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The Week, That Was – November 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!!

eRevMax has unveiled unveil AgentX101 at WTM London 2018

eRevMax has unveiled AgentX101 – a revolutionary 360 Degree Platform for Travel Agents & Tour Operators during WTM London.

https://www.erevmax.com/ratetiger-news/ratetiger-news-archive/oct2018-erevmax-unveil-agentx101-wtm-london.html

 How Social Media Can Increase Hotel’s Direct Bookings

According to experts, 45 percent of travelers encounter hotel social media during the beginning of their booking journey, 45 percent encounter it during the middle and 11 percent at the end.

Recent projections have valued the *B2C e–Commerce business to over 3.2 Trillion dollars by 2020!

https://www.erevmax.com/blog/index.php/2018/11/how-social-media-can-increase-hotels-direct-bookings-2/

 The Changing Customer Experience: Keynote urges hoteliers to examine their operations

Customer loyalty isn’t dead, it’s just much harder to earn and much harder to keep because it’s so easy to leave today.

http://www.hotelinteractive.com/article.aspx?articleID=41922

 Will Google stay off the OTAs patch?

As Google’s meta-model becomes increasingly monopolistic Pamela Whitby begins a series on how travel distribution is evolving. Part 1 takes a look at the Google factor

https://www.eyefortravel.com/distribution-strategies/will-google-stay-otas-patch

Digital trends to watch in 2019

There’s been a massive shift in guest behavior and booking habits due to trends like artificial intelligence and mobile usage. But the question isn’t whether these trends are important. Hereére three core trends that hotels need want to watch in 2019.

http://hotelnewsnow.com/Articles/291331/Digital-trends-to-watch-in-2019

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 – September 2018 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!!

Why hotels need metasearch?
Metasearch helps travelers compare hotel rates from various online travel agencies and other booking sites in one place. In metasearch sites, hotels and online travel channels publish their rates and availabilities.

https://www.erevmax.com/blog/index.php/2018/09/how-meta-search-is-relevant/

Behind TripAdvisor’s renewed push to inspire travelers beyond just making sales
Already 750 content providers have signed up for TripAdvisor’s new feed of personalized recommendations from friends, social media influencers, and publishers, debuted earlier this month.

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

Special Report: The online travel sector faces challenges
Benati says: “Europe is a mature market, especially in the UK, in Germany, in Scandinavia. Growth in online travel has plateaued, which calls for more targeting of market share. At 5%-6% a year, online growth is still outpacing growth elsewhere, but it is slowing.

Know more about this article: http://www.travolution.com/articles/108868/special-report-the-online-travel-sector-faces-challenges

Drive direct bookings even when you’re being undercut
Fixing disparities takes time – and while all the details you need to replicate a disparity can be found in the Disparity Dungeon, getting in touch with OTAs and getting them resolved doesn’t always happen instantly. On those occasions when you are not in parity, there are four options you can use to continue to drive direct bookings.

https://www.triptease.com/blog/direct-bookings-when-undercut/

New tools gives hoteliers a chance to quantify impact
The U.S. Travel Association has rolled out an interesting new tool that lets those in the travel industry put a number to their economic impact.

http://www.hotelnewsnow.com/Articles/290518/New-tools-gives-hoteliers-a-chance-to-quantify-impact

New Google travel tool tells you when to book your holiday travel
Slowly but surely, Google is expanding its portfolio of travel offerings that now range from hotel- and flight-booking services to trip planning tools. Today, it’s launching yet another set of new travel features that focus on travel planning and hotel bookings.

https://techcrunch.com/2018/09/27/google-launches-new-travel-planning-tools/

BridgeStreet Adds Hostels and Vacation Rentals to Biz Travel Platform
When extended stay booking provider BridgeStreet Global Hospitality relaunched its digital platform last year, the company became something of an outlier in the corporate travel space: a mini-online travel agency for business travel that also connected directly with travel managers around the world.

https://skift.com/2018/09/12/bridgestreet-adds-hostels-and-vacation-rentals-to-biz-travel-platform/

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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5 things to look for when you select your PMS

 

Technology is always evolving. The times of spreadsheet and manual data entry has long been replaced with automated hotel management systems. With the emergence of cloud platform, big data, mobile and virtual payment – technology has become vital to hotel’s daily operations.

