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Newshound: Trends and Reports – Hotel Online Distribution

Distribution experts share key to success
For all its complexity, the distribution game comes down to one simple factor: value. If a channel doesn’t offer value, then hoteliers shouldn’t use that channel to yield inventory, concluded a panel comprising a diverse array of representatives in the field.

Making Social Media An Asset To Your Hotel, Part 3: Sales & Marketing
Marketing using social media requires a different discipline and expertise from traditional and online marketing. Just as radio ads don’t translate well to television, branded online ads typically don’t work well in social media. Marketers wanting to utilize social media will need to think differently, and this section explains how.

A New Era for OTAs
Tension between hotels and online travel agencies has been palpable for the past several years, as the Web distribution marketplace has seen heated competition both online, through the battle for booking revenue, and off, through business negotiations and legal disputes. But as economic purse strings have loosened, consumer demand has risen, and hotels themselves have become more savvy in corralling their own direct customers, several of the major online travel brands have changed their game to reflect what they see as the current state of the business.

Online now accounts for more than half of travel sales across Europe
Online bookings accounted for more than half the travel sales across Europe for the first time last year, according to industry analyst IPK International. But agency sales continue to dominate Europe’s biggest travel market: Germany. IPK reported 55% of all travel bookings in Europe were online last year, up 15% on 2010. Attached is the key findings of the report.

Global average room rate rose by 4pc last year: report
A report released by Hotels.com has indicated that the results are showing the green shoots of recovery for many countries with the average price of a hotel across the world rising four percent, placing them on a par with prices from 2005. According to Hotels.com’s Hotel Price Index (HPI), the relative strength of the global hotel sector can be seen as an indicator of a potential turnaround in the economic outlook with the average price of a room around the world rising four percent in 2011.

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Newshound: Trends and Reports – Hotel Online Distribution


The Evolution of Online Travel

Since the rise of online travel in the mid-1990s, it seems that there’s an endless well of ways to get your travel fix.  It’s projected that within the year 2012, there will be 98.3 million bookings on the Internet, which translates into major profit for online travel companies. In Mashable’s infographic, you’ll see the progression of online travel, from its roots in old electronic booking systems to the newest and shiniest deals websites. Plus, get an inside look at how users behave while on online travel sites — and where they love to go.

The 5 Golden Rules of Social Media ROI

Facebook page? Check! Twitter account and dedicated hastags? Check! Competitions, discounts and giveaways? Check! Any real, measurable and abundant ROI from social media campaigns? A recent Eye for Travel survey of APAC travel brands shows that despite 67% claiming to have deployed social media initiatives, more than half admitted confusion or inability to effectively rack and measure ROI.

A hotelier’s viewpoint on the current status of the flash sales model

Social buying/ Group buying and flash sales sites will undergo a saturation stage in their lifecycle. Many will reach the end of the road but a few strong ones will survive – albeit with some innovative add-ons to the existing business models, says Ricky Ang, vice president – Sales & Marketing, Hotel Equatorial Group.

Global business and leisure hotel rates up

Global average daily rates (ADR) for both business and leisure hotel rooms continued to climb in January, according to Pegasus Solutions’ data. Following a record increase over 2010 in December 2011, January 2012 saw business rates grow +3.8 percent and leisure rates rise +7.0 percent over January 2011, shared The Pegasus View January edition.

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ÖHV-Hotelierkongress 2012

I attended the ÖHV-Hotelierkongress 2012 in Schladming last month and was pleasantly surprised in my first week taking over the region by the warmth and friendliness of Austrians. It turned out to be a well organized event with over 600 attendees comprising hoteliers, representatives from tourism boards, business and economy.

The focus for this year’s congress was to gauge current changes in society resulting from the recession and political shifts and its impact on the hospitality & tourism. The conference covered topics like impact of crisis and austerity on tourism, dealing within a changing world, the role of tourism in integration, the Family Hotel 2020 and the change in e-tourism.

For me, it was a great opportunity to meet with local hoteliers and discuss channel management and the potential it offers. The hospitality scenario in Austria is dominated by family run leisure hotels and small establishments. The awareness about online distribution has started to seep through though it will take some time to gain momentum. The event provided a good networking platform and it was a valuable learning experience for all present.

I look forward to the next edition and other such events in the region.

Cristina Hernandez is Sales Manager for Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Eastern Spain at eRevMax and is responsible for sales of RateTiger products in the region. She can be reached at cristinas@ratetiger.com

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Tigers in London for game planning

Tigers from across the world congregated in London, UK for the annual strategy convention. RateTiger representatives from Asia, Europe, South America and USA came to Reigate in Surrey to discuss plans for world domination.

In total there were about 30 of us looking at the new trends in channel management, the challenges hoteliers are facing and the effects that the economic situation could have on hotels. The International Sales Meeting gives us the opportunity to share best practices, identify similarities in market behaviours and plan product development to meet the new demands that hoteliers are facing with pricing, distribution and bookings.

This event is always an eye-opener as we discover there are similarities between Asia and USA while many European countries behave differently to each other. The past year has also seen emerging markets becoming more relevant for our technologies; through a series of regional sales presentations we learned which market wants what product immediately showing the differences in approach by revenue managers.


The three-day conference gave us all the opportunity to meet in person away from our emails and Skype in favour for more real discussion, debate and laughter. Now RateTiger has completed a very successful 10 years in the business, the team are pent up to drive forward for the next decade.

We’re ready for 2012.

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