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The Week, That Was – June 2020 Week 4

In five minutes or less, keep track of the most important news of the week, curated just for you. We present to you hand – picked news on latest industry perspectives and some general updates. Read on!!

Hotel recovery can only go so far without group bookings

Group business and convention travel do more than contribute to a hotel’s occupancy and revenue per room figures. These types of bookings also fuel profitability in an array of revenue streams and amenities at a property.

https://news.yahoo.com/convention-plateau-hotel-recovery-only-120035108.html

UK’s hotels and restaurants will reopen on July 4

Hotels, holiday apartments, caravan parks and campsites will be allowed to operate, as long as shared facilities are kept clean.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/06/23/travel-news-air-bridges-uk-quarantine-portugal-spain-greece/

Inviting hoteliers to share their opinions for Hotel Sentiment Survey

The travel and hospitality industry globally have faced unprecedented impact due to the coronavirus pandemic which has adversely affected hotel revenue, occupancy and ADR. eRevMax is conducting a short survey to understand the challenges you and your business are facing. The survey results will be published and made available to all participants, and will provide a reflection of the hotel sentiment and an understanding of where we are moving as an industry. Share your valuable inputs through this 2-min survey –

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/hotelsentimentsurvey2020

Knowing your hotel channel manager in the post COVID world

With the easing of lockdown in many parts of the world, travel and hospitality businesses are starting to open up. As more people start to venture out, hotels need to be ready to attract these travelers. As per recent reports, travel related online searches are picking up. With the shortening of booking windows and increase in domestic short haul holiday bookings, hoteliers need to have their distribution strategies in place. The need of the hour is to connect to the right channels and manage them effectively.

Find out how your channel manager and connectivity provider plays a key role in current circumstances – https://lnkd.in/dBdn7vT

Pricing tactics vary by sector as consumers return to travel

As the travel industry slowly and erratically reopens, some airlines and hotels, as expected, have begun slashing rates to lure travelers back to their struggling businesses.

https://www.travelweekly.com/Travel-News/Tour-Operators/Pricing-tactics-vary-by-sector-as-consumers-return-to-travel

 Trip.com joins Google to launch Travel Trends Report.

The report provides a detailed snapshot of how consumers are responding to the evolving dynamics within the travel industry, as well as the expected trends for travel over the coming months.

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/tripcom-group-joins-google-to-launch-travel-trends-report-301081707.html

Reach out to us for your connectivity needs to make the most of your online revenue- https://goo.gl/3gKUJZ

Thanks and have a good day!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The Week, That Was – October 2019 Week 3

In five minutes or less, keep track of the most important news of the week, curated just for you. We present to you hand – picked news on latest industry perspectives and some general updates. Read on!!

Openhotelier completes technical integration with eRevMax

With online sales growing at a fast pace in Maldives, hoteliers can benefit from such integrations as it offers them more distribution options directly from their Frontdesk PMS. This partnership is aimed at creating a frictionless environment offering hoteliers end-to-end solutions for their online distribution and connectivity needs to attract more guests.

https://bit.ly/2BfRHZY

Accor and Expedia believe there’s a path to save the hotel-OTA relationship

On a panel at the WiT Singapore 2019 Main Stage, Louise Daley, deputy CEO for Accor in Asia Pacific, and Melissa Maher, senior vice president for marketing and innovation at the Expedia Group, entered diplomatic talks about how the hotel-OTA relationship should really function and what will it take for both sides to come out as winners.

https://www.phocuswire.com/Accor-Expedia-Group-online-travel-agency

How to Increase Bookings from Hotel Booking Website?

It is important for hospitality business to have a brand website of their own as it has a strong digital identity to attract maximum visitors. When you are building a website for your hotel property, here are some important factors that hoteliers need to take into account. Read more –

https://www.erevmax.com/blog/index.php/2019/10/how-to-increase-bookings-from-hotel-booking-website/

OTAs in prime position to benefit from rising APAC internet penetration

Internet penetration in APAC is expected to breach the 50% mark and continue growing as it overtakes the US. Results of joint research from travel data co-operative Sojern and Phocuswright involving a survey of 5,782 online travel customers from seven countries was recently presented at the event – read further for the findings.

https://www.travolution.com/articles/112894/web-in-travel-otas-in-prime-position-to-benefit-from-rising-apac-internet-penetration

Chinese tourism growth slows as overseas travel loses its luster

Chinese tourist sites received 782 million visits during the holiday, up well over 7% from last year’s 726 million, according to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. But that’s slower than reported growth of more than 9% in 2018, and down from a 10% increase in 2017.

