Within 14 of the 20 tourism destinations, direct bookings—gained via a hotel’s website—either climbed the list from the previous year or maintained their position among the top five spots. The sustained growth of the direct channel was matched only by that of Asia-headquartered Agoda, which made leaps across the EMEA region.

Other major findings included:

• The debut of Airbnb in six markets within Europe, Africa and the Americas, less than two years after launching its first global hotel technology partnership with SiteMinder to support traditional hospitality providers.

• The addition of Trip.com in another European market—Italy—alongside France, where the Chinese powerhouse made its western debut last year.
• The appearance of WebBeds brands JacTravel, totalstay, Destinations of the World and Sunhotels in half of this year’s top 12 lists.
• The re-entry of Australia-headquartered Flight Centre Travel Group in the country’s top 12, after four years. The company’s diversification and acquisition strategy in recent years is proving to have a strong impact in the merging world of travel management, having also made the list in South Africa for the first time.
• The debut of Lastminute.com in two markets within EMEA, proving the continued rise of spontaneous decision-making among today’s consumers.

SiteMinder’s senior director of global demand partnerships, James Bishop, says, “It’s exciting to reflect on this data each year and on the trends that we see in core tourism markets around the world. The swift rise of Airbnb in many markets, for example, is evidence of the hotel industry’s openness to adopting Airbnb as a partner and the benefits they are seeing from selling an experience, not simply a room. It is also evidence that Airbnb users no longer just look for homestays and spare spaces.

“Encouragingly, direct online reservations continue to contribute strongly to hotel revenue globally, with hotel websites remaining among the top four channels in the majority of markets and, in many instances, jumping up the ranks. It is clear that hoteliers are actively seeking to drive direct bookings, through greater knowledge and innovation, as well as investments in metasearch. We are also seeing technology providers supporting this appetite by adding professional services to their direct booking offerings, effectively acting as digital marketing agencies for hotels.”

In the United States, the top 12 hotel booking channels in 2019, based on total gross revenue made for SiteMinder’s customers, were:

“The United States welcomed 82.9 million arrivals in 2019, which was up 50 percent from 10 years ago. This growth presents immense opportunity for the country’s hoteliers, but it is important they are aware of how the booking landscape is changing and how their guests are choosing their accommodation,” says Mr Bishop.

SiteMinder’s platform processed 105 million online hotel bookings for travelers in 2019 to bring its 35,000 hotel customers a total of US$35 billion in revenue.

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While the size of the new investment amount was not publicly disclosed, TechCrunch reported that SiteMinder raised $70 million at a valuation of more than $750 million. This puts the hotel technology solution provider on track to potentially reach a billion dollar valuation, possibly before the end of the year.

The latest funding round was led by global investment management corporation BlackRock. Other participants include AustralianSuper, Ellerston (via the Ellerston JAADE Private Assets Fund) and Pendal Group. SiteMinder previously raised approximately $50 million in venture capital from investment firms that included TCV (Technology Crossover Ventures) and Bailador Technology Investments.

Founded in 2006 in Australia, the company will reportedly use the new capital to drive increased business on a global basis and also invest in new product development. It will also focus on international expansion. Currently, SiteMinder has more than 950 employees located across its offices in Sydney, London, Dallas, Bangkok, Galway and Manila.

SiteMinder made its mark with an advanced hotel booking platform that automated the process of listing room inventory and rates on as many online travel agencies (OTAs) as possible, which is necessary in order to increase their chances of capturing hotel bookings. Automated distribution technology, which is SiteMinder’s core offering, frees up hotel resources, allowing hoteliers to concentrate on broadening their market reach by seamlessly integrating their PMS or CRS.

Last month, SiteMinder delivered its 100 millionth online hotel booking of 2019, marking the first time a cloud-based hotel distribution platform has processed more than 100 million hotel bookings within any given year. The booking completed a monumental year for SiteMinder.  For the year to June 30, 2019, SiteMinder, via its holding company Online Ventures, reported revenue of $67 million. The 100 millionth booking takes the total revenue generated through SiteMinder’s platform this year to $32.5 billion.

Yet even today, a majority of the million or so hotel properties worldwide that have a website presence continue to rely on manual processes to update their rate and availability information for OTAs, suggesting that there’s still plenty of room for growth. The company’s future growth will also depend on expansion into products and services beyond distribution technology that enables automated channel management.

