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Here is something interesting for you Mac users. Did you knew that you are actually being charged more to use websites like Orbitz or Priceline? Don't believe me, well check it out. Over the last year or two Orbitz has been working on what they call "predictive analytics". Meaning they are able to predict where consumers will likely book their reservations based on what computer they are using. The article states that, Mac users are 40% more likely to book a four to five star hotel than PC users. Since companies like Orbitz (who took a 37 million dollar loss in 2011) are taking big hits from the lack of travelling thanks to the economy, they are trying to create any advantage they can in order to turn the market around. One thing to point out, is that Orbitz's competitors like Priceline and Expedia said that they do not base their sales on what computers the consumers are using, Apple had no comment. Orbitz said the effort to incorporate Mac vs. PC distinctions is still in its formative stages and isn't evident across the site. Other factors have more influence over results, Mr. Liew said, including a user's location and history on the site, as well as a hotel's overall popularity and promotions. Still, he said, use of a Mac can influence results.

CHECK THIS OUT MAC USERS

The best part of the article is how it states a good POS system is one that doesn't let you waste time with the POS. Instead your attention can be turned to your customers and staff. The system will do everything for you just by a touch of buttons from the screen. All you would have to do is print out the information and it will tell you everything you need to run a sucessfull establishment.

This article discusses Google's next steps in providing a better/ more efficient search and reservation system for travelers looking to book their next vacation rental. Google has been working with software providers and now successfully integrated vacation rentals into the Hotel Search function. The question is, will consumers shift from their normal purchasing habits (Booking.com, Expedia, etc) or will Google be successful?

As mobile devices become more advanced, particularly cell phones and tablet devices, more pressure to keep up with mobile and social trends is placed on the hospitality industry. People are using their mobile devices more now than they have in the past. So much so, that "two thirds of Americans sleep with their mobile device in range, something we cannot say about desktops". A world of information is at your fingertips because of the capability of mobile devices. Information that can help us make decisions about anything. Even last-minute decisions about hotels and food. More people are using their mobile devices to book rooms and many of the people that do this, are booking a hotel for the same night. The fact most of the people who do this are under 30 means that it is very likely that this trend will increase. People are expecting the technology to be there so that they can pick a hotel and a restaurant to go to if they are unfamiliar with a city. They are expecting a hotel chain to have a mobile site or better yet an "app" that will not only allow them to book a room, but, one that will give them directions from where they are to the hotel. The same can be said for restaurants. Potential customers want to be able to look over the menu and determine if they want to come to the restaurant, all from their mobile device. Mobile guests are also using customer review sites to determine where they will lodge or dine. They are using sites like TripAdvisor which allows you to post comments about your stay. The sight even allows the guests to post pictures. "Customer reviews are also important to the hotel industry, but the jury is still out on exactly how hotels should react with people who post reviews." It is always great when a guest posts a positive review of the hotel, but imagine how one bad stay could tarnish a hotels reputation. And what if there are cleanliness issues that the guest can photograph and upload to the site? Exactly what to do in this type of e

Global distribution systems have thought to eventually become extinct but the growth of new technologies has given GDS new hope. The three main companies that control this market are Amadeus, Sabre, and Travelport. Each of the companies has expanded their market penetration via their subsidiaries that are currently operating with global distribution systems. In 2014 Amadeus brought in almost $1billion in revenue. In addition, Sabre and Travelport showed positive growth. Airlines on the other hand, would prefer to directly have travelers book with them to save on fees. At the same time GDS brings attractive promotions to customers making them useful to the airlines and their revenue. GDS has stimulated the growth of online websites like, Expedia, Kayak, Orbitz, Priceline). Where potential customers find competitive rates and can book more than just a plane ticket.

This article discusses a war between American Airlines and Orbits, and how they cannot come into an agreement in regards to using the GDS. American Airlines is mainly the provider for most of the fares and traveling but orbitz is there other marketing strategy that is used to sale the tickets online. Nonetheless, American wants and pushes for travel agents to use their direct system to book flights rather then using Orbitz or another chain of coming to book travelers flights. America does offer a variety of prices depending on different categories, as well as frequent flyers miles/points if they book with American website and sources. In essence, American Airlines still wants to have control of their flights and prices as they are the main sources from the beginning of time.

Intercontinental Hotel Group(IHG) now said that the company will try to focus on mobile marketing to counter challenges from aggregators such as Expedia, Priceline.com, and booking.com. These aggregators enable guests to search by showing the price and location and book hotels at a time. They are such an important outlet for sales, however, they drive down the price and also drive down the brand. Hence, IGC now trying to focus on mobile marketing to connect guests journey from search, shop, compare, booking, confirmatiln, pre-staying planning, arrival, stay and depature.