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/09/chinese-tourism-growth-slows-as-overseas-travel-loses-its-luster.html

Reach out to us for your connectivity needs to make the most of your online revenue- https://goo.gl/3gKUJZ

Thanks and have a good day!

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A playground where children’s creativity can run wild

At eRevMax, we follow the saying, ‘work hard, play harder’ and we apply this motto to our CSR initiatives as well. Every school needs a playground, an essential component of a child’s school experience. With this thought in mind, and with the generous help of our colleague Mr. Josef Lapka, his lovely wife Ruth and beautiful daughters – Evelina & Aurelia, who helped raise the required funds, the eRevMax CSR team will get a playground constructed for our beneficiary – Hatgacha Primary School in West Bengal, India.

As they say – “Do a little more than you’re paid to. Give a little more than you have to” – this fund-raising initiative reposed our faith in people’s kindness as we witnessed donations coming from different countries for this project.

The school playground will help engage children’s imaginations and playful spirits and provide them with a place to further develop their cognitive, social, emotional and physical aptitudes.

Team eRevMax along with Josef and his family visited the Hatgacha Primary School this week for the foundation stone laying ceremony for the playground. The overwhelmed teachers and students showed their gratitude by putting up a cultural program – the students put up brilliant performances – they danced, sang and recited poems, which gave a glimpse of the Bengali culture to our esteemed guests.

A special mention for Evelina, Aurelia and Whitstable Junior School, UK – who prepared a hand-crafted book with pictures of students, what they do in school, subjects they learn, experiments they do etc. This thoughtful gesture really overwhelmed us all – it was like a mini cultural exchange program to help Hatgacha students get a wider world view. In addition, Whitstable also donated play equipments like football and jumbo badminton racquets among other things.

Overall, a successful day that was spent well in giving shape to a noble cause. And big shout out to everyone involved for their incredible support and dedication in making this happen. We will continue to spread joy and happiness through our initiatives, and we hope you will join us do the same!

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The Week, That Was – May 2019 Week 2

In five minutes or less, keep track of the most important news of the week, curated just for you. We present to you hand – picked news on latest industry perspectives and some general updates. Read on!!

eRevMax expands in Indonesia with new demand partner

Indonesia based Hoterip.com, one of the fastest growing online travel agencies in Asia, has completed two-way XML integration with travel technology specialist eRevMax to offer online channel management and reservation delivery solution to its growing base of hotel customers. The seamless interface will allow hotels using RateTiger and RTConnect platforms to update rates and availability and receive reservations generated through the channel in real-time

https://www.erevmax.com/ratetiger-news/ratetiger-news-archive/may2019-erevmax-expands-in-indonesia-with-new-demand-partner.html

Online Reviews Still Important But Craze is Slowing Down

Revinate published their 2019 Global Hotel Reputation Benchmark Report, filled with insights to help travel marketers compare and optimize their own online reputation management approach. Google gas overtaken Booking in the #1 position, as both sites are now dominating the field, with TripAdvisor coming in as distant third. While 74% of reviews were posted on four sites in 2017, a greater percentage is now contentrated in only the top 3 – Google, Booking and TripAdvisor.

https://fredericgonzalo.com/en/2019/04/10/online-reviews-still-important-but-craze-is-slowing-down/

Hotel industry has to invest more in technology

For some, the hotel industry requires a fundamentally different notion to how it sells and packages merchandise, physical goods and experiences.

http://hotelnewsnow.com/Articles/295159/Hotel-tech-execs-call-for-industry-to-invest-partner

Customer loyalty in a hyper-segmented hotel landscape

While many hotel branding companies have recently announced reforms in their rewards structures, their programs are still primarily based on a point redemption system.

https://www.hotel-online.com/press_releases/release/customer-loyalty-in-a-hyper-segmented-hotel-landscape#When:18:20:44Z

Webinar: Drive loyalty through a personalized journey

In this webinar, experts from leading hospitality and hotel tech companies will share their insights and strategies on how to enhance customer loyalty.

https://try.traveltripper.com/celebrate-and-nurture-your-guests-webinar/?utm_source=hotelmarketing&utm_medium=pr&utm_campaign=nurture-your-guest-webinar&utm_content=landing-page

What impact Airbnb might have on the hotel industry in another recession

In 2008, Airbnb was only just launching and really wasn’t a major player, however things may be a little different the next time around, as consumers booking habits have changed and their accommodation preferences have evolved.

https://www.kalibrilabs.com/demystifying-distribution/2019/5/7/what-impact-might-airbnb-have-on-the-hotel-industry-in-another-recession/?ref=hotelmarketing_com

Corporate travel: Sabre survey reveals trends shaping booking behaviour in Asia Pacific

Sabre reveals the results of a survey that compiles insight from over 70 corporate travel management companies (TMCs) from across Asia Pacific, revealing the latest trends in terms of regional bookings.

