Sales & Marketing

When I've started to work in the online distribution in 1999 by my boss and guru Pancho Mazza (r.i.p.) told me: the customer on the Internet is transitional. This is still THE thing. Online customer goes where it's better for it, and nowadays it's pretty easy to get informed and compare.

The new arrangement between Marriott and Expedia is very much like the arrangement Marriott has with the GDS like Sabre, Amadeus and TravelPort i.e. as with a technology distribution platform. If you are a travel agency or a TMC, talk to the GDS how to access Marriott's inventory, availability and retail pricing.

If anything, the deal is another step to dismantle the (dangerous) "Them vs. Us" mentality that most hotels still maintain towards online travel agencies. On the other side of the table, Expedia's move confirmed that the OTAs' model is definitively shifting towards the B2B's realm and, as I've been saying over and over again for the last five years, I won't be surprised to see Expedia and Booking shapeshift to SaaS companies in the near future.

Where ABS could be a game changer is in search, recommendations and in pricing. Too many are focused at how this can be a method to sell ancillary revenue, like the airlines did. But the application in hotels could be totally different.

Attribute Based Shopping (ABS) is a good start, but I believe One-to-One Pricing, powered by AI will be the absolute winner for both travel consumers and hoteliers. ABS is already a departure from the current revenue management one-to-many pricing approach, but 1to1 Pricing will take this to an entirely different level.

I love the customer-centred vision at the heart of ABS. The promise of 'infinite SKUs' and stay packages that are experience-led rather than room-led is intoxicating. For many hotels, the digital sophisticates, these new capabilities will likely be put to good use.

Education always helps, but I think the problem lies a little deeper. Lack of imagination. Hotels are brick and mortar businesses that deal with people. Technology isn't exactly on the top of the list when it comes to making a great hotel and guest experience.

Our industry is certainly lagging behind, but I don't believe this is something unique or exclusive to hospitality. For one thing, the labor shortage is an industry-wide problem across North America, and stems from a wider issue related to salaries, benefits competitiveness, demographics, etc.

Today's hospitality is being transformed from a real-estate industry into a 100% digital technology-enabled industry, powered by online, mobile, cloud, IoT, AI and blockchain tools and applications. Digital technology is making its way into every aspect of the industry: hotel operations, guest services and communications, revenue management, distribution, CRM and marketing.

This is not the first time Amazon has tried to tackle the online travel space. Back in 2013-2015, Amazon attempted to do this “organically” twice with its ill-conceived Amazon Local and Amazon Destinations. Today some hoteliers would welcome another OTA player like Amazon to increase competition and lessen dependency on the OTA duopoly.

Time to short your shorts of Expedia or Priceline? For those old farts out there (like me) who remember the 'poo poo' attitude of hoteliers when the OTAs first appeared, Amazon's entry is (or will be) monumental. Amazon has killed traditional retail, just walk through the streets of your locality and see all the storefronts that are now services: nail salons, dentists, architects, dance studios, etc.

A great question to pose and one that I will take a slightly different view on. Yes, it is obvious that Google is moving deeper into the travel space, but let's not forget their track record of monetizing consumer-led products and services is not exactly stellar.

Following a great panel at HITEC Europe with Uli Kastner, I believe Google will become a dominant player in the hotel distribution landscape after the next big economic shift. Every economic downturn has been the catalyst for a new dominant player on the distribution space.

It is inevitable – and to the benefit of the customer – that Google will become (or is already) the go-to place for researching, planning, booking and providing real-time information throughout a trip. Customers want seamless intelligence and connected experiences, and Google is uniquely positioned to connect all the dots.

The awesome rise of Google's meta and the launch of Booking.basic, make rate leakage the #1 challenge for hoteliers in 2019 and 2020 - and certainly the most requested topic at the Direct Booking Summit this year.There is no escaping the cost of undercutting today - our data suggests direct bookings drop 30% when hotels are undercut.

There is a very simple solution to the rate leakage menace: 1) Subscribe to a rate parity monitoring solution like RateGain or OTA Insights to catch in real-time rate leakage offenders; 2) Investigate quickly each instance of rate leakage; 3) In case of the property working with multiple wholesalers, “put two and two together” to trace the source of the reservation and see which of the wholesalers is the offender; 4) Immediately cancel your agreement with any rate leakage offender.

Given the transparency of the Internet and the growing role of metasearch in the travel distribution process, rate leakage is a challenge that hotels can no longer ignore. Although it might be painful in the short run, AMPUTATION is the only solution that will work!.

There is an inherent value in brands as a way of reassuring guests of a certain quality due to standards imposed by brands. Especially when going to an unknown location. While online reviews have helped independent hotels for some time it is hard to know what standards the reviewer had.

The activity in the market today looks to be more of a 'land grab' for major multi-brand operators. The logic being that if I have enough brands across a broad range of the market from a quantity and quality perspective then I increase bargaining power and also exposure to an existing and future customer base.

Another 'exciting' are brand from the XYZ Hotel Company. Am I excited? Is the consumer excited? Doubtful. Brands without marketing support are merely exercises for marketing gurus who like to play with logos and interior designers.

My view is that it's not a simple topic and there are several aspects to consider. 1 - On moving in to hotel space, this is a natural progression when tracking all of the existing OTA's. Over time all of the third party players will broaden their capabilities into other markets, although all will be secondary to search engine powered travel platforms such as Google.

AirBnB is clearly a phenomenon that is disrupting the hospitality industry as we know it. I am not sure if this can be classified as a “friend or foe” but to me it is clear that the dramatic rise of this type of lodging should pose some real questions to hoteliers.

Looking at competition from the standpoint of how it is hurting profits is never a great way to look at it. That rates can't be raised is a good thing for guests. The question of the acquisition and Airbnb's intention is: what can it bring to the customer.