Tag: hotels

Posted on

A Tale of Two Technologies

How the Seamless Merger of Hotel Systems Leads to Better Results

The travel and hospitality business might have started small, with people lending a space in exchange for a certain tribute, but it has now reached a point in history when it is completely reliant on technology. Between a multitude of hotel systems and software that have become absolute necessities in the 21st century, many hoteliers might feel somewhat lost or overwhelmed. So many options, so much to do, so little time.

In a time like this, the integration between technologies is not only welcomed by both hoteliers and travelers, but it is also deeply needed by the industry itself. In an effort to save time and increase efficiency, as well as strive for a wider, global exposure, hospitality technology providers are partnering up and creating intelligent connections like never before.

In 2016, eRevMax and TrustYou, two leading companies in the hospitality field, started a collaboration that, to this day, results in benefits not only for them but for a high number of hotels from all over the world. By merging TrustYou’s guest feedback platform with eRevMax’s hospitality operating platform, hotel managers can oversee and manage various hotel operations like revenue management, online distribution, as well as their hotel’s online reputation among various other segments.

eRevMax’s platform, LiveOS, works around the “Profits in Unity” concept, which means that it gathers dozens of technology providers and partners in one place, for easy access and increased efficiency to “Make Life Simple” for Hotels. From PMSs, RMSs, OTAs, to ORMs like the TrustYou platform, LiveOS has currently more than 50 technology partners integrated.

So why is it so important to merge systems and software and how exactly does it pay off? It’s not a secret anymore that we live in a fast-paced world and that modern hoteliers and consumers are in a constant rush. While having so many technologies to rely on, signing into different platforms multiple times a day can be an unnecessary and time-consuming process.

eRevMax’s vision is to enable hoteliers to have access to a more complex and intuitive tool, in order to manage a multitude of hotel operations from a single sign-on platform. Users can select and use their preferred technologies, even ones that are not owned by eRevMax, therefore enjoying a customizable and personalized experience. The platform provides real-time updates and it also flags any arising issues, to bring immediate attention to them.

In the last two years, TrustYou’s guest feedback platform was used by eRevMax customers, through the LiveOS platform. Hoteliers can keep track of their hotel’s overall score and reputation while getting real-time updates about guest reviews. Receiving valuable insights into the guest journey is for many hoteliers the first step towards adjusting future strategies and services, in an effort to exceed expectations and improve the reputation – which, in the long run, leads to more booking and a higher revenue.

LiveOS users have free access to features integrated into the TrustYou feedback platform. Moreover, when accessing the TrustYou data inside LiveOS, users get an overview of their hotel’s overall score, along with the exact number of verified reviews that determined it.

The incoming reviews are displayed in the TrustYou dashboard and highlighted, in order to create a thorough examination of the best services provided and the ones that need improvement. This way, certain features, such as the location, the breakfast, the pool area, get their own score and guest sentiments. The feedback is also structured by language and by traveler type, such as business travelers, families, couples, etc.

Beyond the analytical part of the feedback platform, LiveOS users can also opt to use the TrustYou Stars Lite feature, which enables the use of a customizable guest survey. Hoteliers can encourage guest feedback by asking for reviews and opinions, through a quick and efficient survey – which TrustYou’s latest study revealed to be the best way of getting positive feedback.

Only one year after LiveOS users started to utilize the TrustYou survey tool, the overall number of collected reviews had almost tripled: from 1878 reviews in 2016 to 6990 in 2017. This comes as a confirmation of the necessity and utility of a guest survey, as a tool to get valuable guest feedback.

This seamless integration between two leading hospitality technologies has proven to be most beneficial for both eRevMax and TrustYou, as well as hoteliers from all over the world, who use and rely on LiveOS and the TrustYou feedback platform. eRevMax has enabled a way for users to make the most out of their software and have every single technology necessary available with one sign-in. Their portfolio provides every technology that impacts the guest journey, as TrustYou’s latest eBook described it.

TrustYou’s leading guest feedback solution gets more exposure through LiveOS and reaches a larger number of hoteliers, interested in managing, overseeing and improving their online reputation.

And hoteliers, well, they get best of both the worlds. By being able to make use of multiple must-have hotel technologies in one place, they not only save valuable time, which can be invested in other areas, but they also improve operations, manage and boost the hotel’s reputation and work towards achieving better results, more popularity, bookings, and revenue.

 

Posted on

Why Hotels need Channel Manager?

In today’s tourism sector, OTAs are playing a major role and big OTAs like Expedia and Booking.com have dominated the travel market. So, it is a must for hotels to opt for OTA services. Additionally, it is not possible to get enough bookings from one OTA, so now hotels must connect with multiple OTAs which makes it difficult to manage the inventory manually. Hence comes the role of a Channel Manager.

