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The Week, That Was – April 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!!

The Beginner’s Guide to Basic (but Essential) Hotel Technology by Trivago
Hotel technology now lives in large part online. Which means that hoteliers access and engage with hotel technology online to do everything from marketing their properties to distributing their rooms, managing their daily operations, processing reservations, and everything in between.

http://hotelmanager-blog.trivago.com/beginners-guide-to-hotel-technology/

eRevMax strengthens its leadership team for LiveOS
Diako Sali appointed as Director of Global Sales

http://www.erevmax.com/ratetiger-news/ratetiger-news-archive/apr2018-erevmax-strengthens-leadership-team-liveos.html

A brief history of property management systems
A lot of hotel websites, for example, show weather information, but it is unlikely that web agencies develop their own weather widgets from scratch. More likely, they connect to existing monitor apps, so that web users can check the temperature of their chosen destination without even realizing that the information is actually provided by an external source. This communication is made possible by the use of an API.

https://www.tnooz.com/article/hotel-property-management-systems-pms/

The HSMAI Region Europe Awards 2017
The European HSMAI Awards took place in Amsterdam last Tuesday evening, marked by a great atmosphere, dancing guests, excellent entertainment, food, beverages and, but not least, top notch winners – and now the Top 20 the list is also official!

https://www.hospitalitynet.org/news/4087909.html

IS YOUR HOTEL WEBSITE READY FOR WHAT’S NEXT IN 2018?
There are two major factors that will affect website performance in 2018:
Google’s Mobile First Index
Website ADA Compliance

https://www.hebsdigital.com/are-you-ready-for-2018

Meet us at
ATM Dubai, from 22 – 25 April 2018 to see how we can assist you – marketing@erevmax.com

Thanks and have a good day!

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eRevMax predicts hotel online distribution trends 2014

As technology advances and the world of social media expands, more and more travelers are turning towards smart phones and tablets to book hotel rooms. eRevMax, the leader in hotel online distribution and channel management solution has released an Infographic “Online Hotel Distribution” to provide hoteliers with upcoming trends backed by relevant data.


Travelers who book hotel rooms online are increasingly equipped with smart phones and tablets. The infographic shows 7% of all bookings were generated from mobile and tablet devices in 2013, and this trend will grow by another 20% this year. In 2014, hotel bookings through mobile will contribute over $26 billion.


The eRevMax study sheds light on how metasearch sites realized a 13% increase in 2013. Google Hotel Finder, TripConnect and Trivago are becoming a driving force in hotel online distribution as 60% of travellers shop by comparing rates on these sites. To shift market share from the OTAs to direct bookings, hoteliers should utilize metasearch sites as a part of their overall distrbution strategy as it offers better search experience and allows the traveller to find the lowest prices available online.

Bookings from OTAs surged ahead with a 12% rise in Q3 2013 and now stands at 13% of overall bookings in North America. It also shows that 33% of all bookings take place at the brand’s website, an increase of 5% in Q3 2013. eRevMax suggests hoteliers work with OTAs to increase revenues and implement reputation management solutions for quick responses to their guests.

Another important tip by the hotel solutions provider is to leverage the billboard effect, defined as the increase in offline bookings of a property when it is listed with an Online Travel Agency (OTA). An experiment conducted by Cornell University observed that one of the participant hotels experienced an impressive 14% increase in direct bookings when it contracted with an OTA. Besides, Average Daily Rate (ADR) increased by 1.5% during OTA listing of the same property. 

In this world of social media, SEO and analytics, failure to adopt digital platforms in their marketing strategy is suicidal for hotels. The data shows that 81% of tech-savvy travellers find user reviews important, while 49% travellers book hotel only after reading reviews. Nearly 21% used Facebook to search for hotel information at least once while 14% of travellers use the Facebook platform to book a hotel room. Hence, it is imperative that hotels take social-commerce seriously. 

To access the full infographic, click Infographic: Online Hotel Distribution 2014
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4C Hotels increases direct bookings by 5% managing guest reviews


4C Hotels has seen its brand website bookings increase nearly 5% and its TripAdvisor ranking jump from 465 to 434 in the past six months since installing RTReview, a guest review management tool.

Guest reviews have enabled 4C Hotels to better understand its market position by comparing services, special offers and promotions against competitors and to adjust the revenue strategy accordingly. Prior to the installation of RTReview, by RateTiger, 4C Hotels only monitored its key guest feedback portals including TripAdvisor and Qype. However within weeks the hotel group noticed that its properties were receiving significant feedback across other bookings sites including Holidaycheck, Yelp, Trivago and several other websites previously not monitored. 

“Reviews have helped us to understand more about our guests and to improve our offering to meet their needs’’ said Amber Virani, Sales & Marketing Manager, 4C Hotels. “When we see a negative review, we carry out a proper investigation and respond quickly and efficiently to our guest which has enabled us to get even closer to our guests.”
With so many social channels it was impossible to manually search and manage all review sites. “RTReview has given us a wonderful way to measure our online presence and knowledge of how we can stay ahead of our competitors. It helps us to quickly and easily analyse guest feedback from online reviews so we can understand where there’s a room to improve.  We are now offering more promotions, special offers and implementing more marketing initiatives that seems to be of greater interest to our guests.”
4C Hotels installed RTReview from RateTiger in December 2011 that consolidates all guest feedback into a single interface for better management and is now monitoring over 60 guest review portals including Facebook and Twitter.
Review portals have received a lot of negative press due to the quality of feedback from guests and their potential fraudulent nature, however 4C Hotels proves that proactive management of these portals can deliver revenue and bookings results.