GDS distribution is the entry point to worldwide corporate travelers. The GDS feed most consortia, providing a major source of business for hotels that capture strong corporate demand. How to join TMC & Consortia hotel programs to make the most of your online channel distribution?

There are various channels a hotel should be aware of existing when it wants to have access to corporate reservations. The most important one is the GDS (Global Distribution system). GDS distribution is undoubtedly the entry point to worldwide corporate travelers who book accommodates for their professional travel through travel agents or their corporate self-booking tool (connected to GDS). This makes GDS an opportunity to reach an attractive segment of clients.

The GDS feed most consortia, providing a major source of business for hotels that capture strong
corporate demand. A Consortium is an organization consisting of independent travel agents and agencies joined together to increase their buying power, commissions, and amenities they are able to provide clients worldwide. In many cases, these agents switch consortium, consolidate or are acquired ongoing, or associate with several consortia, the main goal being a larger reach of hotels. Some of the main international consortia are ABC,WIN Global Travel Network, American Express, BCD, CCRA, Carlson Wagonlit, Radius, and Thor. A broad list of the most powerful travel agencies is available here.

Consortia rates
In exchange for offering better rates and commission to the TMC’s & Consortia, hotels receive listings under their private GDS rate code, website, and intranet for additional exposure to all member agents. Viewership of Consortia rates in the GDS is restricted – the rate is not available to general public and may be booked only when you enter the Consortia rate code. This means that if an agent searches for hotels in your city under the Consortia rate code and your hotel is not listed with the Consortia, your hotel will not show up in these search results.

Why join consortia & TMC programs?
Consortia will help you access new clients, drive growth, ADR, occupancy and incremental sales. TMC & Consortia will give you enhanced exposure to booking agents and their clients globally, all year round.

By joining TMC & Consortia hotel programs, your product is distributed to a balanced mix of on average 80% corporate and 20% leisure agencies, with both weekday and weekend business. You also get access to a variety of additional marketing opportunities to elevate your position and drive incremental business.

Consortia management programs help independent hotels compete for a share of the global business and leisure travel market by marketing preferred rates to qualified travel agents.

TMCs book the consortia rates and corporate rates they have access to, and all public rates.

EXAMPLE: CONSORTIA RATE
An agent part of ABC Global services can book ABC Global Travel rates only if a hotel has signed a contract with ABC Global Services. An agent with CCRA Travel would not be able to book the ABC Global Travel rates.
Travel Management Companies negotiate rates with hotels on behalf of the corporations they represent. This rate is specific to that client and only authorized users can view, access, and book the negotiated rates. Corporations pick the Travel Management Companies they want to handle their travel bookings, and only this TMC has access to the negotiated rates for that corporation.

EXAMPLE: CORPORATE RATE WITH A TMC
Corporation, say, XYZ has a negotiated rate with your hotel. Corporation XYZ has decided to work with American Express Business Travel, so American Express agents can see and book your negotiated rated with Corporation XYZ. An agent at CWT would not be able to book this negotiated rate.

Hoteliers determine the right Consortia & TMC partners to contract with each year. The bidding process has just started, so if you are considering to join, the moment is now. Here is the general Consortia timeline.

General Consortia Timeline:

June 1st – December 31st
• Sign up opens for Consortia services 2020

June 15th – August 30th
• From June 15th: RFP System training & educational sessions
o Invites with dates & times are sent separately
o Online training available all year at sabre University
• July 31st: (Recommended date)
o Hotel to complete their profile data – this is a recommended deadline since hotels cannot complete any Consortia submissions until profile data is 100% completed in the system.
• From August 1st: Consortia RFP training sessions – deep dive
o Invites with dates & times are sent separately
o Online training available all year at sabre University

From July 18th
• Sign up to Consortia Packages
• Individual Program sign up and a la carte sign up – Nexus Launch date is August 1st
• Additional Programs are being launched ongoing until October
• First Consortia submission deadlines are set to August 29th (Late submissions are accepted)

October 1st – December 31st
• Rate extension – ensure your existing consortia rates are extended until 31 March 2020, to avoid missing out on any potential bookings in the beginning of the year
• Rate loading & mapping – hotels are responsible for building and managing rates in the CRS, rates will then be automatically mapped to the GDS

From November 1st
• Sign up opens for 2020 consortia marketing opportunities and event participation

January 1st – February 28th
• Archive or Delete expired rates
• Rate Audits are performed ongoing to ensure rate availability in GDS and remove squatted rates

Read our GDS white paper Why do you need to be on a GDS now? A guide to the GDS market for hoteliers’  to learn more about GDS market.

1. Improve your visibility

2. Boost your conversion

3. Reduce your cancellations

4. More channels, more bookings

In this festive season hoteliers have to start doing everything they can to fill up the rooms of their properties. This is the moment to close the year with green numbers. What can be done in order to achieve this goal?

Here are some revenue management strategies that you can work with this Christmas and that can help you improve your occupancy and maximize your direct income.

Sell, but sell at a higher price with upselling:

In sales, “upselling” is the practice of encouraging customers to pay more for a similar product (but of higher quality) than the one they are thinking of choosing.

A client is browsing the website of your hotel and is looking to book a double room, but, just before finalizing the booking, they are shown the option of the superior double room (more spacious and with better amenities).

How can you convince the client to book the double superior instead of the double standard at this Christmas season or at any time of the year?

1. Use high-quality photographs in your booking engine, highlighting differential spaces.

2. Include a text such as “Only €30 more”, to help the customer focus on the value of this upgrade.
   3. Promote scarcity and urgency as booking.com does by appealing to the fear that this offer or room is limited.

