Finance
Luxury Hotel Firm Aman Gets $360 Million From UAE Investors
Aman Group, which operates some of the world’s most expensive hotels, secured a $360 million investment from a group including a United Arab Emirates wealth fund and an investment firm backed by an influential member of that nation’s royal family.
Demand Generation or Demand Shifting, it depends on who experiences it.
It is hard to argue with billions of dollars spent annually on marketing by the largest OTAs. One could certainly make the case that such a robust amount of travel-related content would spark travel wanderlust from even the most "home-rooted" consumer. Over the last 2 years we saw an increase in OTA share vs direct or brand bookings. This seems to indicate that while most brands halted or delayed marketing spend as a way to preserve cash, OTA's were able to take advantage and sway a customer to book on their site instead. Certainly, there may be someone who sees an OTA's commercial on their TV or device and is inspired to plan a trip they previously were not considering taking, but in reality, they were likely already in the mindset of traveling and inspired more by the featured destination than the concept itself. A person who was thinking of spending winter in Hawaii may see an ad for a resort in Costa Rica and consider a change of destination, but they were already in the cycle of planning a trip, even if in the earliest of stages. Or if not a Brand Loyalist, a consumer might see a featured discounted offer from an OTA and perform a search on their site to compare rates, but this does not constitute generating new demand. A more likely source of organic inspiration in today's purchaser base is social media. As the saying goes, "A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words", and in this case, potentially millions of new travelers.
Riyadh office rents climb 13% as Regional HQ Program deadline looms
Prime office rents in Riyadh have growth by 13% over the last 12-months, fuelled in part by the looming Regional HQ Program deadline, which goes into effect in January 2024, according to global real estate consultancy, Knight Frank’s Summer 2023 Saudi Commercial Market Review.
A blessing? Let's ask ChatGPT
To prove a point, I asked ChatGPT to write an article supporting technology, see below.
Meaningful innovation
In today's ever-evolving world, the hospitality industry stands on the brink of a new era of technological advancement. While some may argue that my perspective as a technology Product Manager is biased, it is important to recognize the tremendous benefits that these advancements can bring to all stakeholders involved.
Unlocking human potential in revenue management
Unlocking human potential in revenue management is going to be the key to driving growth and success in businesses going forward. For too long we are telling hotels to always look at that cool "artificial intelligence (AI)" and how the human is more of a burden than an uplift. I believe this will change. The future of revenue management is human-led, not AI-led, and businesses need to embrace this shift in order to stay ahead of the curve.
Why hoteliers should not allow the OTAs to hijack their group business
The question is, should hoteliers allow OTA customers to "trick the system" and allow group bookings by enabling multiple reservations for same stay period by the same customer. The question of group reservations is more important than ever since group demand - both corporate and SMERF - is expected to bounce back in 2023.
OTA Group Bookings - yes or no?
An interesting "dilemma" and an indication of the state of the relationship between hotels and OTAs, when we discuss whether getting a certain form of business is good for both partners.
A group booking regulation clause for both the Hotel's and OTA's interest
The reason we qualify a reservation as a "group booking" is because the number of rooms booked requires special booking conditions to be applied by the Hotel, to prevent the risk of incurring massive revenue and profit loss for late cancellations of the bulk of rooms that cannot be replaced to the last minute.
How to avoid the pricing data overload conundrum in hospitality?
Klaus Kohlmayr, Chief Evangelist & Development Officer @ IDeaS estimates that a typical hotel has to make roughly five million pricing decisions every year and that it is not humanly possible for any revenue manager to get every decision right, every day, without the support of an automated system like a Revenue Management System (RMS). Yet, less than 10% of independent hotels have an RMS in place.
Three Recommendations to Avoid Analysis Paralysis
In the next five years, the world will have increased its data from 36 Zettabytes to 163 Zettabytes. How much data is that? If a byte were the size of a grain of rice, 163 zettabytes would fill 163 Pacific Oceans! That's a massive amount of data. The hotel industry is not immune to that deluge, and revenue managers everywhere are faced with the challenge of dealing with it. Here are three recommendations:
Take the best business decision with data stories
In economics, one of the most well-known concepts is the Law of diminishing returns. What the law states is: As an investment in a particular area increases, the rate of profit from that investment, after a certain point, will decrease. Translated in Data analysis, one does not need to have 100% of the information to make the right decision.
How to avoid analysis paralysis in a data-driven world
More than ever data is available to help shed light in dark corners and to support making high impact decisions. When all goes well revenue managers will feel armed with the right data to check assumptions, gather insights and align teams towards profitable outcomes. With the quantity (and quality) of data sources increasing it can get daunting though.