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/sabre-corporate-travel-survey-reveals-trends-shaping-booking-behavior-in-asia-pacific-300843880.html

Connect with us for your connectivity needs to make the most of online revenue- https://goo.gl/3gKUJZ

Thanks and have a good day!

 

 

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The Week, That Was – April 2019 Week 4

In five minutes or less, keep track of the most important news of the week, curated just for you. We present to you hand – picked news on latest industry perspectives and some general updates. Read on!!

Upscale hotel in Dubai recommends RateTiger, powered by LiveOS

Dubai based Golden Tulip Media Hotel, has recommended eRevMax distribution solutions for smooth and seamless connectivity with all its online sales channels. The property, which has been using RTConnect – the XML gateway for online distribution, has increased its market penetration resulting in revenue and occupancy growth.

https://www.erevmax.com/ratetiger-news/ratetiger-news-archive/apr2019-erevmax-upscale-hotel-dubai-recommends-ratetiger.html

 

Top Tech Trends for Driving Your Hotel Revenue

With the constant evolution of technology and new trends coming and going, its important for hotels to keep a track of what is happening around them. Knowing the impact of new technology and how it can affect revenue is key to running any business successfully today. The same applies to the travel and hospitality sector which is one of the most dynamic industries today. Given the huge dependence on guest behavior, hoteliers need to know how to influence key decision makers and be visible at every key touch point. Here are some upcoming trends that we feel will have an impact on the industry and hoteliers should take notice and prepare well in advance.

https://www.erevmax.com/blog/index.php/2019/05/top-tech-trends-for-driving-your-hotel-revenue/

Behind Airbnb’s bet on show business to hook travelers

Airbnb has ambitions to develop a slate of original shows to whet customers’ appetite for travel. The strategy is crucial for the company, which is privately valued at $31 billion and is gearing up for an initial public offering of stock expected next year.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-airbnb-hollywood-exclusive/exclusive-behind-airbnbs-bet-on-show-business-to-hook-travelers-idUSKCN1S014P?il=0

Oracle: Mobile is key to boosting hotel guest experiences

A whopping 91 percent of hotel executives surveyed by Oracle said mobile technologies are critical to improving guest experience and cultivating loyalty. But only 69 percent were confident in their organization’s ability to adopt and deliver those mobile experiences.

https://www.oracle.com/corporate/pressrelease/mobile-is-key-to-boosting-guest-experiences-042319.html

 Google updates qualified rates in hotel ads on desktop

A qualified rate is a type of fenced rate that is shown to the user when a reduced loyalty program price is available through the property’s official site.

Google’s newest desktop user interface features the caption “GET PRICE” in all-caps, a larger font size, and in an eye-catching traffic-light green color.

https://koddi.com/qualified-rates-update-google-hotel-ads/

 Google’s Touring Bird plots big expansion of tours and activities service

Touring Bird is expanding its coverage of tours and activities in cities around the world by a magnitude of 10X.

The massive jump from its official launch number of 20 in September 2018 to 200 this week comes almost a year to the day since the Google Area 120-run search engine was first tested in the open market.

https://www.phocuswire.com/Touring-Bird-expands-200

Connect with us for your connectivity needs to make the most of online revenue- https://goo.gl/3gKUJZ

Thanks and have a good day!

 

 

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How to Boost Hotel’s Repeat Business – 6 Steps to Follow

This blog elucidates the 6 hacks that can help hotel owners to build and cement a strong guest-host relationship. Read on to find out more!

Hotel businesses can be intriguing and filled with challenges – whether in good or bad times. When there is low occupancy, you need to pamper your guests well, so that they come back again and you can get more customers. When your hotel is filled choc-a-block, you need to ensure that the requirements and requests of each guest is taken care of. Here are 6 steps to help you boost the repeat business of your hotel.

Offer airport pick-up at night to -female guests

If you have female guests coming to your hotel for the first time, you can make the journey safer for them by offering airport pick-up at night. This can be especially useful if they are not familiar with the city, and are coming in for the first time. Direct airport to hotel transfer during the night can be very useful for them.