A channel manager helps you to implement yield management techniques effectively i.e. to sell the right room at the right time at the right price on the right channel.

Channel Manager helps to boost occupancy rate. It pushes room inventory and automatically updates all rates in respective OTAs in real- time.  Even a channel manager gives more opportunities to hoteliers to connect with more OTAs to expand visibility and earn more revenue.  Room rates and availability get updated across all platforms in real-time. Along with Channel Manager, a hotel can connect with more systems like PMS, GDS, RMS, CRS, Rate Shopping and Meta Search sites.

Key Benefits of using a Channel Manager –

  • Manage availability and rates for OTAs from one dashboard
  • Efficiently close availability at the click of a button across all channels
  • Expand online visibility by selling on multiple channels
  • Maximize hotel revenue by smart management of rate
  • Increase occupancy level with clever distribution strategies
  • Eliminate overbooking situations by using pooled inventory feature
  • All updates made in real-time without logging into multiple extranets
  • Bookings from channels delivered directly into PMS
  • Inventory status always up to date in the PMS
  • More time to focus on strategies rather than updating channels
  • No risk of human errors when updating rates or inventory on channels

A Channel manager also helps you to connect to channels that bring more business to your country – thereby putting your hotel in front of international travelers. Considered one of the best hotel channel manager in the market, RateTiger is integrated with more than 350 OTAs and working closely with 9000 hotels globally. It is the connectivity partner of choice for large hotel groups, mid-scale chains as well as independent properties in both luxury and budget segment worldwide providing solutions through its core product brands – RateTiger and LiveOS.

Posted on

The Week, That Was – July 2018 Week 1

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!!

VHP Announces Connectivity Integration with RateTiger
Manage your online sales channels directly from one of APAC’s largest PMS, via RateTiger HotelChannelManager. Experience 2-way seamless hoteldistributionconnectivity for distributing rates and inventory to channels and getting reservations back into the PMS – all managed from the PMS interface.

https://goo.gl/SXFjEd

China’s travel tech companies make steady progress with AI
Use cases of artificial intelligence are being refined as Chinese technology companies become sophisticated with the handling of massive data volumes, crafting advanced algorithms and embrace improvements in computing power and storage. The application of AI is being used in improving the efficiency of traditional travel agents by working out a customized trip itinerary in a matter of seconds, recommending add-ons based on the traveler’s previous bookings or recent trip planning behaviors and curbing payment-related fraud.

https://www.tnooz.com/article/ai-travel-use-cases-china/

Next generation of travel tech leaders
The current crop of leaders of the industry were brought up on the early days of ecommerce. They created and integrated many of the systems and processes that are second nature today to how the online sector works. The next generation of industry leaders are digital natives, as the phrase goes, potentially giving them a different perspective on it all. Check out this video that discusses current issues and tips from the industry elders.

https://www.phocuswire.com/Video-young-leaders-travel-technology

Who are the biggest innovators in hospitality?
Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne put six innovation scenarios to test and asked hospitality industry executives what scenario(s) were more likely to take place in their organization within the next three to five years. Download the full report to know about the test.

http://hotelmarketing.com/index.php/content/article/who_are_the_biggest_innovators_in_hospitality

Economist: Hoteliers should prepare for a downturn
While the outlook shared by many hoteliers has remained relatively upbeat as the hotel industry has enjoyed a prolonged up-cycle, at least one economist warns that the good times probably won’t last much longer.

http://www.hotelnewsnow.com/Articles/287183/Economist-Hoteliers-should-prepare-for-a-downturn

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

Thanks and have a good day!

Posted on

VHP Announces Connectivity Integration with RateTiger

SUPRANUSA SINDATA, leading provider for hotel management system in Indonesia and eRevMax, a hotel distribution and connectivity expert has announced the integration of VHP – Visual Hotel Program and RateTiger Channel Manager.

RateTiger offers real-time monitoring of room availability, room rates, and restrictions across all connected online travel channels. The system is now connected to VHP PMS which allows hoteliers to quickly and efficiently manage all reservations, eliminating manual data entry.

“This integration with Visual Hotel Program (VHP) by PT. SUPRANUSA SINDATA, one of the leading property management systems in South East Asia, complements our continuous effort to provide hoteliers with technology that makes their business easier to manage and more profitable,” said Ashis Saha, Senior Vice President – Project Management at eRevMax.

