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mmdmd99999

Compare WebRezPro to Hotel Technology Vendors - 0 views

  • Compare WebRezPro vs Oracle OPERA PMS vs ResNexus PMS Property Management Systems vendor comparison between WebRezPro vs Oracle OPERA PMS vs ResNexus PMS. Find out which Property Management Systems is right for you based on realtime data from 407 verified hotelier reviews across 55 countries.
  • ResNexus
  • WebRezPro
  • ...10 more annotations...
  • Oracle Hospitality
  • Monthly Subscription - Yes ( $7/room/month - $10/room/month ) - Yes ( More than $10/room/month ) - Yes ( $3/room/month - $6/room/month )
  • ut too old tech stack and too much corporate complexity
  • ResNexus doesn’t have any recent company updates
  • Avoid if at all possible, poor service and sales
  • View all integrations (9)
  • View all integrations (166)
  • View all integrations (466)
  • imple to Use Inexpsensive PMS with a TON of Interfaces Available
  • WebRezPro Partners with Google to Help Hotels Drive Direct Bookings
  •  
    Compare WebRezPro vs Oracle vs ResNexus and more to see pricing, reviews, integrations, and other options for each
Manali Rabari

Hotel Room Rates Undergo Closer Inspection by Corporate Buyers - 4 views

  • Corporate buyers will be able to gain greater control over hotel room rate negotiations and compliance with the inclusion of intelligent rate parameter data in their benchmarking reports. RateTiger’s introduction of rate filtering technology to its award winning rate data product, RTCorp, will provide direct hotel pricing comparisons in line with hotel product type.
  • Corporate buyers will be able to gain greater control over hotel room rate negotiations and compliance with the inclusion of intelligent rate parameter data in their benchmarking reports. RateTiger’s introduction of rate filtering technology to its award winning rate data product, RTCorp, will provide direct hotel pricing comparisons in line with hotel product type.
  • orporate buyers will have the business intelligence to match travel expenditure to their budgets and give travelers greater flexibility of hotel choice based on Best Available Rates (BAR).
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  • Corporate buyers will have the business intelligence to match travel expenditure to their budgets and give travelers greater flexibility of hotel choice based on Best Available Rates (BAR)
  • “Corporate travelers are noticing fluctuations in Best Available Rates (BAR) online and need to compare these public prices to their negotiated contracts to ensure they are getting the best deal
  • “Buyers need to shop rates that are comparable to their purchases, by setting simple filters that identify room types and meal plans, etc therefore making more accurate price comparisons. Crucially all filters are shopped regardless of the specific view defined. This allows the user to change the parameters after the shop without the need to shop again, making more detailed data available faster.”
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    As technology continues to advance, companies are looking into what works well for what kinda consumer. RateTiger is targeting corporate consumers, who want to be in control of room rates and have the ability to negotiate better deal based on services provided. RTC uses RPS, rate parameter shopping that searches thru hundreds of travel sites, hotel brand sites and GDS offeres corporate buyers, OTA's and travel companies the opportunities to build a rate around the best room rate for the perks and services, in comparison to what the public pays.
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    Excellent Article!...While corporate travelers are noticing fluctuations in "Best Available Rates (BAR)" I can only imagine that hotel owners and stakeholders are seeing a decrease of revenue caused by the ADR (Average Daily Rate). During the recession hotels had to re-shape their thinking and lower Corporate Room Rates to stay afloat; these changes caused the ADR to be lower than usual. As the economy improved, it has been harder for companies to re-negotiate corporate rates in an attempt to increase the ADR and profits for owners/stakeholders. http://www.bcdtravel.com/global/show_document.asp?id=aaaaaaaaaadsveg
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    This technology will provide business travelers the ability to compare hotel prices based on the type of rooms. This will help the customer in customizing their own needs during travel, while being price savvy. The traveler also has the ability to have default settings that will meet their own room specifications.
Melissa Krajewski

Availpro and Premier Hotels of the World announce extended partnership - 0 views

  • CEO of Premier Hotels of the World™ Mr. Martin Fabiano states: "We are excited to announce the partnership with Availpro, which will give our Member Hotels a distinct advantage over other Groups."
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    The Availpro organization is the hospitality industry leader in online distribution. Its mission is to provide hotel owners with the most effective online sales platform. Using the tagline, 'The World is your hotel Marketplace,' Availpro has helped thousands of hotels worldwide sell over ten million rooms by utilizing a highly developed extranet channel. Availpro's extranet channels provide two-way connectivity to over one hundred distribution websites. With a larger scope of distribution the hotels using Availpro increase their sales and become more efficient. In addition, Availpro's management of these extranet channels saves hotels valuable time. However the reason Availpro is the leader in online distribution is not just its booking capabilities but rather its recent developments that together provide their clients an online distribution extranet solution. The booking engines that made Availpro successful expanded to include mobile applications and social booking with Facebook. Availpro also introduced important decision-making tools such as the Smart Channel Manager, Rate Screener and Guest Satisfaction. I was curious about the 'Rate Screener' so I read Availpro's article "Availpro rate screener allows Hotel owners to sell their rooms at best rate," published on October 17th 2011 (http://www.hospitalitynet.org/news//4053349.html). This tool was developed with user input and tested in real life rate decision scenarios. The all-in-one solution allows managers to see their rates, inventory and competitor rates on a central distribution schedule. By analyzing their competition in real time managers are able to optimize their rates. Long gone are the days when managers used to call the local competition and pretend to be walk-in guests to find out fire sale rates. This most recent article, published on the third of January 2012, discusses Availpro's growing partnership with Premier Hotels of the World™. By incorporating Availpro's ex
anonymous

Are customers' reviews creating value in the hospitality industry? Exploring the modera... - 0 views

  • reviews
  • positive effect on hotel revenues
  • outside popular destinations
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  • online visibility
  • user-generated reviews
  • 240 small and medium-sized hotels
  • online retailers have thus been gaining increasing market power in influencing customers’ purchases (i.e., Inversini and Masiero, 2014, Silva, 2015, Yen and Tang, 2015) and have improved market transparency and uncertainty for travellers (Toh, Raven, & DeKay, 2011). For this reason, their role is now considered an infomediary (Chen, Yang, & Wang, 2015) because their capability to add value in transactions depends primarily on collecting and processing information about prices, destinations and travellers’ reviews.
  • positive effect on hotel revenue growth
  • outweighed by a negative effect on gross profit margins.
  • managerial implications discuss how hotels should use social media features according to a strategic view based on pursuing the horizontal and vertical differentiation of their services in an attempt to create more economic value from their online visibility and to protect profit margins from the intermediation in their customer relationships.
    • anonymous
       
      MIS idea of how to actually use the information giving from this style of data mining
  • Online reviews provide additional information for travellers to mitigate the uncertainty about the quality of a hotel and about its fit to their needs and preferences on accommodations and destinations.
  • 50,115 user-generated reviews on TripAdvisor,
  • bargaining power
  • Internet can be a value-destroying mechanism for small businesses and can deter hotels’ capacity to defend profit margins
  • empower buyers
  • ncrease the degree of rivalry among firms that sell and distribute their products/services
  • shake up long-lasting reputations through reviews posted by unmonitored influential opinion makers
  • First, online ratings can have a beneficial effect on the occupancy rate of rooms, which is especially important for larger hotels that bear a greater cost of idle capacity, especially in off-peak periods. Second, visibility on social media can allow hotels to apply a price premium thanks to greater economic value generated by market transparency, the reduction of the search costs for both parties involved in the transaction
    • anonymous
       
      Hypothesis broken into 2 parts
  • brand image of hotels,
    • anonymous
       
      Potential here for bad press. Viral videos of mistakes/ misinformation etc.
  • maller hotels with opportunities for market growth in segments in which they have a limited market presence
  • exploring the relationship between online visibility and the creation of economic value in terms of increase of sales and profitability for a panel of 240 Italian small and medium hotels
  • hotels’ market positioning between their online visibility and profitability.
  • we consider only the profitability (the value appropriation achieved through online visibility) and not the increase in sales (the value generation achieved through online visibility) because hotels’ market positioning affects a hotel’s capability to appropriate the economic value brought by online visibility and influences hotels’ ability to negotiate the infomediation fees, which in turn impact hotels’ profitability.
  • social networking (i.e., the opportunity that users have to connect with people with similar travel interests, needs or experience) and knowledge sharing
  • travellers can more easily find persons who share similar travel preferences and needs. In a similar way, a user consulting travellers’ reviews can see if the reviewer is a member of his/her friends’ social networks on other platforms, such as Facebook.
  • beyond allowing hotels to improve their room occupancy rates, online visibility may allow hotels to apply price premiums.
  • respond strategically to online reviews
  • positive relationship between online visibility and sales
  • three different forms.
  • first is the rating assigned by users, who can express their evaluations on a quantitative scale.
  • rates given by users are distributed over the scale.
    • anonymous
       