Focus on add-ons

Additional services and extras can make a big difference. You can focus on their needs for relaxation, such as a selection of coffee and tea and various other refreshments, and also famous books and magazines. Keep devices like powerful dryers, curlers and hair straighteners, and other useful items such as nail polish remover, nail polish, makeup, exercise / meditation mat and more.

Offer luxurious items

Try to offer items of luxury that can make your guests feel as if they are given a royalty or celeb treatment. The luxurious stuffs can include duvets, sheets, bedding, night table, full-length mirror etc. along with aromatic towels, bathrobes, branded toileteries and more. These things can serve to heighten your guest experience without you spending a lot of money.

Pay attention to details

Train your staffs to take care of even the smallest details, such as dietary preferences – and having gluten-free and vegan options, knowing about food allergies of guests and more. All these can make your guests feel more relaxed.

Have a manned 24/7 front desk

Implement various security measures, including having a manned 24-hour front desk – so that guests can always connect to someone for anything they might need during their stay.

Have Women-only floors

This can make female travelers rest easy, and ensure repeat business from female customers for your hotel.

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The Week, That Was – April 2019 Week 3

In five minutes or less, keep track of the most important news of the week, curated just for you. We present to you hand – picked news on latest industry perspectives and some general updates. Read on!!

How to Boost Hotel’s Repeat Business – 7 Steps to Follow

Hotel businesses can be intriguing and filled with challenges – whether in bad or good times. When there is high vacancy, you need to pamper your guests well, so that they come back again and you can get more customers. When your hotel is filled chock-a-block, you need to ensure that the requirements and requests of each guest are cared for in a proper way. Here are 7 steps to help you boost the repeat business of your hotel.

How to Boost Hotel’s Repeat Business – 6 Steps to Follow

eRevMax announces strategic partnership with Kuwaiti technology provider EEMC

Kuwait based hospitality solution developer EEMC has partnered with leading hotel connectivityprovider, eRevMax to deliver advanced channel management solutions to its hotel customers. eRevMax has signed an agreement with the company making them an official sales representative of RateTiger, the award-winning integrated channel manager, rate intelligence and connectivity solution for hotels.

https://bit.ly/2vbmdRG

The 2019 Hotel Reputation Benchmark Report

Now in its fourth year, the barometer analyzed 427 million online guest reviews from 140,000 properties across 200 countries over the past two years.

https://www.revinate.com/blog/the-2019-hotel-reputation-benchmark-report-is-here/

Airbnb leads $160 million investment in hospitality startup Lyric

The fresh capital brings Lyric’s total raised to $185 million, and will be used to expand its operations and support the buildout of its technology and data platform.

https://venturebeat.com/2019/04/17/airbnb-leads-150-million-investment-in-real-estate-and-hospitality-startup-lyric/

Four things to understand about your hotel data

When it comes to analyzing big data to understand guests and increase direct bookings, there are four key learnings that will help hoteliers compete with the big budgets of OTAs.

https://bit.ly/2UplINW

How to target today’s tech-savvy travelers

Customer segmentation is an efficient marketing tool, but it won’t deliver long-term sales results. Capturing attention and share of wallet from today’s tech-savvy travelers requires a more personalized approach.

http://hotelnewsnow.com/Articles/294641/How-to-target-todays-tech-savvy-travelers

The future of the hotel CRS

For many CRS companies, the “direct distribution” application is the booking engine. Period. Rate plans and availability from the CRS are distributed to the booking engine in the same way they’re sent to third-party distributors.

https://www.traveltripper.com/blog/the-future-of-the-crs/

Expedia research finds price and guest rating gazump brand in hotel selection

Expedia Group and Unabashed Research have released a study that shows price and guest ratings are more important than brand value when it comes to hotel property selection.

The study of more than 900 consumers shows that independent hotels can more effectively compete today with their branded competition

https://www.travolution.com/articles/110976/expedia-research-finds-price-and-guest-rating-gazump-brand-in-hotel-selection

 

Connect with us for your connectivity needs to make the most of online revenue- https://goo.gl/3gKUJZ

Thanks and have a good day!

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Top tech trends for driving your hotel revenue

With the constant evolution of technology and new trends coming and going, its important for hotels to keep a track of what is happening around them. Knowing the impact of new technology and how it can affect revenue is key to running any business successfully today. The same applies to the travel and hospitality sector which is one of the most dynamic industries today. Given the huge dependence on guest behavior, hoteliers need to know how to influence key decision makers and be visible at every key touch point. Here are some upcoming trends that we feel will have an impact on the industry and hoteliers should take notice and prepare well in advance.

