in Asia armed with the “best weapons.”
https://www.phocuswire.com/Agoda-John-Broughton-Brown-interview
Meet Team eRevMax at WTM London, Stand TT211 from 4 – 6 November 2019 – contact marketing@erevmax.com to set up a meeting.
Thanks and have a good day!
Online travel trends in USA
It’s been a decade since the travel industry has turned around from the global recession. The past 10 years marks the story of remarkable resilience shown by the hoteliers. From accommodation sharing to rate comparison to social selling to travel demand surge – this has been a period of challenges, disruptions and growth.
Fueled by digital innovation, the shift to online travel booking has emerged as a global trend. In 2009, Expedia and Booking – two of world’s biggest OTAs processed around $15 billion in gross bookings. In 2018, they reported gross global bookings of $99 billion and $92 billion, respectively. From $15 billion to $191 billion – this astonishing 1200% increase reflects the change in traveler’s booking behavior and preference.
According to a survey by Wex on US travelers’ booking behavior and preferences ranging in age from 18 to 70, typically 67% of respondents book their travel online with 73% of Gen Z and 76% of Millennial travelers doing so. The online travel market in US, although near saturation, has been outpacing the overall market and now amounts to US$103 billion. While OTAs are expected to control 41% market share in 2020, Expedia and Booking Holdings continue to dominate in the U.S., with the two collectively representing 92% of the OTA market. In this post we take a deep dive into OTAs in the region who are playing vital role in shaping the digital travel.
In 2018, 350 million room-nights were booked through Expedia, making hotel reservations its biggest source of revenue. Following the merchant revenue model, the company buys up a large number of hotel rooms at a lower rate and receives booking payments from the customer. Through a network of branded travel booking sites, including Expedia.com, Hotels.com, Travelocity, Orbitz, Wotif, Egencia, Vrbo along with the metasearch platform Trivago, the group has been able to drive a loyal user base. The Expedia platform had over 1 million properties (including 370,000 of HomeAway vacation rentals) with its site receiving 675 million monthly site visits and its mobile app being one of the most popular one across platforms.
For listed hotels, the company provides an easy-to-use console Expedia Group Partner Central to manage their properties, join promotions and packages to attract travelers, and maximise revenues.
Egencia is the business travel management service offering accommodation, flights, activities, and more to businesses who wish to leverage their services to find the best deals for travelers.
Everyday over 1.5 million room-nights are booked on Booking Holdings platform making it the largest online travel agency in the world, and has a portfolio of popular OTAs, including Booking.com, Priceline, Agoda and Kayak. Booking.com, its flagship brand largely works on the agency model acting as agents on behalf of accommodation providers. Hotels pay the OTAs once the booking has been paid in full by the guests. Its loyalty reward system called Genius provides members with discounts and rewards which increase as the member books more through the site. Booking.com has been steadily making inroads in the US market which has been historically dominated by Expedia.
Listing on Booking.com is a rather simple process. Accommodation providers need to visit the registration page and complete the instructions. It’s important to select the property type to ensure right category listing. The commission-based service even offers 24/7 multilingual assistance and markets your property on various search engines. Booking.com provides its client properties a Visibility Dashboard with the relevant data to track and improve your visibility in the search results. Hotels can also take advantage of its Genius and Preferred Partner Programme for better visibility.
Over the last couple of years, Airbnb has emerged as a preferred channel for independent and boutique hotels. In fact, properties listed as boutique hotels, bed and breakfasts, and other hospitality venues like hostels and resorts have grown by 152 percent in the last one year. The platform has also emerged as a preferred option for last-minute bookers, which is expected to get further boost following its acquisition of HotelTonight and cross-promotion across these channels. Since last year, Airbnb has been highlighting hotels more prominently on its website and introduced a loyalty program. Earlier this year, the company has eliminated guest fee on new hotel listings making it more competitive with traditional OTAs. To list their properties on Airbnb, hotels need to match guidelines set by the channel like:
- Vibrant common gathering spaces / events
- Guest rooms with personal touches that are individually unique and/or local in design
- High-quality photos on the listing page that showcase the design of the property and what guests can expect
- Accessibility features that are helpful to guests with limited mobility
A part of Expedia group, Hotels.com is a strong brand available across 85 local websites in 35 languages. The channel receives over 60 million unique visitors per month. It’s loyalty program Hotels.com® Rewards has over 15 million members. With a fully responsive mobile site and mobile app with over 50 million downloads to date, customers can book on the go with access to 20,000 last minute deals. To list a property, hoteliers need to apply through Expedia Partner Central (EPC). As part of the Expedia group, the listing gets featured across all Expedia sites including Orbitz.com, Expedia.com, and Travelocity.
