Posted on

Top trends in Chinese travel industry

When it comes to travel, the China story never disappoints. Even as the recent fluctuations make business and economists jittery, online travel shows no signs of slowing down. In 2015, the country overtook USA to become the biggest source of international travel spending.

In an infographic released last year, we had identified changing behavioural pattern of Chinese travelers.  The increase in disposable income and rise of middle class has influenced the purchasing behaviour and travel decisions of young, educated and technologically skilled Chinese travelers. The rapidly growing middle class has evolved from value obsessed shopping destinations to  holiday experiences, with cost, safety, culture, vacation length and visa availability the top five factors influencing destination choice. With the economic confidence and matured preferences, there is a clear shift towards long-haul travel, higher-cost accommodations and upscale shopping.

Chinese Travellers

According to a recent report, Chinese travellers made over 67.5 million trips in 2014. With this figure expected to cross 97 million by 2023, there is little doubt why China is being considered as the biggest catalyst of global travel business growth. According to a Bank of America – Merrill Lynch report, 174 million Chinese tourists are estimated to spend $264 billion by 2019 compared to just 10 million tourists in 2000.

In this post, we try to identify key trends shaping the Chinese online travel boom.

Rise of independent travellers

Young, educated, affluent and tech-savvy – the Chinese Millennials, aged between 18-35, have emerged as one of the influencing segments. There are about 300 million of them, who earn more than their elders and their spending power looks set to increase further as their incomes rise over time. Highly aspirational, seeking brand name destinations for their vacations, Chinese Millennial Travellers (CMT) typically take four trips outside their country per year, twice as many as their other Asian peers.

Macau, Hong Kong and South Korea being the most popular destinations, CMTs are likely to spend avg. EUR1200 – more than double the average spend on domestic trips. They are also the most mobile savvy traveller, with 57% using their smartphone four to five times a day.

Travel goes online: Growth of mobile travel

Internet penetration in China is largely mobile driven, with over 89% of 640 million internet users accessing the web through mobile devices, the highest in world. Clearly, digital media and e-commerce have moved into the mainstream of Chinese Internet users’ lives with them spending about 1 billion hours online each day, more than double the daily total in the United States. A whopping 89% of travellers use smartphones to access websites and 45% of business travellers use mobile for travel arrangements. According to the latest Chinese International Travel Monitor (CITM) 2015 by Hotels.com®, half of all Chinese international travelers now use apps on their smartphones to plan and book trips, up from just 17 percent the year prior.

Chinese Millennial Traveller


Online review it matters

When it comes to booking decisions, Chinese travellers trust online reviews more than friends or families. The volume of reviews posted is growing at a staggering rate, and peer recommendations influence not only where travellers go, but also where they shop for travel products.  60% use online travel information sources compared to 37% who use offline sources. Another study by GfK and ForwardKeys highlights that around 52% travellers visit metasearch and online travel agent websites to get information about their preferred destination and accommodation.  The Internet is the primary source of travel planning with 95% of Chinese travelers beginning their search at Baidu, the 800lbs Gorilla of China Search. Popular Chinese travel blogs and social media sites like QZone, Weibo and WeChathave been playing an influencing role helping travellers seeking more ‘exotic’ holiday experiences.

As millions of Chinese nationals make their first international leisure trip, it is time for hoteliers to overcome the language barrier. A country where 89% people are using mobile devices and 57% bookings are coming from online medium, hotels need to have a clear digital strategy engaging Chinese travellers to drive greater footfall, encourage longer stays, and provide opportunities for unique experiences.



Christine Toh is Director of Sales-APAC at eRevMax.  She can be reached at christinet@erevmax.com
Image Credit:Alamy
Posted on

All you need to know about Amazon Destinations

As speculated, Amazon has announced its plan to expand its travel site, Amazon Destinations to new markets in North America. It now covers 35 cities in six metropolitan regions – namely the Southeast (Atlanta), Northern California (San Francisco), Texas and the Gulf Coast (Houston) etc. The site’s tagline, which says “Hit the Road, Book local getaways” make its intentions clear to be a place to book short trips.
Amzon Destination Home

I did a quick search on the site for 6 nights in October. Here’s what the result shows:
Amzon Destination Location

Clearly it’s not a last-minute deal site, neither a full-service OTA with flight search.