  • Data explosion with 5G Network

The new 5G, with its superfast download speed and other benefits, is sure to have a massive impact on the expectations and behavior of mobile phone users. One can readily access virtual reality and videos and the 5G network is likely to bring a huge change in how guests research and book travel and hotel.  Users will have the opportunity to visualize themselves in their preferred room instead of only seeing the photos.

‘Mobile-first strategy’ will likely rule the trend. Google, being the early adopter like it is, may reward hotels that pro-actively focus on their mobile strategy and penalize the ones that are not at all mobile friendly. Thus, hotels need to make sure their brand website is mobile friendly and has a good page load speed. It’s important to develop mobile focused marketing strategy to capture this segment of guests that like to book things on mobile.

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  • Virtual and Augmented Reality

Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) will get a big boost with 5G network. However, AR proves to be more realistic than VR to hoteliers. Why? Real environment is replaced by a virtual one by VR. To visualize this, one needs wearable technology. On the contrary, AR introduces digital components into real environment that one can easily access with smartphones.

Some hotels have already started using this technology like AR-enabled maps and brochures. It is a great opportunity for hotel industry to enhance in-stay and pre-stay experience of their guests.

  • Dominance of Videos

Conveying information through videos is more effective than words because people today prefer watching than reading, especially in mobile phones. Do you know that YouTube is the second largest search engine globally? Facebook too generates huge traffic from its videos every day. With the emergence of 5G, videos will achieve greater importance.

To future-proof business, hoteliers have to invest in entertaining, informational and relevant video advertising. According to Google, videos are likely to capture 80% of online media in the coming years.

With so many innovative technologies coming up in the market, hotels have to optimize these opportunities to reap the maximum benefit for their business.

 

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Celebrating Poila Baisakh in eRevMax

The Bengali New Year, popularly known as ‘Poila Baisakh’ is marked with joy and enthusiasm – it is a harvest festivity that marks the beginning of the crop cycle in Bengal and is considered an auspicious day in mid-April.

eRevMaxians celebrated this festival with full fervor – both at home and at work. Member turned up in their traditional best – the women looked gorgeous in colorful sarees while the men looked dapper in traditional kurta-pyjama sets. The entire office was decorated with flowers which created the perfect ambience for the festivities. Here are some sneak peek from the celebrations.

There were fun activities like memory game, ramp show, Bengali speech competition to complement the celebrations, coupled with delicious lunch which added to the merriment!

Kudos to the HR & Admin teams for organizing such a fun-filled day where everything was so well organized! Overall, a fun day with colleagues that helped create a lot of new memories ?

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Luxury UK hotel trusts RateTiger Shopper for pricing decisions

The Greenbank Hotel has been leveraging eRevMax’s price intelligence tool – RateTiger Shopper to monitor competitor rates across multiple sales channels and take informed pricing decisions to stay ahead in the market.

The Greenbank Hotel is a luxury 4-star property in Cornwall with an interesting history. Having started out as a sailor’s pub back in 1640, the property today boasts of a unique location, characterful heritage, contemporary styling and outstanding levels of service, which keep guests coming back, year after year.

The hotel has been using RateTiger Shopper over the past few years to monitor trends in room rates over selected time periods and for up to 24 months in the future. The intelligent room rate data allows the hotel to access past and current pricing data for accurate forecasting.

“We have been using RateTiger Shopper for rate benchmarking. We save a lot of time as we can take our pricing decisions by just reviewing the pricing reports we get from the tool. We can easily shop multiple parameters, review the market data, know our price position, identify rate movements and monitor our competitors – all through a few reports and alerts. It is a simple and effective tool which makes our work very easy. I can recommend RateTiger Shopper for any hotel that is looking for real-time price intelligence as it saves lots of time,” said Oceane Mechain, Revenue Manager, The Greenbank Hotel.

RateTiger Shopper is a comprehensive yet easy to use hotel rate intelligence solution. It enables hotels to check room rates are accurate across all channels while analyzing room rates of your competitive set and rate positioning across multiple hotel websites, third party sales channels and online travel agents (OTA).

eRevMax is known for its innovative products and stable solutions with 99% uptime. The company is ISO and PCI certified and GDPR compliant. eRevMax offers excellent connectivity with around over 400 online channels and technology partners and provides 24×7 customer support.