      Think amazon review
  • number of reviews that users give to hotels
  • we may expect that online visibility on social media – seen as a composite measure of the three above-mentioned elements – can positively impact hotels’ revenue growth
    • anonymous
       
      hypothesis
  • ive million registered users who visit the platform 30 million times per month on average
  • Online visibility has a negative effect on the gross profit margin of a hotel.
  • Consequently, high star-rating hotels apply price premiums for their superior quality and attract less price sensitive customers, who have a higher willingness to pay for quality
  • we expect that less price sensitive customers are willing to pay more for hotels with higher customer ratings on infomediation platforms because they perceive these hotels to be more valuable
  • The relation between online visibility and sales profitability is stronger for hotels with high star-rating.
  • iche tourism appears to offer a more meaningful set of experiences, given the knowledge that tourists’ needs and wants are being met
  • “what makes a tourism destination truly competitive is its ability to increase tourism expenditure, to increasingly attract visitors while providing them with satisfying, memorable experiences, and to do so in a profitable way” (p. 2).
  • However, a number of studies have reported that online user-generated reviews are perceived as more credible than traditional word-of-mouth when they come from persons with similar attitudes and preferences
    • anonymous
       
      Hate this.
  • Hotels in niche destinations are thus better positioned to extract more economic value from online visibility.
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    This article analyzes how user-generated ratings have a positive impact on hotels revenue growth. It looks at this through three different methods: one, ratings that the uses provide, two at how those ratings are "distributed over the scale," and three, the number of reviews that hotel receives. The article observes 240 small to mid scale hotels in Italy. Some issues we see come up revolve around the subjectivity of user-generated reviews and how that can positively and negatively affect hotel occupancy and interest. Ultimately, it appears that hotels that already have a high star rating will benefit most from these user-generated ratings because they have a stronger bargaining tool. The other benefactor are small, niche hotels whose increase viability and unique qualities help it in encouraging new tourism and high level experiences.
Nicole Dudley

GDS usage on the rise as travel demand grows - 0 views

  • Industry leaders’ speculations that the global distribution system is dying a slow death have lingered for the last decade, ever since online-travel agencies made their debut in the hotel distribution space.
  • A study conducted by the American Society of Travel Agents in 2009 found the percentage of member travel agencies that used the GDS channel declined from 98% in 1999 to 79% in 2009.
  • However, despite the decrease in GDS usage amid the most recent global economic downturn, hotel companies and travelers still find value in the channel, according to sources interviewed for this report.
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  • Sabre Travel Network, for example, saw an increase of more than 7% in its GDS bookings during the first quarter of 2012 over the same period last year
  • “And it’s a steady trend that’s gone up over the last several years,”
  • Many hoteliers are attempting to leverage those increases in demand through dynamic pricing models, which offers clients a percentage off a hotel’s best available rate on each travel date as opposed to a fixed, negotiated rate for the year
  • But that does not mean leisure travelers are not using the GDS as well.
  • “If they are shopping online with (the OTAs), then they are using the GDS
  • Indeed, overall demand has increased from both leisure and corporate travelers
  • Corporate travel demand is primarily responsible for that uptick
  • “Hotels that have typically had a negotiated rate for each corporation can actually work better with corporations with dynamic rates, as long as they are able to ensure they are giving that corporation access to whatever the deal of the day is
  • One of the trends she is seeing in the GDS channel is the increase of combined business and leisure trips
  • . “People are traveling for business in parts of the world and extending it to stay for leisure.”
  • There’s more opportunities for hotels to put promotions, put leisure opportunities on there … It enables hotels to really take value of the GDS.”
  • More and more, Kennedy is seeing corporate account managers ask: “What would you offer our travelers for their weekend stay if they wanted to stay longer or extend?” “What can you offer for group rates?”
  • The GDS is not going away any time soon because of the unique solutions it provides for hotels and travelers alike
  • For instance, it is better-suited to handle incredibly large look-to-book ratios
  • The GDS also provides enhanced marketing support
  • Although these and other benefits will continue to attract hoteliers’ inventory, Cole said the GDS would provide additional value if distribution costs were lowered
  • Travel-management companies are coming up with many security reporting and informative ways to show corporations where people are at any point in time, which can be important for insurance purposes
  • “Insurance companies are also pushing today that (companies) know where their employees are,” which the GDS facilitates,
  • The pricing model provides corporations with a lower rate when demand decreases but also gives hoteliers the opportunity to achieve higher rates when demand increases, Kennedy said. “It’s a win-win for both sides.”
  • Many hoteliers are attempting to leverage those increases in demand through dynamic pricing models, which offers clients a percentage off a hotel’s best available rate on each travel date as opposed to a fixed, negotiated rate for the year,
  • Corporate travel demand is primarily responsible for that uptick
  • Sabre Travel Network, for example, saw an increase of more than 7% in its GDS bookings during the first quarter of 2012 over the same period last year,
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    This article is about the current rise in the use of the GDS system again. This rise has been seen primarily with corporate travelers, but has also been used by the leisure traveler. While GDS usage percents dropped from 98% in 1999 to 79% in 2009, it has slightly started to increase again. Sabre one of the larger GDS companies has seen a 7% increase in use of the system in 2012. Hotels have tried to give companies better rates to their consumers, for example as more corporate travelers are extending their stays from a business trip and then turning it into a leisure trip for a few more days. This gives the traveler a lower rate a night at the hotel, as they are staying for more nights. Overall, while there was a decline in the use of GDS because of the OTA, there is now a slight increase, bringing life back to the GDS system.
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    This article gives an in depth explanation of the importance of GDS's in the hotel industry and the increased usage of the GDS due to the rising travel demand. The American Society of Travel Agents conducted a study in 2009 and found the percentage of member travel agencies that used the GDS declined from 98% in 1999 to 79% in 2009. A significant portion of the decrease was due to the economic downturn, but regardless hoteliers and travels still found value is the GDS channel. According to Sabre Travel Network, there was an increase of more than 7% in GDS bookings during the first quarter of 2012 over the same period last year. The demand for corporate travel is the main reason for the increase. Many people that are traveling for business want to extend their trips for leisure. This allows hotels the opportunity to adjust their pricing strategies by putting travel promotions for leisure for the business travels as well. Many people utilize the GDS to find the most affordable prices, but it is also beneficial to hoteliers as well. Elaine Kennedy, one of the two interviewed in the article, stated the pricing model provides corporations with a lower rate when demand decreases but also gives hoteliers the opportunity to achieve higher rates when demand increases, which ultimately is a win-win for both sides. The GDS also provides many opportunities for hotels to cut costs. Robert Cole, the other person interviewed in this article, stated "The GDS also provides enhanced marketing support….immediately when you use the GDS to put your product, your service, your room, your rate, you're getting it in front of an audience without using your own marketing budget." According to Robert Cole, the GDS is not going away any time soon because of the unique solutions it provides for hotels and travelers alike. I believe this article was very informative on how the GDS is currently being utilized and where it is going in the future. It basically helped answer question 3
Alexander Suarez

GDS hotel bookings continue to grow substantially - 0 views

  • February global GDS hotel bookings grew a substantial +23.5%, driving revenue up +36.8% over 2010. Both length of stay and booking lead time for this segment also expanded.
  • this segment displaying average monthly growth of more than +20% through July, with accompanying rate, length of stay and booking lead time increases.
  • Global reservations through the mostly leisure alternative distribution systems (ADS), or online channels, declined from January’s levels due to a variety of factors including regional unrest in the Middle East and North Africa. However, bookings growth still remained above February 2010 by +1.1% as the average daily rate (ADR) set a new growth record for North America at +2.9%, rising for the rest of the world to an almost +5% increase over last year.
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    "Despite the challenges unfolding at a regional level in the Middle East and North Africa, hoteliers were still able to raise rates enough in February to achieve average rate growth worldwide and capture more bookings than last year. "Consumers are not only traveling, but they are also willing to spend more. Additionally, the corporate market is booking more groups and meetings business from corporations of all sizes as February bookings, rate and revenue growth was coupled with increases in length of stay and booking lead time. Even though at the time, hoteliers continue to raise rates, but people are still continuing to travel and spend money. The traveling public understands that their leisure time is valuable and are willing to pay for peace of mind. Also, bookings made through online channels provide a perfect virtual marketplace for travel inventory sellers.
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    This article talks about how GDS's hotel bookings grow continuously. Having read about GDS and its facts as my class discussions, I can relate to this article and learn how it works in the hotel industry. In this text, it discusses about the reservation system and how hotels average out their revenue and how to make up for it. Many facts that are stated here proves how and why hotels keep growing significantly. It talks about how the hotels booking rates went up in February. It states that: "February global distribution system (GDS) bookings, representing the mostly corporate market, grew a substantial +23.5%, driving revenue up +36.8% over 2010." It shows and also states that people remained at the hotel longer then they should and the online booking went up. The hotel officer from Pegasus stated that in February, the company was still able to acquire more reservations even with a recent room increase.
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    This article post on the year of 2011, it said that the global GDS hotel bookings grew substantially by 23.5%, which driving revenue up by 36.8% in two years. And the monthly growth of more than 20% through July in 2010 to now. At the same time, the length of stay and booking lead time are also expanded. Compared with the booking rates in 2010, the business travel rates rose about 7% and rates paid by leisure travelers for hotel rooms increased 3.6%. The booking mostly through the ADS or online channels were all declined due to varieties of factors such as regional unrest in the Middle East and North Africa. Despite these challenges, the hotel managers still tried to achieve the high booking rates and capture more bookings than last year. Consumers are not only travelling , but they are also willing to spend more. People are tend to travel by groups in business or meetings, this will increase the length of stay and booking lead time. GDS bookings represent the mostly corporate market, despite of all the problems which could influence the travel rates, bookings made through online channels like GDS made growth rates keep increasing both in tourist on or off season.
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    This article speaks about, for the most part, how bookings done through systems are now only at an all time high, but continue to grow substantially.  ADS's on the other hand, declined from January's levels declined due a variety of factors including regional unrest, etc. However, growth bounced back in February and even set a new record for North America. Also, despite all the challenges throughout the middle east and north Africa, average rate growth was still achieved throughout the month of February and even outperform last years bookings for that month.
nixalexa