Create and promote the “early booking rate”Many people like to book ahead of time. Take advantage of this Christmas season to include early booking rates for 2019. Improve your short-term cash flow by fully charging a reservation that will be made in 40 days or more. Another advantage of this strategy is that it helps you drastically reduce your cancellation fees.

Offer and promote packages that guarantee reservations

Create suitable packages for this time of year, designed for families, singles and seniors.

For many families, Christmas is a time to change the routine, not to spend thousands of hours cooking for your entire family. Your hotel can offer a package for these families that include accommodation, dinners and, of course, some activities for the children.

Another segment that of clients we recommend targeting your offer at for this Christmas is the singles. Offer special packages of half-board or full-board for singles that include a Christmas or New Year party and/or an event to meet people.

Finally, the third age segment or grandparents can also bring benefits and ensure greater occupancy at the end of the year. As life expectancy increases around the world, there are more retired people and not everyone has family to visit. Offer half-board or full-board packages with specific activities for them including, of course, your New Year’s Eve dinner.

Optimize your multi-channel strategy

During the last decade, the hotel industry has undergone dramatic changes, particularly in revenue management. OTAs, GDSs and metasearch websites are competing for customer service and all are affecting the margins of the hotels. This is why hotels have to optimize their channel mix and analyze in depth the costs and benefits of each one of them in order to develop a holistic strategy that generates income and profit flows that are sustainable in the future.

How do you do it?

On one hand, analyze the costs of each one of the channels: the rates of the CRS, the commissions of the OTAs and, of course, the direct channel. On the other hand, understand the history of each of the channels and how they have impacted sales. Then maximize the profitability of each channel, evaluating the total contribution of each of them. For example, the channels that bring guests who in the long run make greater complimentary expense and repeat are much more profitable than those that bring customers who do not consume anything at the hotel and don’t return.

Optimize your products and prices based on your history and customers

Develop a strategy of balanced room types. This is done by evaluating your rooms and the prices of your products and how you describe them in the sales channels.

Commit to actively managing your inventory and selling your premium product instead of upgrading to boost rates.

Finally, understand your clients to find out which ones offer the most value to your hotel. Different customer profiles have a strong preference for particular channels, but you have to know which channels bring us customers that spend more in your establishment. If you manage to capture the additional expense of your customers, instead of just the income per room, you can make a clearer picture of the total value of the client and with them accurately forecast the demand and set rates optimized per room.

With these 5 revenue management ideas for this Christmas, we hope you can generate more bookings and more revenue for your hotel.

Revenue management in the hospitality industry involves predicting customer demand with the aim of streamlining the sales process, allowing companies to sell at the correct price, to the correct customer, at the correct time. When conducted correctly, revenue management can be an extremely effective strategy, helping hotels to significantly enhance their profit margins.

Follow the 8 revenue management tips below to boost your hotel’s performance.

1. Create a revenue management culture

Our first revenue management tip is to create a revenue management culture within your organisation, but what do we mean by this exactly? Basically, this means that revenue management is not something which should be left entirely to the main decision-makers or to the management team; it’s something which everyone should be aware of.

By raising awareness of what revenue management is and why it is important for the hotel, positive behaviour can be encouraged among all employees. If employees understand why it is necessary, they will tend to be more careful when recording data and more likely to use this data to make good decisions based on knowledge.

2. Keep consistent, relevant records

Data collection is the essence of the revenue management process, and the data compiled by the hotel will form the basis of almost all of the decisions made. However, some hotels record too much data, which only serves to confuse matters. Therefore, it is vital for records to be relevant and consistent.
You must identify exactly what information must be collected and how it must be recorded. Then, to make life easier for the people who will use the data, a set of standard practices must be introduced, ensuring that all those involved in data collection employ consistent methods.

3.Offer incentives for direct reservations

Although OTAs may be of great assistance, generally speaking, it is preferable to attract direct reservations. This is the best way to build customer loyalty. As most direct reservations are made online, the hotel website must be well-maintained and updated.
At a time when prices can be compared on third-party websites in just a few seconds, the trick for attracting direct reservations is to offer worthwhile incentives. For example, loyalty programmes offer the possibility of obtaining lower prices in exchange for frequent visits, while other ideas include offering discounts in restaurants or free Wi-Fi for guests making direct reservations.

4. Pay attention to changes in guest habits

A significant part of revenue management involves the use of historical data to make decisions in the present in relation to the future. However, historical data is not always entirely reliable.
Over the years, it is likely that you will see changes in your customer database. These changes may include aspects such as average age, but they may also be more subtle. For example, you may notice a change in the way in which the average client reserves a room.

5.Focus on providing added value

One of the best revenue management tips is to think in terms of offering as much value as possible. Part of price optimization is understanding when prices shouldn’t necessarily be compromised.
By offering extra value, such as discounts for additional nights or even a free extra night when demand is sufficiently low, you can be braver with your prices, which could generate higher revenues.

6.Predict and map demand

Of course, anticipating demand is one of the most important elements of any revenue management strategy, and this requires forecasting. It’s also important to predict aspects such as availability of rooms and market share. However, you must also take measures to attempt to identify the origin of the demand.

Hotels are usually able to access excellent information on their guests, especially in terms of their origin. By comparing this information with historical data, it should be possible to identify the areas in which demand is growing and other associated trends, which could lead to a growth in business from these regions in the future.

7.Only use automation when appropriate

Many hotels largely depend on automation, and it can seem like a gift from heaven. However, automation can sometimes be an enemy of revenue management, which requires complex decisions based on factors such as supply, demand, the cost of making a sale, etc.