In November, SiteMinder launched its Hotel App Store, the first marketplace allowing hotels of all sizes to easily discover, choose and connect applications to their business systems for greater guest experiences and revenue. Until the launch of Hotel App Store, marketplaces have been closed environments for hotels, accessible only by using a marketplace provider’s designated PMS.

The new offering allows hoteliers to connect to more than 100 applications—including revenue management and upselling, guest messaging, guest review management, room controls, airport transfers and keyless entry—through a single interface and from a selection of more than 80 PMSs or SiteMinder’s channel manager.

Among the applications available through the Hotel App Store are Cendyn, TrustYou, OpenKey, Welcome Pickups, and Oaky, as well as UK-headquartered For-Sight and upgrade2.

The Hotel App Store features in-built smart technology that recommends only relevant applications to hotel users, based on their profile and past selections. The launch adds to SiteMinder’s partner network of more than 800 hotel booking channel and management system providers, which collectively comprise the largest and most open ecosystem for hotels today.

The Hotel App Store came 18 months after the launch of SiteMinder Exchange, a connectivity hub that allows hotel data publishers and developers of hotel application software to transfer guest information between their systems. Hotels using a data publisher connected to SiteMinder Exchange can use the Hotel App Store to access applications.

It also ended a year of pioneering partnerships for the hotel industry—with Ryanair, Meituan, RoomIt by CWT, and HotelSwaps—and the addition of several hotel chains, including CPI Hotels, NEHO Group and Berjaya Hotels & Resorts, to SiteMinder’s global customer base of 35,000 hotels. Hotel users of SiteMinder’s platform are today supported by customer service in 11 languages, a product suite in eight languages.

“We are privileged to support hoteliers across 160 countries with technology that truly makes a world of difference, and we thank our customers and partners across the globe for sharing in our wins and successes with us. The year of 2020 is already shaping up to be another exciting year, and we look forward to sharing more great news in the months to come,” says Sankar Narayan, CEO at SiteMinder.

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Jan was asked about his views on effective metasearch management, the growth of Google, and some classic meta mistakes hotels make.

How valuable is metasearch to Deutsche Hospitality?

Its value is very high. At Deutsche Hospitality, we see that metasearch conversion rates are among the highest of our channels. Today, meta is one of the most effective online marketing mechanisms for generating direct bookings.

With that in mind, how much of their budget should hotels allocate to metasearch?

Practically, there should be no limit to the absolute value of your budget. More importantly, you should continue to spend it as long as you generate a satisfactory ROAS. Or, the inverse of that, the Cost of Sale (COS). For example, if a COS of anything below 14% is acceptable for your hotel, you should spend as much budget as you can on metasearch without exceeding this prohibitive level.

What’s more effective: managing metasearch bids in-house or using a partner?

There are some positives to managing meta auctions in-house. For example, you could respond quicker to rapidly-changing bids than a traditional agency that normally does weekly or monthly bid adjustments. Having knowledge about the meta set-up and management can also mean less dependence on agencies in terms of possible cost-saving, given that your personnel costs are lower than the agency fees.

To be successful on meta, you need the right talent – and it is hard to find. Metasearch management done correctly can also be extremely time-consuming. This time could be invested elsewhere with higher returns, so you need to calculate the opportunity cost of having a meta manager in your hotel vs using a partner’s services.

For hoteliers, the appeal of working with tech partners is that they can ‘set it and forget it’. Of course, it can be easier to keep an eye on your hotel’s results on metasearch without having to go through the nuts and bolts of bid management.

What is the impact of a passive approach to meta bidding (no participation)?

It’s simple: not participating in meta auctions means missing out on direct bookings. Even if bidding can be pricey, meta-allocated bookings can still cost you less than bookings through OTAs.

A passive approach is equal to leaving money on the table, which OTAs will grab.

Is Google the right metasearch channel for everyone?

I believe that Google will continue to dominate the market. So, yes, right now it is the right distribution channel for every hotel – but only under the condition that Google is the dominant search engine in your hotel’s respective region.

But don’t forget about local metasearch sites – if they are popular amongst your guests, you should be adding them to your distribution mix. The distribution budget should then be allocated based on the ROAS generated on these sites.

How much budget should hotels allocate to metasearch?

Practically, there should be no limit to the absolute value of your budget. More importantly, you should continue to spend it as long as you generate a satisfactory ROAS. Or, the inverse of that, the Cost of Sale (COS). For example, if a COS of anything below 14% is acceptable for your hotel, you should spend as much budget as you can on metasearch without exceeding this prohibitive level.

How do you measure success on meta?