What is Hotel PMS? | Oracle - 2 views

  • Traditionally, a hotel property management system (PMS) was defined as a platform that enabled a hotel or group of hotels to manage front-office capabilities, such as booking reservations, guest check-in/check-out, room assignment, managing room rates, and billing
  • Traditionally, a hotel property management system (PMS) was defined as a platform that enabled a hotel or group of hotels to manage front-office capabilities, such as booking reservations, guest check-in/check-out, room assignment, managing room rates, and billing.
  • Hotel PMS is now a critical business operations system that enables hoteliers to deliver a seamless guest experience. Hotel PMS now integrates to other onsite services that impact the guest's complete experience, including: Food and beverage operations Housekeeping and maintenance management Sales and catering execution for group bookings and event management Revenue management Distribution across multiple channels Spa management
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  • Faster innovation With cloud-based hotel PMS, hotels can bring new properties online more quickly. Each new release brings new capabilities to help deliver great guest experiences, improve operating efficiency, and increase employee productivity. Lower IT complexity and costs With cloud-based hotel PMS, hotels can lower upfront capital expenditure on software and hardware. By going above-property, hotels can also reduce IT complexity and IT costs. Increase in RevPAR and ADR With cloud-based hotel PMS, hotels can effectively manage rates and allocation of rooms to various distribution channels, helping to maximize occupancy, rates, and revenue. Enhanced customer lifetime value With cloud-based hotel PMS, hotels get a single customer master with comprehensive guest profiles that allow them to personalize and differentiate guest experiences.
  • Until recently, hotel PMS solutions were often managed on premises. On-premises solutions include hardware that can take up a lot of space. Resources were needed to manage the systems and software updates, upgrades, and patches needed to be scheduled and installed manually by onsite staff. Cloud-based, mobile-enabled hotel PMS platforms offer hotels an innovative way to engage with guests while enabling hotels to reduce IT costs and simplify their infrastructure.
  • ncrease housekeeping efficiency with instant updates on housekeeping mobile devices when customers check out, freeing up rooms for cleaning
  • is now a critical business operations system
  • that replaced time-intensive, paper and spreadsheet-heavy processes.
  • seamless guest experience.
  • Enhanced customer lifetime value.
  • Hoteliers are challenged with providing a personalized guest experience
  • olutions help hoteliers deliver the experience guests want, while efficiently managing their business.
  • Connect operations and financial processes by leveraging prebuilt integrations
  • Increase room occupancy and ADR through real-time rate
  • ster innovation.
  • Lower IT complexity and costs.
  • aditionally, a hotel property management system was defined as a platform that enabled a hotel or group of hotels to manage front-office capabilities, such as booking reservations, guest check-in/check-out, room assignment, managing room rates, and billing.
  • rease in RevPAR and ADR.
  • OPERA Cloud hotel property management system offers hoteliers capabilities to enhance operating efficiency and deliver exceptional guest experiences. The platform integrates emerging technologies with ease, accelerating innovation to meet ever-changing demands. Hotel PMS Defined
    • sbaut010
       
      Opera, a traditional PMS provider has has invested in cloud computing.
  • With cloud-based hotel PMS, hotels can lower upfront capital expenditure on software and hardware. By going above-property, hotels can also reduce IT complexity and IT costs.
  • With cloud-based hotel PMS, hotels can bring new properties online more quickly. Each new release brings new capabilities to help deliver great guest experiences, improve operating efficiency, and increase employee productivity.
  • With cloud-based hotel PMS, hotels get a single customer master with comprehensive guest profiles that allow them to personalize and differentiate guest experiences.
  • The benefits of cloud-based hotel PMS solutions include:
  • With cloud-based hotel PMS, hotels can effectively manage rates and allocation of rooms to various distribution channels, helping to maximize occupancy, rates,
  • r
  • Hotel PMS now integrates to other onsite services that impact the guest's complete experience, including:
  • T
  • OPERA Cloud hotel property management system offers hoteliers capabilities to enhance operating efficiency and deliver exceptional guest experiences. The platform integrates emerging technologies with ease, accelerating innovation to meet ever-changing demands.
  • Provide anytime, anywhere service to your guests using a mobile-enabled cloud-based hotel PMS.
  • Centralize and secure customer data and improve the quality and accuracy of guest profiles with reporting and analytics.
  • Empower managers to improve ADR with extensive options for setting rates and advanced rate-management features for manual and semiautomated revenue management.
  • With a cloud hotel PMS, hotels get a single customer master with comprehensive guest profiles that allow them to personalize and differentiate guest experiences.
    • nixalexa
       
      PMS is Hotel Property Management Systems to help operate the day-to-day tasks in the hospitality industry, PMS has assisted the process with guests check in and checkout, assistance with assigning rooms, managing room rates and for billing guests, this article also explains how PMS has removed the unnecessary use of paper for these processes as well, which is environmentally friendly! When a guest leaves their room, PMS systems help inform housekeeping that there is an empty room that now needs to be cleaned for the next guest. The article by Oracle also mentions "mobile-enabled cloud-based hotel PMS" which tells the reader that internet is required to function the PMS properly and efficiently. PMS also assists hotels with keeping customer data in their systems so that managers within the property can keep track of guest spending, room rates, guests per night, week or month and help improve how accurate their information is instead of having to keep track of all of this data manually. When speaking of the cloud-based PMS systems the article also states that this helps customers keep track of their own information with a specific company. Like if a customer stays at Marriott hotels, with the Marriott app they will be able to keep track of their stays and reservations they have made in the past as well as existing reservations.
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    Property management systems (PMS) were originally only for front desk needs like booking reservations, checking guest in and out, charging accounts, and managing room assignments. The newer PMS systems have enhanced the check in and check out process, maintenance and housekeeping management, and accounts receivable management. The check in and check out process has been enhanced by the newer cloud based PMS systems by giving the front desk the ability to provide service anywhere and anytime. It is more accessible and can update room statuses in real time. As housekeeping cleans rooms the room statuses are updated through their mobile cleaning device into the PMS system. Also, the PMS system allows the front desk to communicate with the maintenance and housekeeping staff for last minute guest request and complaints. The cloud based PMS system also allows the front desk to have access to revenue management. This way the front desk can have access to accounts receivable and update it as payments come in from previous guest. This enables faster and more accurate billing for guest. As technology advances it is important for the hospitality industry to stay updated so that guest and employees needs are met. Keeping up with the technological trends allows companies to remain competitive.
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    MS technology changed a lot in the hospitality industry. A hotel property management system is a platform that enabled a hotel or group of hotels to manage front-office capabilities, such as booking reservations, guest check-in/check-out, room assignment, managing room rates, and billing. Hotel PMS now integrates to other onsite services that impact the guest's complete experience. Hotel staff provides a guest experience when operating an effective hotel business.PMS can help hotel staff to manage information more efficiently. hotel PMS can also let hotel employees gain insights into guest behavior and preferences, improving guest satisfaction and enhancing the quality of the guest experience. PMS will develop faster than now and implement their system more efficient. When customers book a hotel room through website hotel staff can know it immediately. It saves time and saves labor cost. Hotel staff doesn't need to write down the information now.
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    A hotel PMS is often defined as the software used to manage bookings, room rates, check-in/check-out times, and much more. However, through the years, hotels' PMS has evolved to better allow for a seamless guest experience. For example, with an advanced PMS, front desk is capable of directly notifying housekeeping employees what rooms need what service and any specifications they might have. In addition, PMS has evolved to be a cloud-based software. This means that hotels can keep up to date with the newest version of the PMS, they lower IT costs, they can more effectively influence room rates and better manage expenses along with income, and they allow them to keep track of all guests and their specific requests to keep the experience perfectly personalized for them each time they come to visit.
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    This articles talks about how the PMS programs are being redefined by new technologies that not only enhance the productivity of the hotel it self but has millions of positive effects, event towards a more ecological and eco friendly environment.
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    This article first introduces the definition of PMS. Traditionally, PMS was defined as a platform that enabled a hotel or group of hotels to manage front-office capabilities. But with the development of science and technology, the function of PMS has been extended. Hotels can get many benefits from PMS, such as improving room management efficiency, more convenient management of customer data, and so on. This article also introduces the advantages of cloud-based PMS over traditional PMS. Such as faster updates, avoiding excessive costs in the IT department. Cloud-based PMS may be an important development trend for PMS.
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    Hotel PMS is a critical business operations system which enables a seamless guest experience. PMS is not just limited to in house; cloud base PMS provides the same benefits with more features.
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    Hotel PMS is extremely important when it comes to hotel management. It provides a seamless experience for not only guests but employees. It provides easier guest check in and out, data that includes accounts receivable, and also helps with maintenance and housekeeping. PMS systems are cloud based and is expensive but will be worth it over time.
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    We look at how the software Oracle is beneficial to a Hotel's PMS system. This software is the middle man between the customer and proving service
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    This article tell us what is PMS and what benefits it can brings to the hotels operation. Automating daily operations and administrative tasks is an important part of achieving customer satisfaction as it helps provide reliable and quality service time after time. A hotel is a complex system that encompasses the activities of many departments, and every operation must be tracked
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    More than a "platform that enabled a hotel or group of hotels to manage front-office capabilities", modern PMS is "a critical business operations system that enables hoteliers to deliver a seamless guest experience" by integrating many other systems. PMS offers many kinds of benefits to hoteliers, including improving housekeeping services and revenue management. The deployment of PMS is also a consideration. While most PMS systems were on-premise, there do have cloud-based ones that reduces cost in an innovative way. It also helps in enhancing customer lifetime value and increase RevPAR and ADR.
marble_bird