To be clear, automation can still play a role within a revenue management strategy. After all, modern software is capable of handling fairly complex decisions and relieves employees from time-consuming data entry tasks. However, good revenue management also requires human decisions, thinking outside the box and taking occasional risks.

8.Prioritise mobile optimisation

Our final revenue management tip relates to mobile optimisation of hotel websites. If you haven’t done this yet, it’s absolutely essential that you make the necessary changes to your hotel website so that the user experience on a mobile device is just as simple as on a desktop or laptop computer.

Mobile devices are now one of the most significant sources of revenues. In fact, Google recently revealed that mobile searches now exceed desktop searches.

By following the 8 tips listed above, you’ll be able to implement an effective revenue management strategy, allowing you to match supply to demand and maximise your property’s revenues.

Reach us to learn how Channel Manager can help you streamline your distribution and increase your revenue.

Revenue management in the hotel industry is still relatively young and has grown exponentially in the last decade, particularly in the last few years.
This article explores the changing role of revenue management in the hotel industry and the developments which we can expect to see in the near future.

1. Revenue management is moving up a notch

A growing trend of elevating the role of revenue management can be observed in the hotel industry. Many hotels are now seeking the analytical overview and strategic knowledge which only this area can provide. This information and knowledge is used to make key decisions. Revenue managers are increasingly participating in executive committees, with the same status and stature as directors of marketing and sales departments. Equally, many hotels no longer have a revenue manager but rather a director of revenue management, lending far greater weight to the role.

2. The role of revenue management will continue to expand

Revenue management is undergoing constant change, to a far greater extent than other departments. This is due to its close links with technological capability. As technology evolves, analytical methods will be far more powerful.
At the current time, a revenue manager must be able to tackle marketing and sales challenges.

3. Revenue management will expand to other sectors

Revenue management is forecast to expand to other revenue-generating areas in hotels such as hotel restaurants, venue hire, room service and leisure facilities.
You may also be interested in: 3 key aspects of a successful revenue management strategy

4. Profit management will play a central role for hotels and revenue managers

The increase in importance of revenue managers in hotels is down to one key factor: they are in a unique position to help generate profits. For this reason, the role will increasingly be perceived as profit generation rather than revenue management. As a result, revenue managers are focusing more and more on increasing profit margins instead of increasing revenues.
This focus on profit will intensify this year, as revenue management uses new methods to better understand customers and improve margins.

5. Revenue managers will focus on guest analysis

The hotel sector is more competitive today than ever. Hotels are not only competing with their rivals in the same city, but also with competitors in other cities and even their international counterparts. Online travel agencies, the increase in Airbnb apartments and high demand from guests are making the industry more and more competitive. As a result, hotels are resorting to customer analysis in order to offer better products adapted to each segment.

The revenue management concept was devised thirty years ago and is effectively employed today by most hotels and airlines. However, even though hotel managers often talk about revenue management, the definition of the concept differs depending on the individual… One thing is for certain – revenue managers are faced with the most important challenge in running a hotel, namely selling the right rooms to the right customers at the right time and rate through the right sales channel.

What is Revenue Management?

The revenue management concept was devised thirty years ago and is effectively employed today by most hotels and airlines. However, even though hotel managers often talk about revenue management, the definition of the concept differs depending on the individual… One thing is for certain – revenue managers are faced with the most important challenge in running a hotel, namely selling the right rooms to the right customers at the right time and rate through the right sales channel.

This article is aimed at broadening your understanding of hotel revenue management. Using my experience, I will try to familiarize you with the concept of revenue management and to present you with a ten-point list of the best practices of its implementation.

Let us start with some history.

A short history of revenue management

Revenue management emerged when the US federal government made the move to deregulate airlines at the beginning of the eighties. A few years on, sales performance strategy planning became a commonplace practice among the biggest carriers. Revenue management even has its unofficial birthday – 17 January 1985 – the day on which American Airlines launched its “Ultimate Super Saver” special offer aimed at weakening their competitor, the low-cost PEOPLExpress airline.

The hotel industry was quick to notice the benefits that airlines gained from embracing revenue management. However, it was initially slow to spread across hotel chains as they lacked adequate data processing technology and often had little guest data to process. What is more, the main obstacle that had to be overcome was managing the length of stay – a variable that was not present in airline revenue management.

The economic roots of revenue management

Understanding the close ties between economics and revenue management is essential if one wishes to understand the philosophy behind the latter. The process of devising hotel rate strategies is directly tied to economic concepts: both revenue management and economics emphasize the meaning of supply and demand as well as the price elasticity of demand. These concepts, combined with methods of determining the associated indicators, are crucial for successful revenue management.

Integrating revenue management into hotel operations

Revenue management is not an independent process in hotel operations. Its full potential becomes apparent only when it is integrated into the remaining hotel management processes. Employees should be familiarized with it and it should become an inherent part of hotel operations. The revenue management culture should be introduced with strong support from the management and be based on a strong conviction in the positive outcomes that the associated practices will bring. Hotel management should set sales goals for each department and for the hotel as a whole. Introducing additional salary bonuses, especially at the departmental level, is also a good solution. When team members are motivated, they focus on doing that which is best for the hotel and not for themselves personally.

Revenue management should not be perceived solely as a manner of conducting business as a hotel, but encompass all of the hotel’s activities with a common commitment from all individuals involved.

Research your market

Below are several questions that will test your knowledge of the market:

• What is your market penetration?
• What is the market share of the individual segments of your business?
• What is your hotel’s position in the market?