A property management system, commonly known as PMS, has been developed to streamline the front office and daily operations like invoicing, room inventories, housekeeping, check-ins, check-outs, etc. Advanced PMS often goes beyond the basics, and offers features and capabilities that become centerpiece of the hotel’s business. Here’re five essentials you need to check when you next select for PMS.

Integration with Channel Manager

Online booking has become the biggest source of revenue for the hotel industry. While direct booking is the most profitable demand source for a property, online sales channels and meta-sites have become critical to every hotel’s distribution mix. A hotel PMS which is integrated with your channel manager and booking engine, will enable the reservation synchronization completely automated. Whenever a guest books your room online, the reservation will be immediately delivered and updated in your hotel system, thereby minimizing the chances of overbooking.

Cloud Technology

Cloud technology, which essentially means web-based tools and applications, as opposed to a an installable one, eliminates dependency on in-premise hardware, and allows the user to manage the solution by login in from different computers or connected devices. The cloud-based PMS are usually more stable with data security, backups and real-time updates. The web-based UI are intuitive and reduces time and cost for training. Advanced cloud-based PMSs have API capabilities, making integration with other hotel technology applications easier.

POS Outlets

Most hotels have multiple on property point-of-sale outlets like gift shop, restaurant, bar, spa etc. Maintaining manual entry can not only be complex, there would always be a chance of overlooking a transaction. A PMS with integrated point-of-sales automate the entire process by keeping track of every transaction and smooth check-out experience of the guest.

Real-time Business Analytics

Hotels today use about 10-12 technology solutions for their daily operations which often work in silos. Your PMS should have the capability to bring all your data pertaining on to a single dashboard so that anyone with access to the platform can sue and make informed decision. An integrated hotel management platform which unifies all operation tools like PMS, OTA, Channel Management, Market Intelligence, Review Management etc and allow for the integration of external tools, channels, and vendors – provides hotels an opportunity to leverage technology holistically.

Ease of Use

Technology, even the high-tech ones, can be user friendly. An intuitive solution is the one which is simple and easy to use and based on things that people already understood. The hotel PMS should be management software should be simple and can be managed without extensive training.

Whether a guest books a room online or with a tour operator, your PMS stays updated through RateTiger. Contact us today – marketing@erevmax.com

 

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The Week, That Was – September 2018 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!!

Philippine hotel chain solves distribution challenge with RateTiger and LiveOS

Philippine hotel chain the Bellevue Hotels & Resorts has recommended RateTiger for centralizing online distribution. All four properties of the group have begun using RateTiger on LiveOS platform earlier this year and certifies it to be ‘the best friend’ for hotels.

https://bit.ly/2MqPyhi

Key challenges for today’s travel marketers

The marketing magic happens when you can turn a challenge into an opportunity. Stephen Taylor, Sojern’s SVP, shares how travel marketers today can do just that.

https://www.sojern.com/blog/challenges-for-todays-travel-marketers/

The impact of influencer marketing on the booking journey

Up until the digital revolution, traditional marketing and word-of-mouth were the only real ways to grow consumer awareness at a notable scale.

Digital word-of-mouth reaches millions more potential customers around the world more rapidly than ever before. This is where influencer marketing fits in.

https://www.phocuswire.com/influencer-marketing-booking-journey

TripAdvisor heralds landmark moment as fake reviews business is busted

TripAdvisor says that its investigators were tipped off by an Italian hospitality business which had received email promotions from a business called PromoSalento to boost its profile in exchange for a fee. Investigators then identified the people behind the fraudulent review service and confirmed that they had not only advertised fake reviews as a service but also tried to post fake reviews on the TripAdvisor site.

https://www.tnooz.com/article/tripadvisor-fake-reviews-jail/

How hoteliers navigate evolving distribution channels

As hoteliers navigate the different distribution channels available to them, their goal is to guide guests to the one that costs their companies the least.