This article is about a brand new partnership between Expedia reservation interface and Maestro property management that will not only reduce costs but also provide more features and rooms availability. The hotels can greatly benefit of this new tool because it will allow them to have a better control of their inventory, maximize revenue while paying attention to the costs associated from Expedia's reservations 

With the growth of mobile phones and apps, there is no doubt a boom in online mobile bookings. Apps like Travelocity, Expedia and orbitz, makes it easy to search, compare and book all from your mobile phone. According to the article, online travel booking generate close to six Billion dollars in revenue each year. Out of that, 10 percent of bookings is conducted on mobile devices. Within the next two years, the market is likely to grow to about 30% from According to Amit Somany, companies began "investing on this mobile platform for the past four years but the investments had actually taken off only in the past 12-18 months." Some companies are surprised that people are going out and doing research from their mobile phones before marketing and advertisement plans were in motion. They noticed that more and more people are researching hotels and airfares while they are on the move. While commuting on a train in NY, people can research a possible trip to San Fransisco, without wasting any time at work. On the go, Expedia has simplified their app checkout process in order to "serve our consumers better."

This article introduced how GDS controlled the whole industry in the last decades. Most airline companies and hotels use GDS and the traditional distribution channels and travel agencies dry up. But after 2001, things become different. Hotels need to do marketing and distribution by themselves to survive. But many of them are not professional, so they lock themselves into OTA contracts. They need reinvented hotel marketer by themselves. 

I thought this was fitting considering the discussion tropic this week. Until reading our discussion board article this week I truly had no idea so many people still use travel agents. With all the search engines such as expedia, kayak, Travelocity etc... Why would we need a travel agent? Well this article explains why. They are the experts and have access to things most people do not. They do something for the customer a search engine has been unable to replicate they can customize and give advice. I agree with this article that if you are taking a quick trip with no special add on expedia or kayak are the way to go. However; when you are looking for something special a travel agent can be an invaluable resource. One thing is they can tell you first hand their experiences with the same trip and they can get things such VIP tickets to the super bowl that you will not find on expedia. Travel agents are still relevant just not in the capacity they once were. Travel sites have made booking travel simple and fast; but when talking that special vacation where to water 5 star service a travel agent may be a good option to consider.

This articles describes the importance of E-commerce and social networking on the hospitality industry. The social sites like facebook, twitter and instagram has proven beneficial for the marketing of the hospitality industry. Individuals post their experience on these networking sites, which indirectly helps in marketing of the hospitality firms. The use of internet and hotel website has proven, to increase the revenue of the hotels, many people book directly through the hotel websites, which increases the revenue for the hotels as well save the commission paid to the travel agents. The loyalty programs introduced by various hotel, took a new shape all together after internet became the major source in these hotels. It was convenient for the guest to check how much points the have in their account and the tier level. The hotels also started offering guest extra points to their account, if they booked the room directly through the hotel website. This resulted in an substantial increase in the RevPar of the hotels.

This explores how the OTA Expedia is bypassing the rules of the rates they are given by hotels to show unauthorized prices and thus affecting how the customers shop for rooms in the future. Customers will see these lower rates, which are only meant to be sold as part of a larger package, then compare them to the hotels site, which of course will be higher and in the future disregard the direct buy from the hotel, not knowing that the rates they were given should have never been available without a package which includes airfare and car rental.

The article discusses how American Arlines (AA) flights could not be found on Expedia or Orbitz because the company could not reach an agreement with Expedia. AA then suggested customers book flights directly via their website or via Direct Connect, a new system. Southwest airlines is another company that does not sell via third party or GDS sites, they only sell on their on site. When companies begin to remove themselves from traditional GDS systems it changes the way consumers and travel agents begin to book flights. It will make more difficult because we will spend more time comparing multiple sites and we we will never be sure if we are getting the best deal.

This article introduces GDS, OTA and Meta in a short space. GDS stands for Global Distribution System, GDS is a rather costly selling channel that mainly allows the sale of rooms in larger quantities to bigger companies. Small independent hotels usually do not need GDS. OTA stands for Online Travel Agency. meta stands for Metasearch Engines. For small hotels, the cost of GDS is high and it is generally difficult to adopt. OTA and meta are two methods worth considering.

Many airline companies use the global distribution sysytem(GDS). People can compare flight costs on every reservation in one website. But American Airlines airefares can no longer be found on Expedia or Orbitz. They built their own booking website. Actully, customers sometimes they have their own ideas, but some consumers still rely on travel agents. So there is a dilemma for both travel agency and Airline industry. We should have a positive attitude to deal with GDS.

This article discusses the development of new electronic distribution channels for hotel suppliers and consumers to use. There has recently been an emergence of new search engines such as roomkey.com and room77.com that offer a different booking experience than the more established Expedia.com or Orbitz. Roomkey.com is offering a search for high quality hotels with price transparency and links to direct booking on the hotels website. www.roomkey.com Room77 is interesting because it shows the rates of many other OTA websites, all the standards plus some less common sites. You can choose what OTA site you want to book from. The highlight is that room77.com offers floor plans of hotels where you can see the view from multiple rooms and even how far the closest elevator is. www.room77.com Another important emerging channel is mobile phone applications that are geared toward last minute travelers. These channels typically offer a limited inventory at up to a 30% discount. The discount group is yet another new development in distribution channels. Websites such as Tingo.com offer an automatic refund if the price drops after you book your reservation. www.tingo.com Social media also has to be considered. Online reviews can have a tremendous impact on future bookings and hotels have to take this into consideration.

