A Hotel’s Case for Direct Connect

If it costs the airlines billions to conduct business through OTAs and the GDS then what will it take for the hotel industry to address its current conventional distribution strategy?

The recent actions by American Airlines to move forward with their “direct connect” model has stirred the preverbal pot to say the least.

According to an article released by Fairlogix, “A Picture is Worth $7 Billion, The real story behind airline distribution, travel supply chain, and consumer value”, it costs the airlines roughly $7 billion annually to conduct business through their current indirect distribution channels such as Orbitz and Sabre.

To set the record straight “direct connect” is not a new phenomenon in fact Orbitz introduced its own version of direct connect in 2002 with none other than the same airline that they are now battling.

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Meeting Planners Optimism Rising

As U.S. lodging industry performance has turned positive in 2010, so too has the attitude of meeting planners, though not quite to the same degree.  While the temperament of association, corporate, government and independent planners cannot be characterized as exuberant, the emergence of optimism provides hope for hoteliers that the group demand segment is now on the path towards recovery.

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buuteeq Launches First Digital Marketing System for Independent Hotels

Seattle, WA. (Hospitality Business News) January 18, 2011 — Independent hotels now have a new resource to help them master the challenges of digital marketing. buuteeq, an easy-to-use, subscription-based Digital Marketing System (DMS) that enables independent hotels to create and manage high-performing websites, mobile and social channels, promotions and reservations all from one place, launched today after a year in development and testing.
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GLOBAL LOYALTY PROGRAM SURVEY RESULTS INDICATES TRANSFORMATIVE TRENDS FOR 2011

(Hospitality Business News) Zurich, Switzerland - January 14, 2010 - Loylogic, the leading provider of loyalty technology solutions, today announced the results of the 2010 Frequent Traveler Survey, undertaken to better understand frequent travelers' opinions towards their current loyalty programs and reward redemption.  

  

The results of the survey indicate a shift in satisfaction of rewards currently offered by loyalty programs and demonstrates the need for a wider array of reward options to effectively engage and excite today's consumers - and especially frequent travelers. The Loylogic survey was completed between September 17 to October 15, 2010 and reflects the opinion of over 36,000 responses from members of over 140 loyalty programs worldwide.

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Control your Hotel Recommendations

(Hospitality Business News - Berlin, 13 November 2010) Personal recommendations are becoming more and more important on the Internet. Buyer power is increasingly being strengthened through "Like" buttons and other recommendations. Guest reviews have become one of, if not the most important "web currency" for hotels. Now, with myHotelRank, the Berlin-based travel technology specialist GIATA has developed an innovative tool for the efficient managing of hotel reviews, which can also generate bookings from GIATA's partner sites.

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