Tag: christopher michau

Briefing: Data culture creates new risks

Posted on by Guy Lean

Data has become a key tool that a hospitality business needs to perform at its best. Now businesses must recognise the importance of using the data they have in a responsibile way. A misuse of data could be a risk to a business and could destroy trust between it and its customers. The latest research by Accenture has found that 83% of executives agree trust is the cornerstone of the digital economy.

Four hospitality experts discuss how they work with data:

As these videos show, in hospitality data can help deliver better service, and help understand how products can be marketed. It is very beneficial to embrace this in your business and culture. Technology systems in the industry are getting better at gathering and uniting data. But there is still a way to go for optimum use.

New risks arising from data use should be present in the mind of any business that take data on. According to Accenture; ‘81 percent of executives agree that as the business value of data grows, the risks companies face from improper handling of data are growing exponentially.’ And ‘80% of executives report strong demand among knowledge workers for increased ethical controls for data.’ Risk can come out of using customer data in ways they did not agree to, or unethical use of insights taken from data.

A report form Sabre suggests that with all that data use requires continual refinement as more sophisticated computer programs are created to automate data analysis processes and more and more objects become able to capture data as the “Internet of things grows”. Sabre say that “we’re still several years away from having a robust understanding of how this degree of information will change how we conduct business.”

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Video clips produced by ybc.tv for the Hospitality Channel, including interview from industry conferences such as the IHIF conference as well as specific Hospitality Channel shoots.

Briefing: Digital support, OTAs, and the Billboard Effect

Posted on by Guy Lean

The latest report from TravelClick has found that so far in 2016 brand websites have had the largest share of rooms sold (34.7%) of all booking channels in North America. OTAs have had 14.9% of the share. Both segments grew in the last quarter of 2015, brand channels grew 4.3% and OTAs grew 3.8%.

Online booking continues to dominate distribution and despite recent discussions in the industry questioning the continued relevance of the ‘Billboard Effect’, relationships between smaller hotel companies and the OTAs remain important.

These videos discuss the importance of online channels and what OTAs can offer:

The Billboard Effect was made famous in 2009 when Chris K. Anderson of Cornell University published the research report ‘The Billboard Effect: Online Travel Agent Impact on Non-OTA Reservation Volume.’

The reported look closely at four hotels (three branded, one independent) and noted changes in the Average Daily Reservations on their own websites as their visibility on Expedia.com was switched on and off over a three month period. All four hotels saw an increase in direct reservations when displayed on the OTA. The highest difference was found with the independent hotel which had a direct reservation increase of 26% when visible on Expedia. The lowest difference was a 7.5% increase.

However, as reported on tnooz, research is now suggesting that customers who look on OTAs are more likely to ultimately book on the OTA site regardless of where they start their booking journey.

If you’ve been sent to this page and you’re not yet on the circulation list to receive these regular briefings and you would like to sign up, you can do see here. It’s free.

Video clips produced by ybc.tv for the Hospitality Channel, including interview from industry conferences such as the IHIF conference as well as specific Hospitality Channel shoots.

Briefing: Demand for data services

Posted on by Guy Lean

A report from KPMG has found that 58% of organizations have difficulties evaluating data quality and reliability. Only 19% say they are currently ‘very satisfied’ with the insights their Data and Analytics tools provide. And only 14% think they have all the talent and capabilities they need to fully leverage data and analytics.

Relevant information and statistics can be provided by data collection or research services, or can be a result of good data systems within a hotel.

In these videos experts discuss services they offer to the hospitality industry and its customers:

KPMG’s report Going beyond the data: turning data from insights into value found that 97% of organizations say they are using Data and Analytics in some area of the business and 81% of respondents have improved their understanding of customers. There are a multitude more ways data can help organisations to make accurate and fast business decisions and sell their product effectively if they are able to leverage data properly.

In 2016 Snapshot will launch a new Hotel Analytics platform. The products is promised to be “Glanceable. Actionable. Effortless.” The platform has need significant investment to build, some of which came from long standing hotel market data & benchmarking company STR Global, and €25 million of which came from China based IT company Shiji Networks. The overwhelming volumes of data in the industry have long been both an opportunity and a headache to figure out. This product will surely appeal to many.

This is one of many companies responding to the demand for clarity of data. As discussed in the above videos UK based research company BDRC Continental provide research to a variety of industries including hospitality. Maxxton provides IT solutions and services. The online travel agents like Expedia have access to a phenomenal amount of data spanning many brands and therefore can gain a great perspective on the industry. And technology companies such as Seranata Intraware provide solutions for hotels to organise their data.

