From leader to loser

Salzburg. For the first time, the internet platform Tiscover has presented its "online tourism trends" for Austria's current winter season. Already, 800,000 Austrians book at least a part of their holiday/trip on the internet. Over the past three years, the share of Austrians doing so has doubled. Tiscover is owned by the German online company, HRS.

Munich. Google and Facebook are lining up "to digitize" mankind. Search engines and Social Media are developing new business models from the internet euphoria and increasing mobility. The traveller is becoming a transparent commodity that will be paid for by the click in the future. What the four talks at the "eMarketing Day" by the Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association and the Instituts Tourismuszukunft praised on Monday in Munich as a nearby, digital future sounds quite creepy. In contrast, the renewed discussion over the commission rise and the altered terms and conditions by the online mediator, HRS, looked like a medieval knight's tournament. Nevertheless, the latter was under heavier discussion. This subject gained a new dimension with the warning by the German Federal Anti-trust Commission toward HRS on last Friday. On Monday, Managing Directors, Tobias Ragge and Michael Simon, positioned themselves for the questions by HSMA members - and afterwards, took an opposing stand with hospitalityInside.com once again on the points that the hoteliers as well as the German Federal Anti-trust Commission hold as critical. After the interview with HRS, hospitalityInside.com asked the former Marriott distribution specialist and currently independent consultant, Bruno Wolf, from Frankfurt to comment on the answers by HRS.

Berlin. The speed of acquisitions in the world of IT significantly increased last year. At the same time, search engines and social media like Google and Facebook keep advancing, implementing more and more new models. And finally, a breathtakingly increasing number of people are using their mobile device for making reservations and communication as well. Due to high costs, hoteliers promote their own website. But who will win this race? Just a few? Sales experts debate on the current developments in the field of hotel distribution at the 7th ITB Hospitality Day on Thursday, March 8, 2012 between 2 and 3 pm at ITB Berlin, hall 7.1b/London. HRS, Expedia, Sabre, and Justbook Mobile will meet. The question to them: Fewer providers with more power? What new dependencies have the latest market shifts produced?