Business intelligence reports covering the hotel industry may prove very helpful in obtaining the above information. A good revenue manager is well aware of the influence that external and internal factors have on the local market and on the hotel’s position within it. As a revenue manager, you may carry out a SWOT analysis of the above factors. Do not forget to also carry out a thorough comparative analysis.

Ask yourself the following simple questions to determine your position in the market:

• • Does your hotel set or follow price trends?
  • If your hotel sets price trends, then have you compiled an accurate

list of your competitors? Do you know what factors should be taken into account when doing so? Is your list of competitors based on the number of bookings or only the room rates?

• • How is your hotel positioned with regard to its business mix?
  • What is your RGI (Revenue Generation Index)?

The next article in this series elaborates on the subjects of market segmentation, revenue strategy, forecasting and setting rates. Read PART 2: The basic ingredients of the revenue management recipe.

About the Author 

Zak Ali, the Global Revenue Development Director at YieldPlanet, has over 12 years of experience in Revenue Management and hotel distribution. Zak has managed hotels of various sizes in many of the world’s key markets, including London, Dubai and Singapore. He has also taken part in creating a global rate application which has been implemented in 3000 hotels. Zak is a Certified Revenue Management Executive (CRME), a title awarded by the Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International (HSMAI).

Running a 21st century hotel requires processing a staggering amount of data, including rates, types of rooms, booking details and the competition’s activity on booking portals. The growing importance of the Internet forces hotel operators to search for tools that will help them manage the massive flow of data and analyze it with the aim of making key business decisions.

Due to a rapid development of the Internet the hotel industry, just like any other industry in the world – has been undergoing some big changes. The World Wide Web holds a gigantic amount of data with terabytes of information flowing among servers. The development of Internet shopping, social media, tourist websites, etc. requires data to be arranged in ways that will allow the businesses to grow further. This is where big data comes in.

Big data – what exactly is it and how can it apply to your business?

It is a concept used to define enormous collections of data that are hard to process and analyze, but further information leading to new business opportunities may be extracted from them. Using user data makes it possible to carry out successful advertising on the Internet. Tracking the behavior of users visiting hotel websites provides information on what exactly they are interested in. This allows hoteliers to carry out personalized advertising campaigns, both through email, as well as through displaying banners, for example using Google’s advertising network. Big data informs hoteliers on the number of prospective guests who visit the website through smartphones and traditional computers. It is big data that makes it possible to form target groups used in Google Adwords and Facebook campaigns. There are currently several thousand websites through which hotels sell their services. Some of them are large and well-known, such as Booking.com and Expedia, but there are also numerous small local OTAs and those that offer only a selection of hotel services, e.g. wedding receptions. Hotels currently rent their rooms through an average of 5-10 OTAs, whereas big hotel chains sometimes use as many as 25 OTAs at once. Effectively managing such a big number of channels, including full sales analyses and competition monitoring, is extremely time-consuming and, at a certain point, becomes a huge burden for hoteliers. This is where professional multichannel selling tools come to your rescue. They centralize all sales in a single account and, thus, hotel operators are not required to log into all of the websites one by one.

Channel Manager: a tool to process big data

YieldPlanet’s Channel Manager is one such tool. It uses SaaS technology (which means that you are not required to install it on your computer) and because it is connected to more than 500 most popular OTAs, GDS, wholesalers, etc. it provides you with a wide range of distribution channels to choose from. Channel Manager is also integrated with most popular PMS systems and, therefore, provides a trouble-free and quick transfer of data from partner websites to the hotel’s website.

Central processing of large amounts of data, and in the case of tools meant to manage room reservations this includes mainly rates, restrictions, bookings, types of rooms, etc., become easier thanks to the principles of automatic sales. You only need to define the basic room type and rate plan after which the system will recalculate all of the plans for all types of rooms within a specified time period. This allows you to plan sales months in advance without worrying that your employees will forget to take care of it while they are preoccupied with their other duties. Another example is the central allotment function that allows you to manage all bookings and cancellations through an automatic system that updates room availability across all channels.

Use big data to monitor your competitors

Big data also makes it possible to follow what the competition is doing. A single OTA website hosts offer from thousands of hotels. Each of them has a number of room types and various special offers. Such large amounts of data may only be processed in a short time by using an algorithm. Sales channel management tools are able to monitor the rates of selected hotels in a given time period. Users are provided with a report that will prove helpful in planning short-term sales strategies and making key decisions regarding rates. A revenue manager who is keeping up with the times will use management tools to not only supervise sales channels but also manage rates. The available tools identify and recommend rate strategies that correspond with the hotel’s general strategy based on an in-depth analysis of customer habits. Revenue management systems use big data to analyze historical data, but also forecast rates up to a year in advance. YieldPlanet has recently teamed up with academics from across the world to work on a new rate management tool. This will be a new generation tool using algorithms that mimic the artificial intelligence of a virtual revenue manager.

Many would probably wonder why you should invest in such solutions. However, the annual growth of the world hotel market in essence forces you to use increasingly modern tools, which will do complex data analyses for you and streamlinedecision-makingg processes. Are you ready for the new dimension of hotel operations?

New rules in online distribution might be well underway, but rate parity it is still very often a contractual requirement for the hotel to do business with large OTAs. For many properties, the practice of rate parity goes beyond any binding agreement. It is part of the hotel’s strategy as it ensures a consistent price and supports the brand by adding to its rate integrity.

