News & Stories
Berlin. High roaming charges, data protection concerns or simply a lack of an internet-compatible device: According to a recent survey, these are the reasons why many travellers reject smartphone use abroad.
Langenhagen/Hanover. In the US, Google already started its "hotel finder" several months ago creating another product for the hotel industry. As soon as it has been adapted to other markets, this particular instrument could bring more benefits than drawbacks to the hotel world, says Carolin Brauer, Managing Director of Quality Reservations in Langenhagen in an interview with hospitalityInside.com. The distribution specialist is fascinated by the search engine giant that is building its own Google world of travel, which could even push established providers aside. The only thing Carolin Brauer advises hoteliers to do is keep their costs under control!
Nice. The Property Management System from the USA is now ripe for its launch in Europe. By the end of the year, it should also facilitate the French and German Choice hoteliers in the desired "seamless" interface of all global distribution channels. "We are the only hotel group in the world with such an exclusively web-based PMS," underlines Margit Hug, Managing Director of Choice Hotels Headquarters for Germany and Central Europe at the second European Convention of Choice Hotels in Nice last week. It was the main news at this meeting of 250 hoteliers from seven countries and should signal: The Choice distribution paths will become shorter and more direct. Moreover, cost control and efficiency rule: In the future, individual activities will be guided only on the Internet. In regard to the expansion in Europe, Choice Management in Maryland wants to become more flexible in the future.
Cologne/Nuremberg. The news broke from hotel.de, a quoted company, on Friday morning of last week. Since then, the industry has had much to say on the new found strength of HRS: Effective as of October 14, 2011, the founding shareholders of hotel.de AG sold their holding to HRS Hotel Reservation Service GmbH, Cologne. HRS paid 43 million in return - and intends to secure the remaining stock over the medium term. How will the balance of power shift? Will HRS increase hotel.de commissions in line with its own - and will HRS again become as arrogant as it was before hotel.de entered the market? There is concern in the industry. HRS attempts to calm nerves and answered important questions by hospitalityInside.com yesterday.
Chicago. At least 16 major hotel groups from around the world plan to work together to develop an industry security framework for handling sensitive credit card data.
Augsburg. The purchase of the couponing portal, DailyDeal, by Google this week shows the immense dynamism in this market: DailyDeal had been founded only two years ago and today, counts more than 200 employees. Now both founders and co-investors will allegedly harvest between 150 and 200 million USD.
Innsbruck/Wiesbaden. Supported by the possibilities of the Internet, an increasing amount of voucher and coupon systems are flooding Europe. The boom is carried by the hunt for hefty discounts. Users can achieve real bargains with this, but once again, the hotelier seems to be the loser. In contrast, the coupon suppliers are registering huge growth figures. Nevertheless, the opinions about the sense or nonsense of these coupon portals are widely divided. A comparison of the supplier and market opinions.
Eichstaett. The company arose from a hobby - from an online diary. Five year's later, the Eichstaett Institute for eTourism, Tourismuszukunft - a trend office with social media focus - came into being. The institute advises tourism companies and provides 3 to 5-year forecasts. "We don't aim to ascertain megatrends for the next 20 years, but rather work within a closer timeframe. Developments in social media are very dynamic. In addition, many companies take their decisions over this timeframe," Florian Bauhuber says, one of three Managing Directors at the institute. Hotels are also among our clients, though the expert views this sector with some scepticism as far as vision and decision-making are concerned.
Augsburg. An attentive reader discovered the data leak – and informed hospitalityInside.com. Due to the change of an uncoded URL, we were able to see data of other people on our computers: addresses, telephone numbers and email addresses. The reason was "vulnerability within an interface". Luckily, there was no damage in this case; however, the dimension of such a case became clear: the website of the hotel group has been connected to SynXis – a Sabre subsidiary with more than 12,000 hotel customers. Where do you start looking for the cause if several parties are involved? Who is responsible for undertaking measures in order to prevent such incidents?
Southlake. On Tuesday, Sabre Holdings announced the acquisition of SoftHotel, the largest provider of web-based property management solutions for the hospitality industry.