Roche2016_Article_RecreationalDivingImpactsOnCor.pdf - 0 views

shared by marble_bird on 07 Jul 20 - No Cached
  • Recreational diving on coral reefs is an activity that has experienced rapidly growing levels of popularity and participation.
  • the potential role of dive impacts in contributing to coral reef damage is a concern at heavily dived locations. Management measures to address this issue increasingly include the introduction of programmes designed to encourage environmentally responsible practices within the dive industry.
  • Coral reefs are a threatened, but globally important ecosystem, providing key services to local communities such as coastal defence, sediment production, and fisheries benefits
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  • The role of dive supervision was assessed by recording dive guide interventions underwater, and how this was affected by dive group size.
  • Over recent decades, tourism activities benefiting from the pleasing aesthetics and biodiversity of coral reefs, primarily SCUBA diving and snorkelling, have experienced rapidly increasing numbers of participants globally
  • We found evidence that the ability of dive guides to intervene and correct diver behaviour in the event of a reef contact decreases with larger diver group sizes. Divers from operators with high levels of compliance with the Green Fins programme exhibited significantly lower reef contact rates than those from dive operators with low levels of compliance.
  • Damage to corals on dived reefs often occurs as a result of skeletal breakage, particularly in branching species (Guzner et al. 2010;H a s l e ra n dO t t 2008). Tissue abrasion can also result from diver contact (Hawkins et al. 1999), and a recent study reported a higher incidence of coral disease in areas heavily used for recreational diving
  • It is possible that other diver characteristics such as qualification level or dive experience may affect the ability to respond to dive briefings, although several studies have failed to find a correlation between divers’ reef contact rates and experience
  • Due to the difficulties of effectively addressing global stressors, an emerging recommendation is the focus of coral reef management on local scales (e.g. Anthony et al. 2014). A frequent challenge facing managers and policy makers at local levels relates to the maximisation of tourism benefits whilst simultaneously reducing its environmental impacts
  • Alternatively, previous experience and possible affinity and attachment to a specific dive site may influence how closely divers follow pre-dive briefings and affect their behaviour underwater, as suggested by place attachment theory
  • The methodologies which have been developed to minimise the environmental impact of SCUBA diving on coral reefs can be summarised as follows: (1) managing or restricting diver numbers, (2) regulating the locations in which SCUBA diving activities occur, (3) regulating the types of equipment used, and 4) implementing programmes which seek to manage the methods used by the dive industry in providing their services. Restricting diver numbers is based on the concept of a reef dive site’s ‘carrying capacity’; a level beyond which diving impacts become readily apparent.
  • Restriction of SCUBA diving equipment has focused on banning the use of accessories believed to increase reef contacts within marine protected areas such as gloves, muck sticks, or underwater cameras; however, such regulations are often unpopular within the SCUBA diving community
  • Governments and reef managers seek evidence that the effort expended in implementing programmes translates into measurable benefits; however, research into the effectiveness of such programmes at influencing diver behaviour and reducing diving impacts is limited.
  • In this study, we focused on dive operators participating in the Green Fins diving programme at three major dive locations within the Philippines.
  • Nonetheless, levels of dive supervision underwater would intuitively appear to be linked to rates of reef contact, and when examined, the willingness of dive guides to intervene in correcting diver behaviour underwater has been found to significantly reduce diver contact rates
  • Malapascua Island, Moalboal, and Puerto Galera.
  • divers may have been aware that a Green Fins compliance assessment was taking place, but they were unaware that diver contacts with the reef were being specifically recorded. Green Fins environmental assessments and diver observations were conducted simultaneously.
  • Dive guides and guest divers from 44 dive operators participating in the Green Fins programme were followed
  • Diver characteristics with potential to influence underwater behaviour were categorised as the following factors: diver qualification level (three levels), dive experience (five levels), and previous number of dives at site (three levels).
  • Divers were assigned a unique diver number, and then followed and observed underwater for the entire duration of their dive.
  • If the overall group was very large such that the dive guide could not be seen from the rear of the group, the pair immediately behind the dive guide was selected.
  • Compliance with the Green Fins approach was determined by utilising diver contact rates and dive guide intervention rates as at the dependent variables of interest, and by defining dive operators according to those who had received a high score (above the median score) versus those with a low score (below the median score) on the most recent conducted Green Fins assessment
  • The part of the body or item of equipment making contact with the reef was recorded as follows: hand, fin, knee, camera, muck stick (a handheld stainless steel or aluminium rod approximately 30 cm in length) and equipment (e.g. tank, submersible pressure gauges, octopus regulator), and multiple (parts of the body and equipment simultaneously). The time during the dive at which the contact occurred was also recorded.
  • If observable damage (i.e. breakage, obvious physical damage, or injury) occurred as a result of the contact this was recorded, together with the apparent awareness of the diver to the contact, regardless of damage caused.
  • Contacts made with a camera (77.7 %) accounted for the highest proportion of contacts which resulted in damage, followed by contacts made with the knee (43.3 %), multiple body and equipment parts (38.2 %), equipment (30.7 %), fins (29.8 %), hands (24.7 %), and muck sticks (23.5 %).
  • A total of 100 SCUBA divers were observed at three diving locations within the Philippines (Table 1). The majority (72 %) of these divers were male, and diving experience ranged from those completing diving training to those who were instructors elsewhere with experience of hundreds of dives.
  • Following dive completion, divers that had been observed underwater were asked to complete a survey to determine diver characteristics.
  • Most contacts were made with fins (45.5 %, n = 261); however, hands (19.5 %, n = 112) and dive equipment (15.9 %, n = 91) were also major contributors to the total number of contacts
  • Interventions were defined as an event in which the dive guide intervened in diver behaviour through signalling or demonstrating correct behaviour in order to minimise or prevent contact with the reef.
  • A total of 81 interventions were observed (in comparison to 573 reef contacts—see Fig. 4 for the distribution of contacts and interventions);
  • Camera systems were carried by 55 % of divers; camera-wielding divers accounted for 52.7 % of the total contacts made with the reef. Of divers who utilised a camera, 35 % carried a non-specialist compact type and 20 % carried an SLR type within a specialist underwater housing.
  • Mean (±SE) dive time was 49.3 ± 0.42 min. A total of 573 diver contacts with the reef were recorded during all assessed dives.
  • The difference in the frequency of interventions was statistically significant (ANOVA, f = 4.81, P = 0.03)
  • although a significant portion (36 %) appeared unaware of the contact they made with the reef.
  • In addition to overall contact levels, some studies have also quantified reef contacts either as the mean number of contacts per diver over the duration of a dive or the diver contact rate per minute of dive time. The mean contact rates of 5.7 contacts per dive, or 0.12 contacts per min, which we observed at dive sites in the Philippines are lower than those previously reported
  • All divers observed within the present study were diving with operators participating to various degrees in the Green Fins environmentally responsible diving programme.
  • Identifying factors and policy measures which influence SCUBA diver behaviour underwater can help coral reef managers determine where to most effectively focus effort and funding with respect to dive management. In this study, we found that 88 % of the divers observed made at least one contact with the reef at some point
  • Divers who are more conservation aware and who contact the reef less may preferentially choose to dive with environmentally ‘accredited’ dive operators; indeed, this assumption partially drives dive operator participation in such programmes.
  • Underwater interventions by dive guides have been suggested to be the most successful deterrent to diver contact with reefs (Barker and Roberts 2004). In this study, there was no significant difference in the intervention rates between dive centres of high and low Green Fins compliance. Therefore, we cannot attribute the observed difference in diver reef contact rates to differences in intervention rates between these two groups.
  • Studies examining the effect of carrying camera equipment on the frequency of diver contacts with the reef have produced conflicting results.
  • Additionally, the administration of a pre-dive briefing can influence diver contact rates underwater (Medio et al. 1997). The Green Fins programme incorporates the use of a pre-dive briefing that emphasises the importance of refraining from contacting the reef, which would be expected to result in lower diver contact rates.
  • A concern amongst representatives of the diving industry is the use of muck sticks to manipulate animals unnecessarily—pushing animals out of holes for better viewing, stressing animals to show customers their stress behaviour (e.g. an octopus changing colour), and physically breaking hard coral to be used in photographs.
  • When examining the part of the body or dive equipment which made contact with the reef, we found that the majority of contacts were made with fins, in agreement with Krieger and Chadwick (2013) and Rouphael and Inglis (1998).
  • It has previously been noted that dive guides customarily perform different roles at dive locations globally; at some locations, they act primarily to lead the dive group around the reef, whilst at others, pairing with and closely supervising individual divers throughout the course of a dive
  • this suggests that dive guides carry out the closest supervision during the initial phase of the dive and then switch to a ‘dive leader’ role at the front of a dive group.
  • This study provides evidence that the effective implementation of environmentally responsible practices, via programmes designed to reduce diving impacts, may translate to reduced diver reef contacts.
  • Many diver characteristics which might intuitively be expected to impact reef contact rates, such as level of qualification and overall experience, were not significant influencing factors in this study, and high versus low levels of Green Fins compliance did not influence the number of interventions made by dive guides underwater.
  • For continued economic benefit and conservation of Philippine reef dive locations, we recommend that management measures facilitate high levels of compliance with environmentally responsible diving programmes to reduce the impact of diving on coral reefs.
  •  
    This article discusses a study performed at various diving locations in the Philippines to determine whether or not measures taken by Green Fin diving guides were effective in reducing contact with coral reef systems. The study also recorded the average number of contacts with the reef during a dive, as well as the equipment or body part which came into contact with the reef most often, and which actions resulted in the most damage. The study finds that adherence to Green Fin standards or other policies may significantly impact diver behaviors and reduce the level of contact with sensitive coral reefs during SCUBA dives.
gabybilk

