CARAVANSERAIL

2007-05-02T07:12:00.000-07:00

Learn to Learn
Adapt to Change
Scan the Horizon

1) The social sharing sites, simply are the sites that everybody can participate and sharing their ideas, experiences, photos, videos, political discussions, and millions of other subject that you can imaging with different languages and culture such as first of all http://www.blogspot.com/, http://www.youtube.com/ , http://www.paltalk.com/ , http://www.flickr.com/

2) A social sharing site has a great power to change your idea( the word of mouth) either negatively or positively as a user, let's say we are two online friends in yahoo messenger for example and when I ask you wheren did you spend your last vacation ? And you answer: I was in a 5 star hotel in Maldives but there was a big mess in the hotel!!! OH my god the service was awful or the staff did not speak English... For sure you won’t try this hotel if one day you go to the Maldives but on the contrary if everything went well, it could be a good idea to go one day in Maldives.
This link will give you more examples of social sharing influences http://influence2.editme.com/makingthecase

3) The hoteliers can best utilize social sharing trends to communicate with customers, if they get it as a positive impact like a service after sale or a satisfaction guaranteed when the customers can contact you and transferring their feeling about the services they have got or their experiences to you as the owner, you have the chance to improve your hotel services, managers, and all other thing even if it is a negative impact.
The hotelier can be also proud of their social sharing trends as a new service to communicate with their customers like the objectives behind the Corporate Blog of Bill Marriott, CEO , Marriott Hotels states
"The purpose of the blog is to create a forum for people to interact with Bill Marriott. We're proud of our culture, history, service excellence, and especially our 143,000 associates whose Spirit to Serve makes us so successful. Part of what makes us great is our belief in service to the customer and Success is never final.
This blog allows us to hear from you and build on the community that we've nurtured for 80 years."
Another successful example of social sharing ideas site is http://www.zagat.com/ started by survey system in 1999 only in restoration sector and now they have guide books for restaurants, hotels, movies, music’s, almost everywhere and also everything is rated by the customers in different categories such as rooms, facilities, neighborhood, services, and so on.

4) yes, of course in my opinion an online conversation with customers effectively is getting to improve the quality of the services and also there will be a big competition between the hotelier as I told you already in my blog if yesterday Hilton has told “location, location, location” today we should say service, service, service.

2007-04-21T07:06:00.001-07:00

THE HOTEL

We chose the Regina hotel in Paris. It's a 4 star hotel very classical design. The reservation can be done on the website of the hotel. You can also reserve the restaurant and other facilities of the hotel separately if you wish. You can choose your favourite language to book. Average prices: 420 euros. High class clientele.

3 resellers:

www.gtahotels.com
Target customer group: luxury, touristy people, people who want to be downtown.
Reach of site : easy to book, nice pictures, worldwide reseller siteHotel
image:very designed hotels, all stars rating is mixed, Distribution,
marketing programs:discount hotels deal with the world list, new activities like shows, tours, transfers are highlighted. Toll free telephone number which mean that customers don’t pay for telephone bill.
Affiliate programs:link to discounthotels.comgtahotels.com is accredited by the travel industry and it’s a member of IATA, ASTA and tursab.

http://www.france-hotel-guide.com/
Target customer group: The site is for people looking a hotel in France. The target is people like business man, families, and couple.Reach of the site in visual terms or aspects, the hotel doesn’t’ appear on the first page on Google.
image: it is a nice image, easy to use, specific for France. All types of hotels are listed like luxury, not luxury, any star. Two different directories: hotels in France and hotels in Paris.
Marketing programs:As a client, when you are booking with the France hotel guide, you pay no commission, no handling fee and it is an entirely free service.
Affiliate programs:no affiliate programs.