During the “Distribution: A hotelier’s guide to channel surfing” session at t last month’s Hotel Data Conference, panelists explained their approaches to managing and lowering the cost of customer acquisition.

http://www.hotelnewsnow.com/Articles/290368/How-hoteliers-navigate-evolving-distribution-channels

Generating group business with hotel data is easier than you think

A well-executed group strategy, which answers the question, “What amount of group business, along with all other segments, constitutes the optimal mix for your hotel?” Of all the market segments that make up a hotel mix, group segments form the strongest foundation for most hotels’ pricing strategy.

https://www.traveldailymedia.com/hospitality/generating-group-business-with-hotel-data/

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 – September 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!!

eRevMax completes integration with IDS Next PMS

Hotel connectivity expert eRevMax has completed integration with leading hospitality technology solution provider IDS Next.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 in the property management system and receive reservations from OTAs.

http://bit.do/ewp76

How hoteliers are setting their tech budgets for 2019

Hotel companies are preparing their annual budgets for 2019, and technology is an important investment as guests expect more and more out of their stays.

http://bit.do/ewp8h

How travel agents are working differently with technology

In an article on Phocuswire in March 2018, Trisept Solutions’ president and CEO John Ische positions the relationship between agents and technology as the ability to create what he termed “genuine intelligence” about a traveler.

https://www.phocuswire.com/Travel-advisors-technology-changes

Airbnb for Work expands beyond travel

Team-building, relocations and off-site meetings are part of the new strategic direction for Airbnb For Work as it looks to capitalise on its “exponential growth” in providing accommodation to business travellers. A few weeks ago it announced that some 700,000 companies have had employees sign up and book with Airbnb for Work, with more than 275,000 enterprises directly engaged with Airbnb to help manage their travel.

https://www.tnooz.com/article/airbnb-for-work-expands-beyond-travel/

Why Middle East travel deserves a closer look!

Travel spend by travellers from just some of the countries, the six who make up the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) – Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) – is likely, says Statista, to grow from $64 billion three years ago, to $94 billion by 2020. In 2025 the sum could reach $140 billion, it adds. The GCC is assessed by the World Tourism Organisation as accounting for well over 60% of the region’s outbound market.

http://bit.do/ewp8K

China’s Big 5 hotel platforms have 96% of the market

Analysis of China’s online hotel booking market in the second quarter of the year shows that almost the entire market is controlled by five businesses. Trustdata, a mobile internet big data monitoring company in China, found that Ctrip, Meituan, Qunar, Tongcheng-eLong and Fliggy accounted for 96.4% of online hotel bookings in the second quarter. The big five were also the fast-growing platforms for the quarter, suggesting that their dominance is getting stronger.

https://www.tnooz.com/article/chinas-big-5-hotel-platforms-have-96-of-the-market/

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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eRevMax completes integration with IDS Next PMS

Interface to allow automatic distribution of rate and availability to OTAs for mutual customers

Hotel connectivity expert eRevMax has completed integration with leading hospitality technology solution provider IDS Next. 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 in the property management system and receive reservations from OTAs.

India based IDS Next’s ERP solution, FortuneNEXT, caters to over 4500+ hotels in 40 countries spread across South Asia, South-East Asia, Africa, Middle East, Sri Lanka & Maldives and Oceania. eRevMax’s distribution solutions, RateTiger Channel Manager and RTConnect are used by over 9000 hotels to manage their online sales channels including OTAs, metasearch, GDS and wholesalers.

“IDS Next is delighted with this new partnership, which will offer an additional choice for channel managers to our customers and prospects. By connecting our PMS to RateTiger solution, our hotel customers can take advantage of the power of eRevMax’s superior connectivity to expand their reach and improve online sales,” said Jacob K I, Vice President – Business Development, IDS Next.

