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5 travel sites UK Hotels Can’t Miss – Part II

In the first part of article (see here) we mentioned two top performing online travel sites in UK. In this part we’ve discussed three other channels that come in top five lists and shaping the travel industry in UK.

Skyscanner

Primarily a flight comparison site, Skyscanner has forayed into hotel industry recently, but already making significant moves. The site has been one of the top travel search sites in Europe with 35 million unique visitors, and now with separate mobile app for flight, hotel and car hire the travel major is in a unique position offering complete package to potential travellers. According to Deloitte, Skyscanner, the hotel and flight comparison site has grown by over 42% from last year, a transformational phase which saw non-flight booking contributing to 47% of its revenue.

TravelRepublic

TravelRepublic is one of the largest and most well-established online travel agents in Europe, with over 2 million holidaymakers booking annually through their websites in the UK, Ireland, Spain, Italy and Germany. The OTA major has access to approximately 300,000 hotels, apartments and villas and receives over 1,000,000 visitors a week making it one of the most sought after online travel channels in UK.                                                                                                                                      
Start-up Pitch

NuStay

Some of you are already aware about NuStay. It is a travel start-up launched in July 2015 with investors from London, Copenhagen, Oslo and Dubai aimed to provide travelers better booking rates and at the same time offering the hotels a way to submit unique offers to each individual guest, either manually or automatically, at a discounted rate. A PhoCusWright report shows that, 70% travellers prefers their suitable rooms at a discounted price and they wait for the right moment to book that accommodation. Accommodation providers consider luxury travel is their major source of revenue – around 77% accommodation providers sell luxury trips, making luxury travel one of the top revenue generating segment in online travel. This trend is the USP of NuStay- the company provides luxury rooms in budgeted price with its unique algorithm that finds best matched luxury hotels for their consumers. An interesting thing about this company is they negotiate discounted rates for its guests with their hotel partners which no other company has done yet.

NuStay Banner

You might have a team of revenue managers continuously updating your inventory on major online travel channels you are connected to but if you don’t keep an eye on these channels then for sure a large number of your rooms will remain vacant for the day- losing handsome revenue. As a major share of all hotel bookings are shifting from desktop to mobile this new types of channels are becoming a key distribution medium for your hotel distribution. Make sure your revenue managers are taking right decision and promotional tactics which is compatible to fulfil increasing demand of your potential guests.

Image Credit: NuStay
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5 Online Travel Agents shaping the travel industry in the Middle East

Close to 12 million travelers will visit Dubai this year, making it the fifth most popular city in the world for international visit. In spite of the political volatility in the Middle East, the outlook for the hospitality industry in the United Arab Emirates remains strong. The growing importance of Dubai International Airport, which has become the world’s busiest airport in terms of international passenger traffic, has contributed immensely to the growth of the hotel industry in Dubai.



One of the youngest regions of the world with over 50% of the population aged between 18- 34, travel in United Arab Emirates is largely influenced by digital experience. Always connected and eager to research, millennials in the country have become trend setters in the online travel segment. Empowered with easily available information, they are forcing hospitality brands in the region to realign their marketing strategies according to their preferences.


A high spend market, OTA sales in the Middle East have reached USD$3 billion in 2014, representing about 17% of total sales. With 94% of the populating owing a mobile device, there is a clear shift in booking patterns toward mobile and tablet booking devices. Traditionally a last-minute market, the surge of mobile connectivity has also reduced the booking window considerably. Compared to the word average of 23 days, the average hotel reservation lead time for UAE is now a mere 13, one of the lowest. Online travel bookings, which represent 25% of all bookings in the Middle East, are forecast to grow in 2015 and 2016 to reach 36% by the end of 2017 when online revenue is expected to reach $35 billion.
In this article we list out five online travel agents who are playing vital role in shaping the online travel industry in the region.

Booking.com

With over 1000 listed properties, Booking.com is the most popular travel agency in UAE. The Priceline owned OTA major has expanded its listings in the region by about 25 percent over the past year, comprising 200 new properties. Dubai ranks sixth in terms of global inbound travel bookings for Booking.com, and the channel controls over 50% on OTA market in the region. With 166 million unique visitors per month to its website Booking.com still rules the online travel by a large margin over its competitors Expedia and TripAdvisor. The online travel major is not only holds number one position in terms of unique page visits but also in total room nights booking. Every day over 850,000 room nights are reserved onBooking.comthrough its website and mobile apps attracting travelers from both the leisure and business sectors across the globe. Though travelers in this region search their favorite destination, preferred hotel online, but when it comes to bookings, they prefer to traditional travel agents to make a purchase.

Expedia.com

In the last couple of years OTAs in the Middle East has grown rapidly at compound average growth rate of 18% with Expedia.com—the first OTA and one of the key players in the region. In 2012 online travel sales in the Middle East estimated 2.3 billion or 13% of total travel sales. To reach out growing customer base with high disposable income, familiar with advanced technology and excited about living a modern lifestyle online travel agent like Expedia is coming up with new offerings that suit their customer portfolio. With 59.3 Million monthly uniquevisitorsExpedia.com is the third largest online travel agents right behind Booking.com and TripAdvisor. The company has around 800 properties listed in its website and is the second most sought after online travel agents in Middle-East.

