Tag: OTA

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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.
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The Week, That Was – August 2018 Week 3

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!!

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.

https://goo.gl/m7LUN2 

Google says it’s time for travel marketers to rethink loyalty

Attitudinal loyalty relates to how loyal a traveler feels, and behavioral loyalty refers to how loyal a traveler acts.

https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/consumer-insights/travel-marketing-strategy/

Introducing RateTiger GDS – Your window to 600,000 travel agents worldwide.

Distribute your room and availability across various global distribution systems – Amadeus, Sabre & Travelport (Galileo & Worldspan) from RateTiger platform.

Contact us today- marketing@erevmax.com

 Chinese millennials’ travel expenditure increases by 80% YoY

Hotels.com research has revealed that Chinese millennials (born after 1990) are pushing the boundaries of international travel, increasing their expenditure in the past year by a staggering 80%. This is to fund social media-influenced trips full of edgy experiences, high-tech accommodation, exotic delicacies and taboo ticket-items.

https://www.traveldailymedia.com/chinese-millennials-expenditure-up-80/

 Privacy vs security: first fines reveal shift in data protection landscape

Over two months since ‘GDPR Day’, most organisations are still successfully processing personal data, but travel companies beware. With regulation now enforceable, consumers more empowered and security – a small part of GDPR – becoming an increasing focus, the Information Commissioner’s Office is keen to show it has teeth. Since May, several fines have been levied against companies making everything from annoying sales calls to not being rigorous with privacy and security.

https://goo.gl/FSfkhq 

How TripAdvisor changed travel

TripAdvisor used to promise its users a kind of escape, whether that be simply daydreaming over a vacation or actually booking one. Yet at a moment where such adages now seem horribly outdated, the future of TripAdvisor and similar enterprises seems less certain than it once did.

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

 Worldwide Distribution Trends for Meta Search Engines report from Fornova highlights direct booking challenges for hotels

Fornova, a leading provider of distribution intelligence and automation solutions to hotels, have released their first Meta Search Engines Distribution Trends report.The report analyses and highlights key challenges hotels face when participating on Meta Search Engines, and how their efforts compare when competing against their partner Online Travel Agents (OTAs) and other resellers online.

http://blog.fornova.com/worldwide-distribution-trends-for-meta-search-engines-report

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

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The Week, That Was – August 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!!

Luxury Ukrainian Hotel Leopolis Improves Revenue with RateTiger

Leopolis Hotel, a landmark Ukrainian hotel has successfully optimized online distribution connectivity to improve their hotel occupancy and revenue, by leveraging RateTiger.

https://goo.gl/ES1Cdy

 Trivago makes data on global hotel pricing trends more accessible to hoteliers

Global hotel metasearch trivago records hotel price shifts from over 400 booking sites for over 2 million hotels and alternative accommodations around the world in its Hotel Price Index.

Learn more about Rate Insights- https://businessblog.trivago.com/trivago-hotel-price-index/

 Google Hotel Ads launches Promoted Hotels

Google has launched a pilot test with a reduced number of partners and it will soon be open to more participants. Since it is a new advertising space, despite being in a well-known environment, it generates new demand for the direct channel, competing with other hotels and other sellers

https://goo.gl/RXvfyd

 Top tips to maximise ROI without compromising on the customer experience

Business will always be about the bottom line, but if personalised, functional service that gets the job done according to customer expectations and preferences come first, the rest should ultimately follow.

https://insights.ehotelier.com/insights/2018/08/09/top-tips-to-maximise-roi-without-compromising-on-the-customer-experience/

 Booking Holdings closely monitoring paid channels as it builds direct strategy

Booking Holdings says its continuing on its strategy to increase its direct business as it reported earnings for the second quarter of 2018. Booking Holdings also continues to build its travel offering through the development of its alternative accommodation platform, which now offers about 5.5 million listings of homes, apartments and other units.

https://www.phocuswire.com/Booking-Holdings-Q2-earnings-2018

How online payment trends are impacting the travel industry

The world of online payments is undergoing a rapid transformation. Whereas once customers had scant options – primarily credit cards and bank transfers – to make bookings over the internet, they now have an ever-expanding choice of 21st-century technology, from PayPal to MobilePay.

https://www.phocuswire.com/travel-payments-evolution

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 – August 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!!

Online Travel in LATAM

Do you know the most productive online travel channels in LATAM? Improve your online revenue by selling on the right channels with RateTiger.

Read further to know more –  https://erevmax.com/blog/?p=539

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.