At Deutsche Hospitality, we apply the metrics of ROAS/COS to each meta channel and see whether it fits into the overall COS for any particular hotel’s direct booking revenue.

What are the biggest meta mistakes a hotel can make?

Not having your rates in check! Without rate parity, you better stay away from metasearch. Also, I see some hotels being passive at managing their bids on metasearch, therefore not fully exploiting their revenue potential for this number-one distribution channel or wasting money on clicks that cannot convert!

To find out more about how to build a bidding strategy that marries high volume with high return, join Jan for a webinar on August 28 at 4pm BST. Click here to learn more and to register.

Alisa Voitika is Brand and Content Manager at Triptease.

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Today’s move supports Berjaya Hotels & Resort’s marketing strategy to aggressively grow its online presence and achieve rate parity, where possible.

“The disparity issue is getting more and more serious. It’s become a trend,” says Irvine Loo, Director of Digital Marketing at Berjaya Hotels & Resorts. “There will always be loopholes and, while we can’t be across every instance of a third party compromising our distribution platforms, we want to act quickly when it does happen. We want to be able to tackle the issue effectively, at both the group and individual property level.”

For Mr. Loo, who oversees the chain-wide online marketing function for Berjaya Hotels & Resorts – which encompasses 18 properties from luxury to mid-scale brands in Malaysia, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Seychelles, Japan and the UK – the greatest challenge is maintaining a price point that reflects the brands of the hotel group.

“Travelers today are used to getting the best offers and deals online, but it is important that our pricing reflects quality,” he says. “SiteMinder’s technology has made it easy to achieve exactly this. Bookings for Berjaya Hotels & Resorts are coming in faster than ever before, which means we need to be dynamic to drive revenue.”

“My team could no longer afford to continue managing the extranets of our distribution channel partners separately, or to check the accuracy of our room rates with a credit card. I can now monitor and manage it all through SiteMinder, plus the integration of the platform with our property management system gives me comfort that it will not fail me.”

Brad Haines, SiteMinder’s regional vice president – Asia Pacific, says, “Hoteliers are increasingly challenged with taking control and ownership of their own supply. We are pleased to support Berjaya’s team to regain that control and ownership, and to compete with the superior service that travelers have come to know and love from Berjaya Hotels & Resorts.”

Berjaya Hotels & Resorts this year won the award for Best Luxury Beach Resort (The Taaras Beach & Spa Resort), Best Island Resort (Redang Island Resort), Best Beach Resort in Malaysia (Berjaya Langkawi Resort), Outstanding Beach Resort in Malaysia (Berjaya Tioman Resort), and Best Wellness Resort (The Chateau Spa & Organic Wellness Resort) at the Asia Pacific Tourism & Travel Federation Awards.

About SiteMinder

In an age of rising choice and accessibility for curious travelers, SiteMinder exists to liberate hoteliers with technology that makes a world of difference. SiteMinder is the global hotel industry’s leading guest acquisition platform, ranked among technology pioneers for its smart and simple solutions that put hotels everywhere their guests are, at every stage of their journey. It’s this central role that has earned SiteMinder the trust of more than 35,000 hotels, across 160 countries, to generate in excess of 87 million reservations worth over US$28 billion in revenue for hotels each year. For more information, visit www.siteminder.com.

About Berjaya Hotels & Resorts

Berjaya Hotels & Resorts is a member of the Berjaya Corporation Group of Companies, a public listed Malaysian conglomerate. Presently, the group manages Berjaya properties in Malaysia, Asia Pacific and UK. From the exotic island resorts of Langkawi, Tioman and Redang, to the city hotels of Kuala Lumpur, Johor Bahru and Penang in Malaysia, Berjaya Hotels & Resorts’ prominence extends across borders with the establishment of international hotels and resorts in Philippines, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Seychelles, United Kingdom and Japan. The group also owns service suites and exclusive golf and country clubs in Malaysia. For more information, visit www.berjayahotel.com.

Media contact

Maria Cricchiola

+61 410 233 735

media@siteminder.com

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By automating the distribution process, hoteliers have the opportunity to increase their revenue while reducing their cost of acquisition and winning time back in their day to focus on guests.

SiteMinder is the guest acquisition platform of choice for more than 35,000 hotels worldwide, generating in excess of 87 million reservations worth over $28 billion in revenue for hotels each year. The company provides smart and simple solutions that put hotels everywhere their guests are, at every stage of their journey.