YieldPlanet helps hoteliers willing to maintain consistent prices for all partners, for all the various room types, dates and restrictions. By automating the entire process, YieldPlanet’s Channel Manager takes risk, cost, and effort out of online channel management – so that the hotelier can sell online in full confidence and focus on other important hotel management tasks. In addition, YieldPlanet’s Price Shopper allows verification of the hotel’s pricing over the last 30 days across up to three different OTAs. A red highlighting will alert the user to prices which may not respect rate parity.

For hotels wishing to differentiate their pricing strategy, YieldPlanet’s Channel Manager can help in ways. The mapping tables allow you to introduce formulas (plus or minus an amount or percentage of the price) which enable different prices per channel. It is also possible to display price and availability separately for each OTA, where values can be input manually.

Regardless of your price strategy, it is worth to remember that room rate is just one of the tools at your disposal to attract and satisfy guests. With this in mind, YieldPlanet designed products ready to serve different pricing structures and strategies, depending on your hotel, room products, and services.

Nowadays, metasearch engines are a fast-growing advertising model in the travel industry. They can be an alternative channel for generating traffic and therefore represent an opportunity for hotels helping them to increase direct bookings.

Metasearch engines present a consolidated offer while providing travelers with a wide choice of properties and price transparency. The mechanism is simple with benefits for both hotels and consumers. Hotels pay advertising fees which ultimately lead to direct bookings. The traveler clicks on their chosen property and completes the transaction directly on the hotel website.

Metasearch engines search for the user’s request in other search engines and databases, aggregating then the result in a singles list. For travelers, this means easy access to real-time availability and pricing. For hotels, metasearch engines represent a key driver of traffic and direct bookings.

Metasearch engines can be an important tool to reduce their dependency from OTAs as they redirect the users to the property’s website, to complete the booking process. Generally, metasearch investment produces a very good return-on-ad-spend.

Metasearch engines, include the giants Google Hotel Finder, Trivago by Expedia, and TripAdvisor. The hotel’s goal should be to see themselves in the Google Hotel Finder metasearch pricing menus or among the top three features advertisers in the TripAdvisor meta-search menu. These metasearch functionalities, although not reaching very significant results at the moment, are constantly growing and increasing their functionalities, and could raise their role in hotel online distribution in the next few years.

The XML connectivity with Szallas enables YieldPlanet clients to make immediate prices and availability updates on the channel through YieldPlanet’s Channel Manager in a few clicks. This partnership is a great opportunity for hotels to drive more bookings by targeting local audience from the eight countries in Central Europe where Szallas operates.

The Szallas Group started in 2007 as a start-up founded by a group of friends. Today, it is a major player on the Hungarian hotel booking market, operating in eight countries and ten languages, in Central Europe.

How to use this channel to increase the number of guests?

Once your hotel is added to Szallas.hu it will become visible in all countries where Szallas operates with its portals. This means that a tourist from Hungary or from Slovakia looking for a stay in Poland will find your property when searching in his local Szallas OTA, and the hotel description is available simultaneously in 10 languages.

Are you ready to start distributing to a new sales channel? Click here to register to this OTA and fill in the web form. After submitting it, a Szallas’ sales specialist will contact you to assist you with the completion of the registration process.

Do not forget to contact our Customer Support in order to plug the new channel into YieldPlanet Channel Manager. The XML connection between YieldPlanet Channel Manager and Szallas Group allows you to manage prices and availabilities of your room inventory in real time.

The hotel industry in Central and South Eastern Europe has been growing year by year. 2016, due to the global geopolitical situation, was a fantastic year for Polish, Bulgarian, Romanian and Croatian hoteliers because of the significant number of tourists who decided to spend their holidays in these countries rather than Turkey or Egypt, for example. This year will be no different – once more, Polish people are announcing their intention to stay within the country for the holiday season (up to 73% of respondents in research conducted in January by Hilton).

The same research also highlighted the preferences that drive Polish tourists to choose their place of stay – as high as 72% of respondents indicated places offering a host of attractions, thanks to which their stay would be more exciting. The same number of respondents chose a travel destination on the basis of quality for the given price. What does this mean for hoteliers?

This sheer quantity of both new and more experienced tourists forces hoteliers into a life-and-death battle over prices. Everyone would like to take advantage of the latest trends in order to fill up their hotel, hostel, or guesthouse and increase their RevPAR. In addition, hotel distribution and revenue management alone cease to suffice. Thus we arrive at a new duty – price management, which focuses on optimal price modeling for each given date, taking many different factors into account at once. Considering the fact that almost 80% of hotel revenue is generated by room reservations (based on YieldPlanet research), it is obvious with what care hotels must approach such a sensitive sales element as price. In order to effectively join the fight to increase occupancy and maximize revenue amid stiff market competition, it is absolutely necessary to use tools that will reduce workload and ease the making of key decisions while pricing roomnights.

One such tool is the Price Shopper, which, being of the price comparison type, fulfills the role of monitoring the competition. We have launched a completely new version of the Price Shopper based on both the newest trends in price management technology and suggestions received from our clientele, which is why it has been designed with all hotel types in mind – from the smallest independent properties to large hotel chains.

In contrast to the previous version, the new Price Shopper is a complex tool supporting price management, the use of which benefits even the smallest hotel properties. In the event of connection with other YieldPlanet products – the Channel Manager and Price Optimizer – it becomes one of the key tools in YieldPlanet’s ecosystem, as a provider of price management solutions.

Online price reports

We have prepared, for your convenience, real-time price reports, which can be either refreshed manually or automatically from a time horizon of 30 up to as much as 365 days. Prices of as many as 15 competitive hotels are downloaded from various sources simultaneously and presented in the form of highly-readable charts and tables. Clicking on any point in a table allows it to view all possible information concerning the prices of the given hotel on the chosen date.