http://www.minotel.com/
Target customer group this site attracts the people who are looking for the hotels with charm and quality. The target customer is also the business people and touristy. It can be every one and people who are wishing to get their hotel at the last minute because of the lowest rate.
Reach of the site: easy to choose, several languages, in terms of marketing, they are very good but when you are searching on the internet, they don’t appear on the first page.Hotel image:the image is very good, especially they didn’t mix all the classifications of the hotel and also you have the choice to be in the middle of the city. 2 and 3 stars hotel are listed but not 4 stars hotel.
Marketing programs: They have special offers; it is a perfect program for client to get a good rate and to be downtown. And also good for hoteliers who want to have the tools for their last minute rate.
Affiliate programs: they have affiliate programs with 5 percent commission for each night confirmation and for any website.
Benefits: free of charge, partnership, additional revenues. Internet quality service.
Conclusion: we choose minotel.com because it has a affiliate program, not complicated to use and you can get the lowest rate at the last minute as a client. It has a lot of advantages for the hoteliers such as increasing the Revpar and get rid of the empty rooms at the low season.

2007-03-22T07:53:00.000-07:00

3RD PARTY DISTRIBUTION CHANNELS

When should a hotel use 3rd party distribution?

With the continuous growth of ecommerce 3rd party distribution allows managing rates, avaibility, cut MLOS restrictions, etc from one screen for all distributors simultaneously. It interfaces to over 110 different 3rd party websites and tour operators.

- The hotellers should use to increase the e-commerce business and save time for market analysis, strategy, and sales coordination. They have come to the decision as it has really been a strong demand made by the Revenue Management Team.

. What resellers are available?
Resellers are these organizations, also known within some industries as intermediaries, distributors or dealers, generally purchase or take ownership of products from the marketing company with the intention of selling to others. If a marketer utilizes multiple resellers within its distribution channel strategy the collection of resellers is termed a reseller network. These organizations can be classified into several sub-categories including:
· Retailers – Organizations that sell products directly to final consumers.
· Wholesalers – Organizations that purchase products from suppliers, such as manufacturers or other wholesalers, and in turn sell these to other resellers, such as retailers or other wholesalers.
· Industrial Distributors – Firms that work mainly in the business-to-business market selling products obtained from industrial suppliers

RateTiger, by eRevMax technologies, is a Revenue and Distribution Management solution, which is servicing over 1200 hotels worldwide. RTAllocator, the extranet of extranets, is a state of the art channel management system. RTShopper is a real-time rate shopping tool, allowing hotels to see what prices competition is selling at across a wide selection of distributions channels like IDS’s and GDS. With RateTiger you save time and make money on your ecommerce distribution strategies.

Somes examples of others resellers:

- Microsoft Navision ERP -Business ERP Software
- Akamai Business Performance Management Services
- TTS - Time and Attendance Management

How to select the right channels:

When choosing a distribution channel a marketer must determine what value a channel member adds to the firm’s products. Product Decisions, customers assess a product’s value by looking at many factors including those that surround the product (augmented product). Several surrounding features can be directly influenced by channel members, such as customer service, delivery, and availability. Consequently, for the marketer selecting a channel partner involves a value analysis in the same way customers make purchase decisions. That is, the marketer must assess the benefits received from utilizing a channel partner versus the cost incurred for using the services.

4. How does a hotelier manage all this?
In order to achieve this goal, executives should evaluate three approaches: 1) expand the product line; 2) build new distribution channels; or 3) optimize the current distribution channels. There has been a significant focus on "speed to market" programs to reduce the cycle time in bringing new products to market, but more attention should be paid to building new distribution channels and optimizing existing channels. The goal of this discussion is to assist you in evaluating your organization's performance against the four principal challenges of distribution management affecting carriers today:
1. The ability to attract and retain good producers.
2. Determining the best strategy for distribution.
3. Reducing the cost of distribution.
4. Channel rationalization.

2007-01-31T09:33:00.000-08:00

"We can increase your A.D.R. with our Computerized Rate and Competition Analysis Pricing Model"

Dallas, TX Revenue Source One announced today that the company is offering a series of rooms pricing and rate quoting Web Casts.
The Web Casts will be offered free of charge to attendees to introduce Rate Razor, the company’s computerized Rate and Competition Analysis Pricing Model.