“The integration with RateTiger – eRevMax will assist our hotel customers to have a better online reservation experience through vast network of volume-producing and branded online travel agent (OTAs),” commented Dipl.Ing. Christian Yie, Business Development Director of PT. SUPRANUSA SINDATA.

The seamless connectivity between VHP PMS and RateTiger eliminates the need for accommodation providers to maintain online inventory manually across OTAs, metasearch and GDS channels, and manually re-enter online reservations from booking websites into their PMS. This results in immense time saving, reduced overheads and resources, as well as avoiding manual mistakes, giving hotel revenue managers the time to focus on revenue strategy rather than distribution efforts.

Posted on

eRevMax Certified Under EU-US Privacy Shield Framework

Hotel distribution connectivity leader eRevMax has announced that it has been certified from the U.S. Department of Commerce for the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework program. This certification assures that eRevMax solutions meet European Union’s General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) for the transfer of personal data between the U.S. and EU.

 

eRevMax’s solutions, RateTiger and LiveOS are used by over 9000 hotels globally for distribution connectivity. The self-certification validates the company’s already impressive data security initiatives including ISO/IEC 27001:2013 and PCI DSS certifications.

“This certification is a testimony to eRevMax’s commitment in delivering the highest standard for privacy and security to global customers. Our customers are very important to us, so we want to assure them, and their customers, that their personal information is safeguarded and that we have the most updated and appropriate data privacy systems and processes in place,” said Udai Singh Solanki, CTO, eRevMax.

Designed by the U.S. Department of Commerce and European Commission, the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework reflects the new requirements for foreign exchanges of personal data for commercial purposes replacing the previous Safe Harbor framework.  The new arrangement includes stronger data protection obligations for companies receiving personal data from the EU, effective protection and redressal for individuals, and annual joint review to monitor the implementation.

To join the voluntary Privacy Shield Framework, eRevMax self-certified to the U.S. Department of Commerce and publicly committed to comply with the framework’s requirements. The company completed a rigorous process to align numerous privacy policies with the new regulations before receiving its certification.

To read eRevMax’s privacy policy click here . To view Bullhorn’s EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework certification click here . For more information about the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework, visit www.privacyshield.gov.

Posted on

eRevMax completes 2-way integration with Brazilian PMS provider Check-in

eRevMax has completed integration with Brazilian hospitality software provider Check-in. Mutual hotel customers can now get the benefit of automatic distribution of availability and rate to third party online booking sites whenever they are updated and get reservations delivered from OTAs to the Check-in property management system.
The Alpha, developed by Check-in, is one the largest property management systems in Latin America and is used by over 1800 hotels. eRevMax’s distribution solutions are used by over 9000 hotels to update rate and inventory across multiple booking channels and deliver reservations into PMS. The tools also update availability across connected channels whenever a new booking is made.
“This interface compliments our continuous efforts to offer our hotel customers seamless connectivity between their technology solutions and OTAs. The Alpha PMS, with its modular, easy to use, installable and cloud modules combined with compatibility to work with different models of hotel management gives hotels scalable options. A greater number of hotels can now leverage the benefits of our Channel Ecosystem while streamlining their distribution efforts,” said Ashis Saha, SVP – Project Management, eRevMax.
“This integration will free hotels from manually capturing booking site reservation information into the property management system, resulting in a more efficient reservation process while reducing cost and effort. With this interface, we now provide a 360-degree option to our hotel customers to expand their distribution leveraging eRevMax Channel Ecosystem’s 2-way XML connectivity with OTAs, GDSs, Meta sites and Wholesalers,”  said Moisés Costa, CEO, Check-in.
eRevMax offers seamless connectivity with over 350 OTAs and 80 technology providers. The company is developing its connectivity solutions to offer sophisticated real-time revenue management functionality to the hospitality industry.
Meet the team at WTM Latin America from 3 – 5 April 2018 in Sao Paulo, Brazil. To set a meeting, contact marketing@erevmax.com

 

Posted on

Booking.com fires away strict rate parity: What it means for hoteliers

Just when we have been thinking that the rate parity issue have been sorted out, comes the news of Booking.com amending their parity agreement in Europe. In an announcement last week, the OTA giant has said that they are abandoning its price, availability and booking parity provisions with respect to other online travel agencies. Putting it simply, this means, as an hotelier, you can now sell the same room in another OTA at a lower price. As Booking.com CEO says: “We welcome and encourage fair competition in the marketplace because competition drives innovation, efficiencies, and most importantly, greater value for consumers.”



