Ordinarily, a product update doesn't merit a spotlight on its own.
But a few things set apart the news that Booking.com, the e-commerce company that lists 865,000 hotels and accommodations, has updated its RateManager software, offered through its BookingSuite business-to-business segment.
First, the competitive context: Many companies have lately been vying to offer revenue management software to hotels via cloud-based software. These companies -- which have been having a hot moment right now -- are eyeing Booking's moves into the space warily.
In May 2015, Booking.com acquired Pricematch, a Paris-based revenue management startup that had been getting a lot of attention for its use of data mining of competitors' prices, historical demand, seasonality, local events, and other factors, along with its use of advanced econometric tools.
Not surprisingly, some of Pricematch's technological tricks and feature set have been integrated into BookingSuite's RateManager, aiming to help hotels and accommodation owners anticipate demand shifts and set the best rates for the best days and times.
In theory, the Pricematch-enhanced predictions can be even more accurate now that they have the larger sets of demand data from Booking.com to back-test their mathematical models with.
BookingSuite has added group rate tools. It says it will soon revamp the dashboard for a more intuitive experience and faster ways to act on "real-time" rate suggestions for varied room types and policies over multiple distribution channels.
A user can push a rate to all channels with one click, or take more work to adjust the dials by channel, the company says.
Earlier: Hotel revenue management software has its Pharrell Williams moment