Luxury hotel Sofitel Legend The Grand Amsterdam, a 5-star property steeped in history, has adopted Oaky as their digital upselling platform. Located in the heart of Amsterdam in a monumental canal-side building, the hotel's unparalleled reputation attracts visitors from all corners of the globe.
Adara, the leader in verified identity and permissioned data, reveals that the UK leads Europe in willingness to travel internationally. In a study of bookings, departures and searches from 10th November 2020 extending until early 2021, the data also shows that across Europe, travellers are either booking at the very last minute or far in advance as COVID-19 continues to create uncertainty.
Welcome to 2020. Airbnb is part of the hospitality industry already. Get over it. I hope IPO cash might help them ease Expedia and Booking's oligopolistic power. I hope IPO cash might have them boost a faster global return to travel.
A successful IPO will place Airbnb in a much stronger financial position so they can remove the high cost (at 11% interest) of their recent funding and prepare to operate profitably again. The threat of Airbnb will be felt by hotels that are perceived to be "risky" in terms of Covid-19 transmission prevention, eg.
From 9 to 12 March the who's who of the global B2B travel industry will meet at ITB Berlin NOW - A new virtual platform featuring the main elements: networking, news, business and content - Early Bird rates are available for exhibitors until 15 January - Trade visitor tickets cost 99 euros - The parallel ITB Berlin Virtual Convention will discuss the latest industry challenges
Italians are warm people but we have put aside, for a while, the handshakes and hugs that are our dearest habits. We are on the MSC Grandiosa, the major first cruise ship to depart since lockdown began in Europe.
Live From Your Bedroom kicked off the first event with a performance from tribute act 'Queen We Will Rock You' on Friday 23 October and different concerts will continue every Friday and Saturday evening through the end of 2020, with tribute acts from Take That to Elton John performing socially-distanced concerts.
Next year the World’s Leading Travel Trade Show® will take place as an entirely virtual event. This decision was taken by Messe Berlin after weighing all the circumstances. ITB Berlin 2021 and the accompanying ITB Berlin Convention will be open to trade visitors only. The trade visitor days will take place from 9 to 12 March 2021, adding an extra day to the event.
We are delighted to announce that our hospitality industry champion, Kate Nicholls from UK Hospitality, will be joining us at the studio within the Royal Lancaster London for a live interview with Mark Lewis from Hospitality Action on 19th November.
The next edition of the International Tourism Fair, FITUR 2021, will be held from the 19 to 23 May next year as decided by IFEMA and the FITUR Organising Committee. This decision arrives following a meditated decision that, exceptionally, makes the event essential to the recovery of the tourism industry, at a time that will still preserve its high international impact as well as promote the professional reunion of companies, countries and destinations. It will also provide a much-needed boost to the worldwide tourism activity.
Amazon has tried unsuccessfully to tackle the online travel space twice in the past. Back in 2013-2015, Amazon attempted to do this “organically” with its ill-conceived Amazon Local and Amazon Destinations. In 2019 Amazon launched a flight search and booking service in India, powered by online travel agency Cleartrip, buried deep into its Amazon Pay section.
Amazon has to massively increase its top-line revenue if it is going to continue is share price growth. It gets more difficult to do that as it grows. What industries can it get into that can help deliver that? Travel will not be Amazon's number one choice but they will not ignore it either.
Infor today announced that French hotel group Suitcase Hospitality is continuing to deploy Infor's EzRMS revenue management solution across its properties to standardize its practices across all of its facilities. The cloud-based solution, based on AI (artificial intelligence) and its extensive learning capabilities, provides hospitality professionals with enhanced revenue management functionality and advanced tools to help improve customer service, in particular to better anticipate the commercial services to be offered to them.
The NHS, eating out, taking a jaunt to the seaside, watching Netflix, online shopping, finding a great deal, socialising with family & friends and having a good belly laugh are just some of life's essentials that Britons value the most, according to a new study out today by Travelodge.
The Balmoral, a Rocco Forte Hotel in Edinburgh, has launched its new Extended Reality Virtual Event Space to bring innovation to business meetings in 2020. The hybrid studio space connects in-room and remote delegates safely and securely, making them feel like they're in the room. The Balmoral's extended reality studio allows for dynamic, flexible and agile working at a time when we need it most. The studio is situated in the hotel's spacious Holyrood Suite, where your layout, be it virtual or physical, can be completely flexible to work for you and your delegates, in line with government guidelines.
Venerable brands always have the potential for a renaissance. Of course, success hinges on forgiveness (forgetfulness?) of all those stranded travelers. And the continued focus on "fun in the sun" vacations is a smart way to maintain that differentiation and historical brand promise.
I am highly skeptical of Thomas Cook's resurrection as a B2C online travel player i.e. an OTA specializing in selling beach vacations and city breaks, and here is why: a) The traveling public does not know Thomas Cook as an OTA or B2C online vacation packager, hence the need for massive advertising spend to build relevant brand recognition.
I don't think there is a new TC. I think that this was the plan all along. I remember sitting in the UK in 2011/12 reading an article: Britain's Least Admired Companies of 2011 where TC was mentioned. It also let me to look at their share price and saw it tumbled to somewhat below 20c (which for me was surprising)...but then I saw they didn't have a CEO and no-one wanted to take the job since a few month....sinking ship comes to mind.
There are several major developments working against the bed banks sector: 1) Shrinkage of the brick-and-mortar distribution marketplace due to consumers shifting to online travel planning and booking. There are less than 7,500 travel agencies in the U.S.
In the non-US marketplace, bed banks continue to play an essential role, providing both offline and online intermediaries with a long tail of hotel inventory that would be impossible to source otherwise. Assuming historical bad behaviour regarding abuse of net rates can be controlled, newly consolidated and professionalised bed bank companies can have a long and happy future.
Bedbanks business may contract over time, however, they will remain a significant player in the online travel marketplace due to the large number of consumers who prefer to have their local travel agent make their travel arrangements.
Online Travel Agencies have always been a subject for debates among hoteliers. Should we reinforce our direct channels of distribution or rely on intermediaries? In general, there is no universal answer to that question. But when the pandemic struck the hospitality industry, many hotels started to get together to oppose the OTAs.
WTM London - the event where Ideas Arrive - and Travel Forward - the travel and hospitality technology event co-located with WTM London - will be entirely virtual in November.
Today marks an exciting time in the continued evolution of MMGY Global. We are pleased to announce the merger of leading UK luxury travel and lifestyle PR agencies MMGY Grifco and MMGY Ophir. The agencies, which were both founded by industry leader Claire Griffin, will combine to run as MMGY Grifco in London.
Elite Hotels of Sweden, one of the country's largest privately-owned hotel businesses, is rolling out Oaky to its 39 hotels across Sweden. Known for its beautifully restored historical properties and its dedication to environmental sustainability, Elite Hotels will use Oaky to further complement the well-rounded stay experience it offers guests.
Three of Europe's leading and most respected Revenue Management conferences will come together in early 2021 to deliver an exclusive one-day conference designed to support and unify the revenue management community.