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5 Online Distribution hacks for hotels to get more business

Many hotels today are not happy with their sales as they are facing a lot of competition and are struggling to manage a variety of online channels and technology solutions. In this article, I will talk about some tips to overcome these inconveniences and increase profits for your property.

The fundamental thing is to connect to the right channels based on the markets that book your hotel, and of course apply revenue management strategies to offer the right prices to the right customer segment.


In a highly fluctuating market, online visibility has become essential, and having a booking engine on the hotel brand website is a key to drive direct business.

This needs to be complemented with a Channel Manager so that you can manage all your connected sales channels easily and efficiently. Further, to know what rates you should charge for different room types for different time periods, you need to know your competitors rates as a benchmark. Hence having a rate shopping tool has become a must to get real-time rate reports.

To ensure you have a clear picture of your availability and occupancy status, it is important to have everything linked to your property management system to make updates and reporting seamless.

Here are some distribution hacks you can implement to get more online bookings –


Tip #1: Research and select some high-performing OTAs and travel sites to promote your property. The commission you pay will be partially offset by additional business on your website. 
Suggestion – Google Local Business: it’s free. Studies have shown that clients look for hotels in different OTAs but also decide to investigate the hotel’s own page. In this case, the booking engine is of fundamental importance. Having a brand website with all the information is key. Fortunately, Google AdWords allows your hotel to be localized with keywords. And do not forget the location and Google maps since the apps on the smartphones are the order of the day. In case you are looking for a booking engine or connecting with Google, let us know and we can help.


Tip #2: Do not forget to watch your competitors. It is important to have a defined set of competitors, not just who you presume is your competitor by star category, but also keep in mind factors like proximity to your location. An interesting strategy is to create a rate equal to or slightly lower than the competitor and another with a slightly higher value – this way you can attract guests looking for economic options while at the same time target the next segment. Get real-time competitor rate reports through RateTiger Shopper.

Tip #3: With online travel booking growing every year, it is important to have correct rates and inventory displayed on the online channels – it can become very difficult to handle if done manually leading to costly mistakes due to errors in rate updates. Hence is it important to have the channel manager to ensure updates are smooth. Further, 2-way connectivity provides reservation delivery flow into the PMS thereby providing correct inventory status at all time. RateTiger channel manager offers the maximum number of channel connections with maximum uptime ensuring all your updates are immediate, thus helping maximize online revenue.

Tip #4: Know and penetrate the market that books your property – find out the key source markets for your city and region. Create special promotions and offers to target these source markets to attract guests to your property. These promotions can be based on different parameters – long stay, lead time, early booking, etc.  In this way, you can apply the correct promotion for each destination. You can leverage Demand Central on LIVE OS to get all this valuable information and create specific campaigns accordingly.


Tip #5: Be visible on TripAdvisor and other travel review sites – encourage your guests to leave comments and reviews to gain more visibility. Sign up for metasearch engines and drive direct traffic to your hotel website. Beyond the searches for room rates, the opinion of guests who have stayed at your hotel hugely influences booking decisions of prospective guests. Track your reviews on multiple sites to know your strengths and also areas for improvement as it presents a unique opportunity to improve and grow. Use platforms like LIVE OSthat aggregate these reviews in a single platform for you to track, monitor and respond to guests.

There is no easy way to success – it is important to understand your guests and their preferences. Being available at relevant touch points will help improve your hotel’s visibility and booking conversion. It is important to encourage change, and seek strategic partners to do so, and remember the right partner will not be a cost center, infact they can be a valuable investment.

Offering a unique product or creating a differentiated service is not impossible, using value additions and experiential marketing techniques to rise above your competition can show improved results.

Julian Lindt is the Connectivity Advisor for LATAM at eRevMax. He can be reached on julianl@erevmax.com for any queries with regards this article.
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RateTiger’s connectivity with OTAs results in 14% reservation growth for Arch House


Irish apartotel Arch House Apartments has witnessed 23% increase in online sales with efficient rate and availability distribution through RateTiger. The property offering 13 rooms and 10 self-catering apartments in Athlone, has been using RateTiger Channel Manager since 2013 to manage online sales channels in real-time.

“We work with a number of online demand partners including the likes of Booking.com, Expedia and In1 Solutions to name a few. eRevMax offers a wide network of channels which makes it easy for us to pick and choose who we want to work with. Not only do they offer a good mix of channels, they ensure the connections are smooth and stable so that updates are delivered in real-time,” said Chris Moran, Co-owner, Arch House Apartments.