Great help for my Strategic Management Class! Thank you...I wish though, there would be more numbers...But thanks anyway

Google, a well-known online search engine has a recent history of taking services that people pay money for and making it available for free to its users. One service in particular that has been recently launched is Google Flights, allowing users to select a travel plan and then go directly airlines' reservation system. The problem here is it has left online travel agency OTA's industries such as Expedia and Priceline.com out of the picture. Such OTA industries earn revenue by either taking a commission from hotel or charging a markup to consumers. This should be a great concern to this industry . Although there are some hurdles for Google-Google users search results are limited for flights as of its competitors; Google's competitors still have established customer relations and brand. Google can overcome these hurdles in a matter of time and OTA's should keep a close eye or find solutions to adapt.

Great article! I recently read that Google is taking over the travel market when searching for events using the Google search engine. Pay per click, allows companies to tie into hyperlinks when web surfers an event in the area of their business. Highlighting hotels, car rentals and restaurant conveniently located within the search engine user area.

This article particularly caught my attention because it points out the major advantages of web-based PMS, but it does not mention the risk of transfering such sensitive guest information over the unsecure and unregulated Internet. Surely there are great cost-related and operational advantages to web-based PMS and that alone often motivates hotels to upgrade in that general direction. Afterall, the reason why the hotel is operated is to generate revenues. However, is risking the identity of thousands of your guests worth the money you will save? That is what this article does not cover. As the title points out, web-based PMS is the future of the industry, but securing the identity of the biggest drivers behind all revenue for your hotel is arguably more important. Is the risk worth the reward? I believe the Internet needs to become a more secure highway of information before the industry can fully embrace this new technological advancement. My thoughts on considering an upgrade to web based PMS: Research and proceed with caution.

This article indicated the importance of Internet for hotel industry and also assumed that web based property management systems will widely used in future. The author listed some advantages of web based property management system:1) Central Reservation System: One of the greatest advantages of using an online hotel software is that you do not have any more headaches about reservations.2)   Numerous Point of Sale: Keeping a check on the add-on services your hotel provides can easily be done with the help of the numerous points of sales.3) Sales and Marketing Console. With the help of this console, you can access the database of your customers get in touch with them notifying them of special offers and discounts. 4)Travel Agents and Corporate Clients:It is important that you properly deal with travel agents and corporate clients as they play a very important role in bringing in more guests to the hotel.5)   Connected to 1000s of Travel Portals: Web based PMS help you get connected to many travel portals like Travelocity, Tripadvisor and Expedia helping you reach more people. 

t is the age of the Internet, the age when many businesses solely run on the Internet. From marketing to reaching new people, there is a lot that can be done with the help of this medium. The hotel industry too is not insulated from its effect. Almost all kinds of hotels, from inns to bed and breakfasts to resorts, everyone is trying to tap the energies of the Internet and make optimum use of the medium. The Internet plays a major role in improving the sales and customer relationship.

The reason for my choice is to show that GDS is still preferred in this age. No matter what evolution takes place with direct booking, GDS would never fade away. It is proven that via GDS, the occupancy in hotels are greater than direct booking, once again due to the fact that people have used this before and are comfortable with it and will not want to change.

Hotel booking transactions have increased by 8.8% since April which is the highest year increase through GDS since August 2011 setting a new record. Previously January lead with the strongest growth at 7.9% over 2012. Bookings are primarily business travel and have helped set an increase of 4% with rates .1% ahead of last years. When reported in 2011 it was said that the hotel industry is heavily influenced by the economy verses today reporting positive economic indicators which is definitely welcoming business and leisure travelers to book their travel plans using GDS. Not only did business travel increase so did leisure travel increasing by 6.2% from April 2012. This year in April growth reached its highest growth pace thus far at 5.4% with an increase in rates by 1.2%. Seems like people can always find money in their budget to travel. For the "condition" of the economy I am happy to see that leisure travel is still increasing and people are still using GDS to book. As we discussed in our discussion board, GDS should continue to be used. It is obviously growing and people have not stopped using it. All ages are using GDS and are finding it to work for them. As far as business travel, my company requires us to use our online travel agent even when booking through Expedia or another site is cheaper. They say it's the way they track our expenses for the year. I think businesses have started hiring less people and are requiring their employees to work remotely and then travel when needed. This could be where some of the increase in business travel is coming from.

Recently, the Priceline Group has acquired Buuteeq, Hotel Ninjas and Open Table. They are looking to merge Hotel Ninjas' web based PMS with Buuteeq's digital marketing software. Integrating both of these programs would mean that Priceline would be able to offer hoteliers a well-rounded system that could keep track of customer folios and housekeeping processes through cloud based web interface. The Priceline Group has plans to integrate their two cloud-based systems for hotels. Many properties are concerned with the security that Priceline may have in place and they do not want their information getting out to competitors. While the new processes that Priceline Group is offering seem very worthwhile and efficient many properties may buy into it and ignore the security concerns. One of the main considerations of this new venture is that Hotel Ninjas is a young company and the Priceline Group does not have much experience on this end of the industry. These changes could start a fast growing trend with the way online travel agencies and properties are communicating and doing business.