Category: Hotel Channel Connectivity

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Top 5 Trends in Hotel Technology: Infographic

It’s no secret that the travel industry is changing and the majority of these changes are happening because of the evolution of guest preferences. Today, a comfy bed and clean bathroom simply aren’t enough and hotels are now expected to have the most up-to-date technologies if they want to keep ahead of the game. eRevMax recently released an infographic, showing what guests expect in terms of technology when they book a hotel today. A whopping 85 percent of travellers prefer free WiFi, while 38 percent cite WiFi is a priority factor before choosing a hotel.
 

Additionally, 40 percent of travellers travels with three or more electronic devices, so mobile optimised websites are one of the most important factor to the tech-savvy travellers these days. eRevMax suggests hoteliers to provide the service for free to guests who enroll for their select programs, for starters. Such services may be made exclusive for gold and platinum level members or accessible in lobbies of full-service properties.
To access the full infographic, click Top 5 Trends in Hotel Technology
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JJW Hotels subscribes to RateTiger channel manager to increase online bookings

JJW hotels has selected RateTiger by eRevMax as the channel manager of choice across 23 of its European hotels.The hotel chain will be able to update rates and inventory at property level through RateTiger’s vast distribution network, whilst simultaneously optimising the performance of available inventory from connected channels.
“We require a reliable solution that will meet our demands for price shopping as well as channel management. Having seen the success RateTiger has brought to other hotels with their streamlined approach to revenue management, we’re sure that our new partnership with them will increase revenue, as well as the customer’s booking experience,” said Guy Marwood Finance Director for JJW Hotels & Resorts.

The hotels will benefit from eRevMax’s recently released RateTiger RTSuite 3.0; this latest version comes complete with a new user interface and integrated channel management functionality, and is designed to maximize usability and effectiveness.

For more, read here.
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Make the most of Hotel Ancillary Revenue


While revenue management systems are becoming increasingly sophisticated at allowing hotel operators to optimize their pricing strategies on room rates, they are only just beginning to tap the potential of other guest fees.
“One reason comparison of ancillary fees has lagged behind room rates is because the presence of ancillary fees can vary by market. For example, in the U.S., hotels often charge for Wi-Fi, while in Europe it is often free,” said Ryan Haynes, VP Marketing for eRevMax – RateTiger.

Read full story on hotelmanagement.net

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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.”
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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
     
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    Channel Management & OTAs

    Are hoteliers keeping pace with the changing online booking space?

    With a handful of powerful OTAs dominating the market, hoteliers are identifying ways to sidestep the high-commission they command. OTAs can be useful to engage a new guest, but many hoteliers are now aiming to drive repeat bookings to their own direct booking engines.

    Ryan Haynes discusses Channel Management and OTAs on Hotel-Industry.co.uk –     http://www.hotel-industry.co.uk/2012/12/erevmax-ratetiger-on-channel-management-and-otas/

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    Real-time technology lets hotels respond faster than ever

    With so many channels to track on a daily basis, hotel companies can’t afford to slip up. On the positive side, technology has evolved considerably to keep distribution and revenue management executives up-to-date in this multi-channel environment. 
    Hotel companies continue to pursue a connectivity strategy that provides the broadest reach possible at the lowest unit cost while being as accurate as possible. In today’s multi-channel environment, hoteliers need quick access to hotel-rate data and inventory positions on various sales channels. With online sales bringing increased revenue, it’s vital that hotels proactively manage their online presence and ensure room rates and availability accurately reflect their current status on all sales channels.

    The process of doing this manually is now a thing of the past and even having separate pieces of software to manage different aspects of online sales is almost outdated. “Over the last couple of years we have seen increased focus on integrated applications, wherein hotels can do most of these complex tasks through a single system,” says Michael McCartan, chief executive officer, eRevMax International.
    Full story on Eye For Travel
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    Newshound: Trends and Reports – Hotel Online Distribution


    Automation is on the up and could hold the key to increasing online sales

    In today’s multi-channel environment, hoteliers need to have quick access to hotel-rate data and inventory positions on various sales channels. “Over the last couple of years we have seen an increased focus on integrated applications, allowing hotels to do most of these complex tasks through a single system,” says Michael McCartan, chief executive officer, eRevMax International.