“I cannot imagine running my daily operations without RateTiger. The team has experienced immense time savings in managing online distribution as the channel manager makes it easy to update rates and availability on multiple channels in a click. It is very important to have solutions that work for you rather than those that make you work. RateTiger is one such example. We have experienced an overall growth in business and our occupancies have gone up significantly,” commented Chris.

 

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Meet us at INDABA in Durban 16-18 May 2017


Sun Africa Hotels, one of the fastest emerging hotel chains in Kenya, has been using eRevMax solutions to benefit from real-time channel management powered with business intelligence data.
 
“We’re one of the fastest growing hotel chains in Kenya and offer some of the finest hotels and lodges in East Africa. With Channel Manager Web by eRevMax we are maintaining real-time availability and dynamic pricing based on analytics provided on LIVE OS. This has helped us to improve our online presence by maintaining real-time room availability up to the last inventory across all distribution points in resulting better occupancy,” said Rahul Sood, Group Managing Director – Sun Africa Hotels.
Located at some of the most popular tourist places in Kenya, Sun Africa Hotels manages 8 leisure properties. RateTiger’s 2-way XML connectivity with all leading OTAs in Europe and North America, two of their biggest international markets, is helping Sun Africa Hotels to update rates and availabilities across their online distribution channels in real-time ensuring online sales optimization as part of its growth plan across East Africa region.
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Hotel California Paris leverages RateTiger to expand online distribution network

Built in 1925, Hotel California Paris is a historic landmark with 140 rooms located near Champs-Elysées in Paris. They are leveraging eRevMax’s 2-way XML connectivity with leading global OTAs and metasearch channels to update rates and inventory in real-time and receive reservations directly into its PMS.

“We have been using RTConnect for the last 5 years and are very satisfied with eRevMax services that totally match our needs. Thanks to the diversity of their distribution portfolio (OTA, Wholesalers etc), we can connect with a large number of distribution partners. Amongst all the products I have used and tried in the market so far, RateTiger remains the most powerful and efficient,” said Denis Billard, Revenue & Reservation Manager at Hotel California Paris.
“Providing hotels with stable connectivity has always been our topmost priority. The single sign-on dashboard simplifies operations, improves efficiencies and gives hoteliers time to focus on strategy. Being trusted by a prestigious property like Hotel California Paris for streamlining their online distribution shows how well we deliver when it comes to best-in-class technology and premium customer service,” said Lore Boccanfuso, Regional Sales Director at eRevMax.

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eRevMax completes 2-way integration with ResAvenue


Hotel connectivity expert eRevMax has completed integration with ResAvenue, a popular online hospitality solution provider in India. The integration will facilitate hotels using ResAvenue to update rates and availabilities directly to their brand.com through RateTiger and RTConnect interface. 
Mumbai based ResAvenue is a ‘plug and play’ booking engine & CRS offering multi-lingual responsive and personalized booking experience to over 1000 hotel customers in South Asia and Middle East. The 2-way interface enables eRevMax to capture and deliver online direct bookings to the hotel PMS instantaneously, thereby eliminating manual handling of reservation notification and chances of overbooking. 
“A hotel can augment its revenue stream with the establishment of smooth and seamless connectivity between the property and its other partners in the distribution ecosystem. ResAvenue is thrilled about the deep integration via 2-way connectivity between eRevMax, the leading online distribution technology provider, and our ResAvenue CRS. This collaboration effectively harnesses the potential of cutting-edge hospitality technologies to automate distribution and boost the hotel’s revenue,” commented Akhil Thakur, Manager-Travel Industry Services, ResAvenue
“At eRevMax, we give utmost priority to offering hotels a diverse range of connectivity solutions. By integrating with ResAvenue, we have expanded our core distribution offering, the real-time 2-way connectivity with hotel systems and online sales channels to include the hotel brand.com site,” said Ashis Saha, SVP – Project Management, eRevMax. 

Both the companies are attending Arabian Travel Market in Dubai from 24 – 27 April 2017. To set a meeting, please contact marketing@erevmax.com

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With Love from Sao Paulo – Technology Hits and Misses from WTM LATAM

Time is Money!
This statement has never been as valid perhaps as it is today.

I was at WTM Latin America a few days back and realized the truth and depth of this statement while talking to some friends from the industry. Constant news from solution providers and revolutionary technological innovation continues to prove how valuable time is!

