Dusit International, one of Thailand’s leading hotel and property development companies, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Saigontourist Group, one of Vietnam’s largest multi-service travel corporations, to drive tourism development in Thailand and Vietnam through strategic promotions, enhanced services, and the creation of innovative tourism products.
The World Travel and Tourism (WTTC) today announced its full stellar line-up for its 24th Global Summit in Perth, Western Australia (8-10 Oct), with 68th U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and conservationist and TV personality Robert Irwin set to take to the stage.
"Career" has taken on a new meaning for young professionals today. A 2022 McKinsey report highlighted that young people now prioritize well-being and job compatibility, seeking roles that align with their values. For them, a “successful career path” goes beyond earning money – it’s about personal growth, positive experiences, and joy in life. This shift has made working abroad increasingly appealing for young people in Vietnam. But can they find these opportunities in international workplaces, especially in the service industry? While many may view manual labor or contract work as the quickest route to working abroad, there are far more rewarding career paths to explore.
Search based ads are going to change, a lot. They're great for bottom of the funnel marketing. The low hanging fruit. But they're not great for discovery. However with AI there's a possible mix of intent and discovery which could be the most powerful of both world.
These are interesting times, indeed, when it comes to search. Specially when it comes to itineraries and travel recommendations suggested by GenAI tools such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity or Claude. Traditionnally, when you asked Google for accommodations in New York City, you would get a listing with a bunch of hotels, and you'd have to use filters in order to get anything interesting.
Perplexity's shift to CPM is validating for luxury and lifestyle hospitality marketers. Attribution broke long ago for high-consideration, high-value travel purchases like hotels, resorts, and cruises. 7-14 day click windows work for a $20 t-shirt (no dependencies), not a $1,000/night hotel room (plenty of dependencies like booking flights, etc.).
IHG Hotels & Resorts, one of the world’s largest and leading hotel companies, today announces a major partnership with SXSW Sydney 2024. As an Official Partner of SXSW Sydney, IHG Hotels & Resorts will deliver a series of experiences set to delight and disrupt, including the launch of an interactive, experiential activation, ‘The Mind Lobby,’ and comes onboard as the Official Partner of the SXSW Sydney Screen Festival 2024.
Phuket Hotels Association, the non-profit organisation of hoteliers focused on creating a positive future for Phuket, and C9 Hotelworks, the award-winning hospitality consultancy, have confirmed the final line-up of speakers and moderators for this year’s edition of “Mind the Gap: Women & Diversity in Hospitality”, including some of the industry’s most inspiring female executives, entrepreneurs and diversity leaders.
Today's consumers expect online experiences comparable to top-tier eCommerce brands. The guest's first touchpoint with the hotel is almost always the website, and too often hoteliers overlook this digital real estate. Getting users to book direct requires a few different things: the website needs to provide relevant information and value, inspire trust and credibility, and reduce friction during the process.
There is no magic formula to drive direct reservations. There's no one, perfect booking engine that will immediately increase conversions exponentially. If there were a single, proven fix that works every time, you'd have done it by now. The truth is that improving conversion rate takes dedication. It requires focus. And, it takes a willingness to invest in your property's future.
Many hoteliers have adopted interactive widgets on their homepage as well as on pages deeper in the hotel booking funnel. The benefit of using widget technologies such as Userguest, The Hotels Network and TripTease (to name a few) is to attract and convert the website visitors into hotel bookers.
For those languishing under 2% CVR, the answer is usually pretty obvious. The best way to increase your conversion rate is to 'think like a booker'. Find ten minutes. Make a cup of tea, and before you pick up your phone or open a browser window, think about your ideal guest.
Improving conversion rates on a hotel website should ALWAYS be a priority, not just in 2024. Indeed, hoteliers invest quite a bit into SEO, paid search, paid social media as well as content strategies across various digital outposts (newsletter, blog, social media, SMS, etc.).
Amazon missed their one and only chance to enter the travel space by not acquiring Orbitz or Travelocity when these OTAs were for up for grabs. Now it is too late - the consolidation In the travel intermediary space has already happened. Unless Amazon acquires Expedia with its $18.5 billion market cap, I don't see Amazon entering the travel space organically, though many hoteliers would love to have another player in addition to the current OTA duopoly Booking-Expedia.