The new service is still a part of Amazon Local – the daily deal website which offers flash deals and discounts in the region. In fact, Amazon Local has been offering highly discounted deals on hotels for some time now. Skift, which has been extensively covering the development, has noted – what distinguishes the Amazon Destinations from its earlier avatar is that the new version gives hotels an opportunity to sell their published rates on an ongoing basis. When I checked the website of the top listed property, the published rate is in parity with what’s being shown in Amazon Destinations. Customers can also compare prices on different dates through Amazon Calendar to get the best deal.

Amazon destination



In sync with Amazon business model, which owns its user generated content, Amazon Destinations is letting customers post their reviews. Just like the e-commerce model, the hotel does not pay for listing, but shares a part of the payment as commission.
So is this just another channel for hotels to sell their inventories? Amazon has denied any ambition to become a serious player in the travel business. The launch of Amazon Destinations was a low key affair without any media announcement. Compared to Expedia, Priceline, TripAdvisor and Google, Amazon is a small player. However, given its heavy user traffic and extensive knowledge of customer purchasing behavior and preferences, it has all the advantages it takes to scale up quickly.

The World Travel & Tourism Council reports that Americans spent $458 billion in travel and tourism in 2014. According to a report by TechCrunch, 40% of all U.S. domestic leisure trips are short-term getaways of 1-3 nights, and many of these trips are to nearby, drivable destinations. That’s a sizable market, which Amazon is aiming at. At a time when two of the world’s biggest brands are turning serious with hotel bookings, the travel industry has to take note.

Jan Murza is Director of Sales- Americas at eRevMax.  He can be reached at janm@erevmax.com
Posted on

Google adds Instant Booking feature: How it will affect hotel industry?

If 2014 was the year when TripAdvisor moved to direct booking, 2015 is marked to be the year when Google got really serious about hotel bookings. The search engine giant has recently added instant booking feature which allows a user to book a property while staying within its user shell. Typically of Google, the feature is available with Hotel Finder, Map and Google +.

This is how it works. As you search availability for a property in Google, you will be able to see a generic white button showing a person lying on a bed in brown color with the hotel name. There isn’t any special logo suggesting the instant booking functionality.  Instead, when you click on the button, you will be prompted to book within the interface.  Until now, Google has been redirecting user to the advertiser’s website for booking.  If this sounds pretty familiar to TripAdvisor’s instant booking, then you are absolutely on track.

Google Hotel Finder

From its launch in 2011, Google has been trying to become a key player in the travel space with acquisitions like ITA Software whose technology was behind other major flight search channels like Kayak and Orbitz, and Zagat – a restaurant review application. Google Hotel Finder has been showing ratings based on Google Local. However, in spite of the search engine giant’s absolute dominance over the web space, Google’s travel interest has not really taken over the market.

How does it work?

So far Google has been using the CPC model (cost-per-click) much like the AdSense. It’s the same model followed by most meta-search channels, where hotels bid via cost-per-click for the top positions, and pay when users click on that link. With the new functionality, where the user can book on the Google user shell, the hotels will pay a commission. Since Google has completed technology integration with Sabre, for now hotels using Sabre’s SynXis Central Reservation system can take part in the programme. According to a press statement issued by Sabre, hotel customers participating in the new commission-based model only pay a commission on confirmed bookings for their property.

Is Google turning into an OTA?

Not really. Expedia and Priceline contribute to about 4% of Google’s advertising revenue. For Google, turning into a full-fledged online travel agency would mean sacrificing bigger revenue. For the moment, that looks really unlikely. 