Is the GDS Still a Good Investment? | hospitalityupgrade.com - 0 views

  • Global Distribution System (GDS) still contributes significantly to hotel distribution revenue–approximately 27 percent, according to TRAVELCLICK’s latest eTRAK repor
  •   The survey found that about 25 percent of travel agents worldwide–mostly international agents–are using their GDS platform more often than in the past. Of those surveyed, 70 percent recall seeing GDS promotional messages—up 15 percent from 2007.
  • Survey results also reveal that most travel agents worldwide believe the GDS should offer rate parity: 88 percent of U.S. travel agents and 81 percent of international travel agents said it was very important to see the same rates available on all platforms.
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • The survey showed that 83 percent of agents offer best available rates (BAR) or promotional rates to customers who have negotiated rates at the time of booking.
  • travel agent use of the GDS to grow significantly.  We anticipate this trend will continue in the future.  The more useful, accurate and visually engaging the information provided by hotel companies in the GDS environment, the more agents will rely on the system to book travel for their clients
  •  
    The article discussed the significance of hotels using the Global Distribution System and how the GDS helps promote and influence bookings.The GDS is basically the main source of booking reservations for a travel agent. The GDS shows all rates and inventory for hotels, airlines, and rental car centers. According to the article, GDS is used mainly by international travel agents, but it is used my travel agents all over the globe. When looking at the GDS, travel agents ted to focus mainly on the rate information it is advertising, usually the BAR rate is what travel agents are aiming to get for their clients. The GDS is relied on heavily by travel agents to offer the best rate to their client, which in return will help them gain more clientele. The more accurate and visually appealing the GDS is, the more the agents are willing to use it.
smend120

Benefits of Global Distribution System | GDS Booking System - 0 views

  • a central reservation system that allows travel agencies and their clients to access travel knowledge, buy and compare reservations choices and book travel
  • connects the travel service suppliers or vendors to the travel agencies in real-time, by providing a centralized service that covers the bookings of airline tickets and more.
  • The leading global distribution systems are Amadeus, Sabre, Galileo, and Worldspan.
  • ...15 more annotations...
  • Travel Agencies have historically relied on GDS for services, products & rates to produce travel-related services to end customers.
  • The GDS system is one of the most necessary tools for the travel business
  • OTA (Online Travel Agent) can access the inventory of airlines in real-time. Users can book and process the travel offers that best work their needs.
  • Amadeus GDS helps to distribute the services in order that the audience or clients may get the specified result out of it. In the world of travel, Amadeus API Integration is one of the ancient and trusted technologies.
  • Galileo is one of the global suppliers of travel product within the world and that they currently provide the Galileo Global Distribution system. Galileo is an application program interface (API) that permits customers to make an interface like a website, connected to the Galileo.
  • Sabre Global Distribution System is one of the leading suppliers of travel reservation systems with over 55000 travel agencies. Sabre is an efficient and cost-effective distribution channel that helps airlines and travel corporations to extend their market reach to leisure and corporate traveler.
  • travel agents to search, price, book, and ticket travel services provided by airlines and tour operators. Sabre provides users with schedules, availability, pricing, policies, and rules, yet as reservation and ticketing capability for travel suppliers.
  • Travelport is a leading Global Distribution System, that operates in 170 countries including globally accepted and allows Worldspan and Galileo GDS platforms. The Travelport network consists of 400 Airline partners serving to travel corporations increase revenue, lower value and efficiency reach leisure and company travelers globally in each continent and channel.
  • Worldspan GDS System provides data-rich solutions that offer travel buyers and suppliers distinctive insights into their operations that facilitate to manage your travel business, reducing prices and improving revenues. Worldspan travel software acts as a single source for providing travel deals and information all over the globe.
  • he integration of Worldspan travel software permits the travel agents to boost the client's expertise by providing information like rates, inventory, discount and description that is finished on a real-time
  • market your latest sales message, special offers, and discounts directly to travel agents. 
  • A single global travel distribution system is connected through B2B, B2C, B2E and B2B2C websites.
  • OTAs have greatly improved the travel shopping experience & convenience for consumers and have increased pricing transparency.
  • GDS systems deliver worldwide data, rates, inventory, offers, real-time availability of airlines, hotel rooms, car rental, bus tickets, and many more to make the travel industry more informatics and sophisticated.
  • Benefits of Global Distribution System Global distribution systems are widely responsible for the growth of travel industry and stepping stone of most internet based travel services.
  •  
    Global distribution systems work by connecting travel companies (airlines, car rentals, cruise lines) to travel agencies (online or human) who then connect with the interested traveler. By this chain, the travel agent is able to offer real time availability from the companies to the traveller. The benefits of this system are the ability to deliver tons of information direct from the relevant companies, it is convenient for those that use them and easy to track travelling trends and interests. To me, it works like a mass marketing strategy. The content is generated by the owners and instead of enlisting their own man power, they utilize the efficiency and convenience of remote technology to mass distribute. The intended consumer receives the information without ever having to think where it's coming from, but inevitably trusts its reliability. The productivity of this system is something that those in the hospitality industry cannot ignore because this represents moments of the first interaction between the interested consumer and your operation. In order for the information to reach them in a convenient medium. In summary, GDS's help information get from the travel company to the consumer everyday in real time via global networks.
  •  
    Global Distribution Systems (GDS) are largely responsible for the expansion of the travel industry. They provide the foundation for most internet-based travel services offered globally, and they link the providers of travel services in real-time. To make the travel business more complex and informatics, the GDS system provides global data, pricing, inventory, offers, and real-time availability of flights, hotel rooms, car rentals, and even bus tickets. GDS enables travel agencies and their customers to access travel information, purchase and compare options for reservations, and schedule trips. One of the most essential tools for the travel industry is the GDS system. Global Distribution Systems are server-hosted web platforms that offer worldwide discounts on the booking of travel-related goods like airfares. Amadeus, Sabre, and Travelport are the three main GDSs in the market, and they are connected to more than 650,000 travel agents. Travel agencies depend on GDS's assistance to maximize their own profits because GDS is a direct seller of airline tickets. To increase their revenues and their ability to offer tickets to customers, travel agencies enter into an agreement with GDS and gain access to a listing of fares.
  •  
    " Benefits of Global Distribution System Global distribution systems are widely responsible for the growth of travel industry and stepping stone of most internet based travel services. Benefits of Global Distribution System for Travel Agents and Tour Operators GDS systems deliver worldwide data, rates, inventory, offers, real-time availability of airlines, hotel rooms, car rental, bus tickets, and many more to make the travel industry more informatics and sophisticated. How Travel GDS Marketplace Is Reshaping the Travel Industry GDS stands for Global Distribution System and it's essentially a central reservation system that allows travel agencies and their clients to access travel knowledge, buy and compare reservations choices and book travel. functions across the world and connects the travel service suppliers or vendors to the travel agencies in real-time, by providing a centralized service that covers the bookings of airline tickets and more. permits travel agents to access, in real-time, availability, feature and costs for airlines and extra travel services worldwide. The leading global distribution systems are Amadeus, Sabre, Galileo, and Worldspan. This permits users to buy tickets from various suppliers or completely different airlines. GDS can link services, rates, and bookings that combine a spread of products and services in travel sectors: e.g., airline bookings. Independent travel agents, travel agencies are now using an increasing sophisticated GDS system to seek out the best travel and accommodation and rates for their clients. Travel Agencies have historically relied on GDS for services, products & rates to produce travel-related services GDS system is one of the most necessary tools for the travel business the system will yield results with real-time pricing and availability comparisons There are 3 major GDS within the market- Amadeus, Sabre, and Travelport here are over 650,000 and travel agents connected via a GDS system Systems enable users to bu
kaylaabad

Features and the Importance of a Property Management System | Blog - DJUBO - 0 views

  • Your property management system is and should be, well equipped to handle the entire guest journey – from the minute they start searching for a room on a website to the moment they check out from their room.
  • Your property management system is and should be, well equipped to handle the entire guest journey – from the minute they start searching for a room on a website to the moment they check out from their room.
    • kaylaabad
       