    Analyzing the OTAs

    Whether you’re in the camp that believes online travel agencies are single-handedly ruining the hotel industry or in the camp that looks to them for a majority of your demand, there’s one thing almost all hoteliers agree on: Third-party room distributors are here to stay. However, while OTAs serve an important role in the industry, it’s no secret their relationship with hoteliers is not perfect, said Brian Mullan, a research analyst with Janney Capital Markets in New York.

    The end of the rate-matching machine: ways to count on competitive pricing

    Competitive pricing is an element of pricing decisions in any market. How this is done depends on the availability of such data to providers, the visibility and comparability of it to customers and the level of fragmentation in the market. In hospitality and travel, thanks largely to broad Internet distribution, all of these factors make competitive pricing particularly important.

    TripAdvisor tests hotel metasearch service – now the fun really begins

    User review giant TripAdvisor is finally doing what pretty much everyone involved in the hotel sector expected it to do years ago – consumer metasearch for its vast portfolio of properties.The company confirmed this week that it is currently testing “new search functionality” for hotels, covering both desktop and mobile versions of the service.

    The total cost of travel technology [INFOGRAPHIC]

    From individuals who have implemented a small system to those coordinating major overhauls of existing platforms in large companies, organising travel technology is not an easy process. It is clearly a combination of establishing the business and technology requirements, alongside budget, expectations, crystal ball-gazing and market analysis.

    Report: PwC European Cities Hotel Forecast 2013

    Overall, RevPAR growth is expected to slow in 2013, held back by strong economic headwinds across the eurozone. But there will be thrivers; cities expected to show robust RevPAR growth include Paris, St Petersburg and Edinburgh and more modest increases should be seen in Frankfurt, Berlin, Dublin and Moscow.The second edition of PwC’s European cities hotel forecast for 2013 features 19 of Europe’s most important gateway cities.

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    HOSPA Conference, UK


    HOSPA (formerly BAHA), the UK’s leading organization in financial management, revenue management and IT in the hospitality industry, organized its Annual Conference in November at the Sofitel Hotel – London Heathrow.

    The theme for the event was “Taking Investment Forward”, in terms of investing in people and businesses to create more value.  The one-day conference was kept very crisp targeting the major investment issues to help industry professional understand how to face these crucial challenges related to funding. Russell Kett, President, HVS – specialists in hotel valuations, opened the session involving experts and professionals through a debate aimed at finding solutions to the doubts of hoteliers located away from the big cities and beyond. The lack of interest from investors, along with the problems associated with re-financing in 2013, is one of the main reasons that blocks the revival and promotion of tourism in the UK, and especially in outlying areas such as provinces.

    “Boosting investment in the world’s hotel sector is the single biggest challenge facing the industry today. Despite strong buyer interest in the global hotel market and plenty of equity available, not least from the Far East and Middle East, there are few hotel transactions taking place outside key locations and gateway cities across Europe. In the UK, there is little investor appetite in the provinces where hotel trading continues to languish in all but the best-run hotels. Obtaining debt finance for hotel acquisitions is tough and a number of re-financings due in the next year will prove challenging to accomplish in the current environment without a significant chunk of fresh equity and an understanding bank,” said Rassel Kett – President, HVS.

    Following the topics on finance, there were discussions on the trends and developments in Revenue Management, and how it could affects hotel sales and revenue. Casey Davy, VP – Sales, EMEA & Canada and Cristina Blaj, Sales Manager, UK & Ireland, attended the event as delegates representing eRevMax and shared their inputs on these topics.


    To view pictures from the event, please click here.

    Domenico Defina is Sales & Marketing Intern at eRevMax and is based out of London. He can be reached at domenicod@erevmax.com