The Week, That Was – October 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!!
Openhotelier completes technical integration with eRevMax
With online sales growing at a fast pace in Maldives, hoteliers can benefit from such integrations as it offers them more distribution options directly from their Frontdesk PMS. This partnership is aimed at creating a frictionless environment offering hoteliers end-to-end solutions for their online distribution and connectivity needs to attract more guests.
Accor and Expedia believe there’s a path to save the hotel-OTA relationship
On a panel at the WiT Singapore 2019 Main Stage, Louise Daley, deputy CEO for Accor in Asia Pacific, and Melissa Maher, senior vice president for marketing and innovation at the Expedia Group, entered diplomatic talks about how the hotel-OTA relationship should really function and what will it take for both sides to come out as winners.
https://www.phocuswire.com/Accor-Expedia-Group-online-travel-agency
How to Increase Bookings from Hotel Booking Website?
It is important for hospitality business to have a brand website of their own as it has a strong digital identity to attract maximum visitors. When you are building a website for your hotel property, here are some important factors that hoteliers need to take into account. Read more –
https://erevmax.com/blog/index.php/2019/10/how-to-increase-bookings-from-hotel-booking-website/
OTAs in prime position to benefit from rising APAC internet penetration
Internet penetration in APAC is expected to breach the 50% mark and continue growing as it overtakes the US. Results of joint research from travel data co-operative Sojern and Phocuswright involving a survey of 5,782 online travel customers from seven countries was recently presented at the event – read further for the findings.
Chinese tourism growth slows as overseas travel loses its luster
Chinese tourist sites received 782 million visits during the holiday, up well over 7% from last year’s 726 million, according to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. But that’s slower than reported growth of more than 9% in 2018, and down from a 10% increase in 2017.
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 – October 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!!
HospitalityUnited.Club to host Cocktails & Conversations in Singapore
The consortium of travel technology specialists, HospitalityUnited.Club, is ready to host its exclusive ‘Cocktails & Conversations’ evening in Singapore this month, on 16th October 2019. The Club will be hosting the event in partnership with AgentX101, HotelTonight, Ecommpay, LiveOS, RateTiger and WIHP, to present the latest in travel technology.
Register today – https://www.hospitalityunited.club/events-register/singapore-oct19.html
Booking.com’s top travel trends for 2020
The company predicts 2020 will be a year of travel exploration like never before, fueled by technology as well as a growing sense of responsibility and deeper connection with the people and places we visit.
https://travelpredictions2020.com/#5
If you think email is dead, think again
Adobe’s recently released Email Usage Study for 2019 reveals new insights about consumer habits and preferences around receiving marketing emails. The respondents are spending up to five hours a day checking their emails (both work and personal). In fact, they actually feel that the amount of time they are spending is ‘just right.’
https://www.clickz.com/email-usage-study-adobe-2019/255955/
RoomIt by CWT expands channel manager connectivity
RoomIt by CWT the global hotel distribution division of CWT, announces new strategic partnerships with multiple global hotel guest acquisition platforms. The partnerships provide business travelers with more choice and hotels with greater access to customers.
Hotels are start, end points of travel experiences
As affluents become more drawn to experiential travel, the role of the hotel has evolved to become more about the destination than simply about hospitality. During a panel at Condé Nast Traveler’s Points of View Summit, industry experts discussed how high-end and boutique hotels are becoming more reflective of their location. Design, sustainability practices and programming are different ways hotels can incorporate local elements.
https://www.luxurydaily.com/hotels-are-start-end-points-of-travel-experiences/
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!