With this integration, hoteliers using apaleo can now distribute their rooms to SiteMinder’s open ecosystem of more than 400 of the world’s top hotel booking channels – including online travel agencies, traditional tour operators, wholesalers, and their direct hotel website to lift and automate direct bookings.

apaleo’s open, ultra-connected, and intuitive PMS can be set up and ready to use within minutes – no long RFPs, wait times, or set-up fees. Hoteliers can set up their properties on their own, if they so choose. Once set up, hotels can connect hundreds of applications, including SiteMinder, within the apaleo Store.

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Back in the day, hotel chains had a problem with properties that either did not comply with their established brands or were considered as having their own individuality. The boutique hotels. It was a tricky issue deciding what to do with these maverick properties and how to run them as they simply didn’t fit.  So began the birth of soft brands. Unlike a “hard” hotel brand a soft-brand collection is created to appeal to independent hotel owners who don’t want to be run with the same guidelines or held to the same strict standards as a hard brand like Hilton.  They do, however, want access to their distribution network. 

The first wave of soft brands, which were introduced more than ten years ago, focused on luxury. It was all about upscale. In recent years, the big brands have moved away from that market and soft brands are now more geared towards the lower end independent hotels and it’s mostly in an effort bring together this large fragmented market.  The latest big chains to launch new brands in this market include Wyndham Hotels & Resorts and Hilton with its Tapestry Collection.

The systems and infrastructure offered by major franchisors are of course major factors for independent hotels, but with these benefits come significant costs.  Franchise fees, high PIP costs, management restrictions and other hidden expenses tie the owners in with international brands and they feel like they’ve sold out.

This trend is set to change however and independent hotels are seeing the market shift in their favour.  A significant advantage independent hotels have always had is their ability move quickly, upgrading assets when the market demands it and not when the brand instructs them to is a big advantage. It’s what makes independent hotels unique, they can manage property improvement plans without costs spiralling out of control. As inflation hits budgets non-branded hotels are in a far superior position than the branded ones.

Today’s traveller wants an experience and most travellers, not just the experienced kind, know about good design and interesting or unusual spaces that offer much more of a local flavour without the feeling of a hotel chain and that’s what they want. They don’t want sameness. 

Millennials for example like boutique hotels. They like that local independent look and feel that well established brands can’t offer. Boutique hotels are in a much better position to compete for the Airbnb market looking for a tailored bespoke experience. They can also benefit from their own branding strategies, digital media campaigns and creative flair to attract customers. Another major advantage is the availability of distribution channels and technology solutions that allow them to work with and sell directly to travel agents and tour operators. 

 Purchasing channels are changing fast. Many of the previously obvious benefits of branding with a large network are being eroded and systems like BedLinker which integrate with other solutions such as Hotelbeds, enable hotels to engage in more dynamic selling and opens up local inventory to global buyers. What makes it work is that these solutions are low cost.

With more brands, distribution channels, and availability, people are making decisions based on a whole array of factors other than brands. This technology is one of the main reasons independents are able to navigate competitive markets. They now have access to similar tools and have the ability to market to new guests.

From property management systems to channel managers, advanced technologies have become essential to hoteliers everywhere, helping them do what they do best and stay independent.

While the hospitality industry is dominated by a handful of players, independent hotels are now in a unique position to break through the crowd and take advantage of current travel trends and the ever growing desire for authenticity and experiences. The gap between hotels and big chains is becoming increasingly smaller and Hoteliers are using their available tools and exploring options with distribution channels to their advantage to win.

Thuan Dao is CEO of BedLinker , a B2B e-commerce platform for inbound and outbound travel trading. 

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Once viewed by hoteliers as merely a thorn in their sides (mostly owing to the onerous commission structures) and perhaps holding out hope that they might eventually lose traction or be somehow pummeled into submission, the online travel agencies (OTAs) have, of course, grown to become the primary route that guests use for booking hotel rooms.

The “ignore them and they’ll go away” approach didn’t work out as the leading OTAs now command massive leverage in the marketplace, dominating both paid and organic search results. In fact, some industry analysts predict that Expedia and Booking.com parent Priceline Group will control upwards of 95 percent of all new hotel bookings within the next couple of years.

While some of the larger hotel groups are investing heavily in various marketing technology solutions in their incessant efforts to limit the influence of the leading OTAs and drive more direct booking revenues through their own websites and distribution channels, the reality of the situation is that OTAs rule the world of hotel booking.

As a result, like it or not, most hoteliers today have little choice but to embrace the OTAs as a necessary marketing and distribution partner. That means listing their guest room inventory and rates on as many of the OTAs as possible in order to maximize success in securing guest bookings.