Ad Hoc Reports

With only a few clicks, you can generate an exact price report for the chosen competition. Generated in real-time, this information is displayed in relation to the preferred established settings – taking the relevant rate plans and breakfast settings, length of stay, and type of accommodation (single or double room) into account. Reports can be refreshed automatically or manually – thanks to which you will always have an up-to-date price report divided into the various members of competition and specific dates – 30, 60, or 90 days, as applies to the chosen version of the Price Shopper.

Automatic Reports

You do not need to log into the tool every time in order to check the prices of your competition. The Price Shopper can be programmed so that you will receive, for example, a report of the prices of your chosen competition on a daily basis at the supplied email address. Depending on the chosen version, these can be daily reports or weekly reports.

Events & Holidays Calendar

The new Price Shopper takes into account local and global events as well as holidays in its reports. You can add party events yourself, or download them using our tool-integrated search engine. This helps to identify changes and price trends of roomnights in response to, for example, approaching holidays, or a concert, and then to incorporate them into your pricing strategy. Thanks to all this, your prices will be able to accurately reflect current and impending events.

Reputation reports

Just like in the cases of the Channel Manager and the Price Optimizer, the new Price Shopper contains integrated only reputation reports for your hotel. Prepared in cooperation with ReviewPro, the widget is given hoteliers access to statistics formed on the basis of reviews made on such influential opinion-shaping platforms as TripAdvisor, Facebook, Booking.com, or Expedia. These statistics show the general sources of opinion regarding your hotel and, more importantly, divides these opinions into negative, neutral, and positive categories. This allows you to quickly react to negative or neutral opinions damaging to the reputation of your hotel. And this lowers the risk of a decreased RevPar.

The Price Shopper is a tool that works well both on its own and in concurrence with the Price Optimizer. This latter is yet another crucial platform, supplying data for predicting prices and related recommendations via algorithm. However, in connection with the Channel Manager, the Price Shopper helps hoteliers to make quick pricing decisions in order to maximize revenue.
DISCOVER THE NEW PRICE SHOPPER NOW

Building an efficient distribution strategy for a hotel is a challenge that many hotel managers are facing today. Fierce competition they encounter on the market pushes them increasingly more frequently to take risk and reach out for entirely new markets and segments. On-line travel agencies (OTA) are usually an indispensable ingredient of such strategy but reliance on this channel cannot guarantee success. How to reach a completely new group of clients? How to conquer new markets and improve operating parameters of a hotel?

The ongoing globalisation and the overwhelmingly rapid emergence and growing accessibility of new technologies are the key factors that make conquering new markets much easier today than it used to be the case just a few or a dozen or so years ago. This applies to tourism as well as to any other industry. Reaching prospective clients with, and personalization of, an offer have never been easier, which is true of activities undertaken by hotels both directly and through intermediaries (such as OTA). However, relentless experimentation, optimization of efforts and continuous adaptation of distribution strategies to changing business environments and evolving preferences and expectations of clients remain the key to success –  all that in the face of stronger than ever competition. The use of advanced technologies by the tourism and hotel industry has boosted the growth of the market, and has made much easier the travel planning process itself. Mobile devices have almost replaced desktop PCs from communications between hotels and their clients. Almost everyone has a smartphone today, so hotels can use the GPS tracking facility to inform their clients in an instant of any delay or change in the bookings and, further, efficiently distribute any promotional material.

The growth of the Internet and its widespread use for planning travel have changed the hotel industry beyond recognition. The first contact of a prospective client with a hotel is still often established by visiting the website of the hotel as the interface for the visible part of the booking process. What is important, this form of booking is the most desirable one because there are no commissions for intermediaries of any kind. Effective building of on-line advertising, social media and content marketing for attracting as many prospective clients as possible to the website of the hotel is crucial to this process. Considering the number of boarding facilities, from large international chains to small independent hotels, which are very active on the Internet today, pursuing an efficient on-line marketing strategy is not as simple as it would seem. On the contrary: it is very difficult and, in addition, more costly from year to year. So, how to prepare for winning new markets? What to remember? What mistakes to avoid?

#1 Identify your target group

There are many ways to source new clients and thereby win entirely new markets. However, the hotel needs to pinpoint it target group before proceeding to the drafting of a marketing and distribution strategy. This is so because different solutions will work for domestic clients than for international ones.

The use of services of on-line travel agencies (OTA) is one of the most effective and least expensive ways of reaching new clients and winning new markets. Tapping on the global coverage of well-established international OTA brands will enable a hotel to diversify its client base and reach entirely new segments and markets. However, to succeed, the hotel needs to define, and learn as much as possible about, the target group before partnering with any OTA for pursuit of the hotel’s distribution strategy. The more accurate definition of the target group, the better odds for coming up with the right marketing and distribution strategy.

#2 Define your strategy

Any campaign aiming at winning new markets and reaching new client segments has to be carefully prepared, so that clients are not only captured but also retained. This calls for a thorough examination of requirements and expectations of the selected target group and for drafting of a proposition maximally suited to these demands: different for business than for tourist clients, as well as different for people who seek a hotel for 2 or 3 nights than for longer-term guests.

Accordingly, to pin-point requirements of a new target group, the hotel may need to personalize its service menu, for instance by throwing in attractive packages for longer-stay clients or by investing in availability of complementary services, such as conference facilities. The planning should be careful, as is the case with any business strategy. No massive investment of effort or money in attracting new clients will make any sense unless the hotel already has an attractive offer in place.

