News & Stories
Rockville/Munich. As the first hotel company, Choice Hotels International is beginning a partnership with TripAdvisor – namely for the new mobile "TripAdvisor Booking Feature ".
Cologne. HRS has integrated a new tool into its hotel self-administration with which the hoteliers can influence their listing – through the commissions that they themselves can now raise individually. With this, HRS follows booking.com and others.
Paris. Accor puts digital technology at the heart of the customer experience: the new "Welcoming" system is a digital-only but personalized service. It is said to be implemented until the end of 2014 and to push direct bookings.
Geneva. Google is trying to enhance its Hotel Finder by way of a license agreement with Room77 in order to catch-up with other metasearch engines. Apparently, the aim is to allow individual hotels direct bookings via the search engine as well – which is already offered by the large metasearch platforms. Now, the giant is vigorously attracting the little ones and promoting target group-oriented advertisements instead of fees.
Cologne. For as long as hotels don't have their online distribution channels under control, online travel agents will continue to play on rates - Tobias Ragge, Managing Director of HRS Group, told hospitalityInside.com in an interview in Cologne. Eight weeks after the fall of the rate parity, he continues to see HRS in a good position as partner to the hotel industry with fair value-for-money. With HRS's new profile, he also sees a positive future for the company alongside global OTAs such as Expedia and Booking.com. As ever, the 37-year-old wasn't giving any company figures away, but he did say something about cost developments in online distribution as well as how HRS would like to sharpen its profile in future – or not.
San Francisco. The last-minute hotel reservation App, HotelTonight, has introduced an additional overnight category with "CrashPad" – accepting hostels.
Hamburg. The TripAdvisor travel website wants to remain as a pure review portal and not – like HolidayCheck – mutate into a booking engine. Is this intention still realistic? With its latest product "TripConnect", TripAdvisor is offering hotels a new calculation model for the "Business Listings". Which model will most appeal to the hotel industry in the future? Tom Breckwoldt, Territory Manager Business Listings in the Germany, Austria and Switzerland regions, regarding TripAdvisor – with comments by eCommerce Specialist, Michael Pütter.
Cologne. HRS had lodged a complaint in February against the decision by the German Federal Cartel Office for which the hotel reservation platform may no longer require rate parity in Germany.
Berlin/Minneapolis. At ITB Berlin starting next Wednesday, about 30 new exhibitors will be represented and make the travel technology segment grow further and move on to the next hall. Accordingly, IT and software provider offer more. IDeaS Revenue Solutions now announced the first mobile revenue management App.
Rome. At their meeting in Milan at the tourism fair BIT, the board of directors of the Italian hotel association Federalberghi unanimously decided to appeal to the national Antitrust Authority against online travel agencies.