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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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Are you visiting Tianguis Turistico in Mexico? Meet us there

Mexico, with over 32 million international tourist arrivals, is the 9th most visited country in the world, and growing at over 9% per year. 

Tianguis Turistico – one of the biggest travel and tourism shows in Central America takes place annually in Mexico. The 42nd edition of the show is scheduled from March 27th to 30th at Expo Mundo Imperial in Acapulco, Guerrero. The event is expected to draw nearly 1,000 companies from 80 different countries.

I am very excited to attend the show like every year as it gives me an opportunity to meet with peers and partners. The show is meant for serious buyers and sellers who are looking to conduct business. It provides a perfect platform for technology company like ours to showcase our innovative solutions to a wide audience. 

We already have some key meetings lined up for the show and we are excited to present LIVE OS to potential partners. We also have a range of attractive bundle offers for hotels. 

eRevMax is widely known for its channel manager and rate shopping brand RateTiger. The company offers stable products with over 99% uptime. While other companies struggle to offer continuous connectivity, eRevMax has invested in building a robust infrastructure to provide hoteliers with uninterrupted service over the last 15 years. 

To book a meeting at Tianguis Turistico, contact marketing@erevmax.com today.


Julian Lindt is the Regional Sales Director for Latin America at eRevMax and will represent eRevMax at Tianguis Turistico.
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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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Newshound: Trends and Reports – Hotel Online Distribution


GHOTEL hotel & living selects RateTiger for smart online room distribution

German hospitality group GHOTEL hotel & living has selected RateTiger’s industry leading Channel Manager to maximise its distribution reach for its unique accommodation offerings by updating distribution channels efficiently in real-time.
http://www.eglobaltravelmedia.com.au/z-more/technology-more/ghotel-hotel-living-selects-ratetiger-for-smart-online-room-distribution.html

The Future of Hotel Marketing: Social Media Synopsis
Hotel chains that are open to 24/7 online social communications with their fan base can sense the power of a free flowing exchange of ideas, and capitalize on a low-cost marketing channel solution. Communication with customer base via social media channels is now expected as standard, whether these platforms are utilized to shape brand image, facilitate user-generated content or compliment a targeted pay-per-click campaign, social media is vital to the success of a hotel property.
http://hotelexecutive.com/business_review/3441/the-future-of-hotel-marketing-social-media-synopsis

Data transformation key for revenue managers

As more data becomes available, revenue managers must be able to filter and make sense of only the best information in order to achieve their goals, sources said during a Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International (HSMAI) webinar. “Some people may say that we’re drowning in data, but I think it’s more accurate to say that we’re drowning in information,” said Kevin Coleman, partner and COO at Intelligent Hospitality, a hotel business intelligence company that provides reporting and analytics for hotel sales, marketing and revenue management.
http://www.hotelnewsnow.com/Articles.aspx/10263/Data-transformation-key-for-revenue-managers

A Call to Arms: How to Shift Market Share from the OTAs to the Hotel Website

 
This year, the hospitality industry is in for a lot of pain. OTA dependency continues to plague the hospitality industry, despite gains in the past three years and positive trends in all three industry indicators. This isn’t new. What’s new is the pain to the bottom line inflicted by the fat commission checks hoteliers are now paying Expedia and other OTAs, due to the widespread adoption of Expedia”s and Booking.com”s agency model in the U.S.
http://www.hospitalitynet.org/column/global/154000392/4060290.html  

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Hotwire completes two-way XML integration with RateTiger

Hotwire.com, a leading discount travel site, has been incorporated into eRevMax’s Channel Eco-System following certification of a two-way XML interface with RateTiger and eRevMax Connect services for hotels. The XML integration will enhance the communication performance between the channel manager and extranet that will allow hotel users to take greater advantage of selling distressed inventory.
Reservations generated by Hotwire can be delivered through RateTiger and eRevMax Connect into the hotel’s property management system. This will significantly reduce time to update reservation data while ensuring all customer data is entered accurately. Moreover, seamless online booking connectivity will enable hotels to process rate and inventory updates through RateTiger’s XML interface transferring data in real-time, while also receiving reservation data from Hotwire bookings.