Are you looking to expand your hotel channel connectivity?  https://erevmax.com/blog/?p=542

Online accounts for 80% of under-30s travel bookings, OTAs dominate (for now)

The New Horizons IV report found more than 80% of bookings were made online by under-30s in 2017, with an increasing number of bookings being made on mobile devices and through social media channels.

https://www.tnooz.com/article/youth/

What Are Bumper Ads And Why Does Your Hotel Need Them?

Bumper ads are the 6 second video formats that are saving the longest 30 seconds of any consumers time. However, it is not just consumers that should be praising them to the skies. They can provide your hotel with countless benefits, including high impact brand building.

https://blog.netaffinity.com/what-are-bumper-ads-and-why-does-your-hotel-need-them/

What hotels need to know about evolving metasearch distribution trends

Metasearch engines (MSEs) hold the promise of helping hotels increase their share of direct bookings. For any hotel or chain to pursue a direct booking strategy, the MSE channel needs careful planning and consideration.

https://www.phocuswire.com/Fornova-global-metasearch-trends

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

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Online Travel in LATAM

For all its exotic beaches, historic sites, beautiful landscapes and rich culture, Latin America has always remained a distant fourth when it comes to travel and tourism. However, in the last decade, things have changed considerably fueled by better flight connectivity, macro-economic factors and internet penetration. This has led to a drastic a change in Latin American travel industry outlook. With consumers more informed than ever, travel bookings have shifted online as the buying behavior has changed to customized offerings.

Online travel penetration is growing at an average of 10%, higher than the global average and about 4 times more than the pace of the total market. The growth in online travel is driven by Brazil and Mexico, representing over 70% of Latin American total and online travel markets, followed by Argentina, Chile, Columbia and Peru.

In spite of diverse market character, currencies, languages, economic and political environments, Latin America remains a huge potential for online travel agencies and technology providers. According to reports, the online market is only utilizing 34% of its potential, way lower than North America, Europe or Asia. About 20% of travel is booked online, which experts project will grow close to 40% over next 10 years.  Increasing access to smartphones also drove mobile engagement, with the channel now accounting for 15% of online bookings. Clearly the market is up for grabs, and global and regional players are eying their share of this pie.

In this post, we explore the major players in the online travel space in Latin America.

Despegar / Decolar

Some call it union, some call it leader – Despegar, one of the oldest OTAs in the region holds the numero uno spot. Operating two well-recognized brands, Despegar, its global brand, and Decolar, its Brazilian brand, the company serves in 20 Latin American countries, and provides a broad suite of travel products, to over 17 million customers. Through its exclusive partnership, Despegar uses Expedia’s hotel inventory outside the continent.

Hotel Urbano

Hotel Urbano is the number one online travel agency in Brazil, and one the biggest travel media brand on social media with over 12 million likes. The website has largely been credited for bringing the fragmented Brazil independent hotel industry (85% of the overall market) online. Hotel Urbano has remained the fifth most popular brand in Brazil (behind only Coca Cola, Skol, Brahma and L’Oreal — Skol & Brahma are famous beers) and the biggest online brand. In terms of traffic, it is the biggest website in Latin America, getting over 25 million unique visitors every month. Following its agreement with Priceline Group, the channel exclusively uses Booking.com to source hotels outside of LATAM.

CVC

CVC is the best-known brand in the Brazilian leisure travel industry and one of the most recognized brands in Brazil. Having started as a brick and mortar travel agency, it has for long been the largest tour operator in Latin America in terms of bookings made. The company still has the maximum retail outlets, along with two rapidly growing online distribution platforms – CVC.com.br and submarinoviagens.com.br attracting over 100 million unique monthly visitors.

ViajaNet

Targeted more at budget travelers, Brazil based ViajaNet has grown impressively in the last few years. The site which has over 100,000 hotels listed, attracts over 5 million unique visitors every month.

BestDay

Cancun based BestDay.com is the most popular OTA in Mexico offering 150,000 hotels. It is one of the leading Latin American travel industry companies with a strong focus in business-to-business distribution. The company owns HotelDO, the Latin American (LATAM) regional leader in online and XML distribution for business to business (B2B) channels, supplying travel products for both the wholesale segment and retail segments. The company contracts, maintains and promotes a regional online portfolio of 100,000 hotels across 850 popular destinations in 30 countries.

If you are looking to expand your hotel’s visibility in LATAM, RateTiger can help suggest the right channels for your property. Drive more bookings and increase online sales today. See our connectivity partner list, know more about channel management, online distribution and rate shopping solutions, contact us today on marketing@erevmax.com.

 

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Indian budget hotel endorses RateTiger Channel Manager for online distribution

Kolkata based IndiSmart Hotel has endorsed RateTiger for simplifying online distribution. The property has been using eRevMax’s cloud-based Channel Manager and Shopper for managing their online sales channels and has improved their business operational efficiency.