At the conclusion of a Web Cast participants will:

-Have a more complete understanding of the relationship between a hotel’s attributes and demand.
-Agree that superior Yield Management can not be achieved without optimum rates.
-Appreciate that there is a more scientific method for creating rates.
-Understand that demand does not determine rates but rates are manipulated within the rate structure because of demand.
-Understand that comparing their hotel’s attributes to competitor’s attributes can create a superior pricing strategy.

The current schedule of Web Casts is:

Tuesday January 30, 2007 at 4:30 PM Central Standard Time.
Thursday February 1, 2007 at 5:30 PM Central Standard Time.

It is a good idea to have this system in the small hotels instead of having a revenue management team but not for the big hotels because the percentage of loosing the good opportunities getting higher than the salary of a revenue management team if the target is to have less people working for the hotel which is not the case in the big hotels however some big companies such as Walt Disney, The State of Louisiana, Nobel House Hotels, RFS Hotel Group, and Hotel Equity Investors have all utilized these services.

what do you think about that?

i will be glad to know your thoughts so please leave your comments!!!!

http://www.hospitalitynet.org/news/154000353/4030069.html

2007-01-17T07:30:00.000-08:00

Be a Part of the future

GUESTROOM 2010 is a model guestroom of the future showcasing new and upcoming technologies for the modern hotel room but personally i don't like the color of the walls which is very sad and also i didn't find interesting to check in with your eyes as a hotel client, first of all because it is reminding you a very high security control of the U.S airports which is not a favorite souvenir as hotel client and not interesting at all as a tourist, however the hospitality means to give services and not to get rid of the customer requests .

Also if two touristy groups are coming in the same time in which there are always some mummy and pappy who don’t care about technology, do you think that is gonna be easy to handle them? honestly I would tell you not at all or at least not for 2010.

I am inviting you to look at some of the video clips in this address and leave me your ideas please!!!

Check it out!!!

http://www.hospitalitynet.org/news/154000346/4027999.html

2006-12-21T13:03:00.000-08:00

Hyatt launches online store

In my opinion, they should have done it long time ago, i mean as a big hotel chains like Hyatt, i was surprised to hear that now as a new service and this is why in the other articles of mine i was talking about the little hotels can give better services than the big chain because in the small hotel things are less complicated in terms of bureaucracy and faster realizable than the big chains.

Hyatt Hotels & Resorts is expanding the Hyatt Touch to the retail home décor and furnishings market through the launch of HyattAtHome.com, an online store featuring high quality Hyatt and partner-branded luxury products.

http://www.hotelmarketing.com/index.php/content/article/061220_hyatt_launches_online_store/

2006-12-11T07:27:00.000-08:00

'Lifestyle chains' aim to satisfy a yen for budget swank
Cross a Comfort Inn with the Mondrian, add high ceilings, big-screen TVs, wireless access, and price it at $150.

Hi every body

Here you find my opinion and click below to the link to find the source please.

According to our last week subject about Aloft hotel with their new idea like virtual tours and maps of the hotel such as The Simps video game, I found it really interesting cause now we can understand why they are trying to use video games software in to the hotel industry, even some people asked :

Is it not going to change the luxury look of the hotels???

Actually the answer is YES, it is targeting the luxury hotels prices and young people who don’t care about luxury and for the new lifestyle brands, key age groups are Generation X, born between 1965 and 1979, and people born between 1980 and 1997. The latter, variously pegged as Generation Y or the Millennium Generation, will soon rival Baby Boomers as the biggest consumer group in U.S. history.

also we can say, it is a new revolution in the industry, because until today as a business traveler you can not find internet access in less than 4 star hotels which will cost you minimum let’s say 200 euros per night if they don’t charge it as a extra services.

Here they come to break down the price of luxury hotels by creating the new chains in which you will have your lab-tab with WIFI internet connection in your room and a big flat screen T.V and lots of other things with only130 euros per night.
What about the luxury hotels then?
http://www.latimes.com/travel/la-tr-insider26nov26,1,6230479.column?page=1

2006-12-06T09:12:00.001-08:00

Major Chains Report Continued Double-Digit Internet Growth With 25 Percent Increase in Q3.

