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Hotel sáv improves efficiency with real-time channel management


Hotel sáv, an up-and-coming business hotel in Hong Kong has improved its online bookings with eRevMax’s solution. The two-year-old property has been using RateTiger channel manager since its opening to manage their room availabilities and rates across multiple online sales channels and increase revenue.
    
Headquartered in Hong Kong, sáv Hospitality is a new lifestyle hotel brand operating four hotels and serviced apartments in Hong Kong, Taipei and Philippines. Two hotels managed by the group are presently using RateTiger for improving their online visibility and occupancy.
 “I have been using RateTiger Channel Manager for a couple of years now and can confidently say it’s the best solution in the market. While the product makes real-time rate and inventory updates on all my connected channels, the Customer Support team is very professional and respond to queries efficiently. I am very happy to use RateTiger for online distribution and cannot ask for more,” said Terrence Chan, Assistant Director of Revenue & Reservation, Hotel sáv, Hong Kong.
“ Hong Kong’s extremely dynamic hospitality market demands hotels to offer updated rates and availabilities across relevant global, regional and meta search channels.  Hotel sáv has been leveraging our channel ecosystem which offers seamless connectivity with key channels like Booking.com, Expedia, Ctrip, Agoda to improve their online exposure and tap new markets,” said Ram Mohan Dubey, Sales Manager, eRevMax.
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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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eRevMax lists out Top 5 Channels in 5 Key European Markets


Hotel connectivity leader eRevMax has released an infographic on online channel penetration and performance in 5 key markets in Europe. Based on reservations processed by the company over the past one year, the infographic lists out top 5 online distribution channels in UK, France, Germany, Spain and Russia.
Data from eRevMax clearly shows the dominance of Booking.com in all key markets, including Russia. When it comes to technology adaption, UK leads with over 93% hoteliers having a property management system. Mobile has emerged as one of the fastest growing channels with as many as 29% of online travel bookings in Spain coming from it.
To see the full infographic, please click here – https://goo.gl/lVazNQ

 

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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.