That, in turn, means having technology capabilities in place that enable seamless distribution management. Needless to say, hoteliers simply do not have the time and resources to manage multiple online channels manually any more than they have the time and resources to manage rates manually. In a in a dynamic market characterized not only by continuous fluctuations in inventory and prices but also in world with myriad channels through which people can book inventory, automatic rate distribution is imperative. 

Fortunately, automatic rate distribution is a feature that comes fully integrated in a best-of-breed hotel management system. The feature allows hoteliers to focus their efforts on broadening their marketing and distribution reach without having to make any updates manually.

In a nutshell, the technology works by linking the property management system, the central reservations system and the revenue management system into the OTAs and any other chosen marketing and booking channels the hotel uses to “get found” by potential guests searching for hotel accommodations.

With this capability seamlessly integrated into the platform, information is instantly exchanged over a two-way connection between the hotel and the various online channels. Real-time rates, room availability and restrictions are automatically sent from the PMS to the online marketing and distribution channels, including the OTAs. And when a guest room is booked via one of the third-party websites, the hotel’s PMS is automatically updated in real time to reflect the change in availability.

Automatic rate distribution enables hoteliers to maximize room inventory while optimizing revenue without running the risk of overbooking.

To that point, hoteliers have no choice but to ensure that rates and inventory information are reflected accurately across all systems and touchpoints, including OTAs and other channels. Otherwise, the prices that are presented to prospective guests on some channels may be lower than desired or rooms presented on some channels as available may, in reality, be unavailable, and the property may be overbooked.

Of course, any process that is handled manually always means that there is the very real risk of making mistakes and introducing errors, which, in this case, can be particularly costly for the hotel. As many hoteliers know from their own experiences, inputting room rate and availability changes manually can result in errors that damage the brand’s reputation and at times can lead to very significant revenue loss.

Clearly, when it comes to propagating room inventory and rate updates across marketing and distribution channels, timing is everything. Even a small lag time in implementing channel updates can be a recipe for disaster. Removing manual entry and automatically keeping all booking sites updated with real-time availability and rates is imperative.

Of course, manual entry of data every time there is an inventory or rate change is also a time-consuming and potentially expensive proposition if additional resources are required; yet another reason to embrace automated channel distribution.

With real-time automation, a single dashboard provides transparency into the performance of all online distribution channels. At a glance, hoteliers can see which booking channels on an individual base are delivering the most revenue and which ones are underperforming.

Automating the channel management process through seamless distribution technology — which, like all other features and functionality that comprise an end-to-end cloud hotel management platform, allows for remote access (including via mobile devices) — frees up hotel management and staff to focus their time and energy on what they do best. That means allowing them to run day-to-day hotel operations as efficiently and effectively as possible.

Are you an industry thought leader with a point of view on hotel technology that you would like to share with our readers? If so, we invite you to review our editorial guidelines and submit your article for publishing consideration.

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When it comes to the rise of OTAs, the “ignore them and they’ll go away” approach didn’t work out so well. Needless to say, the leading OTAs now command massive leverage in the marketplace, dominating both paid and organic search results.

In fact, some industry analysts predict that Expedia and Booking.com parent Priceline Group will control upwards of 95 percent of all new hotel bookings within the next couple of years.

While some of the larger hotel groups are investing heavily in various marketing technology solutions in their incessant efforts to limit the influence of the leading OTAs and drive more direct booking revenues through their own websites and distribution channels, the reality of the situation is that OTAs rule the world of hotel booking.

Like it or not, most hoteliers today have little choice but to embrace the OTAs as a necessary marketing and distribution partner. That means listing their guest room inventory and rates on as many of the OTAs as possible in order to maximize success in securing guest bookings.

That, in turn, means having technology capabilities in place that enable seamless distribution management. Needless to say, hoteliers simply do not have the time and resources to manage multiple online channels manually any more than they have the time and resources to manage rates manually. In a dynamic market characterized not only by continuous fluctuations in inventory and prices, but also in world with myriad channels through which people can book inventory, automatic rate distribution is imperative.

Fortunately, automatic rate distribution is a feature that comes fully integrated in a best-of-breed hotel management system. The feature allows hoteliers to focus their efforts on broadening their marketing and distribution reach without having to make any updates manually.

In a nutshell, the technology works by linking the property management system, the central reservations system and the revenue management system into the OTAs and any other chosen marketing and booking channels the hotel uses to “get found” by potential guests searching for hotel accommodations.