IndiSmart is a budget hotel with 76 rooms, conveniently located in the IT hub of Kolkata, India. The property caters to business travellers and hence the booking window is lesser than the usual duration with 48-72 hours. Given most bookings are coming from online, it’s important for the hotel to have real-time rate and availability on OTAs.

“We have been able to bring all OTA channels under one window for all possible modifications like rate and inventory. The option of changing rates and inventory at any point of time on a single click has really made online distribution really simple. Rate shopping also helps us to analyse the market condition, to understand our stand and projection,” said Jayanta Bhattacherjee, Front Office Manager, Indismart Hotel.

Prior to RateTiger, the hotel has tried other solutions. However, the result was far from satisfactory.

“The main issue was rate disparity and manifold changes in the extranets manually were really cumbersome. We can handle the OTAs easily and in a better way now with RateTiger. The support team is very good as well,” concluded Mr. Bhattacherjee.

 

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The Week, That Was – July 2018 Week 3

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!!

Expedia says packages are better for hotels than room-only

Hotels are achieving higher average daily rates (ADR) from consumers who book packages rather than just rooms, according to data from Expedia Group.

The online travel giant said consumers buying packages paid around 30% more in ADR than those making standalone hotel bookings.

https://www.tnooz.com/article/expedia-says-packages-are-better-for-hotels-than-room-only/

 Indian budget hotel endorses RateTiger Channel Manager for online distribution

Kolkata based IndiSmart Hotel has endorsed RateTiger for simplifying online distribution. The property has been using eRevMax’s cloud-based Channel Manager and Shopper for managing their online sales channels and has improved their business operational efficiency.

https://goo.gl/gyX3Jr

Hotels.com launches hideaway hotels category

Hotels.com has introduced the Hideaway Hotels category in response to a lift in bookings in the last two years, with a 60% spike in guests leaving positive reviews for off-the-grid hotels.

https://goo.gl/N3SCFX

Is hotel luxury dead?

When hotel discount brokers offer “luxury” accommodations at $49 a night, as occurred during the recent Independence Day holiday, does the word “luxury” have any useful meaning?

Read the interesting article: http://exclusive.multibriefs.com/content/is-hotel-luxury-dead/travel-hospitality-event-management#When:13:51:00Z

 How Booking.com is trying to solve travel’s pain points

The CMO of Booking.com explains how the company is trying to ease some of those unhappy surprises. Learn more about it by watching the video.

https://goo.gl/4AoyiF

Google tests location tab for hotel knowledge panels

Google is testing a new location tab and section within the hotel knowledge panels. The location tab contains information that tells you what is around the hotel, including sections such as highlights, top sights and a getting-around section.

https://goo.gl/v4eKcn

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

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Hotel Business Intelligence – The starting point

What is Hotel Business Intelligence (BI)?

Business Intelligence refers to relevant data – past, present and future, from different sources or hotel systems, that helps hotels to analyze and take meaningful business decision.

In todays’ world, business intelligence plays an important role for hoteliers to improve their revenue in a smart way. It helps hoteliers to draw insights and make better decisions. In-depth BI requires proper tools and investment to help drive a hotel’s revenue. BI plays an even bigger role for hotel chains and groups – where the headquarter is managing multiple properties and need to understand occupancy trends, rates and predictions to be able to define forecasts and budgets accordingly. The different system that a hotel uses to draw upon its BI data include –

  • PMS
  • CRS
  • RMS
  • POS
  • Sales and Distribution
  • Market Intelligence
  • Accounting, Budget and Forecasting
  • Market Reports
  • Competitor rate reports
  • Occupancy trends

The main benefits from leveraging business intelligence are:

  • Effective data management and analysis for clarity in decision making
  • Clear directions on daily targets for occupancy and revenue
  • Clarity on guest profile, booking journey, preferences and customer loyalty thereby giving scope to hotels for enhancing guest experience
  • Plan campaigns and promotions for marketing based on guest data
  • BI also helps identify cases of fraud, poor performance in a timely manner
  • Multiple Reports available at the click of a button as required

Advanced BI tools are platform-based giving hotels a consolidated view of their business. It allows for multiple systems to be integrated so that they talk to each other to provide relevant data in various formats for easier consumption.