For those like me who had their first contact with a computer in the early 90’s and learnt the complicated codes of the GDS used by Varig Airlines (my first job in the industry) – we get amazed by the developments that has happened since then.

Year after year, hotels have had several innovative tools at their disposal to simplify their daily work and facilitate the management of business, but the main concern for them is how to choose the best from among so many options available in the market.

Now let’s talk about Latin American hoteliers in specific. I have been working with hotels in this region for quite some time now and I see that many of them are able to see a new world of opportunities with excellent perspective on improving their room occupancy, RevPAR and overall profits.

However, there are various others that are yet to understand and visualize all the benefits that these new distribution and connectivity tools can provide to their business. We can’t blame them because this technological evolution has been very fast and ran over all the pre-existing models. 

Hoteliers need to adapt to non-fictional reality and try to understand the origin and consequences (both positive and negative) of this evolution.

The new generation of hotel employees is able to adapt more easily to trends and new technologies. For many, the thought of being “stuck” in an office can be the worst nightmare and hence mobility, agility, thinking outside the box and the possibility of managing your work through virtual access to hotel systems is very appealing. This is the era of connected individuals who are constantly sharing with the world what they are doing. They are open to new technologies and apps and are not scared to try anything new.

Think about a Ferrari! Everyone agrees that it is a wonderful car but it just doesn’t make any sense for you to buy it, if you only know how to ride a bicycle. This is one of the most famous analogies that many ‘old school’ hoteliers still make when approached with innovative technologies. They continue to ignore potential growth opportunities that could come their way with the right distribution tools and by selling on the right channels.
They also ignore market changes and think they can continue working like they used to in the 90’s. They think will be able to survive in the market riding their bicycles while their competitors are using Ferraris.

As a result of the advancement of technology, work-flow processes of the past will not survive the current day pressure of hoteliers and is getting altered quickly. Cloud technology and innovative platforms will only help hotels in this increasingly competitive market. In addition to bringing several improvements to the professionalization of the hotel market in Latin America, the greater reflection of this technology adoption will be seen in how hotels effectively meet and exceed guest expectations. 

Karl Marx once said “The production of too many useful things results in too many useless people.”
 
I wish I could show Karl Marx all the technological innovations of our market today and he would, for sure, change his mind. 

Because TIME IS MONEY after all!



This post is by Alex Moura who is the Regional Sales Director for North America, Caribbean & Brazil at eRevMax. He can be reached at alexm@erevmax.com
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Pegipegi completes 2-way integration with eRevMax


Pegipegi, one of the most popular online travel agencies in Indonesia, has completed 2-way integration with eRevMax. The seamless interface will allow hotels using RateTiger and RTConnect platforms to update rate and availabilities and receive reservations generated through the channel in real-time.

“As an OTA providing Hotel, Flight and Train booking services, Pegipegi always strive to provide the best service not only for our customers, but also for our partners. Through our co-operation with eRevMax, we try to provide convenience for our hotel partners to be more practical in uploading their room availability, price, and facilities in Pegipegi,” Ryan Kartawidjaja, Deputy CEO, Pegipegi.

“At eRevMax, we give utmost importance to provide our hotel customers with a diverse range of superior connectivity options. The integration with Pegipegi allows us to offer hotels with wider selection of leading South East Asian channels to choose from and capitalize on the region’s online travel growth story,” said Ashis Saha, SVP – Project Management, eRevMax. 

Launched in 2012, Pegipegi currently offers more than 7,000 hotels in Indonesia, more than 20,000 flight routes, and more than 1,600 train routes.

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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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Hotelaria Brasil recommends RateTiger ahead of WTM Latin America 2017

Hotel connectivity expert eRevMax has consistently been recommended by its hotel clients globally. Hotelaria Brasil has been using RateTigersolutions across all its 14 properties for the past few years. The team has immensely benefited in their overall implementation of pricing and revenue strategies. 