For more, click here

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Make the most of Hotel Ancillary Revenue


While revenue management systems are becoming increasingly sophisticated at allowing hotel operators to optimize their pricing strategies on room rates, they are only just beginning to tap the potential of other guest fees.
“One reason comparison of ancillary fees has lagged behind room rates is because the presence of ancillary fees can vary by market. For example, in the U.S., hotels often charge for Wi-Fi, while in Europe it is often free,” said Ryan Haynes, VP Marketing for eRevMax – RateTiger.

Read full story on hotelmanagement.net

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Real-time technology lets hotels respond faster than ever

With so many channels to track on a daily basis, hotel companies can’t afford to slip up. On the positive side, technology has evolved considerably to keep distribution and revenue management executives up-to-date in this multi-channel environment. 
Hotel companies continue to pursue a connectivity strategy that provides the broadest reach possible at the lowest unit cost while being as accurate as possible. In today’s multi-channel environment, hoteliers need quick access to hotel-rate data and inventory positions on various sales channels. With online sales bringing increased revenue, it’s vital that hotels proactively manage their online presence and ensure room rates and availability accurately reflect their current status on all sales channels.

The process of doing this manually is now a thing of the past and even having separate pieces of software to manage different aspects of online sales is almost outdated. “Over the last couple of years we have seen increased focus on integrated applications, wherein hotels can do most of these complex tasks through a single system,” says Michael McCartan, chief executive officer, eRevMax International.
Full story on Eye For Travel
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Newshound: Trends and Reports – Cost of Distribution


Cost of Distribution: Out of control or a real expense

2013 could be a turbulent year for the hotel industry should the price-fixing fiasco take a further step forward. Proving yet again, following the collapse of the financial markets in 2008 and 9/11, that while hospitality maybe an old industry dating 1000’s years, the environment of online sales is still in its infancy and terribly immature.
http://hotelexecutive.com/business_review/3210/cost-of-distribution-out-of-control-or-a-real-expense

Best Practices for Optimizing Online Reputation and Reviews

Can hotels really over-respond to reviews? The review page for a given property on, say TripAdvisor, is a social space in its own way. If the host of the party (the hotel) is crowding out the conversation with a lot of jabber, it appears to turn people off from participating in the conversation, with the end result of guests writing fewer reviews.
http://blog.digitalmarketingworks.com/2012/12/best-practices-for-optimizing-online.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+DigitalStreetSmarts+%28Digital+Street+Smarts%29

Automated RM: a game changer if you avoid some common mistakes

True revenue optimisation takes place when one is able to accurately assess the overall contribution from customer micro-segments towards overall profitability. In the absence of an automated revenue management system (RMS) such decision-making and assessment is not possible, nor practically viable. With an automated RMS, however, one is able to process a volume of historical and future reservation data which allows you to forecast in a granular way by customer segment and be able to recommend actions that lead to much greater profitability.
http://www.eyefortravel.com/revenue-and-data-management/automated-rm-game-changer-if-you-avoid-some-common-mistakes

Re-Evaluating Your Hotel’s Social Media Strategy For 2013

2013 is just around the corner and now is the perfect time to re-evaluate your hotel’s social media strategy and have it ready to roll out January 1st. If your strategy includes ways to convert more business through your social channels then ask yourself the following questions.
http://www.hospitalitynet.org/news/154000320/4058765.html

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Newshound: Trends and Reports – Hotel Online Distribution

Travel products dominate savings from daily deal sites, as does Groupon

Interesting data out of UK-based DealZippy after analysing a year’s worth of deals from across a range of industries and platforms, showing how popular the channel remains in travel. Given that the company takes a feed from over 30 UK deal sites, such as Groupon, LivingSocial, Wahanda and Qype, the data is pretty robust and representative of the marketplace. So what did it discover? Over the course of the past 12 months just over 60,000 deals have been published by the sites it covers, featuring some 22,600 individual businesses.
http://www.tnooz.com/2012/09/25/news/travel-products-dominate-savings-from-daily-deal-sites-as-does-groupon/#wqqk1bl1HsggZhAM.99