Video clips produced by ybc.tv for the Hospitality Channel, including interview from industry conferences such as the IHIF conference as well as specific Hospitality Channel shoots.

Briefing: OTAs vs hotels in the rate debate

Posted on by Guy Lean

Rate parity agreements, which have allowed OTAs to match any low price openly offered on hotel sites, have recently been a sore point between OTAs and hoteliers.

This year, regulators across Europe have been scrutinizing these clauses. In July, France passed a law banning rate parity. Before this in January, a German Court upheld a 2013 decision to stop an OTA using a ‘best price’ clause.

This briefing offers a variety of perspectives on the OTA/hotel relationship:

Regulators who have been looking at these agreements include the Competition and Markets Authority in the UK, as well as Competition Authorities in France, Italy and Sweden.

In 2013 in Germany the OTA Hotel Reservation Service was stopped from applying a rate parity clause on the grounds that it restricted competition and did not benefit the consumer.

One way hotels have been able to get round these clauses is by offering discount to loyalty members. Ibis hotels is currently advertising that its website prices are 5% cheaper than anywhere else, but reading the small print, this is only if you have a membership card.

The British Hospitality Association has supported the decisions in France and Germany and has encouraged the UK government to follow suit.

They have argued that rate parity is unfair because, according to BHA, when an OTA matches a low room rate it is also taking up to 35% of the rate as commission. The organisation say agreements between hotels and OTA’s are, “too costly and one sided at this point.”

This Summer Expedia and Booking.com both announced pan-European changes to their agreements with hotel partners.

These agreements can work both ways, and stop OTAs offering reduced rates, and can also apply to other distribution partners such as high street travel agents.

There is still debate as to how much the removal of rate parity clauses will ultimately affect the enormous power of the OTAs.

If you’ve been sent to this page and you’re not yet on the circulation list to receive these regular briefings and you would like to sign up, you can do see here. It’s free.

Video clips produced by ybc.tv for the Hospitality Channel, including interview from industry conferences such as the IHIF conference as well as specific Hospitality Channel shoots.

Briefing: Good data management brings insight and development

Posted on by Guy Lean

Our reliance on digital technology means that data is building at an increasing rate. According to IBM we currently create 2.5 quintillion bytes of data everyday and 90% of the data in the world today has been created in the last two years alone.

Much of this data is irrelevant but where businesses are identifying the correct data sources and taking the time to analyse them they are finding value. Hospitality business should also think about making accurate data available to guests and clients.

In this briefing four hospitality experts discuss data management and analysis:

Many disruptive businesses have digital and data front and center of their strategy.

In hospitality Airbnb employs ‘data scientists’ to analyse things like the likelihood of a host accepting requests from potential guests. This analysis can help them increase the amount of successful matches.

In other industries, companies like Uber have invested in clever data analysis to be able to make predictions about its customers’ behaviours outside of the cab.

Established hospitality brands are also investing in digital and data. In October last year Accor announced plans for its digital transformation, which involves a €225 million investment plan and focus on two ‘pillars,’ IT infrastructure and data management.

Much of the data used and produced today is on mobile devices. According to Accenture ‘50 billion devices will produce actionable data by 2020’.

Research by Ericsson found that mobile data traffic increased by 55% from 2014 to 2015.

If you’ve been sent to this page and you’re not yet on the circulation list to receive these regular briefings and you would like to sign up, you can do so here. It’s free.

Video clips produced by yBC for the Hospitality Channel, including interview from industry conferences such as the IHIF conference as well as specific Hospitality Channel shoots.

Briefing: OTA giants are eating up the industry

Posted on by Guy Lean

According to a report from IBISWorld, online travel agents are expected to account for 51% of the UK travel industry’s total revenue in 2015. This has risen from just 10% a decade ago. Online travel agents are now powerful entities in the hospitality world and are growing and consolidating. Industry leader Expedia has announced the acquisition of two travel agents in as many months.

In these videos, hospitality experts discuss how the OTAs have gained such power and what this means for hoteliers. Includes comment from Expedia’s Christopher Michau:

A Report by Euromonitor International ‘Online Travel Intermediaries: A Fast Changing Competitive Landscape’ found that on-line travel intermediaries grew 8% CAGR over the 2008-2013 period. This reflects activity both from OTA’s and online booking platforms owned by hotel brands. But in an industry where online booking is growing so rapidly in popularity, the OTAs more specialist expertise gives them an advantage, as discussed by Brian Reeves above.