In the later part of my article I’ll discuss three more top performing online travel sales channels are shaping the travel industry in the Middle East.

Image Credit: Freepik PublicDomainPictures


Hisham Diab is Sales Manager, MEA/ Africa/ Turkey at eRevMax. He can be reached at hishamd@erevmax.com
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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
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Leading Channels of South America connects with eRevMax Channel Eco System for upgraded connectivity

Leading online booking channels of South America CVC, MalaPronta.com and several others have integrated with eRevMax for seamless connectivity to its growing base of customers in the region.
“Our integration with eRevMax will help our hotel partners update rates and inventory in our sales channels in real-time, enabling us to bring the best offers to our customers. This integration will also connect us to eRevMax’s Hotel Ecosystem for improving our global inventory supply,” said Cristiane Belotti, On-line Product Manager at CVC.
Alicia Ribas, Operations Manager at MalaPronta.com also adds “This integration is aligned with our commitment to deliver the fastest and most trusted user experience. This will help our hotel partners to further reduce their time to update rates and availabilities while automating reservation delivery directly into their PMS.”

Following this integration with eRevMax accommodation providers connected to these channels can update Availability, Rate & Inventory (ARI) updates and receive bookings generated by these channels directly into their property management system via eRevMax solutions.


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eRevMax launches RateTiger & Connect Analytics for hotels

eRevMax, the leading provider of electronic distribution, smart travel channel connectivity, market intelligence and revenue management solutions for the hospitality industry has launched RateTiger & Connect Analytics, a first of its kind of Business Intelligence solution for the hospitality industry. Hoteliers using Analytics will be able to get instant visibility into their business performance at anytime from anywhere.

On the launch of the Analytics Michael McCartan, CEO, eRevMax said “In today’s extremely competitive business environment, it has become critical for our hotel clients to filter data meaningfully to detect problems, identify opportunities, and respond to market dynamics. Our new solution combines eRevMax’s extensive expertise on online distribution, intuitive benchmarking and deep analytical capabilities.” 
Designed in collaboration with revenue managers Analytics, offers benchmarking on important parameters obtain real-time production data, analyse gaps to give hoteliers a clear picture of their business.
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OTA Consolidation – preparing ourselves for better sales procedures

In recent years there have been big changes within the travel industry, but perhaps none quite so big as the ongoing consolidation of some of the major players in the OTA sector. In the past few years we’ve seen Go Voyages merged into the AXA brand and Amadeus sold Opodo in 500 million Euros. There are remarkably few mid-sized OTAs left, so how is this affecting OTAs, customers, and other divisions of the travel industry? For hotels themselves, the outlook is good. With consolidation helping the OTA market to grow by an estimated 25 percent each year, there are more and more opportunities for increasing visibility.


In the competitive market ‘Big boys’ in the travel space offer consumers a better choice, but the way our industry has developed this fragmentation is causing consumer confusion without necessarily leading to better value. This is the reason hospitality industry moving to the positive direction that will simplify travel purchases through consolidation.

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Channel management is fundamental to hoteliers

Recent drops in currency value, increasing flight prices and recession-related job uncertainties have had a significant effect on the travel industry. Not only are fewer people travelling, but those who travel are becoming more budget conscious. Effective channel management can assist hoteliers with both issues – by increasing visibility and allowing for variable rate changes between seasons. Surveys suggest that the average hotel chain manages four separate third party channels, yet a failure to standardise data across the board can have negative effects. For effective channel management, an automated system is the preferred choice over manual upkeep, especially when increasing channel usage.

Today consumers compare rates in multiple price comparison websites and booking channels and selects lowest available rates of all. With channel manager revenue managers can more accurately forecast consumer behaviour and take effective pricing decisions for more online revenue. The challenge for many hoteliers in managing multiple channels to ensure accurate rates and inventory allocation to optimise each channel is very difficult. But with channel manager like RateTiger it becomes easier for hoteliers to take more effective pricing decisions.

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Absolute Hotel Services implements RateTiger solutions for its hotels and resorts

Following dramatic changes in numbers of traveller and recession, as well as increased competition due to the consolidation of some major OTAs, more hotel chains around the world are focusing upon customer research in detail. Absolute Hotel Services Group, who operate properties throughout Southeast Asia and the Middle East, are one such chain seeking to understand the wants and needs of their guests on a more personal level. Absolute Hotel has choosen to partner with eRevMax, making use of RateTiger Corp solution to keep tabs on the competition and deeply analyse room rate trends. Absolute CEO Jonathan Wigley reports that RateTiger Corp is the best way of ‘understanding our customers and the challenges they face’.

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Cleartrip partners with eRevMax

Indian-based OTA Cleartrip has recently completed two-way integration with eRevMax, becoming one of the company’s certified distributors, and certainly one of the biggest within the Indian Subcontinent. This integration means that Cleartrip’s 113,000 (and growing) hotel users across the globe now be able to gain access to broader products and more availability that allows for increased rate parity, real time availability updates, and increased visibility not just within India but throughout the world. The integration comes as OTAs are beginning to notice new trends within the travel industry, and seek solutions to meet demand. Cleartrip Director Amit Taneja reports that Indian travellers are now looking for ‘competitive rates, exhaustive choices, room availability and last minute deals’ above all else.


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