This week brought two big pieces of news from Expedia: They’re going to stop “dimming” hotels that don’t offer their bast rates to Expedia, and they’ve launched a service called Rev+ that allows hotels to gauge their rates against competitors. These both seem like good news, especially since at first glance it looks like Rev+ will only pull data from a hotel’s rates on Expedia, not all its rates globally.
We’ve also pulled together 3 great guides to help you grow your direct bookings: a cheatsheet with 10 metrics to improve your distribution activity, using hotel apps to build loyalty, and an analysis on how to keep the customer at the heart of your business.
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Expedia wants to boost its efforts on the hotel technology side of operations – unveiling a revenue management tool known as Rev+ this week.
The Expedia Partner Central wing of the group says it will offer the product free to properties that are already part of its distribution network on sites such as Expedia, Hotels.com and Venere.
The system allows hotels to gauge their rates against competitors over the course of 90 days, alongside other market factors. The launch of Rev+ is part of a wider programme to work closer with hotels by providing IT and services to hotels that, somewhat ironically, will help them manage their direct-booking capabilities.
If there’s one word we’re all concerned about in the hospitality industry, it’s brand loyalty – and how to get more of it from our guests. We roll out the red carpet (figuratively and sometimes literally), try to give impeccable service, anticipate demands before they’re even made; yet we’re all still struggling with brand loyalty. Are native hotel apps the solution to finally cracking the brand loyalty problem, once and for all?
Take a look at the pros and cons.
It’s key to keep the guest at the center of your designs and technology when you’re trying to build direct bookings. The recent emphasis on booking direct and personalisation is largely driven by rising distribution costs, and hoteliers recognize that there must be an investment in certain technology and data needs.
This article explores a system to reduce customer friction, and argues that keeping the guest experience front and centre should be at the heart of a hotel’s strategy. On analysis, while hotels actually performed better than OTAs in terms of customer experience, both channels offered too many choices, confusing customers.