#3 Prepare your action plan

The strategy, once it has been defined, has to be translated into a detailed action plan suitable for implementation, split into a series of individual tasks with assigned priorities, personal responsibilities and deadlines. It is also a good practice to identify all stakeholders and to define milestones for review and wrap-up of the hitherto progress of the plan.

Drafting of the plan is a critical phase and the process should be sufficiently thorough to prevent the taking of hasty decisions or actions. Chaotic or ill-considered steps can cascade into a number of mistakes, the remedying of which could turn out to be very costly or time consuming.

#4 Monitor your performance and optimize your strategy

Specific actions dictated directly by the adopted strategy and by the finished action plan are the last step to the winning of new markets and to the reaching of new groups of clients. Given that the hotel service market is very dynamic and competitive, implementation of the plan should be followed and optimized on regular basis.

OTAs can help in reaching the targeted groups of clients, so partnering with them can be worth the cost and effort. There are myriads of them today. They range from global companies with world-wide recognition to small local offices serving their niche markets. One concern is that although the theoretically desirable representation of the hotel by large and most popular OTAs can warrant the reaching of a really huge population of prospective clients, the actual rate of conversion could be very disappointing. Also, the booking acquisition costs can be higher than average. This is one of the reasons why smaller or niche agencies should not be automatically dismissed. While they have an incomparably smaller reach, they also face less competition, which can translate into better conversion rates.

Accordingly, flexibility and openness to experimentation seem to be the right approach to the successful building of a winning distribution strategy. Also, daily monitoring of operating performance and of cost-effectiveness of conversion is critical to the financial bottom line.

#5 Make sure your distribution strategy is effective

Inclusion of OTAs in distribution strategies is a necessity of the times because these organizations are professionals that stay on the top of changes in travelling habits and keep ahead of advanced mobile booking technologies. Although having clients book directly, via the hotel’s website, is more profitable, free from substantial agency commissions, the fact is that OTAs tend to contribute a two-digit per cent share of bookings and the volume of business they bring to hotels is becoming more important from year to year.

When relying on OTAs as part of the hotel’s distribution strategy, one should ensure to take maximum advantage of this distribution channel. The hotel should always “dress up” for its clients to keep them from going to the hotel’s competitors. High quality visuals, combined with a detailed description of the hotel, can do miracles and contribute directly to the hotel’s operating margins. According to a study by Expedia, the doubling of the number of photographs on an OTA’s website can increase the booking ratio by 4.5% and ADR by USD 3.5! A professional, keyword-optimized description of the hotel can improve the results even further: by 5.0% and USD 5, respectively. Considering these improvements, it is worth hiring a professional photographer and ensuring that the description of the hotel is appealing and up to date.

However, even best visuals and narratives will not translate into a high number of bookings unless the hotel has good credentials and high general ratings. It is clear from studies that hotels with large numbers of reviews get the lion’s share of the clientele. Comments published by guests on OTAs’ websites should be monitored in real time and never left without response. Each critical or favourable review should be answered within 24-48 hours to minimize negative effects of a negative opinion and, in the case of a positive opinion, to reinforce the impression of genuine care for guests and their well-being even after their stay ended. This follow-up can pay off rapidly in the form of a higher conversion rate: a growth of almost 1.5% for more than 50 recommendations.

Join us for an exclusive masterclass for hoteliers in Warsaw on September 6th (Thursday). Learn about best practices and innovative ideas to increase revenue.

Join us for an exclusive masterclass for hoteliers in Warsaw on September 6th (Thursday). Learn about best practices and innovative ideas to increase revenue.

The event, co-organized by ReviewPro and YieldPlanet, provides an opportunity to hear from three engaging speakers, network and talk about the challenges hotels face when it comes to boost revenue.

Elena Zhelezniak, Sales Manager at ReviewPro, will guide the participants on how to deliver better experiences and drive revenue. Sebastian Andruszczak, Sales and Marketing Director and Piotr Olesiński, Product Manager will introduce YieldPlanet’s new Revenue Management System – Price Optimizer. They will showcase how new technologies can change the hotel industry and how you can use them to automate your revenue management process.

The masterclass is free to attend, but places are limited. Save your spot today – register here .

Agenda

09:00 Welcome and introduction

09:30 Leveraging Guest Intelligence to Deliver Better Experiences & Drive Revenue
Speaker: Elena Zhelezniak, Sales Manager, ReviewPro (ENG)

10:15 Dynamic Revenue Management
Speaker: Sebastian Andruszczak, Sales and Marketing Director & Piotr Olesinski, Product Manager, YieldPlanet (PL)

11:00 Coffee Break & networking

Date: Thursday, September 6th

Time: 09:00 – 12:00

Venue: Radisson Blu Centrum Hotel, Warsaw

Address: Grzybowska 24, 00-132 Warszawa

REGISTER NOW

The Internet has taken over the hotel industry. Most booking decisions made today are based on information found on the Internet. Of course, not every reservation is made over the Internet. Tourists often use the web to search for information on hotels and then do the booking by telephone. One thing is for certain: a 21st century hotel does not exist if it does not make its presence known on the Internet. What is it then that tourists look for when searching for a suitable place to stay? 

The answer seems to be simple: they wish to stay at hotels that have many favourable reviews. They do not want to buy the cat in a bag, but would rather see how the rooms look before making a decision. And, finally, they want to find the best deal. There is a plethora of OTA websites on the Internet that allow hotels to reach prospective guests. However, one must keep in mind that the competition between hotels listed on the websites is fierce, each OTA charges a commission fee and each one has a different interface for managing the hotel’s account. Selling through numerous online channels requires not only the hotel’s ‘presence’ on the web, but also a sound price and brand policy.  