Raffaela Gambarini, Revenue Management Coordinator at Hotelaria Brasil said “RateTiger comes to meet our Revenue Management strategy facilitating the daily tasks of a hotel Ecommerce department. We are very satisfied with all the features of RateTiger platform that allow us to save time and increase revenue results.” 
Alex Moura, Regional Sales Director at eRevMax commented, “We believe in long term partnership with our clients and treat them as business advisors. Over time, we have developed various new features within our Shopper and Channel Manager products providing more options and a wider network. We are glad to see how Hotelaria Brasil has leveraged RateTiger in achieving their revenue goals through effective pricing decisions.”
“We are excited to be presenting LIVE OS at WTM Latin America in Sao Paulo next week. LIVE OS is the first hospitality operating system that offers hoteliers with relevant business intelligence components along with access to various service providers from a single sign-on platform. We will be showcasing this fantastic platform to hoteliers and partners during the event,” concluded Alex. 
eRevMax is known for its stable solutions with 99% product uptime. The company has invested in building a robust infrastructure to provide hoteliers with uninterrupted service offering 2-way XML connectivity with over 300 online channels and provides 24×7 customer support. It is the connectivity partner of choice for large hotel groups, mid-scale chains as well as small properties in both luxury and budget segment worldwide. 
Alex Moura and Julian Lindt from eRevMax will be present at WTM Latin America in Sao Paulo from 4 – 6 April 2017. Book a meeting with them today on marketing@erevmax.com
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Three Things Hotels Should Not Ignore

The world of hospitality and travel has entered a new era of growth and transformation. Global business travel spending hit a record-breaking $1.2 trillion in 2015, up by five percent from the previous year. Healthy booking growth is forecasted to continue across the leisure and business fronts in 2017, but the spoils are not guaranteed to travel’s biggest or most-well-known brands. Here I find three most prominent things hotels SHOULD NOT ignore in 2017 –
  • RMS   

  • Social Media  

  • Reviews 

Revenue Management Systems

RMS’s are getting stronger day-by-day. The data sets are increasing every day. As the primary job of RMS is to forecast the future rates and for this they need past and current data. RMS companies get data from different sources and different places and based on that they do forecasting of future rates. At present the cost of data storage is low and processing has increased. As the amount of data is increasing day by day, hence they are getting more clear insights of hotel’s revenue management and forecasting is becoming more accurate  and precise. This is also one of the major reasons why the demand for RMSs has gone up. Almost all the big properties are using a Revenue Management system or rate recommendation tool today.
 

Social Media

Your hotel needs social networks because it’s a unique opportunity to stand out of the crowd of big chains, and achieve a greater number of followers. The number of hotels that are on Facebook and Twitter is growing every day; this is why you must join these platforms to compete with your rivals.

The challenge for hoteliers lies in how to influence their customers to share positive reviews on social networks and convert potential prospects into future guests.
Things have changed over the last ten years – today we are in an era of ‘now’. Consumers have evolved and become smarter – always connected to the Internet, everywhere. With the emergence of modern technologies and social networking, consumer taste and behavior have been changing and they have become very powerful. Consumers are taking decisions and dictating the reputation of an establishment.

With the advent of smartphones and mobile devices, consumers have easy access to platform through which they can make or break a hotel’s reputation through their comments and reviews. Today’s consumers are expert in communication – they are a content generator reaching millions of people through their social profiles on Facebook, Twitter, Blog etc.

Reviews

Now-a-days all potential buyers routinely sort through search results by customer reviews and star ratings before making a final buying decision. Things work in a similar manner in the hospitality industry. A recent research shows that more than 61% of vacationers now trust online reviews.

In another survey, 79% of hotel customers said that a good response to a bad review reassures them whereas, 78% of hotel customers said that a good response to a good review makes them think highly of the hotel.

Following things hotelier should do to manage their hotel reviews:

– Maintain Active Presence on Review Sites: Set your accounts on various review sites, such as Yelp, BBB, City Search, Angie’s List, etc.

– Create a Detailed Listing:  Hotelier should make themselves available over different platform and should select their descriptive categories carefully.

– Go on Social Media: Be on Twitter, Facebook, and other social media channels without being reluctant to encourage people to follow you on Yelp, TripAdvisor, or other review channels.

– Ask for review during Checkout: Be responsive during guest checkout and learn about what your guests feel about your hotel service when their memories are still fresh. If you receive a ‘yes’, encourage them to write about you to help future customers.

– Make the process Easy: Simplify the process of leaving a review or feedback. 

Internet and social media has empowered the consumers with information and changed their purchasing behavior. If earlier they consulted their friends and relatives, today they have millions to consult and take suggestions from.  

More than 90 percent of questions posted to TripAdvisor’s English-speaking forums are replied to by other travelers within 24 hours. Facebook has over 500 million active users, and TripAdvisor receives over 50 million unique visitors every month. 

As we move towards the age of consumer controlled brand conversations, hotels need to integrate customer feedback into their business approach and strategy planning. Ignoring the power of social media would be suicidal for hotels.