CHICAGO, Dec. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Consumers continue an upward trend of shopping for hotels online and booking electronically, according to TravelCLICK's consolidated third quarter eTRAK results, released today. The data shows the Internet contributed 40.0 percent, or 8,581,936 reservations, of the total Central Reservation Office (CRO) reservations at major hotel brands, a 24.8 percent increase compared to the same period in 2005.

In my opinion first of all you can choose easier in internet than the traditional way we did and you will have more choices in terms of prices and quality than before and also you can comparing the prices whatever you are looking for which was not possible before so this is why we should be always up-to-date in front of technology otherwise we are getting lost and each year the number of people who is using the internet for their needs is growing up.
for example almost 25 percents increase comparing the last year in CRO of the hotels is incredible.

http://travelclick.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=43&item=493

2006-11-30T06:57:00.001-08:00

Forget mints on the pillow, try a pet goldfish
Some small boutique hotels thrive in the big business of hospitality by offering unique services.

To me to give good services means hospitality and to be good in hospitality industry, you should give better services than the others and when you understood this, 50 percent of job is done.

As you know today hospitality industry is captured by hotel chains such as Intercontinental, Marriott, Accor, and so on, it is really hard to get success in, but if you have the new ideas in terms of services you can even absorbing their clients because human being first of all is looking for comfort.

For example: Emanuel Stern and his brother, Leonard Stern, opened the SoHo Grand hotel ten years ago in downtown Manhattan when there was many hotel giants in New York City, and they succeed because of their excellent ideas by "more nimble in terms of policy changes" and employ fresh ideas, like greeting guests with cold towels scented with rose petals on hot summer days or providing a complimentary pet goldfish on request, without having to go through a lot of red tape.
And the results are booming with an occupancy rate near 90 percent, even with room rates starting near $400 a night. They have since opened a second hotel nearby.
"The fact is that we do our things our own way," he said, noting that "we can accommodate unreasonable requests."

http://money.cnn.com/2006/11/08/smbusiness/hotels/index.htm?postversion=2006110910

2006-11-30T06:07:00.001-08:00

Cut down on checkout time with Marriott eFolio !!!

Another revolution in clientel service in the hotel industry by Marriott group which increasing the value of the clients time, means as a client you dont wish to spend your time in front desk for the bills and factors of the hotel services you used.

How does it work ?

Actualy they give a simple email address to each client in check in time and when they use any services from hotel, they can figure out all their bills in their email box 24h/24 and any time they wish from their rooms.

Time is gold, isn't it ?

http://www.hotelmarketing.com/index.php/content/article/061117_cut_down_on_checkout_time_with_marriott_efolio/

2006-11-15T13:03:00.002-08:00

Hotel photos get date stamped

Another great news in hotel industry which you can visit your future hotel destination by finding the last up to date photos of them in the internet which means when you are visiting a hotel website you are sure that the photos are taken recently and not from the time that hotel was built.

The companies such as VRX Studios started to launch in November 15TH its “Always Fresh” campaign that date stamps all hotel photos with their virtual tours and interactive maps.

As you know that lots of people are almost 60% booking their hotel destination by internet and this is growing day by day, there was a huge number of hotel clients who were complained about the paradoxically photos in which most of them has ended up with Photoshop software and infact was not true although they are the same hotels in the pictures.

So maybe now it is time to change this old way and going one more step farther in to hotels industry.

http://www.hotelmarketing.com/index.php/content/article/061115_hotel_photos_get_date_stamped/

2006-10-27T17:48:00.000-07:00

Hotel check-in counters on their way out

Hi everybody,

I found this article interesting, (HOTELMARKETING.COM) because in this way the hotel lobby will be bigger .

1-There will be more space for clients.

2-They can have more people to give better services .

3-They will be faster than the others when there are several desks for hotel's guests in terms of services.

4-The employees can have a friendly relationship with clients , i mean psychologiclly .

5-The clients feel more relax in such kind of hotels and they will spend more time and more money in the food and beverage.

6-Most of all the hotel will have a better look than before , not like train station sell's office where you can find lots of people who are waiting to buy a ticket.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/biztravel/2006-10-26-hotel-desks-usat_x.htm?csp=34