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Le Salon HBS

I was in Avignon on 13th & 14th March 2012 to attend a tradeshow organized by HBS dedicated only to hoteliers. Le Salon HBS is a platform that allows hoteliers to come together and look for commercial solutions to improve sales, occupancy, RevPAR or how to simply manage marketing online and offline. This is a unique opportunity for them to meet other players including online travel agencies, web solution providers, aggregators, channel managers, GDS companies and technology providers among others.

With a good mix of hoteliers, students and suppliers, the discussions revolved around topics like yield management, marketing and social media. With the continuous evolution of online bookings, hoteliers from tier two cities are also starting to acknowledge the need for revenue and channel management solutions. I witnessed this growing awareness as many hoteliers and consultants flocked to the RateTiger stand to know more about our solutions and how it helps.



HBS invited us to deliver a presentation on “How to Maximize Online Revenue?” which I conducted to a receptive audience. Le Salon is the first of its kind event in France and the feedback we received is very encouraging. Moreover, it is a great platform to establish new relations and to track business with existing partners. I look forward to other such interesting events from the HBS stall.

Well done Team HBS!!

Stefan Casimir is Sales Manager – France at eRevMax and is responsible for sale of RateTiger products in the region. He can be reached at stefanc@ratetiger.com

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RateTiger @ Ecole


The Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne is an extraordinary place, being the second time to visit this is a world of its own. Students are taught all areas of hospitality service, operations and management. As you step on campus the students are warm and welcoming and immediately make you feel at home – it’s part of the service.

My second visit was an invitation from Professor Horatiu Tudori, who we are working with on a market research project to better understand the challenges hoteliers are facing on local and global levels, to deliver a presentation to his students. Along with Casey Davy, VP EMEA we addressed an eager audience of over 150 students – I suddenly felt I had been catapulted back to my University days as I stared headlong into an audience towering above me in the auditorium.



Here we delivered the Evolution of Channel Management – the history of sales and the future challenges we have ahead of us. In particular exploring those that this generation of revenue managers will face when they enter the full-time workplace. We had a discussion on Booking.com, social media and voucher websites – it was abundantly clear these students were well read.

I certainly feel our partnership is growing and I look forward to this year ahead with Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne and the launch of our Research Paper.

Thank you Professor Horatiu Tudori.

Ryan Haynes is the VP – Marketing Communications at eRevMax and is responsible for driving all PR and Marketing activities of RateTiger and eRevMax brands globally. Ryan is based out of London and can be reached at ryanh@ratetiger.com
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Newshound: Trends and Reports – Hotel Online Distribution


Hotelier’s 2012 Mobile Marketing MUST Dos and Don’ts
Max Starkov, HeBS Digital’s President and CEO, was interviewed recently by Michelle Renn, Managing Editor of “Inside Hotel Online Today (Hotel Online)” on this year’s hottest topic: mobile marketing and mobile distribution channel in hospitality.

Asian hotel revPAR continues to rise
According to the latest data from STR Global, the region’s occupancy increased 3.6% year-on-year to 66.5%, average daily rates (ADR) climbed 2.8% to US$146. This pushed revenue per available room (revPAR) up 6.5% to US$97. STR Global said however, that the year-on-year comparisons were impacted by Chinese New Year falling in January this year compared to February in 2011.

Search weighing down CRS

The continually increasing volume of booking options is causing growing stress on hotels companies’ central reservation systems, according to a study undertaken by Pegasus.

Average Hotel Rate in the UK Drops!A global report demonstrating how the cost of a nights stay in a major city can reflect the country’s economic health, has revealed that hotel prices in the UK are stagnating, with only London’s hotels being able to report a rise in the average hotel rate.

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Hotelympia 2012


Hotelympia is a product show catering to the needs of all departments and business units of a hotel, much different to the traditional revenue management, hotel technology and global travel trade shows we attend. Wandering among towels, cookers and dishwashers, key systems and tiles, I could see the focus of the attendees – goods that they could hold, while those in the technology space like RateTiger have to accept a more backseat.

Our partners in HOSPA were there with a business area next to the small presentation section where I sat to listen to Mastering Digital Channels to Maximize Revenue. Although this really only touched on the very basics without looking at real revenue growth and opportunities of assessing data, bookings, production and traffic – it did identify some of the key points if seeking direct sales.

Direct sales however is a very expensive business, and either you need to have a very innovative proposition or a very strong customer database and loyalty programme. To try to achieve direct sales fresh without integrating a full channel and social media strategy will certainly leave you out in the cold.

However the presenter looked on at the basics – it’s no longer interruption marketing but conversational (no longer placement adverts but social media). The marketer needs to Attract, Engage, Convert, Retain. The presentation highlighted the task list for direct marketing – Online advertising, Articles/blogs/Online PR, Link Building, PPC, SEO, social media, and e-marketing offering tips on how to best manage these. Although it was a pity there were no real life case studies looking at how this has been fully achieved by a hotel and how much business it really represents. Direct sales will always be expensive unless there is something really innovative you offer the traveler.

Overall Hotelympia is great for hotel managers – just not worth it for Revenue and Sales managers.

Ryan Haynes is the VP – Marketing Communications at eRevMax and is responsible for driving all PR and Marketing activities of RateTiger and eRevMax brands globally. Ryan is based out of London and can be reached at ryanh@ratetiger.com