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Hoteliers ‘up their game’ through SimpleDistribution

Australian hoteliers can now improve the management of online bookings and better target global travel markets with the arrival of integrated rate shopping, channel management and hotel and flight booking engine provider SimpleDistribution.

SimpleDistribution will remove the complexities of selling online and enhance visibility, exposure and revenue from the Internet. Before processing rate and availability updates, hotels can price shop theirs and competitors’ rates to assess optimal product prices for excellent positions across Online Travel Agents. The web-based channel manager simultaneously and in real-time updates the hotel’s selected multiple sales channels and roomtypes with rates, restrictions and room availability.


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RateTiger nominated for Business Traveler Innovation Award

RateTiger’s, RTCorp, has been recognised by the travel industry just one year after launching in the market. The rate shopping technology has been nominated for the Business Traveler Innovation Award within the Travel Management category.

RTCorp helps monitor hotel rates in the public market in both real-time and via scheduled reports. The technology sends automated alerts that filters hotel-pricing data into exception information and delivers it to the appropriate manager to action.

This helps corporate buyers, travel websites and hotel companies monitor violations or discrepancies in room rates while providing intelligent rate shopping data to better understand the market.


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Newshound: Trends and Reports – Hotel Online Distribution

BTN’s 2011 Business Travel Survey: At The Crossroads
Many travel buyers this year find themselves in uniquely challenging positions. Their companies are healthy and growing and must continue chasing business wherever opportunities lie. That means more travel, and perhaps more corporate travelers. At the same time, the financial shocks organizations weathered, the procurement discipline they adopted and the scrutiny applied to every bit of spending has generated an ever-higher level of cost vigilance.
http://www.businesstravelnews.com/Research/BTN-s-2011-Business-Travel-Survey–At-The-Crossroads/

Traffic to travel websites in Australia surges more than 30%
Australia’s Internet user population may be dwarfed by that of regional neighbors China, Japan and India, but the continent is nonetheless one of Asia Pacific’s most mature and dynamic online travel markets.
http://hotelmarketing.com/index.php/content/article/traffic_to_travel_websites_in_australia_surges_more_than_30

STR – Positive Performance for US Hotel Industry for May 2011
In year-over-year measurements, the industry’s occupancy was up 4.6 percent to 61.5 percent, average daily rate ended the month with a 4.0-percent increase to US$101.54, and revenue per available room rose 8.8 percent to US$62.47. The U.S. hotel industry posted increases in all three key performance measurements during May 2011, according to data from STR.
http://hotelexecutive.com/newswire/37589/str-positive-performance-for-us-hotel-industry-for-may-2011

How is hotel booking technology evolving
It wasn’t too long ago when most of the hotel bookings were made through HBAs (Hotel Booking Agencies), TMCs (Travel Management Companies) and direct to hotels.
http://www.eyefortravel.com/news/business-travel/how-hotel-booking-technology-evolving

“Dynamic pricing models are a great way to negotiate corporate rates”
London-based hotel sales and marketing alliance Great Hotels of the World has reported a 19 percent increase in corporate travel bookings via its GDS chain code in Q1 2011 in comparison with the same period in 2010, offering signs of growth in the corporate travel market.
http://www.eyefortravel.com/news/business-travel/%E2%80%9Cdynamic-pricing-models-are-great-way-negotiate-corporate-rates%E2%80%9D

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INDABA 2011

Last month I visited Durban to attend ‘The WTM of Africa’ – INDABA. It is one of the largest travel trade events on the African calendar and one of the top three ‘must visit’ events of its kind on the global calendar.

INDABA showcases the widest variety of Southern Africa’s best tourism products, and attracts international visitors and media from across the world.

I attended all four days of the tradeshow as it had a huge focus on hotels and related products. The main trend affecting the regional market is the swift movement of hotels from GDS to OTAs and localized agents. I got an opportunity to network with industry peers and found INDABA to be great event. I look forward to the next edition of the show.


Casey Davy is Sales Manager – UK at eRevMax and is responsible for sales of RateTiger products in the region. He is based out of London and can be reached at caseyd@ratetiger.com
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BITAC Tech & Operations 2011

BITAC is a technical show with vendors ranging from energy management systems to security systems to kitchen inventory management to just about anything that a hotel might need.  It basically provides hotels with opportunity to explore better ways of running their hotel operations at affordable prices.


The main discussions revolved around the need for being economical in all purchases. Hoteliers are looking at everything with magnifying glass, very careful in what they invest and how they spend their money. Vendor relationships were touched upon and examples of service providers who stuck by hoteliers in bad times were highlighted.