Invest in a smart BI solution to take your hotel business to the next level. To know more about which solutions to opt for, contact us today on marketing@erevmax.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The Week, That Was – July 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!!

eRevMax completes integration with Argentinian Booking Engine

We are glad to introduce our new Argentina based Booking Engine partner –  Div-it. Connect and manage your hotel booking engine via  RateTiger and Connect platforms for seamless channel management.

https://www.erevmax.com/ratetiger-news/ratetiger-news-archive/july2018-erevmax-integration-with-argentinian-booking-engine.html

Google Hotel Ads joins Google Ads

Google Ads has introduced a new campaign type designed to help hotel marketers better manage their advertising. In addition, there will be a new “Hotel Center” in Google Ads to simplify the management of hotel price feeds.

https://www.blog.google/products/ads/hotel-campaigns/

Why Hotels need 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.

https://erevmax.com/blog/?p=503

 lastminute’s Travel People builds up suite of marketing products

Our partner lastminute.com launched its advertising platform Travel People which allows clients to advertise across lastminute’s five brands, including lastminute.com, Rumbo, bravofly and Volagratis, as well as working with nine external sites run by partners through its Travel Alliance consortium.

Read the interesting story: https://www.tnooz.com/article/lastminutes-travel-people-builds-up-suite-of-marketing-products/

Why hotel brands and franchisers secretly love OTAs

What really matters most to the brands is getting their hotels to produce more revenue. The more revenue the better.. Now OTAs are the ones who are giving immense revenue to hotel industry.

https://insights.ehotelier.com/insights/2018/07/13/why-hotel-brands-and-franchisers-secretly-love-otas/

Day of the independents – why chains are seeing tech-savvy competitors celebrate

As competition among hotels remains heated due to new construction and market saturation, independent hotels continue to thrive and outpace chain hotels.

This is taking place in both growth and their average daily rate (ADR).

https://www.phocuswire.com/Rise-of-independent-hotels

Revenue management adapting to predictive pricing tools

It’s a constant back-and-forth: Hoteliers will always try to get the highest rate possible, and in return, guests will always try to figure out a way to pay the lowest amount possible.

As technology in the travel industry advances, guests are finding an advantage in the evolution of predictive pricing tools, such as those offered by Google Travel or apps like Hopper, which predict future hotel room rates to tell guests whether they should book now or wait until the rate lowers.

http://www.hotelnewsnow.com/Articles/287265/Revenue-management-adapting-to-predictive-pricing-tools

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 – June 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!!


How travel brands should tackle attribution
Knowledge of your customer is a must-have, but complex journeys across multiple devices present travel brands with huge challenges. A new report from EyeforTravel investigates how to conquer attribution. Travel brands need to undertake an extensive and multifaceted approach because attribution requires capturing interactions at so many touchpoints over extended periods and from different devices.

http://www.eyefortravel.com/mobile-and-technology/how-travel-brands-should-tackle-attribution 

eRevMax announces 2-way integration with Nitesoft
The connectivity between RateTiger and Nitesoft PMS has proven to be highly reliable and easy-to-use. It means more sales and higher margins for our hotel customers. They can now exploit the full potential of a vast selection of OTAs, GDSs, Metasearch and Wholesalers available via the eRevMax Channel Ecosystem to expand visibility and revenue potential.

https://goo.gl/RdwgMr

PATA reports Another record year for foreign arrivals into Asia Pacific in 2017
With a cumulative count of 636 million foreign arrivals into the region in 2017, Asia Pacific sets a new record – according to a report released today by the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA). The distribution of these arrivals was such, that in terms of the destination regions and sub-regions covered in the report, Asia received the majority of these arrivals in 2017 with a 72% share, followed by the Americas with 24% and the Pacific with the remaining four percent.

https://www.hospitalitynet.org/performance/4088660.html

GDPR: Why Hoteliers Should Take the new EU Regulations Very Seriously
New EU rules on data protection – or GDPR – , seven years in the making, come/came into effect on May 25. The advice from IT experts to hoteliers is: take the new rules very seriously or risk heavy fines of up to 20 million euros or four percent of the company’s global turnover, whichever is higher.

https://www.hospitalitynet.org/opinion/4088620.html

Sojern Offers Insights on Early Summer Travel Trends Around the Globe
Sojern published its latest Global Travel Insights report, which offers a quarterly look at travel trends from around the world. Sojern’s data shows that the 2018 World Cup is a primary travel driver across Europe, the Middle East and Africa for the summer. Looking at travelers’ paths to purchase, mid-east and African tourists are opting to either return to their families following the end of Ramadan on 15th June, or they are immediately beginning to travel for the World Cup

https://www.sojern.com/blog/global-travel-trends-report-summer-2018/

Is working on vacation key to enjoying it?
Among the key findings:
⅓ of workers intend on being available to work on vacation.
For many, working during vacation helps them enjoy vacation more.
Men are 10% more likely than women to say they plan on working during vacation.
Millennials mirror the working habits of their boss when they take a vacation.
https://ehotelier.com/global/2018/05/29/working-vacation-key-enjoying/

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

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