Two main reasons why Amazon will not become a major player in travel:
With its massive traffic, incredible insights into customer behaviour, and powerful consumer brand, Amazon has the potential to disrupt practically any market it chooses to attack. However, travel may be the exception given its unique double-sided natue. In addition to cost effectively finding customers (something with which Amazon should have had little problem, given its existing customer base to who travel products could easily and effectively be cross sold), to be successful a travel intermediary must also assure cost effective access to sufficient and suitable inventory to meet customer demand, with "full" coverage of the market a key success factor.
Amazon missed their one and only chance to enter the travel space by not acquiring Orbitz or Travelocity when these OTAs were for up for grabs. Now it is too late - the consolidation In the travel intermediary space has already happened.
Today Amazon has approximately 200 million Amazon Prime members globally. To put this into perspective, if Amazon Prime was a country, it would be the 8th biggest in the world measured by population. With this enormous membership size, or 'captive audience', Amazon has the necessary market reach to monetize any travel-related product or service.
I laughed at first when I saw this topic, as I recall vividly having had this discussion in the past. In fact, I wrote a blog post titled Will You Book Your Next Hotel on Amazon?... back in 2014!! Amazon did indeed tip its toes into travel distribution but the journey was short-lived.
Travel Tech Asia 2024, co-located with ITB Asia and MICE Show Asia, will take place from 23 to 25 October 2024 at Sands Expo and Convention Centre, Singapore. The show has already sold more exhibition spaces than last year with bigger and more Travel Tech exhibitors. Key exhibitors include Hotelbeds, Agoda, Go Global Travel, TBO Holidays, Korea Tourism Startup Center, Juniper Travel Technology, Convergent International Travel, Travel Compositor, SiteMinder, DerbySoft, Archipelago International, 11-Infotech System, LY.com,Airalo, Guangdong Qiyouji International Travel, Green Motion International, LianLian Pay and YeePay. And top bellwether speakers from Agoda, D-EDGE Hospitality Solutions, Sabre Corporation, Booking.com and Millennium Hotels and Resorts.
Marriott’s new comprehensive travel management system for small and medium businesses has the potential to transform corporate travel management. Read on to know more.
Do you love Japan and are craving an adventure beyond the usual tourist spots? It’s time to embark on an opportunity of a lifetime! Fairfield by Marriott, part of Marriott Bonvoy’s portfolio of over 30 extraordinary hotel brands, today launches a month-long search for its first-ever ‘Road Trip Reporter’, to co-develop content about the unrivaled adventures that await across Japan’s sprawling, less-traveled countryside.
IDeaS, a SAS company and the world’s leading provider of hotel revenue management software and services, announced today that BYD Lofts Boutique Hotel & Serviced Apartments had grown its property revenues by 15 percent with IDeaS G3 Revenue Management System (RMS) after adopting the system to automate daily pricing activity and enhance its commercial strategies.
Global Hotel Alliance (GHA), the world’s largest alliance of independent hotel brands, revealed key 2024 Japanese travel and tourism trends at its global CEO conference this week. Staged in Japan for the first time, the CEOs of more than 40 GHA hotel brands and media gathered at HOTEL GROOVE SHINJUKU in Tokyo to hear insights into the preferences and behaviours of Japanese travellers.
Global hospitality leader, Accor, is delighted to announce the receipt of a Silver accolade for its 100 Bites of Singapore marketing and advertising campaign at the annual The Drum Awards for Marketing held in Singapore on 30 May 2024.
Indian Hotels Company (IHCL), India’s largest hospitality company, today announced the unveiling of its new Taj website. Designed with the signature ‘Taj’ touch, the all-new www.tajhotels.com introduces a digital experience that resonates with the brand’s vision and enhances the guests’ booking journey.
In collaboration with leading media platform Jing Daily, Marriott International unveils an in-depth report shedding light on the evolving landscape of luxury travel in China. Titled “Luxury Explored: Chinese Luxury Travelers’ Evolving Desires,” the report delves deep into the transformative trends and shifting preferences shaping the Chinese luxury travel market.