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HospitalityUnited.Club highlights OTA duopoly in American Online Hotel Booking Space

HospitalityUnited.Club, a consortium of travel technology companies, has published an e-book titled ‘USA Travel Trends 2018’ highlighting key travel metrics and indicators in the region, in partnership with HRS Group, LiveOS, RateTiger and Sojern.

The e-book highlights the dominance of Expedia and Booking.com group companies in the USA online hotel booking space, controlling almost 95% of the OTA market.

The e-book shows that while traditional channels like voice, call center and tour operators are still preferred means of hotel reservations, growth of online booking is outpacing them by over 300%. Interestingly, unlike Europe, hotels are getting more online bookings through their brand website, indicating robust digital presence.

While metasearch remains strong as ever, Google has emerged as a serious channel, ranking first, when travellers look for pricing information. The search engine is also sending the most qualified leads to the hotel websites, even though, metasearch channels are dominated by OTAs.

The e-book also highlights that inspite of being one of the most matured online markets, one out of three people still feel uncomfortable booking hotels on mobile. This explains why mobile booking growth is lower in USA when compared to APAC.

To get more interesting insights, download the free infographic here.
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HospitalityUnited.Club brings Cocktails & Conversations to Houston

HospitalityUnited.Club, a consortium of travel technology companies, brings its classic Cocktails and Conversations event to Houston in June. The Club will be hosting an exclusive evening for hoteliers on 19 June 2018, with HRS Group, LiveOS, RateTiger and Sojern joining as co-hosts.

The high energy networking event will bring together hotels and tech providers in an informal relaxed setting at The Lake House, in the heart of Houston’s Convention District, to explore innovative technology and new ideas.

“We are proud to collaborate with HospitalityUnited.Club to co-host the networking event in Houston. It gives us an opportunity to meet and greet hoteliers and technology partners and demonstrate our client appreciation. HUC organizes events that are co-located with major tradeshows around the globe, providing partners a perfect backdrop for showcasing new ideas and technology innovation.” Edward Perry, Head of Partnerships, Americas, HRS Group.

The Houston event is the sixth in the series, following successful networking parties in Toronto, Singapore, London, Madrid and Berlin.

To join us for the Cocktails & Conversations in Houston, register today – https://bit.ly/2kT5PAk

About HUC: HospitalityUnited.Club brings together hotels and technology providers to exchange ideas and knowledge in an informal relaxed setting. It is a social platform for like-minded professionals. The HUC events are co-located with major tradeshows around the world including ITB, WTM, HITEC, FITUR etc, where technology partners come together to host networking drinks at exclusive locations for their industry peers. Join HUC to get to know the latest in hospitality innovation. For more details, contact marketing@hospitalityunited.club

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Infographic: HospitalityUnited.Club releases Middle East Online Travel Trends at ATM

HospitalityUnited.Club, a consortium of travel technology companies, in partnership with RateTiger and LiveOS has published an infographic ebook titled ‘Middle East Travel Trends’ – highlighting key travel metrics and indicators in the region. Despite the ongoing turmoil, Middle East is on the course of recovery led by GCC countries, with Dubai retaining its lead position as the travel and business hub.

While three countries, namely Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Egypt still occupy the largest share of the travel pie, with 7 out of 10 travelers visiting them, the demography of the travelers are vastly different.
The ebook shows that even though online booking is growing fast, Middle Eastern travelers still largely refer booking through travel and tour operators. Interestingly, even for offline bookers, over 40% of them do their research and planning online. The online booking space is largely dominated by OTAs with over 75% market share. The region, with high mobile penetration is also adapting to mobile booking quicker than matured online markets like Europe and America.
The average Middle East traveler has a clear preference for luxury with Gulf countries’ nationals spending 4 times more than the global average. The demand for luxury also propelled hotel supply in the region. 26% of total hotel pipeline are for the luxury segment. While local luxury brands are making a mark, over 95% of luxury properties are operated by International Hotel Groups.
To know more about the trends, download the full infographic – https://goo.gl/YiyTgE
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Infographic: HospitalityUnited.Club highlights key travel trends in Europe

 

 HospitalityUnited.Club, a consortium of travel technology companies, has published an infographic titled ‘European Travel Trends’ as a follow-on to their successful Cocktails & Conversations party in Berlin, that was co-located with ITB.
The infographic highlights key travel metrics and indicators in the continent. A year after Brexit and political turmoil, Europe is by far the world’s top travel destination with Spain retaining its position as the most visited country. 
The big four, namely Spain, Italy, France and United Kingdom occupy the largest share of the travel pie in Europe, topping the list with 4 out of 6 travellers visiting Europe. The travel optimism for the region, which has shown a record 29% growth in long-haul trips by EU residents, has led to a good increase in occupancy and revenue per available room (RevPAR) in 2017.  
Data in the infographic shows that the travel planning lead time in European countries varies, with average being 73 days.  Interestingly, over two-third of travel searches made by European residents are for solo travel. The statistics highlighted in the infographic provide some key indicators for hotels to take note of and plan their pricing, marketing and distribution strategies accordingly. 
Agoda, Sojern, RateTiger and LiveOS are the key contributors for this infographic while some statistics have been included from publicly available reports.
To download the full infographic, please click here https://goo.gl/SxEChk
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HospitalityUnited.Club brings together the who’s who of the industry in Berlin

HospitalityUnited.Club, a consortium of travel technology companies hosted an exclusive party in Berlin on 7 March, 2018. The high energy event, sponsored by Agoda, Amadeus, Fornova, InnoVel, LiveOS, Newhotel Software, Roiback, RateTiger and Sojern brought together peers from the hospitality industry at Funkturm Restaurant located in the historic Radio Tower in the German capital.
HospitalityUnited.Club brings together hotels and technology providers in an informal setting to exchange ideas and knowledge while having a good time. Conceptualized by eRevMax, the consortium has been hosting a series of networking events called ‘Cocktails & Conversations’, offering an interactive platform for collaboration opportunities.
“This is turning into one of the most happening parties within the hospitality industry providing space for the attendees to build relationships and experience the benefit of collaborating with each other,” said Reuel Ghosh, Group CEO, eRevMax.
“This was a really good, intimate forum to meet industry peers in a fun setting. Catching up with new contacts over drinks is a great way to build a strong relationship and always gives you something to relate and talk about in the future. I was blown away by the quality of the event and how efficiently it was organized,” said David Ezquerro, Global Partnership Manager, Roiback.
HospitalityUnited.Club will continue to host parties, webinars and events throughout the year. To know more, visit  http://www.hospitalityunited.club/event/berlin/itbberlin-party-tabloid.html
About HUC: HospitalityUnited.Club brings together hotels and technology providers in an informal setting to exchange ideas and knowledge while having drinks and fun. It is a social platform for like-minded professionals. Hospitality United events are starting to have their fame around key travel shows such as ITB, WTM, HITEC where we are having drinks at exclusive locations just after the show. Join HUC to get the latest in innovation and hospitality trends in a relaxed setting. For more details, contact marketing@hospitalityunited.club