With this capability seamlessly integrated into the platform, information is instantly exchanged over a two-way connection between the hotel and the various online channels. Real-time rates, room availability and restrictions are automatically sent from the PMS to the online marketing and distribution channels, including the OTAs. And when a guest room is booked via one of the third-party websites, the hotel’s PMS is automatically updated in real time to reflect the change in availability.

Automatic rate distribution enables hoteliers to maximize room inventory while optimizing revenue without running the risk of overbooking.

To that point, hoteliers have no choice but to ensure that rates and inventory information are reflected accurately across all systems and touchpoints, including OTAs and other channels. Otherwise, the prices that are presented to prospective guests on some channels may be lower than desired or rooms presented on some channels as available may, in reality, be unavailable, and the property may be overbooked.

Of course, any process that is handled manually always means that there is the very real risk of making mistakes and introducing errors, which, in this case, can be particularly costly for the hotel. As many hoteliers know from their own experiences, inputting room rate and availability changes manually can result in errors that damage the brand’s reputation and at times can lead to very significant revenue loss.

Clearly, when it comes to propagating room inventory and rate updates across marketing and distribution channels, timing is everything. Even a small lag time in implementing channel updates can be a recipe for disaster.

Removing manual entry and automatically keeping all booking sites updated with real-time availability and rates is imperative. Of course, manual entry of data every time there is an inventory or rate change is also a time-consuming and potentially expensive proposition if additional resources are required.  And that’s just one more reason to embrace automated channel distribution.

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It’s a lofty statement, but one that is supported by serious technology know-how from a company that boasts 30,000 hotel customers in its roster and 600 of the industry’s top connectivity providers as partners.

Siteminder products include The Channel Manager, which ranks as a leading online distribution platform; TheBookingButton, a wholly-branded booking engine for direct bookings via the web, mobile or social; Canvas, an intelligent website creator for independent hoteliers; Prophet, a market intelligence solution for pricing rooms; and GDS by SiteMinder, a single-point of entry to a network of travel agents and major global distribution systems.

With the launch of SiteMinder Exchange, the company seeks to provide a solution for enabling a seamless transfer of hotel data between PMSs and applications. There is no question that data connectivity and integration issues often pose a challenge; a solution that helps resolve that challenge would certainly be addressing a real need. Many solution providers as well as hotel IT staff continue to spend inordinate amounts of time and money building point-to-point connections to get their technology solutions to”talk” with one another.

SiteMinder Exchange is engineered to break down the integration barriers and make it easy to integrate diverse solutions and build only once to access a multitude of partner systems. It’s an ambitious effort and should be well received if it delivers on its stated goals.

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Distribution through the tour operator channel has in the past tended to be a manual process and one that has often existed outside of a hotel operator’s technology systems. This has made the process labor-intensive and, often, poorly coordinated. Most hotels’ current operating model with tour operators is time consuming, manual and expensive. Rates are often bound by annual contracts and remain static, resulting in rate disparity with other channels and the inability to adjust pricing throughout the year. In addition, more and more tour packages are becoming dynamic and require a real-time approach.

Hotel distribution through tour operators is particularly important for hotels in tourist destinations, especially in the Europe, Middle East and Africa and South America regions. In fact, according to various sources, some hotel brands see upwards of 20 percent of their revenue coming from the tour operator segment.

With the launch of SynXis Tour Manager, Sabre seeks to enable hotel operators to centrally manage distribution through this channel, automating rates, availability and reservation delivery, while allowing tour operators to access new hotel content and real-time packaging solutions online and within travel agency tools.  Hotel operators can now automate and better integrate this channel within their broader distribution strategy and process.

SynXis Tour Manager offers a fully integrated solution for hoteliers to connect with relevant tour operators and centrally manage their distribution strategies via the SynXis Enterprise Platform. It connects to hundreds of global tour operators and destination management companies, giving them the option to transform the current operating model with tour operators via fully integrated automation for rates, inventory, availability and reservation delivery to the hotel.

Assuming the solution performs according to expectations, it should pay for itself quickly.  After all, it gives hotel operators the opportunity to increase revenue by dynamically yielding rates for the tour operators and eliminating static rates, inventory blocks and time-consuming email/fax-based confirmations with a unique two-way integration to tour operators. The integration of distribution and channel optimization capabilities should allow hotel operators to make a positive impact on customers’ operations and revenue growth as well as enhance the overall quality of the guest experience.

Disclosure: The solution provider featured in this article is a current or past client of Starfleet Media, which is the publisher of Hotel Technology News.

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