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Top Hospitality Industry Trends for 2014

Hospitality industry is constantly evolving and always trying to stay one step ahead. In an industry where change is the ultimate word, keeping up to date on the latest trends in hospitality technology – is a daunting task for hotel owners and operators. Everything from in-room entertainment to guest service management to effective use of social media is becoming a challenging task. The hospitality industry saw a lot of exciting things happening in 2013 and some that would continue to impact business are highlighted below –
Mobile: The Game Changer

Mobile phone has radically changed the world – 62% of the world’s population is using mobile phones. Hospitality is no exception to this revolution, in some cases leading the way. It is the new face of computing as devices such as tablets and smartphones have revolutionized the way we interact with technology. The rise of mobile users have impacted business strategy and changed guest behavior largely. There has been a myth that mobile phone has the minimal impact on hospitality industry but as the smartphones and tablets become critical tools, the myth has been thoroughly laid to rest. Now nearly 45% travellers travel with two or more devices and 7% of bookings are done through mobile phone which is continuously increasing.
2014: The Year of Meta-search

With the grand entry of TripAdvisor and Google in the metasearch space the whole hotel distribution scenario has drastically changed. Modern travellers believe in competitive shopping. According a survey by eMarketer– a guest visits minimum six sites before he makes any booking decision. One of our recent infographics on meta-search shows that Kayak processed over 1577 million queries in 2013 and TripAdvisor receives 260 million monthly unique visits to its website. The dominance of meta-search engines will grow rapidly in 2014 as these sites are becoming mainstream in hotel distribution space.
Free Wi-Fi

Research studies show that 85% travellers believe Wi-Fi in hotels should be free. Nowadays the only thing that guests would prefer over a complimentary breakfast or free parking is Wi-Fi. Modern travelers are hyper-connected and do not have patience for poor internet connection in hotels. Your hotel should facilitate free Wi-Fi so that business travellers can check their emails and take online conference calls, while leisure travelers can use the internet to communicate with friends and family or enjoy music. Poor internet connection is one of the most common complains and something that you should save your hotel from. So if your hotel provides free Wi-Fi service to guests, make sure that the speed of the internet is not irritating them.
Word Of Mouth

As we increasingly live our lives online, we’re finding that not only are there major downsides to all that social media over-sharing—but we may have little control over the way we appear on the internet. According to a new eMarketer report, the Worldwide Social Network Users in 2013 was 1.73 billion i.e. one in four people were connected through social media. And by 2017, total global social network audience will be 2.55 billion. TripAdvisor is the largest source of hotel reviews having 150 million reviews and opinions covering 3.7 million accommodation providers. Considering there are millions of reviews written each day across a plethora of different platforms, the internet has the power to influence one’s decision making process. So managing reputation be it through social media or replying to the guests directly through reputation management tool will become increasingly important.
Guest Service

Guest service is an inseparable part of the hospitality business. However changing consumer tastes has led to higher expectations and hotels need to live up to these. Travellers today do not want to feel like they are in a corporate setting when they are staying at your hotel – they would rather prefer an environment where they can interact with people and receive personal attention. Eye for detail is an important aspect that hotels need to focus on and ‘wowing’ guests with impeccable service is something that every hotel is striving for. You need to identify what you can do to make your guests’ stay unforgettable to win over their loyalty.
Behavioural Change of GenY

The travel industry is riding a wave of change. An unpredictable economy and fast-paced technological advancements have caused 21st century travellers to shift their behaviour dramatically. These travellers prefer to interact with hotel staff through technology rather than picking up the phone. About 40% of guests at a hotel select iPad as their communication device to connect to a hotel and plan check-in time. So what do guests want? Well, it could be a long list starting with – free Wi-Fi, automated check-in / check-out and multi-use lobbies that encourage guests to socialize among various other things. This new segment of traveler is no longer looking for white-linen service, hotel boy to carry their luggage up to their room rather to check-in online to bypass the front desk.
Home Away From Home

When travellers enter a hotel, they look for a home-like ambience. Hotel companies need to be able to offer high quality guest service alongside seamless communication and comfort to every guest. To achieve this, a hotel needs to have its back-office set in a way such that everything moves to clock-wise precision. And this starts from the time the guest researches your hotel to making the reservation, the actual stay and post stay feedback. Everything needs to be managed efficiently for a well-rounded experience for the guest.
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HMH Partners with eRevMax to Improve Online Sales for its Hotel Portfolio

Hospitality Management Holdings (HMH), a Dubai-based property management group, has announced that it plans to expand its portfolio with five new hotels opening this year alone, which has meant an urgent need for a rate and inventory management system to ensure all properties, both old and new, are digitally standardised. HMH CEO Laurent A. Voivenel was familiar with RateTiger Suite via word of mouth (WOM) marketing, and has recently completed integration with the software that allows for two-way real time ARI updates for all properties which meets the group’s growing demand for efficient and effective management systems. HMH anticipates that RateTiger Suite will boost revenue whilst being simple to execute.


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Infographic: eRevMax predicts 2014 to be the year of Meta-search

Previously, hoteliers have primarily focused upon direct marketing and OTAs, but there’s a new player in terms of hotel channel distribution and it looks like it’s here to stay. Meta search is proving hugely popular with the younger generation who, with perhaps tighter budgets than their older counterparts, are more cost conscious when it comes to travel. There has been a 13 percent increase in meta search traffic in the past year alone, with meta search websites such as Kayak processing almost 1600 million queries annually. It is widely suggested that hoteliers begin to amend their marketing strategies to include meta search in a more prominent role.


To access the full infographic, click Meta-search 2014 – It’s here to stay

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Hyatt certifies eRevMax as the Preferred Channel Manager Partner

Luxury hotel chain Hyatt International has recently endorsed eRevMax’s RateTiger, citing it as the most cost effective, efficient and beneficial ARI system for assisting Hyatt properties across Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia to meet their individual objectives whilst still maintaining the high standards associated with the Hyatt name. Along with Hyatt properties themselves, Hyatt franchises and partners, such as Hyatt Place, Hyatt House and Hyatt Residence Club will all be encouraged to implement RateTiger to manage their online availability, rates and inventory. Hyatt’s endorsement of RateTiger comes as more international hotel chains are opting for comprehensive systems which not only manage ARI, but also guest satisfaction and research.

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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’.

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