Overall BITAC was a nice event with lot of networking opportunities and good exposure for us.

Jan Murza is Sales Manager – USA at eRevMax and is responsible for sales of RateTiger products in the region. He is based out of Orlando and can be reached at janm@ratetiger.com

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OnLiners@ibiza

I was invited to Ibiza last month for the OnLiners event where online marketing and distribution companies got to meet and interact with local hoteliers. The idea was to introduce hoteliers to the online selling opportunities and the huge potential it holds for them.

Ibiza is a small island where the local travel agents have been the only distribution channels for hoteliers. With online travel gaining momentum globally and OTAs offering attractive distribution options, many local hoteliers are eager to explore and make the most of online opportunities. Some however are wary and still very tied to tour operation contracts and guaranties and cannot play with their prices and allotments.

Various OTAs did presentations for hoteliers, showcasing benefits they offer and how they help them reach out to wider audiences. We did a presentation on how to sell online and importance of managing channels efficiently. Specific focus was paid on online distribution and marketing initiatives that will help hotels generate bookings and garner better revenues.

Overall it was a great networking platform for all involved to come together and share ideas and experiences for the benefit of others. 


Cristina Hernández is Sales Manager – Spain at eRevMax and is responsible for sales of RateTiger products in the region. She can be reached at cristinas@ratetiger.com
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Arabian Travel Market 2011

Last month I attended the Arabian Travel Market in Dubai which is the pre-eminent travel show for the Middle East. The exhibitors here come from all over the world, but the main stands and exhibition space are devoted to those from the Middle-East and in particular the United Arab Emirates. 

General sentiment amongst exhibitors this year was a lot better than last, with hotels reporting much better results in the first quarter of the year after a really difficult 2010. The overall picture was though very localised as obviously some markets such as Egypt, Libya and Bahrain had seen almost complete drop-off in visitors due to internal political situations since the beginning of the year. 



In regards to the distribution scenario, hotels in the region have really woken up to the need to intensify marketing and sales. The re-initiation of the construction of stalled hotel projects and renovations has restored faith among hoteliers about the future growth potential. Hence hoteliers were keen to find ways to effectively manage distributions and remain competitive.

All in all, a really great way to meet industry peers in the region over a few days at a professionally organised event. Looking forward to the 2012 edition.

Giles Gurney is Sales Manager – Mid-East at eRevMax and is responsible for sales of RateTiger products in the region. He can be reached at gilesg@ratetiger.com

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Newshound: Trends and Reports – Hotel Online Distribution


Only price is valued over positive reviews in online travel booking

A poll has indicated that user-generated content in the form of positive reviews on sites like TripAdvisor is increasingly becoming the make or break factor when it comes to online travel booking, with more than one quarter of consumers identifying it as the most important factor.
http://www.eyefortravel.com/news/europe/only-price-valued-over-positive-reviews-online-travel-booking

OTA debate stresses better channel management

What’s the topic that never ceases to pack a room or stir up emotion? The role of online travel agencies in hotel-room distribution.
http://www.hotelnewsnow.com/Articles.aspx/5702/OTA-debate-stresses-better-channel-management

Five Reasons to Bet Big on the Asia Pacific Online Travel Market

The Asia Pacific online travel market has reached a tipping point. With the region’s online leisure/unmanaged business travel market surpassing 20% of the total market in 2010, online travel is no longer in its infancy. Double-digit growth is projected through 2012, and momentum is building.
http://www.phocuswright.com/library/fyi/1659?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+PhoCusWrightFYI+(PhoCusWright%27s+FYI)

Northstar Travel Media acquires PhoCusWright

Northstar Travel Media, a leading business-to-business information company serving the travel and meetings industries, has acquired PhoCusWright, a premier global travel, tourism and hospitality research and event business.
http://hotelmarketing.com/index.php/content/article/northstar_travel_media_acquires_phocuswright

The future state of revenue management

According to STR’s Randy Smith, the single biggest problem the industry is facing right now is the way we’ve trained our customer base to constantly seek a deal, to constantly negotiate, to constantly look for the lowest price.
http://www.hotelnewsnow.com/articles.aspx/5671/Demand-pricing-QA-with-STRs-Randy-Smith

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Newshound: Trends and Reports – Hotel Online Distribution