The implications of last-minute bookings for hotel operators

With shifting consumer expectations due to the proliferation of last-minute booking apps, hotels must consider the implications of offering rooms via the last-minute mobile channel.
The promise of reducing empty rooms via last-minute bookings is nothing new – last minute travel has always been big in Europe, where the close proximity of dozens of relatively inexpensive destinations encouraged many consumers to care less about advance planning in favor of a lower priced getaway.
http://www.tnooz.com/2012/09/20/mobile/the-implications-of-last-minute-bookings-for-hotel-operators/#XWuUA5BcisbrwrZy.99

More hotels posting reviews from their own guests

The online review of the Best Western hotel in Eagle Rock started with a critical headline: “Very poor quality, will never stay here again.” What is surprising is that the review was posted on a link found on the website of that very same hotel. Best Western International, one of the world’s largest hotel chains, recently announced that it had redesigned its website, adding links to reviews submitted by its guests to TripAdvisor.com. The move marks a trend in the hotel industry.
http://www.latimes.com/business/money/la-fi-hotel-reviews-20120921,0,7499976.story

Focus on online search vital as channel grows

With nearly 80% of the average consumer’s Web experience beginning with an online search, optimizing online content for search is crucial for hoteliers to compete in the market. “That’s an advantage for us,” said Tran Hang, head of the travel industry at Google, who shared that statistic last week during a session at EyeforTravel’s Travel Distribution Summit North America in Las Vegas. “We’re seeing a big shift from offline working media to online working media,” said Jack Feuer, founder and president at digital consulting firm Digital Marketing Works.
http://www.hotelnewsnow.com/articles.aspx/9002/Focus-on-online-search-vital-as-channel-grows

Travel marketer takeaways, cross-channel optimization and hotel revenue management

This month’s EyeForTravel North American Travel Distribution Summit was chock-full of travel industry thought leaders sharing case studies, best practices and knowledge surrounding the various areas of travel distribution. From keynotes to social media to mobile to revenue management, the conference covered many of the au courant challenges that travel marketers, startups and executives are tackling.
http://www.tnooz.com/2012/09/24/event/eyefortravel-travel-marketer-takeaways-cross-channel-optimization-and-hotel-revenue-management-video/#mALmDqPj4CZzyEK7.99

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Selling hotel rooms – An NIHF event

At last week’s Selling Rooms event with the Northern Ireland Hotel Federation, hotels were very interested in learning how they could control their own inventory. Most of the attendees acknowledged that through OTAs they were losing control over pricing and distribution as they fought to manage the cost of selling through third parties.

While many are trying to sell direct, it beggars the question – how much inventory is allocated to the direct channel and how much to third party, when in fact all channels should have access to the same availability. In many cases there can be as much as 24% profit difference selling direct than across OTAs.

Interestingly, hotels struggled to manage their budgets effectively as some of the revenue management or OTA costs derived from the Marketing budget and others from the Reservations. Why should the direct selling channel come from Marketing, while OTAs are paid by Reservations? Marketing will always achieve a higher profit margin and is therefore unrepresentative of the financials of e-sales.
Many consumers have a hard time booking across hotel websites, unfortunately the journey can be clunky without a clear and easy-to-use booking engines. Hotels need to invest in booking engine applications they can easily install in their website that is similar to the OTAs, this will optimize the booking journey for conversions and mobile bookings.

It was also noted the value of Voice bookings, training the reservations, call center and front of house team to offer packages based on internet rates, and upgrade if necessary to avoid losing the booking to a third party website, which will cost them dearly in commission fees.

Northern Ireland has experienced a very strong year, with most guests being domestic tourism. The national tourism office will be launching a new website at the end of the year that will incorporate direct booking initiatives from the main OTA providers, giving hotels in the region an additional option for exposure and visibility.


Ryan C Haynes is VP – Marketing Communications at eRevMax. He was one of the speakers at the event and shared his insights on how hotels can use technology smartly to distribute rooms online and make the most of direct channels as well. Ryan is based out of London and can be reached at ryanh@ratetiger.com