The Euromonitor Report also states that: ‘The online travel agency sector is seeing increasing consolidation, with Expedia and Priceline emerging as its dominant players.’

For 2014, gross bookings for Expedia Inc increased by 28% from 2013 and revenue increased 21%. Currently Expedia Inc includes (among others); Expedia.com, Hotels.com, trivago (a metasearch website), and Travelocity. The last of these, Travelocity, was acquired in January 2015 for $280 million. This month Expedia has also announced an agreement to acquire Orbitz Worldwide, which comprises of a travel technology solutions company and travel planning sites such as cheaptickets.com.

The Priceline group had $39.2 billion gross bookings in 2013. The Connecticut, USA, based group owns and operates Booking.com which takes over 750,000 room nights reservations a day.

If you’ve been sent to this page and you’re not yet on the circulation list to receive these regular briefings and you would like to sign up, you can do see here. It’s free.

Video clips produced by ybc.tv for the Hospitality Channel, including interview from industry conferences such as the IHIF conference as well as specific Hospitality Channel shoots.

Briefing: 2015 could be a tipping point for mobile commerce

Posted on by Guy Lean

30% of travel will be booked on mobile devices in 2015 according to Expedia. Mobile and tablet usage is set to grow further in all industries this year following 2014 during which the number of people owning both a smartphone and a tablet in Europe more than doubled to 48%. eMarketer predict that in 2015 half of digital travel researchers will use mobiles as well as PCs, while Gartner predicts that by 2018 more that 50% of users will use a tablet or a smartphone first for all online activities.

In the following videos industry insiders explain how mobile devices are being used in hospitality today:

Criteo’s report State of Mobile Commerce Q4 2014 shows that at the end of 2014 mobile accounted for 30% of ecommerce transactions in the US.  Smartphones have overtaken tablets in mobile transactions in the US, although there are currently higher conversion rates on tablets than mobile. The difference is being attributed to the larger screen size and the fact that not all websites are designed for easy mobile use. Criteo’s global research shows that Japan is the most advanced mobile shopping market with 49% of retail transactions being done on mobile there. The UK is not far behind this at 41% and the US is at 27%.

2014 saw an increase in hospitality companies using apps. Mobile only companies such as Hotel Tonight have grown, and more sophisticated approaches to mobile commerce are emerging. Expedia’s Scratchpad software is designed to help customers use the Expedia website across multiple devices. Apps can be used to show hotel information and process bookings. They can also be used to enhance the guest experience inside the hotel or for travel around the area. In America 33% of hotels now offer an app for their guests. According to Expedia almost 1 in 5 travellers globally have checked into a hotel on their mobile for business purposes, with around 15 percent having done so for a leisure trip. Mobile technology is sure to be integrated yet further in of all aspects of the travel and hospitality experience over the next 12 months and will continue to be a focus point for the industry.

If you’ve been sent to this page and you’re not yet on the circulation list to receive these regular briefings and you would like to sign up, you can do see here. It’s free.

Video clips produced by ybc.hpgcms.wpengine.com for the Hospitality Channel, including interview from industry conferences such as the IHIF conference as well as specific Hospitality Channel shoots.

Briefing: like, share and embed travel experiences

Posted on by HPG Advisory

Online feedback has transformed the hospitality industry. Comment cards and guest books have always allowed customers to share their thoughts on their stay, but now these experiences, both good and bad, are being shared immediately online and it’s influencing where customers choose to spend their money.

Consumers want to get a glimpse of holiday destinations before they go. They are getting their ideas directly from other visitors, not just marketing teams.

So how are hotels dealing with review websites? In what new ways can the holiday experience be shared? And can digital communities be integrated into the marketing plan? Comment from:

  • Charlie Osmond, Chief Tease, TripTease on content creation & social media driving business growth
  • Sinai Pedreschi, Director of Sales & Marketing, The Stafford London on TripAdvisor and customer feedback
  • Satyan Joshi, Industry Manager – Travel, Google on the impact of video reviews on hotels and OTAs
  • Christopher Michau, VP – Global Partner Group, Expedia France SAS on integrating social media into the travel business model
 


If you’ve been sent to this page and you’re not yet on the circulation list to receive these regular briefings and you would like to sign up, you can do see here. It’s free.

Video clips produced by ybc.hpgcms.wpengine.com for the Hospitality Channel, including interview from industry conferences such as the IHIF conference as well as specific Hospitality Channel shoots.

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