      Great point: Your property management system is and should be, well equipped to handle the entire guest journey - from the minute they start searching for a room on a website to the moment they check out from their room.
  • Having a framework that makes frontdesk work processes simple, will make a consistent visitor experience
    • kaylaabad
       
      Property Management Systems facilitate front desk work, in turn making a visitor experience more consistent.
  • ...13 more annotations...
  • It is now an important system that enables hoteliers to deliver a faultless guest experience.
    • kaylaabad
       
      Pro of PMS - Faultless guest experience
  • It further helps the hoteliers to stay in touch with their guests even after they have checked out to make a good brand image into the minds of the guests, guaranteeing repeated visit and thus helping in developing the business.
    • kaylaabad
       
      Pro of PMS - Helps hotels stay in touch with their guests guaranteeing repeat visits.
  • he most integral function of a property management system is to help the hotelier in managing the bookings that he gets, right from the point where a customer is searching for a hotel to the point the customer checks out from the hotel.
    • kaylaabad
       
      Most important function of a PMS - It helps hotels in managing the bookings that they get, from the point where guests search to when they check out
  • An efficient hotel PMS will allow you to get listed on and manage multiple online platforms.
    • kaylaabad
       
      Bigger online presence
  • Larger online presence will consequently reap bigger revenues for the hotels. Also, it will increase a hotelier’s online presence and help a guest during their journey of booking a hotel.
    • kaylaabad
       
      Pros of having a bigger online presence - hotel will see more revenue and guests will find it easier to make a reservation
  • You can limit the measure of time spent on authoritative errands. The correct hotel PMS will complete a great deal of the work for you, enabling you to focus your attention and your vitality on the more important tasks
    • kaylaabad
       
      Lesser time spent on administrative tasks
  • With a Property Management System in place, you will have a great flexibility in deciding what rates you want to throw in market for your property at any given point of time.
    • kaylaabad
       
      Flexible rate management
  • It gives the hoteliers, the ease to see their reservations and availability in a very convenient and different way.
    • kaylaabad
       
      Feature of PMS: Smart Calendar - It gives the hoteliers, the ease to see their reservations and availability in a very convenient and different way.
  • A decent hotel PMS will enable you to make rate designs and inferred rate designs and afterword effortlessly appoint them to reservations. Not only this, the most advanced PMS will allow you to plan multiple rate plans for deep into the future so that you don’t have to manually interfere every now and then to throw new rates.
    • kaylaabad
       
      Feature of PMS: Rate Planning - A decent hotel PMS will enable you to make rate designs and inferred rate designs and afterword effortlessly appoint them to reservations. Not only this, the most advanced PMS will allow you to plan multiple rate plans for deep into the future so that you don't have to manually interfere every now and then to throw new rates.
  • A channel manager is a platform wherein a hotelier can update the inventory and prices on each OTA from a single place.
    • kaylaabad
       
      Feature of PMS: Channel Manager - A channel manager is a platform wherein a hotelier can update the inventory and prices on each OTA from a single place.
  • A propelled property management system will make sure that the hotelier gets daily/weekly/monthly reports like the sales reports, manager reports, account receivable reports, inventory availability reports etc.
    • kaylaabad
       
      Feature of PMS: Reports and Analytics - A propelled property management system will make sure that the hotelier gets daily/weekly/monthly reports like the sales reports, manager reports, account receivable reports, inventory availability reports etc.
  • A good POS will enable you to keep the guest satisfaction in mind and help you settle their dues from any service shop at the stage as preferred by them.
    • kaylaabad
       
      Feature of PMS: POS - A good POS will enable you to keep the guest satisfaction in mind and help you settle their dues from any service shop at the stage as preferred by them.
  • good cloud-based software will have customer databases in place to help the hoteliers keep a record of all the customers that have at their property and what their preferences are. This lets them help those return customers with their choices and build a good relationship with them.
    • kaylaabad
       
      Feature of PMS: Databases - good cloud-based software will have customer databases in place to help the hoteliers keep a record of all the customers that have at their property and what their preferences are. This lets them help those return customers with their choices and build a good relationship with them.
  •  
    This article is helpful in understanding property management systems (PMS), while providing beneficial features that they provide. A PMS should be "well-equipped to handle the entire guest journey." These systems enable hotels to provide a faultless guest experience throughout. A PMS offers features that facilitate processes for the hotel. For instance, this system provides a smart calendar giving hotels easier visibility to their reservations and availability. This system also provides reports and analytics for the hotel, such as sales reports, manager reports, and inventory availability reports. This system facilitates the jobs of the hotels employees, in turn creating a more consistent experience for the guests.
nbakir

Is 2020 the Year of the GDS? | By Scott Falconer - Hospitality Net - 2 views

  • Technology can play a major role in helping properties win more bookings, through advertisements, display, and keywords
  • It will be interesting to see how GDS usage and other distribution channels continue to evolve throughout 2020.
  • The overall contribution of GDS bookings indicates that it is still a very relevant and growing channel and often delivers the highest ADR.
  • ...8 more annotations...
  • However, certain keywords can and do drive them to book a property, such as "price", "offer", "rate" and "discount". Globally, 4 out of 10 survey respondents agree these types of words would encourage them to book.
  • In our survey, 7 out of 10 agents say it's important to include icons with the words "free" or "complimentary" in ads. In 2020, hoteliers should review their current strategy for the GDS and consider whether they are using the platform to its full potential.
  • Rate parity (ensuring that the same room is priced identically across all distribution channels) will continue to be of utmost importance.
  • Our research shows that 9 out of 10 travel agents rank rate parity as 'very important' or 'important' in their search.
  • When the GDS does not offer full rate parity, 6 out of 10 travel agents actively book away from that hotel property.
  • Travel agents are booking hotel reservations on the GDS in record numbers, from 42 million ten years ago to 79 million in 2019. On average, they book 22X more room nights than consumers, making the GDS a prime channel for hotels looking to increase revenue.
  • the GDS does not offer full rate parity, 6 out of 10 travel agents actively book away from that hotel property.
  • ordin
  •  
    This article speaks on how GDS are doing in the age of 2020. Not only does it talk about how its doing over all but it also goes over how they remain successful with the new times. Keeping up with changing demands and trends.
  •  
    This article talks about how GDS system usage has been and continues to increase over the years. While many owners prefer direct bookings on their site. GDS has been increasing at a faster rate than other channels which are used by travel agents. Hotels need to e using the GDS platforms in 2020 and beyond to maximise the benefits that it brings.
  •  
    Scott Falconer's article, "Is 2020 the year of the GDS," entails discussion of the survey results of the DGS site as the most sued and rapidly growing site for booking by travel agents. Falconer also advises hotels and other travel agents to optimize the use of the GDS site to increase bookings and therefore profitability. In discussing the survey results, Falconers also suggests the GDS increase its potential by maintaining parity, observing prices, and promotions are critical in its continued growth. Falconer's finding first indicates that GDS usage has significantly grown in the past ten years. The author notes that by 2019, the number of travel agents using the site of GDS to make bookings had increased from 42 million to 79 million between 2009 and 2019 (Falconer). In the recent past, Falconer argues that the ratings and growth in usage of the site provide hotels with opportunities to grow revenue as the site makes 22 times more bookings than consumers. Through surveying with 900 travel agents, Falconer concluded that GDS is a prime channel for bookings because of its recent fast growth compared to other alternative booking sites. Secondly, Falconer notes that there is a need to stabilize the parity rates for the GDS channel to succeed. Based on the survey, most travel agents indicated that parity rates are influential to the decision to book a facility using the GDs site or others. Therefore, Falconer advises the GDS management to ensure the consistency of the price that properties offer to clients on other channels. The services listed in the sites are available as indicated at the property. In this case, the GDS can improve booking experience by clearly stating commissions, discounts, or cancellation policies at the site to increase the availability of information to the clients regarding the nature of commitment and expected services as the promised value. Falconer also highlights the importance of adver
jamigovaerts

Capturing Travel Agent GDS Bookings in Challenging Times - 2 views

  • While the travel industry faces ongoing challenges from COVID-19, travel agents will play a key role in connecting hotels and travelers, especially given the flexibility and changes that may be required of travelers in the coming months.
  • To best capture the travel agent audience, use global distribution systems.
  • Even through this period of uncertainty, global distribution systems have consistently remained one of the highest ADR channels. And travel agents have some excellent reasons to keep booking hotels through these systems:
  • ...16 more annotations...
  • They earn a commission
  • It’s more convenient.
  • It’s more efficient.
  • Optimizing your presence on the gds and boosting your visibility is essential to connecting with and winning bookings from the travel agent audience.
  • That includes rates on your website, metasearch, all gds, and online travel agencies. Rate parity is important to 89% of travel agents worldwide – if they see a better rate elsewhere, they’ll actively book away from your property.
  • Make sure your property is correctly geocoded or indexed.
  • Evaluate your photos.
  • Update any modified or additional hotel services and amenities
  • Revise cancellation, flexible rate, and rebooking policies for impacted travelers.
  • List your commission policy.
  • What is most important to travel agents booking hotels on global distribution systems?NORAMLATAMEMEAAPACProperty rating and photos59%57%53%58%Hotel Services57%54%52%51%Hotel Amenities65%45%45%46%Policy information53%36%43%30%Attractions/Points of Interest28%34%33%45%Other12%15%8%10%
  • GDS isn’t the only type of marketing that can help.
  • Ad spend via global distribution systems is only used when an impression is delivered to a travel agent actively searching for a property in your market.
  • Identify and target your top source markets
  • Select promotion dates that are 90 days in the future: 
  • Focus messaging on cleanliness and safety:
  •  
    Module 3: This article focuses on the importance of GDS systems during the challenges of COVID-19. With an emphasis on travel agents using the GDS, hotels will be able to continue to thrive and survive. According to the article, " travel agents will play a key role in connecting hotels and travelers, especially given the flexibility and changes that may be required of travelers in the coming months." This article provides insights for hotels to best optimize using a GDS for travel agents to find them. The article states, "Rate parity is important to 89% of travel agents worldwide - if they see a better rate elsewhere, they'll actively book away from your property." I believe using a GDS will be the only way in the future to continue to travel and save money. Tripadvisor is my go to when it comes to finding out about a resort and which website has the best rate for the same room.
tcale003