Why choose OTA websites? Some hotels love them, others hate them, and the truth is that their policies sometimes border on the controversial. However, they do enable hotels to reach new markets and bring in new bookings. OTAs often take on the duty of advertising their hotels as they have access to enormous budgets meant for online advertising, mailing, Google Ad-Words, etc.  What is more, their websites are responsive, i.e. compatible with small smartphone displays: a study carried out by HRS demonstrated that almost 20% of hotel reservations are made through the mobile channel. 

How should one go about using different distribution channels to achieve tangible benefits in the form of increased occupancy rates, revenue and profit? Here are the 5 steps to achieving success in the hotel business with online distribution channels.  

1. Collect positive reviews 

Maintaining a good reputation of your hotel is more important the even the best rate plans! As we all know, the Internet is a means through which dissatisfied customers may ruthlessly complain about the hotel, its standard of service, nasty foot, dirty bathtubs and crumpled sheets. OTA websites have their own grading systems that allow users to sort hotels by their overall rating. This is why the standard of service provided by your hotel should be impeccable! Therefore, remember to encourage your guests to post positive opinions on TripAdvisor or similar websites.   

1. Content marketing 

Build your brand using content! OTA websites give you the opportunity to create a rich hotel profile with numerous pictures, a long description, a list of hotel attractions and nearby landmarks. Some websites even allow you to post an advertising video. Remember to follow the ‘content is king’ principle and only add pictures of the highest quality to your profile. Do not hesitate to spend some cash on a professional photo session of your hotel – it will surely pay off in the future!   

1. Choose distribution channels and plan a rate policy 

There are hundreds of partners operating in the market – OTAs, wholesalers, global distributions systems (GDS), etc. Which ones and how many to choose? It all depends on the profile of your hotel and the market segments that it is meant for. You should certainly strike a balance between global and local distribution. Looking into specialised websites (SPA, conferences, wedding receptions, etc.) may be worthwhile if they fit the profile of your establishment. If you offer room packages or have special deals for corporate clients, finding a suitable partner will be necessary. How many channels should your hotel be included in? Our experience proves that hotels sell their services through an average of 5-10 distribution channels.  

Once you have chosen a pool of OTAs suited for your hotel, you must adopt a correct sales strategy. Thus far, many OTAs have included rate parity clauses in their contracts to prevent hotels from offering lower rates on competing websites. However, this year a breakthrough was made when the French National Assembly forbade using the rate parity clause which allows hoteliers to set their rates in all online and offline channels independently.   

1. Choose sales management tools 

Managing multichannel distribution, especially when each channel has its own rate strategy, is time consuming. Analysing total sales is another challenge you will have to face. Tools which centralise distribution, for example YieldPlanet’s Channel Manager, may prove helpful in this regard. The system makes it possible to centralise, automatise and optimise all internet sales. This includes dynamic enabling/disabling of specific rate plans or creating formulas for automatic rate changes and availability within individual channels, but also changing rates across all channels. The statistics module lets you carry out an in-depth sales analysis and generate occupancy, booking and revenue reports. Channel Manager also has a competition monitoring module: you only have to choose the competing hotels that interest you to receive information about their rates in selected OTA websites. Therefore, you will always be one step ahead of the competition!  

1. Your website also generates sales! 

Remember that your hotel’s website is the best, least expensive and most effective online sales channel. First, because it is controlled solely by you, and second, it does not limit the number of photos, descriptions, etc. that you may post. Third, according to research carried out by the HSMAI foundation, one in four online reservations in non-chain hotels was made through its website. If you decide to integrate the website with a booking engine, you may sell your services without paying commission fees to OTAs.  

YieldPlanet has released a new feature in the Booking Engine. It allows the hotel to set up packages in one simple screen.

On a single screen, the hotel can enter the following parameters:

• minimum stay
• price for the package
• description of the package e.g: weekend with tour of the city
• valid dates for the package

and then the package can be shown in the Booking Engine.

The whole operation to set up a new package takes only a few minutes.

Brazilian are slightly different from other tourists. Having good weather all year round and fabulous beaches in their home country, they are rather interested in shopping, glamour and prestige  gastronomy, sports, historical and cultural attractions. In this context, hotels should gain a deep understanding of their behaviour, likes and dislikes in order to develop effective marketing strategies to target Brazilian travelers. 

7 things you should know about Brazilian travellers: 

1. They love shopping, To cater to the Brazilian traveler who is looking to buy consumer goods you can create exclusive shopping tourist packages. Many Brazilian guests rent cars to facilitate their shopping trips, so one of these packages may include valet parking; 
2. Numerous international flights, especially inter-continental, are overnight. Thus, guests from Brazil are early morning or late evening. Givingtchemthe possibility of early morning check-in or late night check-out will give your hotel an added-value; 
3. Complimentary breakfast is considered a staple in Brazilian culture, A complimentary continental breakfast will give you some extra points;
4. Brazilians take cleanliness seriously: ultra clean rooms are crucial to guest satisfaction;
5. Cheerfulness is Brazilian’s middle name:  Staff interactions will be appreciated. Having a Staff member to greet the group or individual in their language will be extremely well received; 
6. As Portuguese speakers on a Spanish continent, not all Brazilians speak English: localise your hotel website into Portuguese. Additionally, you can have Staff members having a working knowledge of Portuguese to cater to Brazilian guests;
7. Social media have  become a very influential channel. Blogs, forums, and social networks have become important platforms for sharing thoughts and opinions about travel destinations and hotel experiences. Make sure you don’t miss social media channels in your marketing strategy.