Elounda S.A Hotels & Resorts has selected IDeaS G3 Revenue Management System (RMS) to improve its forecasting capability and raise profitability by driving higher yielding business.
Hotel companies were considering moving to a model where owners pay for business delivered, delegates at this year's Hotel Distribution Event in London heard.The shift puts the role of the global branded groups under ever-closer scrutiny, as the cost of distribution informed owners' choices.Peter O'Connor, professor of information systems, ESSEC Business School, said: "Do hotel companies know what they're doing? Are they sleek professionals or are they about to drown in a sea of change? Hotels can't carry on charging 12% of the top line. They need to evolve. They will put less emphasis on brand and more on the distribution. Two companies are looking at business delivered instead."Hotels are working with a model which is going out of date."O'Connor pointed to over 700 brands in the hotel sector, which he described as a "problem" because "it's becoming very difficult to identify them", pointing to less than one third of people searching for a hotel search for a brand on Google and less than 1% of people on Expedia filtering by brand. He added: "You may be benefiting from lower OTA fees with a brand, but you have to factor the brand fees in as well."
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.
The 2019 edition of the Sziget Festival took place from August 7 to 13! The 9 finalists of the contest organised as part of the ibis MUSIC programme were thus able to perform on the Europe Stage, the festival stage sponsored by the brand. Take a look back at this event that set festival-goers buzzing with excitement…
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.
Regular holidays, reading a good book, getting a great deal, having reliable neighbours and belly laughing with friends are just some of life's essentials that Britons value the most, according to a new study out today by Travelodge.
For the second consecutive year, Accor is continuing its partnership, in music, with the Montreux Jazz Festival, from June 28 to July 13. The Group treated its guests, partners and festival-goers to some unforgettable experiences, to the rhythm of several unprecedented events. The event was attended by nearly 250,000 people, who basked in glorious sunshine. Back on this 53rd edition!A year ago, Accor and the Montreux Jazz Festival announced their global partnership. Created in the same era, in their respective fields the 2 organizations had developed global reputations, sharing a passion for innovation and new technologies to stir the emotions of their customers.
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.
Global Hotel Alliance ("GHA"), the world's largest alliance of independent hotel brands and operator of the award-winning, multi-brand loyalty programme, DISCOVERY, today announced that Divani Collection Hotels ("Divani") will join its growing portfolio of over 30 independent brands and 550 hotels in 75 countries, completing a trio of new signings, following the recent addition of the Capella Hotel Group and Sun Resorts.
When searching for a POS system, Ruby Hotels was looking for a system that was intuitive, flexible, and able to grow with them. With Infrasys, Ruby Hotels can expand their portfolio quickly and seamlessly. The native cloud-based platform makes it easy for Ruby to track revenue, manage pricing and much more, anytime, anywhere; for their entire enterprise.
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.
After months of anticipation, the Direct Booking Summit EMEA opened its doors this morning - and if the first day is anything to go by, this could very well be the best event yet. Hundreds of innovation leaders gathered in the heart of Paris for the biggest event in hospitality, with 25 influential figures within the industry presenting keynotes, panels and debates across a wide range of fascinating topics. With many common themes including cultivating brand loyalty, optimizing the customer experience and the importance of prioritizing long-term success, there was an abundance of valuable, engaging and practical advice for hoteliers to apply to their own organizations.
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 Direct Booking Summit: EMEA 2019 will be touching down in Paris on June 12-13.
The Direct Booking Summit: EMEA 2019 will be touching down in Paris on June 12-13.
IDeaS Revenue Solutions, the leading provider of revenue management software and advisory services, is excited to announce that one of Lisbon's leading independent hotel groups, Brown's Hotels, has chosen IDeaS Revenue Management System (RMS) to optimise revenue performance and efficiency.
Meliá Hotels International remains among the 20 companies with the best reputation in Spain and for the seventh consecutive year leads the Merco Empresas y Líderes ranking for the hotel industry. The company led by Gabriel Escarrer - ranked 26th out of 100 business leaders by reputation - is the only travel company included in the Ibex 35 and has once again demonstrated its brand strength and the recognition of its stakeholders.
Barcelona is one of the greatest cities in the world. Home to sublime and amazing architecture, vibrant nightlife, and is a truly wonderful coastal location. It has great accommodation options from budget to luxury hotels and Barcelona holiday apartments are plentiful.
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!.
Despite a mostly conservative vision concerning their experience at a restaurant for 2030, Swiss consumers do want to see drastic changes in some areas, mainly related to customization. Are restaurateurs aware and ready to respond to their clients' expectations? A new study provides insights and recommendations for restaurateurs and F&B professionals.