“This interface with IDS Next PMS, one of the leading property management systems in APAC, Middle East and Africa region,  complements our continuous effort to provide hoteliers technology that makes hotel businesses easier to manage and more profitable. The secure XML connection eliminates the need for any manual intervention, allowing hotel managers to focus on key aspects like strategy and guest engagement,” said Ashis Saha, SVP – Project Management, eRevMax.

eRevMax offers seamless connectivity with over 350 OTAs and 90 technology providers. The company is developing its connectivity solutions to offer sophisticated real-time revenue management functionality to the hospitality industry. This includes solutions for the independent market and scaling up through the Tier One enterprise hotel groups. eRevMax’s Channel Ecosystem facilitates quality certified connectivity and relationship management services to support complex revenue generation strategies.

About IDS Next:

IDS Next Business Solutions Pvt. Ltd is a globally leading hotel technology solutions provider with decades of unmatched domain expertise. Being pioneers in Hotel ERP architecture, the company’s forte lies in providing unparalleled technology solutions for hospitality properties across categories. With unrivalled domain expertise, its USP lies in creating solutions that help hotels increase revenues, optimize costs and above all provide enhanced guest experience.

IDS Next fully understands emerging markets, and its high growth needs. IDS Next’s offerings include integrated hotel management software, restaurant management software, mobile apps and mobile analytic solutions, etc.

IDS Next’s software and technology solutions have earned the trust of over 4500 plus hotels in 40 countries spread across South Asia, South-East Asia, Africa, Middle East, Oceania, Sri Lanka & Maldives. A truly dedicated 24/7 support centre ensures 98% retention of customers and unmatched customer satisfaction.

 

 

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The Week, That Was – August 2018 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!!

How to Know When Your Hotel Property Management System Needs a Change?

Property Management System (PMS) is important for hotel properties, and here are a few signs to indicate when it needs a change.
With changes in time, the needs of your hotel tend to change and the goals and requirements of your hotel property, staffs and guests change as well. The Property Management System (PMS) of your hotel has a short longevity.

https://goo.gl/amfPj1

Technology Players Make Moves in Hospitality

Hotels are utilizing technology to make both the guest experience and hotel operations more seamless. From a digital concierge to bracelets doubling as wallets and room keys, here are the latest happenings in technology.

https://www.hotelbusiness.com/technology-players-make-moves-in-hospitality/

eRevMax partners with GuestCentric for Edinburgh roadshow on September 5

Would you like to increase your direct bookings and learn more about how to develop a successful digital strategy?
Experts from GuestCentric, OTA Insight and eRevMax will show you new ways of working with your website and booking engine, the importance of working your data through Business Intelligence and innovative Revenue Management solutions!

Sign up now: https://lnkd.in/fyHCpJQ

How Facebook and Google Are Changing the Travel Industry for Brands and Travelers Alike

After years of intense focus on the moment of conversion, travel companies are beginning to reach travelers much earlier in the search and discovery process.

https://goo.gl/PyyUBV

HotelTonight wants to wow more millennials by gamifying travel booking

HotelTonight, the mobile app that lets you book last-minute discounted hotel rooms, is making a bigger play for millennial stays. On Tuesday, the startup announced a new feature called Daily Drop, which promises a guaranteed 30% off online travel agency room rates.

https://www.fastcompany.com/90211543/hoteltonight-wants-to-attract-more-millennials-by-gamifying-travel-booking

Thomas Cook-Expedia hotel booking platform launches

Thomas Cook’s new city break and hotel-only booking platform in partnership with Expedia has gone live.
The online travel giant is now the preferred provider of hotels for Cook’s city and domestic holiday business.

http://www.travolution.com/articles/108372/thomas-cook-expedia-hotel-booking-platform-launches

