Over one-third of the world’s hotel inventory is not bookable online today. Across destinations like Africa, India and Latin America, the world’s top-rated hotels are managing bookings via email and spreadsheets. Why is this?
NB: This is an opinion by Sarah Fazendin, co-founder at Globa.li.
Boutique hotels worldwide generally feel that online bookings are not worth the time and energy. This belief is maintained largely because there are only a few digital inventory systems on the market today capable of serving these boutique hotels. As a result, the analog status quo has prevailed.
Sarah Humble with Richards Camp, a luxury safari camp in Kenya:
While of course we love the idea of increasing occupancy and becoming more efficient by using better technology, online bookings have not been practical for us thus far.
In this region, pricing is fairly complex and the majority of our rooms are booked by international agents and other distributors/tour packagers. There really aren't any options available today that connect all these dots.
So as a boutique hotelier looking to gain both efficiency and expanded distribution by digitizing inventory in 2014, where does that leave you? Well the good news is that travel technology is advancing for the boutique travel industry.
Boutique hoteliers will find a vast array of options poised to meet your needs entering the market in 2014, but you must consider a few important questions before committing to any new digital inventory management technology.
Where are the majority of your bookings coming from?
Obviously, selecting a technology that supports your most significant existing business channel(s) should be a top priority.
If your hotel receives a majority of bookings direct from consumers, there are literally hundreds of Property Management System (PMS) technologies that will serve your needs. Select one that has proven connectivity to the major OTAs, channel managers and also offers a booking widget so you can process bookings from your home page.
However, if your hotel is almost always packaged in complete itineraries with other hotels, as is the case with most hotels in Africa, Latin America and India, you will need a reservations technology that works with other like-minded properties like yours.
In this case, the majority of your bookings are likely resulting from B2B distribution, so your technology options will be a bit more limited.
Look for reservations management technology that is solidly integrated with tour planning software and perhaps has a strong following from within your niche or region (see below). Don’t ignore your hotel’s bread and butter when selecting your online booking technology.
Is diversifying your source of bookings a priority?
If you’re looking to generate bookings from new sources, it will be important to identify which sources before you select a reservations management technology. The OTA’s, for example, can drive a significant amount of bookings for properties in larger markets, but the commission charged can make it a very expensive transaction.
Perhaps dedicating sales efforts to one or two key international source markets will help increase occupancy and shift investment away from the OTAs?
In this scenario, you’ll want to make sure that your technology can function in international markets. Can currency be converted? Is the PMS integrated with key distributors in those markets? You can find all this out by asking your hotel colleagues or going direct to the key outbound operators and travel packagers in those key source markets.
What PMS/CRS technology are your competitors using?
Take the time to understand what technologies other properties in your market are using. In many destinations around the world, one or two PMS/CRS companies have a majority share by market or region. For example, in the U.S. there are a few niche safari operators like Natural Habitat Adventures and Bushtracks who have built their own custom tour building software.
If you want to be booked by these power players, your technology needs to be integrated into these custom-built booking engines. They will likely be working with PMS companies who have the lion’s share of the hotel inventory by market niche, country or region. If you’re working with a smaller PMS provider chances are these travel packagers won’t be integrated with them.
How will this new technology increase eyeballs on your inventory?
Remember, you’re making the move to digital reservations to GET MORE BOOKINGS. As such, the best PMS will also support your growing distribution.
When evaluating a PMS company, find out what their plans are for continued integrations and distribution support. Are they integrating with channel managers? Do they offer direct integration with tour planning software? Niche OTAs?
For example, HTI, a South Africa-based technology company is beginning to combine channel manager services along with their basic eRes PMS technology. Dashbell, a web-based PMS for small hotels, has recently started offering channel management and also offers hotels connectivity into Trip Advisor Trip Connect.
And at Globa.li, in addition to aggregating boutique hotels worldwide, the system puts boutiques in front of some of the top packagers of their market through an intuitive search and marketing platform. What is your PMS provider doing to push out your inventory on your behalf?
They should not be holding your inventory hostage, but rather helping get it in front of more buyers. Organized distribution should be your most important focus. Finally, consider new technologies. Although new, those technology companies can often be better suited to your unique needs and act more fluidly than older technologies.
Here’s to a great 2014 for you and your new digital inventory!
NB: This is an opinion by Sarah Fazendin, co-founder at Globa.li.
NB2: Consumer image courtesy Shutterstock.