French hotels take on online booking firms

French hotels launched an attack on three of the world's biggest online booking firms, saying they are unfairly twisting their arm on prices by banning them from offering reductions or taking bookings direct.

see full story @ The Telegraph

The Future 'Global' Hotel Traveler

At BITAC Global, Ron Swidler, Principal of Gettys, shared his thoughts on how the future will potentially change the global hotel industry.
Great design sets the foundation for every hotel experience. Sure hotels can excel with amazing service, but without high design enhancing every detail of the experience, it’s impossible to get guests passionate about that property.

In recent years design has become so important it plays a key role in branding too, it’s an essential element required to connect with potential guests to keep them coming back for more. Of course we all know that brands are what help us make sense of a complex world by simplifying decision making and allowing us to extend our persona to the products and services we use.

Without strong design that makes people have an emotional reaction a hotel will quickly see loyalty evaporate and along with it, pricing power.

get the full story @ www.hotelinteractive.com

This year good, next year better: U.S. hoteliers optimistic for 2014

That’s a quick synopsis of the generally upbeat view of demand for the U.S. lodging industry expressed here last week by experts speaking at New York University’s International Hospitality Industry Investment Conference.

get the full story @ Travel Weekly

Brand marketing varies by chain

REPORT FROM THE U.S.—Several hotel franchisors are taking fundamentally different approaches to marketing their brands. Each said there are advantages and disadvantages to the approaches they’ve chosen.

Some franchisors choose to market their umbrella of brands, such as Choice Hotels International. For example, consumers will see TV commercials for Choice Hotels rather than Choice’s individual brands.

get the full story @ hotelnewsnow.com

Hotel vs. OTA Parity Agreements: Does It Have to be a Battle?

If a love-hate relationship exists in the hospitality industry, it’s between hotels and online travel agencies (OTAs) such as Expedia, Orbitz and Priceline, among many others. On one hand, OTAs extract sizable commissions, which understandably grate on the hotels that must pay them. On the other, they also produce an enormous amount of bookings, which hotels covet.

Hotels would prefer their own websites and call centers be their guests’ major distribution channel, but so popular are OTAs—and so dependent on them have many hotels become—it’s difficult to imagine hotels eschewing their services altogether. Particularly challenging are OTA parity agreements, which require hotels to guarantee that room rates on their own websites are not below those offered by the OTAs.

Despite this challenge, savvy hotel operators are finding ways to provide incentives that entice customers to book directly through their own websites, front desk or over the phone. In this article, we present six such strategies that hotel operators can use without conflicting with their OTA agreements.

get the full story @ Software advice

The power of purple pricing

As a pricing mechanism, Purple Pricing allows a seller to learn buyers' maximum willingness to pay so they get an excellent picture of demand. And, at the same time, the seller makes money despite giving refunds.

get the full story @ HBR - Harvard Business Review

Have You Seen Your Online Reputation? [Infographic]

Have You Seen Your Online Reputation? [Infographic]: The digital revolution has made it increasingly difficult for a brand to maintain control of its online reputation. From talk on social media to articles on other websites and mentions via search engines, it seems like everyone has an opinion about brands and an abundance of online channels to share these views. While positive posts...


Infographic
by MDG Advertising

IS SOCIAL MEDIA VITAL TO THE SUCCESS OF YOUR HOTEL?

IS SOCIAL MEDIA VITAL TO THE SUCCESS OF YOUR HOTEL?

Pricing is critical to a hotel’s success

How we price is critical to a hotel’s success. It is also a subject that can generate some passionate discussions. The question becomes: how are we making these important decisions and what factors do we take into account? Whether you use a sophisticated price-optimization system or determine your rates manually, it is necessary to make a critical assessment of the information you are using to make and validate your pricing decisions.

Pricing is critical to a hotel’s success

Proactive branding: Begin with the brand platform

Proactive branding: Begin with the brand platform

Boutique Hotel Summit 2013: Five tips to beat the big brands

‘Non-standard’, ‘trendy’ and ‘unique’. Just three of the words used to describe a boutique hotel at yesterday’s Boutique Hotel Summit in London. But with larger chains beginning to take a grip of the sector with the emergence of so-called lifestyle brands, how can independent boutiques stand out in an increasingly crowded segment?

Boutique Hotel Summit 2013: Five tips to beat the big brands

Taking on the minibar

Taking on the minibar

Next generation site architecture

The need to design and deploy a next-generation site architecture that maximizes your chances of findability, no matter where and how searchers look for you, is one of the hottest topics in the evolving mobile and multi-device world.

Get the full story @ Search Engine Watch

Choice Hotels launches technology division

Choice Hotels International has launched SkyTouch Technology, a division that develops and markets technology products for hotels. With the launch comes the unveiling of SkyTouch Hotel OS, a cloud-based property- and rate-management solution for other hotel chains and independent properties.

Get full story

Three technology trends that are transforming meetings

While virtual meetings technology won’t ever replace the networking, brainstorming, and relationship building that happens at face-to-face meetings, they are going to play an important role, and will continue to transform the meeting industry.

Get full story @ MEETINGS NET

TripAdvisor introduces new property dashboard

The new Property Dashboard, now available to Business Listings subscribers, includes in-depth competitor metrics, local market trends, page view data and more. The Snapshot – available to all registered users – helps you easily measure your daily performance on TripAdvisor.

Get full story @ Revinate - The new standard for guest satisfaction

Tripadvisor for buiness - Introducing tha property Dashboard and Snapshot - PDF

Speedy check-in lets hotel guests bypass front desk

Hotels are changing the way guests check in to their rooms, eliminating the traditional stop at the front desk to speed up, simplify and, in some cases, personalize the process. In the age of social networking, it’s more important than ever to get the guests’ experience right.

Get full story @ New York Times

Content creation, curation and marketing - today’s holy grail for travel marketers

As search engine optimization and marketing evolve to become mobile, local and social, the confluence of search and social is the most exciting tourism marketing trend, a main topic at last weeks EyeForTravel Social Media and Mobile Strategies Conference in San Francisco.

Get full story

Mais Hoteis nos Estados Unidos a cobrar pelos serviços de Internet ....

Starwood reinvents hotel loyalty landscape. ~ Friday, 3rd February 2012 from 4Hoteliers

Starwood reinvents hotel loyalty landscape. ~ Friday, 3rd February 2012 from 4Hoteliers