TripAdvisor using machine learning to choose ‘best’ hotel pictures

TripAdvisor has begun using machine learning to automatically select the ‘best’ photos to portray a hotel listed on its site.
The review site says primary, or ‘hero’, images can often be lower quality when hotel managers don’t choose their own favourite.

http://travolution.com/articles/108435/tripadvisor-using-machine-learning-to-choose-best-hotel-pictures

The Data Journey in a Hotel

Data scientists are experts in collecting, analyzing, and interpreting data and can make educated decisions on what to do with and how to use that data. Within the hospitality industry, data scientists are crucial to understanding the hotel’s data and how to use it to benefit the overall business of the hotel. However, data scientists cannot analyze data without the help of hotel operations staff members who are doing the groundwork of collecting daily data – it doesn’t take a data scientist to be an integral part of a hotel’s data journey.

https://blog.snapshot.travel/the-data-journey-in-a-hotel

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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Luxury hotel in Ghana recommends RateTiger for online distribution

The Royal Senchi Hotel & Resort, a luxury property in Ghana has recommended RateTiger for streamlining online distribution. The hotel has experienced significant improvement in their operational efficiency leveraging RateTiger’s cloud based channel manager and on-demand shopping tool.

Located in Akosombo, a resort town near Ghanaian capital Accra, the The Royal Senchi Hotel & Resort, with its 84 rooms, caters to primarily leisure tourists. eRevMax’s XML connectivity with global and regional OTAs, GDSs and Metas have made it possible for the revenue management team to manage their OTAs, GDS and booking engine from LiveOS dashboard.

 “It was easy when we’re handling just the booking engine. The real challenge came when we signed up with several OTAs – updating multiple extranets and consolidating reports from these channels manually was time-taking and taking a toll on our efficiency.  RateTiger by eRevMax has solved it all. With just one entry I can update all OTAs simultaneously from the dashboard. It also gives me the data I want at one go with a simple click,” said Bennett Attakorah, Rooms Division Manager, The Royal Senchi Hotel & Resort.

 “Providing hotels with stable connectivity remained our priority for the last 17 years. RateTiger and LiveOS have been built with a vision to make online sales simpler for hotels, and this recommendation is a testimony to that,” said Ram Mohan Dubey, Regional Sales Director, eRevMax.

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Abasto Hotel experiences 65% revenue growth with RateTiger Channel Manager

Abasto Hotel Buenos Aires,  a  property in Argentinian capital, has improved its online sales by over 80% leveraging eRevMax‘s gold standard of connectivity with leading OTAs. The Buenos Aires based property has been using RateTiger  Channel Manager  for online distribution and managing rates and inventory across its connected OTAs since 2012.

A family-friendly property with 126 rooms, Abasto Hotel is located in the historical district, just steps from Museo de los Ninos and Abasto Shopping Center and caters to upmarket business and leisure travellers. RateTiger’s seamless connectivity with global and regional OTAs as well as metasearch sites allows Abasto Hotel to be visible in all relevant sales channels for maximum exposure.

“In the past 4-5 years, we have seen our online revenue grow 65% with an 80% increase in OTA sales. We have experienced an overall growth in business and our occupancy have gone up despite the macro-economic factors,” said Silvina Donvito, Revenue Manager at Abasto Hotel Buenos Aires.

“RateTiger is more than just a hotel channel manager. It’s a powerful tool that makes connectivity simple and hassle free. The stable and secure connections help in making immediate rate and inventory updates across all channels while also delivering bookings back into the system. Further, the 24×7 support makes it very convenient as we can go to them whenever with the smallest of query and they are always happy to help,” concluded Silvina.

The Argentinian hotel market is characterized by regional operators that have a strong position. With supply of rooms outpacing demand, online channels have emerged as an important revenue source for hoteliers. Abasto Hotel, with 15 OTAs in its distribution mix, has been able to improve its occupancy to 85%, about 20 points more than the industry average in Buenos Aires. This has resulted in an increase in RevPAR and profitability, with the help of RateTiger Channel Manager.