For independent hoteliers, and smaller OTAs, this development can be ‘THE BEST THING’ that has happened to them for a long time. And they are thanking regulatory bodies in Sweden, France and Italy, who have forced Europe’s biggest online channel to bend its rule. Investigation on Booking.com’s alleged ‘anti-competitive clauses’ are going on in Germany, Austria and UK. So does that mean that the rosy days are in the corner for the hotel industry?
A quick recap of rate parity controversy
For long smaller OTAs have been alleging against unfair arm-twisting by big OTAs to maintain rate parity. Based on claims made by Skoosh, a pan-European hotel booking site, UK’s Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has investigated allegations that hotels are colluding with Booking.com to keep room rates at an artificially high level. Following a three-year investigation by the OFT in 2013 ruled that InterContinental Hotels Group, Expedia and Priceline Group could no longer enforce rate parity agreements for certain types of bookings.
Since then, hoteliers in the U.K. have been able to offer discounts to “closed groups,” such as members of their loyalty program. And third-party distributors will be allowed to reduce their commissions and margins in order to discount hotel rooms to certain “closed groups,” such as website members or travellers who download their mobile app.
Europe now, world awaits
The latest move by Booking.com is somewhat similar to their stand in UK after the OFT verdict, but has broader scopes. Effective from July 1, the amendment will allow an accommodation provider the freedom for properties to offer different pricing and booking policies (e.g. free cancellation, WIFI, breakfast) through different online travel agencies. For independent and smaller hotels, who cannot afford to stay away from the mighty channel, but are burdened with  paying high commission (up to 20% in some cases), price parity has always been a bone of contention.

With the recent changes, does it mean hotels now have regained control over their pricing?

In my next edition I’ll talk about how hoteliers can utilize maximum opportunity from the rate parity amendment by Booking.com

Cristina Blaj is Sales Director at eRevMax.  She can be reached at cristinab@erevmax.com
Posted on

Trust Customer Conference

Being a Trust Partner, we got invited to the Trust Customer Conference in Amsterdam recently. This year’s event theme was “Blossom your distribution”. It was very well organized and provided a great platform to engage with hoteliers and also showcased the upcoming plans that Trust has for its product range.

The forum was designed mainly to exchange ideas and conduct informative, lively and interactive discussions between the Trust team and its business partners. Speakers were invited from leading companies including Google, TripAdvisor, Kayak, ICEPortal, and Essec Business School and shared key insights on industry issues, business opportunities and market trends.


Our COO Greg Berman was invited to present on the upcoming trends and technologies in Channel Management. It was an interactive session where Greg laid stress on eRevMax’s partnership with Trust Voyager and how it simplifies the distribution process to boost the revenue funnels.

Overall the event was a great chance for me to interact directly with multiple hoteliers, revenue managers as well as sales and marketing heads.
Pilar Sanchez Aita is Director Strategic Account Management at eRevMax. She can be reached at pilars@erevmax.com 
Posted on

Tradewinds Hotels and Resorts diversifies product offering with distribution control

Tradewinds Hotels and Resorts Sdn Bhd has increased online bookings by improving its visibility in new markets while diversifying its product offering. The hotel group installed RateTiger’s channel manager, RTSuite, to manage up to 12 channels across five of its nine properties to gain control over room availability and introduce new packages.
 

Hamidah Ishak, Asset Manager at Tradewinds Corporation said: “We experience excellent occupancy levels during peak season at our Tradewinds Hotels & Resort, but we needed more exposure to ensure consistent sales throughout the year.”

One of the largest hotel owners in Malaysia, the group introduced additional sales channels to expand into China and Taiwan and grab a larger market share. From now the hotel can enjoy greater flexibility in rate management and inventory distribution and thereby introduce three new product types, Advance Purchase, Discounted Rates and Minimum Night Stay, to offer travelers greater choice.
Find out the full story here
Posted on

Hotels Don’t See Social Media as a Priority

Hotels are putting social media on hold as a marketing and selling mechanism, while they focus on driving direct bookings in response to their continuous struggle for better margins with the Online Travel Agents (OTAs), says research by Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne (Switzerland) and RateTiger.

“We have found that hotels work with more travel agents and consortia contracts for the corporate segment, apply BAR to walk-ins, and develop special offers for returning customers, including the introduction of loyalty programmes.” said Horatiu Tudori, Senior Lecturer, Revenue Management, Ecole hoteliere de Lausanne, Switzerland.

The study ‘The Distribution Challenge 2012‘ conducted for six months in five countries, found that while social networks including Facebook, Twitter, TripAdvisor and YouTube are recognised as new forms of digital marketing, hotels are still unconvinced about the impact these channels will actually have on bookings and are therefore deterred from implementing strategies in the short term.
To see full report, click here