Oracle OPERA: What You Need to Know When Evaluating Hotel Software - 1 views

    • tcale003
       
      The Oracle Opera (formerly Micros) is the biggest Property Management System utilized in the hospitality industry. Oracle OPERA is a cloud-based Property Management System that integrates a variety of functions into one place. While OPERA is used for a single property, it is built with multi-property in mind and, therefore, it is not usually used in very small properties.
  • which types of hotels OPERA is a great fit for and discuss how independent hotels, boutiques and chains all benefit in different ways.  We'll also cover the impact of Oracle Cloud on its hospitality solutions division and whether Oracle's PMS is actually in the cloud.
  • WebRezPro Integrates Tenerum Payment Gateway
  • ...22 more annotations...
  • WebRezPro Integrates Tenerum Payment Gateway
  • Apr 16,2020
  • WebRezPro Integrates Tenerum Payment Gateway
  • WebRezPro Integrates Tenerum Payment Gateway
  • This article provides a comprehensive resource for hoteliers immersed in the process of vendor evaluation.  Oracle Hospitality's OPERA (formerly Micros) is the largest PMS player in the hospitality industry and in this article we'll review how their hotel management software can improve operational efficiency for your business then point out some areas that every buyer should be aware of as they consider the solution.
  • OPERA has comprehensive guest profiling capability, which allows your staff to keep track of guest preferences. These rich guest profiles can be quickly accessed to better personalize stays. Staff can see useful details, such as stay history, past communications, and previous service requests, to inform their approach to each guest.
  • vendors?
  • Oracle OPERA is a cloud-based property management system that integrates several functionalities into a single platform.
  • In addition to the core property management functionality, such as room assignments, check-in/check-out, and rate management, OPERA includes integrated channel and rate management with group travel functionality to handle more complex requests. 
  • While OPERA can be used for a single property, it’s built with multi-property in mind.
  • Since OPERA is an integrated platform, hotels with more complex operations stand to benefit the most. For example, a hotel that uses Oracle POS (point of sale) and kitchen management can integrate full F&B operational functionality into the OPERA property management system. Such deep integration improves outcomes on the customer service front and gives hotel management stronger reports to monitor KPIs and profitability. 
  • The ideal customer segment is a hotel group with many larger properties that offer full service.
  • WebRezPro Integrates Tenerum Payment Gateway
  • Personalized guest profiles
  • Advanced rate management
  • OPERA has advanced rate and room availability restrictions, as well as enhanced rate-management capability offering a vast number of room pricing options, including best available rate, dynamic rates, daily rates, base rate, and negotiated rates. These rates can then be distributed via OPERA’s integrated channel manager.
  • Intelligent accommodation management
  • Proper allocation of room inventory avoids overbookings of specific room types and ensures that rooms are cleaned and maintained in a timely manner.
  • Mobil
  • OPERA now offers a completely mobile version of its flagship software, called OPERA Mobile Cloud Service. Staff can access the following information via any smartphone or tablet device: Check-in/check-out, reservation management, room status, task sheet, room maintenance, as well as Track It and Post It mobile that can provide real-time status updates on rooms and maintenance requests. 
  • Loyalty support
  • To drive loyalty-based marketing, guest behaviors accrue automatically to profiles, so hotels can build relevant packages and services based on guest history, including the length of stay, expenditure in restaurants and bars, and other preferences. T
amajo017

What is a hotel global distribution system (GDS)? (+3 types) - 0 views

  • A hotel GDS gives your hotel access and visibility to thousands of travel agents and corporate bookers
  • A global distribution system can integrate with your Property Management System (PMS)
  • As part of a GDS hotel booking system, your hotel will be exposed to a more targeted, professional travel community that alternative property types don’t have access to.
  • ...14 more annotations...
  • First, you should know that GDS services are only available for authorized users who are licensed and registered and not accessible for use by the general public.
  • For the widest visibility and revenue-earning potential, consider connecting your PMS to a GDS distribution platform that will allow you to connect to several big-name hotel GDS providers and manage your account on one system.
  • In terms of hotel GDS providers, there are three main giants that dominate the market:
  • Cloudbeds’ simple solution connects you to a system that connects to the big three GDSs mentioned above, allowing you to manage all your GDS accounts from one platform.
  • Still, GDSs also have the power and functionality to send their inventory to OTAs.
  • A global distribution system (GDS) is one of the best ways for hoteliers to promote their hotel in the global corporate travel market. It’s a critical component of a well-rounded distribution strategy and helps hotel management increase occupancy within the lucrative corporate travel segment.
  • A global distribution system is an online system that delivers real-time hotel, airline, train, and car rental inventory, room rates, discounts, and more to travel agents and other businesses.
  • As part of a GDS hotel booking system, your property will be exposed to a more targeted,
  • GDS hotel booking system allows companies, such as travel agencies and corporate bookers, to book travel on behalf of others.
  • Public rates are visible and bookable to all agencies in a GDS and are subject to commissions paid to the booking agency. Common public rates are the Best Available Rate (BAR), Corporate (COR), and Government (GOV). Negotiated rates are only visible to companies with which you have a special agreement. The authorized agencies that can book these rates must enter an agreed-upon GDS hotel code called a Rate Access Code. Since negotiated rates are based on net rates, they are not subject to commissions.
  • Amadeus has been connecting travel providers to travel sellers since 1987. They serve over 770,000 hotels in 190+ countries worldwide and have a global team of 19,000 employees. Aside from hotels, Amadeus also services airlines, airport operators, rail operators, ground handlers, car rental companies & transfer providers, insurance provider groups, and cruise lines & ferries
    • amajo017
       
      This is the one my work uses!
  • Sabre has been part of the birth of airline automation since the 1960s. Today, they have almost 400,000 travel agents in their global travel marketplace. Their technology products include travel-focused mobile apps, check-in kiosks, airline and hotel reservation networks, ticket agent terminals, aircraft & crew scheduling systems, revenue management solutions, and more.
  • (Galileo, Worldspan, Apollo) – With origins leading back to 1971, Travelport encompasses the Galileo, Worldspan, and Apollo GDS systems. Their worldwide travel retail platform services travel agencies and suppliers with distribution, technology, and payment solutions, among others. They have partnerships with hotel chains and boutique hotels to develop targeted promotions and flexible rate models to gain greater visibility in their markets. 
  • The GDS system will likely evolve in the coming years rather than become obsolete, so it’s worthwhile connecting to one if you want to attract more business travelers and make gains in the corporate travel industry.
  •  
    This article talks about the GDS and how it can help attract clients in particular business clients. It starts by giving all the benefits of the GDS. It then goes on to explain how the GDS works and who can access it. It ends by talking about the types of GDS systems and how they will evolve and stay relevant in the future.
  •  
    This article describes the different types of GDS programs that hotels might use. The one my hotel uses is in here as well! It outlines why they are important, how they are used, and the massive reach that they have. Most companies use GDS to streamline their efficiency so it is interesting to read why it is so effective.
sining

Time Hotels to further increase ebusiness with better channel management - 1 views

  • "The main challenge today is exposure on the web and trying to control the cost of e-business,
  • With RateTiger we can update all channels in one go.
  • a thought leader in online sales and revenue management
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • Time Hotels, a group of small, independent hotels in France, has increased its productivity from third party resellers through the effective use of RateTiger's channel management tools.
  • etter control of sales, pricing and production.
  •  
    Rate Tiger is a premium rate shopping and channel management solutions provider. Nowadays, the increasing website necessary directly affect the cost of e-business for the hoteliers. Thanks to the Rate Tiger, it helps hotels to identify the best producing websites, and allow hoteliers manage their inventory allotment to bring more reservation from the e-business. This article use Time Hotels as an example to prove that Rate Tiger's channel management tools really can help hotel to increase the effective of e-business.
  •  
    This article talks about a group of small, independent hotel called Time hotel in France. They use the third party reseller which name is Rate Tiger's channel management tools to increase its productivity. They use this channel to have a better control of sales, price and production. Time hotel hopes to further increase their revenue from online sales. Rate Tiger allow hotels to identify the best producing websites, while also improve the relationship with channels that have a lower commission. Rate Tiger also can update all cannels in one go. This help Time Hotels earn more reservation and better to work with other website. 
Long Jin