European online travel industry grew 11% in 2010
Travel properties, which include online travel agents, destination information sites, and transportation and accommodation sites, now penetrate 44.0 percent of the European internet audience, a 5 percentage point increase, according to new ComScore data.
http://hotelmarketing.com/index.php/content/article/european_online_travel_industry_growth_11_in_2010
Online travel audience in India jumps 32 per cent in 2010
As per a study of the online travel industry in India released recently by ComScore Inc, the number of visitors to travel sites increased 32 per cent in the past year to 18.5 million visitors, as more Indians turned to the web for their travel needs.
http://www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Press_Releases/2011/6/Online_Travel_Audience_in_India_Jumps_32_Percent_in_Past_Year
Chinese market shows continued year-on-year growth in RevPAR for the first four months of 2011
The importance of the Chinese hotel market both in terms of its strong performance and growing hotel stock is seen in figures supplied by STR Global, the leading provider of market data to the world’s hotel industry.
http://www.traveldailynews.com/pages/show_page/43550-Chinese-market-shows-continued-year-on-year-growth-in-RevPAR-for-the-first-four-months-of-2011
Corporate travel market easing off its double-digit growth
Business travel experienced a temporary slow-down in April 2011, according to data released from Pegasus Solutions.
http://press.pegs.com/News-Releases/Business-Travel-Dips-in-April-15f.aspx
Trends shaping the US hotel recovery
According to STR, hotel demand growth will begin to moderate as the year progresses – not a sign of slowing momentum, but rather of the more difficult comps from 2010 when the recovery began.
http://www.hotelnewsnow.com/articles.aspx/5607/8-trends-shaping-the-US-hotel-recovery
Where Online Travel Penetration Grows, OTA Bookings Follow

Bookings via online travel agencies comprise just 37% of global online travel sales, versus 63% for suppliers. The channel mix is not expected to change through 2010, although supplier websites, which represented two thirds of the global market in 2008, lost share during the global recession.
http://www.phocuswright.com/library/fyi/1652?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+PhoCusWrightFYI+(PhoCusWright%27s+FYI)

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Road to Effective Channel Management – Part 3: Become a Pro


In Part 1, we discussed customer segregation and selling requirements, and in Part 2 we talked about the various tools and techniques of channel management. Now since you’ve mastered the management of your first set of channels, it’s time to take the plunge and add more channels to sell across. Based on your customer segregation, you need to choose different websites to ensure you have a flexible distribution mix with both high producing sites alongside more niche and specific channels.  

Take a look back at your proposition and list a set of additional websites to target your desired guest.

Managing multiple channels manually is a time intensive exercise. However if done correctly they can bring you instant bookings and make marketing efforts much easier.

To simplify the process, ensure rates are accurate across all websites and to save time you may want to invest in channel management technology.

Channel managers can update all your channels with new rate and inventory allocations in one go instantly, instead of managing each channel separately. 

Invest in digital marketing

Now it’s time for you to further stand out from the hotel crowd.

You need to drive guests to your booking channels and attract them with the right promotions.

Channel management technologies and web traffic data will tell you where your reservations are coming from, how guests get there and who they are. This data can further help you refine your proposition and enhance your sales marketing campaign.

Placing marketing messages and advertising across the most relevant websites (without booking engines) will bring more visitors to your own website, therefore drive direct sales and cut out the middle man charging commission. This will help your RevPAR and build your hotel’s brand.

Automate your channel management

Hoteliers that have optimised online sales and distribution are taking the next step towards full channel management automation.

When your channels are performing well and you have the full market data to make quick and informed rate decisions you can implement tools to manage rate and inventory allocation that responds automatically to market conditions.

This ensures that your hotel continues to perform and remain competitive even when you’re not able to pay attention.

Pre-programming rate behaviour can ensure that you continually improve your RevPAR.

While rates are managing themselves, you can then begin to focus more energies and time on promotional campaigns; enhancing visibility and consumer interaction across digital and social networks to raise the profile of your hotel; secure more advanced bookings; and ensure you have heads in beds for tonight and the next many nights.

In Essence…

Effective channel management requires hotels to constantly assess, review and optimise the performance of their sales channels.

It’s important to take each stage at a time so you can maximise the results from each activity rather than spread yourself thinly.

Get the first points done well, then begin moving on to the next stages.

Continually reassess and analyze hotel data to further focus your market and develop a stable future for your revenue streams; above all it is important to be adaptable to market changes – as you never know what may happen.

You have now come to the end of the Three Part series, but Remember – Commit to the five pillars of effective channel management:

Knowledge: Know your hotel, your product, your competitors and the market

Data: Gather market/business intelligence to know how your property is performing

Access: Manage your sales channels directly ensuring rate and inventory allocation is updated in real-time to maximise bookings

Exposure: Market the hotel to the right audience to increase reservations

Analysis: Understand how the market is performing to optimise RevPAR through your products and service


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