Category: Revenue Management

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Auris Hotels Partners with eRevMax for Superior Distribution and Visibility

Auris Group, a Dubai-based hotel chain with luxurious properties throughout the Middle East, has recently completed a two-way integration with eRevMax that allows them to update rates and rooms inventory automatically through eRevMax’s Connect distribution system. This integration is done at a time when the Auris Group is implementing a high level digital reputation and marketing strategy that will guarantee rate parity on all channels, market parity, digital visibility and availability.


One of the largest groups in the Middle East Auris preeviously had been managing channels and booking processes independently, but with hoteliers across the Middle East collectively encouraging tourism, particularly to areas such as Dubai and Abu Dhabi, this was no longer a suitable option. Auris Managing Director Hatem Gasmi, reports that Connect has made it possible to meet new and improved business objectives that includes increased visibility and marketing for their pipeline projects.
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Improve direct booking through incentives

Mega online travel agencies are costly distribution channels for hoteliers. Hoteliers suffer from huge amount of revenue loss due to the high commissions charged by the Online Travel Agencies i.e. from 10-25 percent. So how can hotels bring customers to their own website for direct bookings instead of visiting an OTA?  A recent survey conducted among 2500 customers by Software Advice finds the answer:-
If a hotel wants to implement your suggestions on offering a free room upgrade or any other perk, how and when should they do this?
Our survey showed that consumers don’t agree on what free room upgrade they prefer, so it’s best for hotels to have a variety of room types available. This upgrade should be promoted to travelers at every possible chance: social media channels, the hotel’s booking page, within hotel marketing emails and other materials.
Is it really cost effective to offer a traveler a free room upgrade just to get them to book direct, saving the hotel the 10-20% OTA fee?
An upgrade to a room with a better view shouldn’t cost the hotel much, but the cost effectiveness of offering a room with a kitchenette, balcony or living room will depend on the particular hotel’s availability, rates and season. Even if the incentive costs as much as the OTA commission, the hotel has an opportunity to delight the guest and drive brand loyalty.
Even though a perk like free room service wasn’t the most popular incentive, do you feel it could still convince travelers to book direct?
I think free room service is a strong incentive for consumers to book directly, as the results showed that travelers are highly motivated by offers of food and drinks. Food is also a relatively low-cost offer for hotels.
Should hotels take the traveler’s age into consideration before offering perks like these, or even certain kinds of perks for certain age ranges?
In general, perks for free food and drinks should be effective for all ages, but different types of gift cards can be more effective for different ages. For example, our survey shows an older couple might respond better to a gift card for a local restaurant, while younger travelers could be more convinced by a gift card for a local theme park.
Were you surprised by any of the survey results?
I think it’s reasonable to expect people to be motivated by food and drinks since dining is such an important and often expensive aspect of traveling. However, I was surprised that the results for the most convincing room upgrade were split so evenly.
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Sailing to the Utopia – with young minds

The last few months have been exciting times for the eRevMax CSR team. Lot of activities and engagement have motivated the kids and us and brought out new facets in our persona.
eRevMax tied up with Hypokrites, a renowned Kolkata based theatrical group, to groom the children to present a play at ‘Porjas’ – an annual play festival. January saw exhaustive preparations with members from eRevMax and Hypokrites involved with moulding the children and making them stage-ready.

Beginning of February saw the participant children delivering a beautiful and fun play titled “Ghoom Ghoom Class Room”  showcasing children sleeping in a classroom dreaming about their aspirations and then waking up to harsh realities of life. I played the role of a school teacher who motivates the children to pursue their dreams with fervor – this fills them with determination to achieve their goals in life. The play ends on a happy note showing their dedication and pursuit of excellence in their chosen fields.











The idea of the whole exercise was to groom the children, expose them to performing arts while at the same time inspiring them to dream and continue to believe ‘I Can’.

Further we also conducted a drawing competition for the children this month and were pleasantly surprised by their creativity. Here are the winning three drawings showcasing daily life in a village setting – 


These activities have definitely added more depth to my thought process and a new dimension to my life. It’s an enriching experience working with these children, sharing their dreams and encouraging them to attain those dreams.
I invite all of you to join our CSR initiative and bring a difference – in our own way!

Ranadeep Mitra is a Project Coordinator at eRevMax and works closely with the Integration teams to help coordinate ongoing projects. Ranadeep can be reached at ranadeepm@erevmax.com

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eRevMax Channel Ecosystem connects with leading Japanese OTA for deeper integration

Rakuten Travel has become the first Japan-based OTA to partner with eRevMax, utilising the ARI abilities of both RateTiger and Connect to offer greater opportunities to their clients. Rakuten Travel had noticed the changing trends within the travel industry particularly that travellers are now looking for more choices, competitive rates and last minute deals. This integration is become the part of Rakuten Travel’s global expansion says company president Takanobu Yamamoto.