POS Management - Tool to Increase Sales Rate - 0 views

  • This POS management software provides them with an opportunity to analyze consumer demand and the rate of sales according to the demand.
  • The owners of businesses make use of this software POS management to get daily periodic reports.
  • This improvised consumer support function with the assistance of POS management software makes the firm even more dependable and trustworthy.
  •  
    This article introduced POS which is the tool to increase sales rate. The author pointed out that the POS management software can help the hotel analyze consumer demand and increase the rate of sales based on analyze. The author thought it is very easy to manage multiple activities when the hotel is small. However, if the business is big, then it is very hard to manage. The POS software can help for those businesses and it is very efficient in calculations. Also the hotel can make use of this software to get daily periodic reports. These reports can assist them to assess properly whether the customers are satisfied with their service or not. Based on the analyze, the hotel can make specific strategy to increase the sales rate and the system can enhances the customer service.
Michael Anthony

Reservation Software system by Michael Anthony - 0 views

  • The RDP system is designed for short term and long term reservations for hotel rooms, condominiums, homes, campsites, boat slips, parking places,
  • The system displays availability up to four years in the future, checks the past guest file, and calculates rates and packages, all within
  • is also possible to sell and reserve other additional items that are in time periods shorter than one day using the activity scheduling module
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  • Long Term Reservation Features Long term reservations can be created for guests staying between 30 days - 4 years. The long term reservations can calculate monthly rent with the ability to override and pro-rate rent. Each property can define rules for which reservations constitute as long term based on the length of stay or tax status.
  • The system can calculate various additional charges, such as a booking fee, resort fee, gratuity, pet charge, housekeeping fee, etc.  Many customers have used this ability to increase the total revenue.  These charges can be calculated as a flat fee, a percentage of total room charges, or based on the room type or room number.  A sample screen is below:
  • Up to 52 unique seasonal rates are possible for each room type or room number.
  • up to 99 unique components
  • A reservationist only enters the arrival date, departure date, and number of guests.  The system calculates the correct package charge for all possible seasons, unit types, and components
  • Rate plan patterns can be used to offer a free night periodically during the stay, or a discounted rate after a number of days.
  • several customers in the Myrtle Beach area have reservation packages that include golf at over 100 golf courses in the area.  The package includes one round per person per day at any medium quality golf course in the area
    • Michael Anthony
       
      With this system you not only can you tailor a package to specifically meet a guests needs, but you can have all the charges appear one bill with one flat rate. This would eliminate human errors such as double billing, tand he need to have 10 seperate bills. This would also make the night auditors life easier because they would have less charges to track. It would all be on one sheet of paper.
  • Most hotel customers assign a room type during the reservation process, and then assign the room number closer to or at check-in, based on which rooms are clean and available.  However, customers using the owner accounting system often assign the room number during the reservation process.  You can assign room numbers during the reservation process, anytime prior to arrival, or upon arrival.  Guests can also switch rooms after arrival, and the owner accounting module will pay the owner of each unit the correct amount.
    • Michael Anthony
       
      I think this would confuse things.
  • The RDP system guarantees availability of adjoining rooms.  For example, assume there are two rooms with an adjoining door.  The system allows one reservation to hold these two specific rooms.
    • Michael Anthony
       
      This would be good for large families and large groups of business travelers.
  • Sort Rooms by Guest Requests and Best Fit
  • Internet Reservation Module (IRM
  • Internet Reservation Module (IRM)
  • Internet Reservation Module (IRM)
  • Internet Reservation Module (IRM)
  • Internet Reservation Module (IRM)
  • Internet Reservation Module (IRM)
  • Internet Reservation Module (IRM
  • Internet Reservation Module (IRM)
  • a deposit is required to hold the room, the reservationist enters the guest's credit card number, and the system obtains an authorization immediately and automatically.
  • Internet Reservation Module (IRM
  • 50 different reservation reports included with the core system
  • which allows reservationists to determine why a guest did not book a room.  Perhaps the rate was too high or there was not enough conference space.  Proper analysis of denied reservations can lead to changing rates or policies to increase future bookings
    • Michael Anthony
       
      This is a good tool to try and entice the guest to come back for another try.
Claire Conway

GDS usage on the rise as travel demand grows - 1 views

  • A study conducted by the American Society of Travel Agents in 2009 found the percentage of member travel agencies that used the GDS channel declined from 98% in 1999 to 79% in 2009.
  • However, despite the decrease in GDS usage amid the most recent global economic downturn, hotel companies and travelers still find value in the channel, according to sources interviewed for this report.
  • Sabre Travel Network, for example, saw an increase of more than 7% in its GDS bookings during the first quarter of 2012 over the same period last year, said Nancy St. Pierre, a spokeswoman for Sabre, which is one among several major GDS companies including Abacus, Amadeus, Galileo and Worldspan.
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  • The GDS is not going away any time soon because of the unique solutions it provides for hotels and travelers alike, according to Robert Cole, founder of hotel marketing firm RockCheetah.
  • The GDS also provides enhanced marketing support, St. Pierre said
  • Many hoteliers are attempting to leverage those increases in demand through dynamic pricing models, which offers clients a percentage off a hotel’s best available rate on each travel date as opposed to a fixed, negotiated rate for the year
  • GDS would provide additional value if distribution costs were lowered. “I think that what hotel companies don’t like about GDS is there’s a relatively high transaction fee.”
  •  
    In 2009 the GDS usage declined from 98% to 79%. ALthough there has not been a demand to use this technology, there has been a demand in the first quarter in 2012. There has been an increase because of corporate business demand. GDS is being used to transfer room inventory to global distribution partners as well as travel agents and OTA's. Hotels using the GDS technology offer a percentage to a client instead of a fixed rate. This happens as long as companies have access to the hotel's system everyday. According to Robert Cole, The GDS system is notgoing anywhere because of its unique solutitons to hotels and travelers. It makes it easier for everyone.
  • ...3 more comments...
  •  
    Although there was a significant slowdown of GDS usage between 1999 to 2009, bookings are steadily increasing over 2012's first quarter. The growing demand is primarily from corporate travel, but leisure travel reservations are also picking up speed as well, especially in the form of job related trips that end with vacation days. Hoteliers are increasingly following a "dynamic pricing model" which has flexibility of rates to increase during high demand and vice versa, encouraging weekend stay-overs and group rates. In spite of previous estimations, GDS enhances the online search tools rather than being replaced by them, since it is much better suited to handle large amounts of site traffic than smaller companies and independent, as well as providing a cost-free marketing presence for the tourism providers. Hotels still consider GDS transaction fees high, but this is an ongoing negotiation. Corporations appreciate GDS' security reporting features which pinpoint employee locations as well.
  •  
    Corporate travel demand is primarily responsible for the rise of GDS usage. There has been an increase in business travel. Many consumers are attempting to leverage those increase in demand through GDS. The pricing model provides consumers with a lower rate through GDS than the actual average rate. The GDS is not going away anytime sooon.
  •  
    This article shows that although GDS were thought to be the end, with its efforts of changing price and strategies, it still can postpones its life circle and continue growing gradually. However, I am a little doubt about this article, because the result it concludes just based on the interviews of three person.
  •  
    This article is about how global distribution systems are still in demand even though they were said to be dying out. Industry leaders thought that with the development of online travel agencies, GDS's would soon be out of business. This isn't the case though. Well it is proven that member travel agencies have been using GDS's less this could be linked to the economy. The people who are purchasing travel through online travel agencies are still using the GDS every day. Business travel is also up in the past 10 years and also an increase in business travelers extending their stays for leisure. With that leisure and corporate traveler are help keeping GDS's alive. But GDS's would be even more profitable if they lowered their transaction fees.
  •  
    The GDS has decreased steadily over the past decade, but recent studies have shown that there has been a small increase. The increase is thought to be due to corporate travel.  Many hotels are trying to increase the use of the GDS through dynamic pricing models. This model offers a percentage off the hotels best available rate depending on what the demand is. The GDS provides many benefits like facilitating the online search process, offering immediate access to information without using a marketing budget, and high sense of security. The only downfall is that the distribution costs are too high, because transaction fees usually are around $5. 
meag_mccracken

Travel Agent Use of GDS Growing More Than Any Other Booking Channel - 1 views

    • fotan001
       
      I found this article so interesting as we continue our discussions on GDS and Travel Agents. As reported in the article by Danielle DeVoren/ Taylor McGrann on TravelClick, "a study of more than 650 agents from 34 countries found that travel agents are using Global Distribution Systems more than ever before". GDS has managed to maintain a rate parity, added with more benefits, have added incredible value  to booking with GDS. So much so, that GDS is one of two channels TA's are using more of with a 14 percent increase. The other channel, which was hotel/chain websites, paled in comparison at 3% increase. Promotional messages play a big role as well, as GDS helps Agents find the best rate with the best added amenities. I think this clearly shows that GDS is still a powerful tool for Travel Agents and has continued to deliver to TA's needs by keeping up with the rate race and adding other values in amenities (such as upgrades, complimentary breakfast, etc.). 
  • “With more agents using the GDS, there is an increased emphasis on ensuring rate parity so that agents can maintain credibility with their clients. There is nothing worse for an agent than offering a rate to clients only to learn that they could find a better rate by themselves on a different channel,” said Mr. Ewell.
  • Negotiated rates aren’t the only option for travel agents using a GDS. Travel agents put a premium on booking the best available rate for clients and promotional messaging help agents find the best rate whether negotiated or not. Agents affirmed that promotional messages from GDS Advertising influence bookings,” said Mr. Ewell. 
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