News for the Hospitality Executive |
Trust's yourVoyager Streamlines Selecting, Managing and
Frankfurt – September 22, 2011 – With
the increasing fragmentation of hotel booking channels, hoteliers find
it
extremely challenging to choose and manage the “right” channels to
maximize
hotel bookings and their average daily rate (ADR) while controlling
channel
booking costs. Trust International’s
integrated channel management system, included in Trust’s yourVoyager
centralized reservation system (CRS), seamlessly aids hoteliers in the
task –
without the hassles of a third-party channel management solution. “While online travel agencies (OTAs) continue to carve a growing niche in the travel industry, Trust International believes, the future of online bookings lies with a flexible distribution mix working with traditional travel agencies, high producing online travel agencies (OTAs), more specific niche or local channels, alongside the hotel’s own web site paired with dedicated marketing campaigns,” stated Heinrich Kessler, Trust International VP Sales EMEA and The Americas. “Trust has crafted its channel management functionality as an integral part of yourVoyager CRS to manage and track an ever-changing array of channels. This provides hoteliers with the data needed to make the best channel management decisions that maximize yield.” With the recovery of the business travel market, the use of traditional travel agencies is growing and hoteliers want to take advantage of the higher rates and longer stays they tend to yield, as noted in PhoCusWright research in the Travel Market Report article “Hotels Renew Interest in Agents, Citing Healthy Yields.” “The quality of business being booked by agents is significantly different than that being produced through other channels,” said Douglas Quinby, senior director, research, for PhoCusWright. He stated, “Hotel revenues via the traditional agency channel increased significantly in 2010 over 2009, and PhoCusWright is projecting a 10% increase for 2011.” Several hotel groups noted increases in the travel agency bookings as well, with Peabody Hotels reporting, “Our year over year growth via travel agency channels, which we measure by GDS bookings, is up 250%.” While OTAs lag far behind supplier websites, OTA’s are definitely not going away though, as detailed in PhoCusWright's Global Online Travel Overview Second Edition, which states, “Where online travel penetration grows, OTA bookings follow.” At the recent New York University International Hospitality Industry Investment Conference breakout session, where Steve Hood, senior VP of research at STR, the parent company of HotelNewsNow.com shared that, “The OTA-merchant/retail channel accounts for 4.6% demand and 4.3% of revenue and the OTA-opaque channel accounts for 2% of demand and 1.2% of revenue. The OTA-opaque channel also showed the greatest ADR growth of all the channels in 2010 vs. 2009 with a 2.3% growth rate.” Kessler notes that Trust’s hotelier clients and channel partners can benefit from a truly diversified distribution service. They recognize that travelers enjoy having the control over their own travel plans afforded by OTAs and new tools such as Google Hotel Finder that allow travellers to easily locate and comparison shop between hotels near their destination, then book directly with the hotel. “With so much research and data available to hoteliers, it is increasingly important that hotels have an intelligent integrated channel management solution that can analyze the data for their specific hotel markets, as well as the broader market to support an educated decision-making process,” said Richard Wiegmann, Managing Director of Trust International. “yourVoyager is a hotelier’s single-point-of-entry designed specifically to address the challenges of multi-channel distribution, while driving down overall cost-per-transaction. It provides powerful management of all rates and room availability in all distribution channels including GDS, internet channels, Trust call centers, a hotelier’s own reservation office and their own website. yourVoyager puts the data at hoteliers’ fingertips to help streamline hoteliers’ decisions on what to sell, via which channel, in which quantity, and at what price – and easily change it all at a moment’s notice to respond to market changes.” About Trust International Hotel Reservation Services GmbH Trust International is one of the world’s leading CRS providers and international hospitality partners. Trust’s services and supporting technologies help hotel chains and hospitality groups support their sales and marketing activities with the latest distribution solutions. The range of services includes CRS solutions and software, connectivity to all GDS and IDS channels, an Internet booking engine and third party integration to PMS, RMS and CMS systems. Trust International offers the full range of CRS-related products such as content management, business intelligence and commission payment services. Via Trust’s own communication centers located in North America, Europe and The Far East customers in 47 countries are served with private label telephone reservation, concierge and telemarketing services. Established in 1989 Trust International is renowned for its highly reliable reservation platform, continuous investment in system software and hardware and delivery of superior customer value. |
For further information about Trust International please contact: Trust International Hotel Reservation Services Marketing Department Tel: +49(0)69 664 089 1502 [email protected] Media Contacts: Julie Shepherd, Accentuate PR for Trust International in North America Tel. +1 815 479 1833 – [email protected] Christiane Seelgen, Trust International Tel.+49 (0)69 66 40 89 15 03 - [email protected] |