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Cityzenbooking certified for eRevMax Channel Eco-System for seamless connectivity

Cityzenbooking, a leading online sales channel dedicated to serviced apartments, has become an eRevMax certified channel following the creation of a two-way XML interface.


“Our partnership with eRevMax provides properties with an easy to use interface to manage rates and allotments distributed through our sales channel. Subscribers of RateTiger & Connect can now make their position on Cityzenbooking.com more profitable through this instant access and seeing as and when bookings are processed.” said Jean-François Rame, CEO, Cityzenbooking.


The enhanced connectivity will help serviced-apartment providers update inventory availability and room rates in real-time. Through this integration Cityzenbooking has become a Certified channel within the eRevMax Channel Eco-System to deliver properties better and more sophisticated channel connections for room revenue and distribution strategies.

Read the full story here.

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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a thing of the past and even having separate pieces of software to manage different aspects of online sales is almost outdated.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 – Hotel Online Distribution


Automation is on the up and could hold the key to increasing online sales

In today’s multi-channel environment, hoteliers need to have quick access to hotel-rate data and inventory positions on various sales channels. “Over the last couple of years we have seen an increased focus on integrated applications, allowing hotels to do most of these complex tasks through a single system,” says Michael McCartan, chief executive officer, eRevMax International.


Analyzing the OTAs

Whether you’re in the camp that believes online travel agencies are single-handedly ruining the hotel industry or in the camp that looks to them for a majority of your demand, there’s one thing almost all hoteliers agree on: Third-party room distributors are here to stay. However, while OTAs serve an important role in the industry, it’s no secret their relationship with hoteliers is not perfect, said Brian Mullan, a research analyst with Janney Capital Markets in New York.

The end of the rate-matching machine: ways to count on competitive pricing

Competitive pricing is an element of pricing decisions in any market. How this is done depends on the availability of such data to providers, the visibility and comparability of it to customers and the level of fragmentation in the market. In hospitality and travel, thanks largely to broad Internet distribution, all of these factors make competitive pricing particularly important.

TripAdvisor tests hotel metasearch service – now the fun really begins

User review giant TripAdvisor is finally doing what pretty much everyone involved in the hotel sector expected it to do years ago – consumer metasearch for its vast portfolio of properties.The company confirmed this week that it is currently testing “new search functionality” for hotels, covering both desktop and mobile versions of the service.

The total cost of travel technology [INFOGRAPHIC]

From individuals who have implemented a small system to those coordinating major overhauls of existing platforms in large companies, organising travel technology is not an easy process. It is clearly a combination of establishing the business and technology requirements, alongside budget, expectations, crystal ball-gazing and market analysis.

Report: PwC European Cities Hotel Forecast 2013

Overall, RevPAR growth is expected to slow in 2013, held back by strong economic headwinds across the eurozone. But there will be thrivers; cities expected to show robust RevPAR growth include Paris, St Petersburg and Edinburgh and more modest increases should be seen in Frankfurt, Berlin, Dublin and Moscow.The second edition of PwC’s European cities hotel forecast for 2013 features 19 of Europe’s most important gateway cities.

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eRevMax Launches Hotel & Channel Eco-System

eRevMax International, owner of premium hotel channel management application RateTiger, has launched its Hotel & Channel Eco-Systems. The launch will support enhanced and sophisticated connectivity between global OTA’s, Tour Operators and Wholesalers (IDSs) and Hotel Brands’ PMS and CRS.

“We’re forming a stronger bond between demand and supply partners to help them build their business while supporting distribution with scalable connectivity technology.” said Greg Berman, COO, eRevMax International.

The Hotel and Channel Eco-Systems will allow both parties to create more relevant and meaningful business partnerships to enrich the online sales opportunities and streamline reservation management processes. The Eco-System utilizes a powerful XML gateway that enables hotel companies to connect seamlessly with distribution partners and system providers.
For more, please click here
 

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The Paul Hotels Achieves Online Rate Parity

The Paul Resorts & Hotels has further developed its revenue management operations to improve rate parity across multiple online sales bookings channels. The group implemented advanced allocation management capabilities through RateTiger’s Channel Manager to improve its position and rate management with third parties.
The award-winning luxury property in India has been selling across 15 online channels and wanted to ensure the same rates were available to customers across all channels. However, managing so many OTAs manually was becoming a challenge, especially when guests were discovering rate inconsistencies. To main group sales sells across global booking portals as well as regional OTAs with the prospect to add more channels the properties chose RateTiger.

“Given our small inventory and high occupancy rates throughout the year it’s essential we engage in more future planning across our sales channels.” said Shelley Thayil, Director of Revenue Management.


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ITE 2012

The upcoming International Travel Expo in Hong Kong has an impressive profile of international exhibitors, buyers and regional trade visitors. I will be attending the event on behalf of RateTiger and I look forward to the opportunity of meeting hoteliers from the region especially from Macau, Taiwan, Philippines and Indonesia.

These markets have experienced significant growth in tourism and corporate travel over the past decade as the media looks in detail and the countries develop their economies. There is substantial online sales growth for Asia and it is essential hotels act now to build exposure across the internet sales market, especially for Chinese, European and North American traveler markets. Hotels in the region are beginning to experience greater competition that will only grow as the Asia market matures. Therefore channel management tools to handle multiple sales channels will be essential.

The event attracts more than 650 exhibitors from 55 countries and regions and offers a great platform to buyers and sellers to meet under the same roof in a professional setting. The Travel Expo covers both leisure and MICE/Corporate travel, and highlights trendy themes such as Cruise, Wellness & Medical Tourism, and Honeymooning etc. Apart from the exhibition, the event also features seminars and panel discussions targeting different sections where various travel related companies are invited to present.

I am eagerly looking forward to the 14 -15 June when I will be in Hong Kong for this event. I personally feel that ITE truly justifies its slogan ‘We bring World Travel to Asia and Asians to the World’.

Post event updates to follow in June.

Michael Atienza is Sales Manager for APAC at eRevMax and is responsible for sale of RateTiger products in the region. He can be reached at Michaela@ratetiger.com