It’s not surprising that Google has tested this in mobile first and then on desktop. According to a Google blog post, more Google searches take place on mobile devices than on computers in 10 countries including the US and Japan. However, monetization from the search is still limited as ad spend continues to trail time spent on smartphones. But as the company pushes more for Google Wallet and Android Pay, direct booking, which allows users to book a hotel room while staying on the Google page will reduce the abandonment rate commonly seen when consumers have to switch sites to complete a transaction. With the worldwide growth of mobile booking, this is Google’s attempt to improve monetization of its mobile platform.

Google Hotel Finder_Old

According to Euromonitor International report, mobile travel booking totaled $96 billion in 2014, and is expected to account for 25% of the total global online travel sales by 2019. Google’s operating system, Android; today has a market share of over 80%. With one smart move, Google has now become an intermediary (money collecting) to a popular travel search site. With the full roll out, I would expect more hotels to come on board, followed by smaller OTAs. It’s an interesting consumer dynamic which gives Google a chance to fulfill its long standing ambition to become the central hub of travel industry. Whether it will succeed or not, only time will tell.

Image Credit: Google Hotel Finder
Posted on

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
Posted on

Top five trends which will shape US Hospitality industry this year

The first generation travellers who are connected to the world with internet have become the fastest growing customer segment in hospitality industry. Travellers aged between 18 to 34 comprise the largest and most diverse segment of US population. These hyper-connected travellers are communicating with the entire world in a new way with their always connected device- using laptop, tablet or mobile phone.

In the LIVE in New York, an event organized by us to discuss the hotel technology trends, from our partners BookingForce, HRS and roomlia to hoteliers from Hilton, Marriot, Wyndham, Warwick Hotels, Wellington Hotel all talked about the challenges of dealing with the hyper-connected segment. With the advance of technology, the shift towards mobile is dramatic and disruptive. According to a PhoCusWright report around 75% of U.S. travelersown a smartphone and the numbers are continuously increasing with 4 out of 5 mobile travel booking are being made for hotel accommodation. With half the year gone, here are five definite trends that I reckon, are shaping the US hospitality industry this year.

Mobile does not mean last minute

The growing popularity of HotelTonight and BlinkBooking is a testimony to the growth of last minute bookings. PhoCusWright reports that one in four mobile bookings are made at the last minute, where OTAs with stronger presence score high against the brand sites. In fact for every 10 last minute bookings, 7 are being made at the OTA sites. This has prompted major OTAs like Booking.com to invest heavily in this segment. Earlier this year, Booking.com launched Booking Now, a mobile app which lets guests book up to 48 hours in advance.



However, mobile’s influence on traveler goes beyond last minute, and now has impacted all phases of the travel life cycle. Research says, about 37%of US travelers use a mobile device in their trip planning – with a significant majority of them switching between the tablet and smartphone. Interestingly, a significant 27% of the mobile travel audience belongs to the high income category earning over $100,000 per year. Clearly, if you have not yet invested in your mobile channel, it’s high time to do that.

Mobile Wallet: New smart payment option

You might have your hotel in finest location and offer thebest rate on your brand.com site and pride yourself of providing superior facilities to your guest, but have you integrated the mobile wallet?



Today’s modern guests want a hazard free travel experience- expects not to face front desk of the hotel to check-in or pay bills. According to a recent survey by SmartBrief and The Wall Street Journal shows more than 75% US travellers carry a smartphone and 50% travellers carry at least two devices while they are on vacation. This means your guests expect there should be an arrangement so that they can use their technology at your hotel- whether to conduct business, contact the valet, request service from housekeeping or pay from their mobile device. Here comes the mobile payment option which eliminates unnecessary delays. One of the largest hotel groups in the world Marriot Hotels was first to launch mobile check-in and check-out options on its mobile application back in 2013 and now offering its guestsApple Payment option. Another big name in Hotel industry Starwood Hotels is also offering the same service to its guests- now guests have the ability to pay accommodation charges using their mobile wallet, Apple Pay. This means hotel guests will no longer have to carry their credit cards or cash in their wallet. As smartphone going to replace physical wallet more and more hotels in the coming years will implement this medium to enhance their guest experience.