The largest online hotel reservation website of the Japan, Rakuten Travel, currently connected with over 80,000 hotels worldwide including approximately 30,000 hotels in Japan, will be able to gain access to broader products and more availability, improve booking conversion and increase revenues as part of its growth plans across South East Asia, USA and Latin America.

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Singgasana Hotels and Resorts partners with eRevMax to ride the online wave

Singgasana Hotels and Resorts, a leading property chain in Indonesia, has recently completed integration with eRevMax’s RateTiger Suite to help them modernise and revolutionise the way their guests make bookings and reservations. Before this integration, offline communications were responsible for the majority of bookings at Singgasana hotels. The Group were looking for a superior channel manager at a time when Indonesia is expected to be the fastest growing travel market in APAC region by 2015.

Due to the sudden rise in demand for online access, the company sought out a channel and ARI management system to meets their growing needs, and it’s come at just the right time and RateTiger perfectly suits their demand. Corporate Digital Marketing Manager Ivana Novida has found that RateTiger has helped the company to add ‘new channels to increase visibility’.





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Russian hotel OTA Travel.ru (Oktogo) integrates with eRevMax for advanced XML connectivity

Travel.ru, Russia’s largest OTA, has recently completed a two-way integration with eRevMax in order to provide their users with greater flexibility, improved visibility, and more efficient and effective booking processes. Maintaining a portfolio of 350,000 hotels across the globe, Travel.ru had identified issues relating to outdated rates and properties being overbooked simply due to the difficulties in overseeing such a large number of properties. CEO Marina Kolesnik sought out an easy-to-use, cost effective solution to tackle these problems head on, whilst also providing users with additional benefits, most notably eRevMax’s Reservation Delivery Service, which transfers online bookings through the OTA directly to the hotel’s internal PMS.


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What is Revenue Management?

Revenue management is a term that’s often thrown around the hotel industry, but what is it, exactly? Some believe that revenue management is all about ensuring a capacity of 80 percent or more at any given time, regardless of what it takes, but does this really equal good revenue management? Perhaps not. Instead, revenue management is about understanding past trends, having a good overview of the current market, sensibly forecasting the future, and addressing rates based upon these aspects combined. It’s about knowing what people are willing to pay, rather than what they want to pay, and not succumbing to cheaper rates for fear of not meeting targets. Overall, revenue management could be described as ‘the art of turning business away’.

Read full story here

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eRevMax adds metasearch channels in its distribution offerings

While the concept of Meta search has existed for a number of years, but recently this method of research has become prominent within the travel industry. Following a 13 percent annual growth and a greater number of travellers citing a preference for Metasearch, eRevMax has partnered with World Independent Hotel Promotion (WIHP), to allow users of Connect and RateTiger to expand their visibility across Google Hotel Finder, TripAdvisor, Trivago, Kayak, and WeGo. It is anticipated that this will boost direct bookings, therefore reducing OTA fees. As a result of this partnership, tens of thousands of hotels across the world have been given new and exciting opportunities, according to WIHP VP Martin Soler.

This new partnership will help hotels to increase bookings and revenue for their property, by driving qualified leads from metasearch sites to their own website. This will help them in reducing OTA commissions and improve overall profitability. The advanced tracking available with the service will help hotels to know the exact return on investment for each metasearch channel they are advertising on.
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Why It’s Time to Include Meta Search in Your Distribution Portfolio

Hotels around the globe are being told to prepare for the metasearchera, and that includes changing their marketing strategies, outlook, and software systems to make the transition from solely direct and OTA bookings to direct bookings via travel oriented meta search engines such as TripAdvisor. Meta search is fast becoming the ‘goto’ method of travel booking, up by 13 percent in the past year alone. Why? Not only are the younger generation of travellers more web savvy, but travellers today are also striving to find the best deals to meet strict budgets. Utilising meta search channels isn’t just about staying in the game, it’s about diversifying audiences, increasing visibility, and boosting brand reputation across multiple platforms.

Meta search allows for visitors to book either through OTAs or through the brand website, helping to increase direct sales. Meta search sites such as TripAdvisor have been criticized for favouring OTAs with which they have a partnership, but direct information is available, which is more than can be said for OTAs themselves.

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Competitor Analysis – How knowing your competition helps

Striving to be different is one way that hotels can set themselves apart from the crowd, but being too different can be detrimental to business. An important thing within the travel industry is competitor analysis – discovering what the competitions are doing that’s directly leading to higher rankings. This could include targeting a specific demographic, offering special rate, or ensuring online marketing materials which are SEO friendly. Competitor analysis can be particularly beneficial to hotels within the business districts or near airports, where there is no ‘average’ guest. Marriott Hotels are an excellent example of a brand placing more resources into competitor analysis.

The hotels should take online marketing strategy seriously and allocate budget for better online presence.