Working with OTAs: for better or for worse?

A study by Peter O’Connor, Professor of Strategy at the University of South Australia Business School, aims to clarify the OTA question by empirically investigating the added value of OTA participation for hotel properties and its impact on bottom-line profitability. Unlike previous studies, which have for the most part used a conceptual, theoretical or even speculative perspective, this study makes use of comprehensive, multi-year, financial data to empirically establish whether, on balance, the benefits of OTA participation for a hotel property outweigh the (financial and other) costs. The results help to clarify whether it is worthwhile to work with online intermediaries in addition to making the economic and administrative effort to drive direct online sales. Read the Industry report.. For Academics, the full research paper is available:  Abdullah, S., Van Cauwenberge, P., Vander Bauwhede, H. and O’Connor, P. (2022), "The indirect distribution dilemma: assessing the financial impact of participation in Booking.com for hotels", Tourism Review, https://doi.org/10.1108/TR-03-2020-0101 [vc_column_text css=".vc_custom_1623814375005{margin-bottom: 0px...

COVID Best Practices that are here to stay!

16th June 2021 Jackie Douglas, President, Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International (HSMAI) The Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International’s (HSMAI) Marketing Advisory Board in Australia & Asia Pacific spent time recently discussing the top issues facing hotels and the professionals leading sales and marketing efforts. Surprisingly, the issues themselves have changed since our last “scouting” exercise conducted in November 2020 and the context has shifted to the “new abnormal.” In November, we talked a lot about functional changes in the organisation.  The teams were focussing on things like automation, digitization, cleaning data, rethinking who our customers are, developing “out of the box” creative partnerships with goods/services we never would have thought of previously and the need to shorten the lead-time to launch campaigns when the COVID restrictions are changing day-to-day. In November 2020, the consensus was that the pandemic had forced us to focus on efficiencies and measuring performance to enable us to use our budget more wisely.   We are not duplicating work and we’re much better at sharing skills across functional areas. There was also a hint of what was to come in regards...

Opportunities for the post-pandemic Guest

There is no doubt that the coronavirus pandemic has wreaked havoc on the global hotel industry.  It has led to the loss of millions of jobs and billions of dollars, not to mention the countless business trips and vacations that were disrupted. But the pandemic presents opportunities as well; but only if we can properly harness the changing consumer behavior once the recovery begins. First, we must examine where we are currently, and how we got here.  Around the turn of the new millennium, the first on-line travel agencies (OTAs) began to make their appearance; Expedia Group and Travelocity began in 1996, Booking Holdings began in 1997, and Orbitz began in 2001. Since then, OTAs have come to dominate the landscape when it comes to searching for, and booking, lodging.   About half of travellers under the age of 55 prefer to book hotel accommodations through metasearch or OTAs.  This migration to intermediary channels has led to two trends that have threatened hotel revenues and reduced the effectiveness of revenue management practices.  Those trends...

3 keys that will shape the future of Hospitality

Hospitality as a service industry has always been centred around the guest. In this keynote session at the Innofac Asia Show on the 24th September 2021.  HSMAI shared principles that can create a successful future for hospitality. In the keynote session of the first day, Heidi Gempel, representing HSMAI Asia Pacific shared key insights for the industry going forward. Heidi combined these key insights with practical steps every hotelier can apply in this transition into a new normal. She talks about how COVID-19 amplified the need for hoteliers to take a fresh look at their customer-first/ customer-centric approach across all departments, embrace technology, machine learning and digital transformation and finally to intentionally include a structured innovation process into the business processes of the hotel. Being intentional about these 3 key areas will focus the hotel team on the right guest and creating guest experiences that are relevant and timely. Watch the video to learn about the key areas your hotel can focus on to keep up with your competitors.[vc_column_text css=".vc_custom_1633997826333{margin-bottom: 0px...

Executive Interview: Amanda Voss, Vice President Sales, Bellagio Las Vegas

Discover how a chance visit to Las Vegas led a young professional to double down on a career in hospitality and make her mark on the Las Vegas Strip. How has your career in hospitality sales, marketing and revenue management opened your world? I believe that hospitality has opened my world through emotional intelligence. Understanding people is so powerful. You start seeing the growth of the emotional intelligence you get with your clients; the special things that you can do for them or make them look good by holding a successful meeting and making sure all those wow opportunities are made. And then you evolve into a leader of people. Your emotional, intelligence affects your teams, and how do you get the best out of your team, and how that correlates to you being able to reading people. So, it goes from your external clients to your internal clients. And both are just so important. I think the hospitality world really helped me, through my career, gain a stronger emotional intelligence. How do you get from the beginning of your career in hospitality to where you are today? I started out at MGM Grand as a front desk agent and room reservation agent. I...

Executive Interview: Michelle Woodley, President, Preferred Hotels & Resorts

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