In next part of the article I’ll talk about three more trends which are shaping the US hospitality industry.


Jan Murza is Director of Sales- Americas at eRevMax.  He can be reached at janm@erevmax.com  
Posted on

Is TripAdvisor turning into an OTA with its Instant Booking Model?

TripAdvisor has recently unveiled their direct booking feature, which offers users the option to book hotels within its site. Officially called TripConnect Instant Booking, this function has already created a lot of buzz in the industry.
I attended a session at WTM, where TripAdvsior gave a rough sketch on how the model works.  This will allow users to research, compare, choose and now book hotels, in other words, complete the buying journey while staying within TripAdvisor user experience.
This is a major shift in TripAdvisor’s revenue model, which earlier relied on advertising. Only last year, the travel giant had revealed its meta-search service, where a supplier  uses TripConnect CPC (cost-per-click) to place bids to appear in the price and availability search results. With the new model, TripAdvisor has introduced a commission based ‘bidding model’, where suppliers like OTAs, hotels, GDSs bid on a commission percentage they are willing to pay.
The basic difference between the CPC and Instant Booking model is that for the former, partners bid via cost-per-click for the top positions, and pay when users click on that link, whereas in the new model, they pay TripAdvisor a commission once the user completes their stay.  In the earlier model, suppliers required bid management strategy to be on top position, and directing traffic would not necessarily lead to conversion. The Instant Booking gives them 100% return on investment; in addition they will own the data, can view traveller profile and be the pointof sale collecting the payments.
If it reminds you of the traditional OTA model, you are absolutely right. But does that mean TripAdvisor is aspiring to be an OTA? According to analysts, this is an extremely smart move by TripAdvisor to improve monetization of its mobile channel.  The site gets around 110 million monthly unique visitors, about 40% of its total traffic, but accounts for less than 20% of desktop when it comes to monetization.
With mobile booking rapidly growing in US, Europe and APAC, Instant Booking, which allows users to book a hotel room while staying on the TripAdvisor user-shell will encourage more people to book, and therefore improve conversion rates. To make it more attractive for partners, TripAdvisor is using the Top Position of it search result and extending Premium Certification to enjoy benefits like tradeshow and online promotion to those signing up for this programme.
For independent hotels struggling to improve position in a channel where big OTAs with larger marketing spends typically dominate, this can be a golden opportunity to get direct bookings at a lower cost per acquisition, and to increase distribution on distressed inventory or increase direct bookings in low periods through improved mobile booking experience.
Choice Hotels International, Best Western, GetaRoom.com, Amoma, Tingo and GDS operator Travelport have already signed up for this programme.  In fact for TripAdvisor, Travelport’s listings for 580,000 hotels worldwide, including 480,000 non-branded properties and 150,000 e-commerce enabled listed properties can be the biggest coup for this program.

Presently pilot testing on global Mobile and certain US desktop IP addresses, the program is expected to be globally rolled out early 2015. With Google Hotel Finder also testing Buy Now in the UK market, does this indicate a new trend to look out for in 2015? It certainly looks so!
Posted on

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.


Read Full story here

Posted on

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.

Posted on

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’.

Posted on

Singgasana Hotels and Resorts partners with eRevMax to ride the online wave

Singgasana Hotels and Resorts, a leading property chain in Indonesia, has recently completed integration with eRevMax’s RateTiger Suite to help them modernise and revolutionise the way their guests make bookings and reservations. Before this integration, offline communications were responsible for the majority of bookings at Singgasana hotels. The Group were looking for a superior channel manager at a time when Indonesia is expected to be the fastest growing travel market in APAC region by 2015.

Due to the sudden rise in demand for online access, the company sought out a channel and ARI management system to meets their growing needs, and it’s come at just the right time and RateTiger perfectly suits their demand. Corporate Digital Marketing Manager Ivana Novida has found that RateTiger has helped the company to add ‘new channels to increase visibility’.