How to gain more control

Last week I attended a training session for a Channel Control system and it struck me as odd that many of the hotel representatives there were still using a channel management system that didn’t interface with their PMS system.

A channel manager is internet hosted software that allows hoteliers to distribute availability and rates across multiple third party websites.  It increases a hotels exposure, allowing distribution from one point of input across multiple national and international sites across the web.  They take minimal training to understand and minimal staff to operate them.  So their main selling feature… ..this can all be done at minimal expense to the operator, especiially if the 2 systems can be interfaced together.

So why change your old habits?  Why combine 2 systems in one?  Well it comes down to how this is effecting your bottom line.  Poor time management and staffing equals bad productivity, control and reduced profits. Buy doing this you will reduce the money you are spending on employing that additional person to key third party emails into your PMS and the additional team training you need to provide so they know how to use 2 systems when they could just be learning one.

If you do decide to investigate a channel manager further I suggest looking for one that will interface with your current PMS, Levart does this with a few different systems, or one that also incorporates  PMS such as Seekom.  One that is a flat monthly fee with no lock in contracts and that is backed by a top support team.  One that distributes to both local and international channels and that has distribution control which allows you to set sell limits with a buffer for each different third party site.  It helps too if it has the ability to set derived rates from a base rate, counter attacking the need to go in and adjust all rates individually, reducing administration time dramatically.   Lastly look into one that gives you booking statistics so you know which third party site is working the hardest for you.

Welcome to the Auctas team

Wow it’s been busy around here  with 2 new properties going “live” on the GDS this week.  Welcome to the Auctas team Bay of Many Coves and Tarraleah. Both of these properties were looking to extend and maximise their exposure and by signing up to Sabre Hospitality Solutions they are now being distributed throughout the GDS and a huge number of third party channels.

Bay of Many Coves is a five star luxury resort set in the secluded region of the Marlborough Sounds in New Zealand.  With no roads in or out of the area the only way to get there is by taking a 30 minute ferry ride from Picton.  Once there fill your days with adventure or romance depending on your mood.  With kayaking, bushwalking, a swim with the dolphins, wine tours of the renowned Marlboroough region, 2 restaurants and a waterfornt cafe all specialising in local seafood and produce and a day spa all on offer you will not be disappointed.

Accommodation at Bay of Many Coves varies from one to two to three bedroom apartments all outfitted with contemporary furnishings, fully equipped kitchens or kitchenettes, spacious bathrooms and private balconies overlooking the bay.

Please see http://www.bayofmanycoves.co.nz for more information.

Originally purpose built for Tasmania’s hydro electricity scheme Tarraleah has been given new life.  Two hours drive from either Hobart or Launceston and set in the middle of Tasmania’s picturesque wilderness, Tarraleah comprises of a 9 bedroom luxurious lodge and 15 cottages scattered throughout the town.  On offer is a wide range of activities from bush walking, trout fishing, golf and pampering at their Cliff Top Spa.

The lodge, which was originally built for the hydro electricity schemes officers, is set on an elevated highland plateau and is pure indulgance.  Although comprosing of 9 deluxe rooms Tarraleah Lodge is booked purely on a sole use basis and comes equipped with your own butler, chef and wildlife guide.  The rooms themselves contain all the luxuries you could dream of, silk filled doonas, heated bathroom floors, Moulton Brown toiletries and private balconies just to name a few.

The 15 cottages scattered throughout the township of Tarraleah range from 1 – 3 bedrooms all with fully equipped kitchens, dining areas and a laundry.  In keeping with the original era of their conception, the 1920′s, the cottages are filled with art deco style furnishings.  Located nearby is the Highland General Store and the Highlander Arms pub .

Please see http://www.tarraleahcottages.com and http://tarraleahlodge.com for more information.

Building Relationships

I’ve been thinking about the different ways in which I can build relationships with prospective clients and what it should be based on and decided that trust was the ultimate key to do doing so.

This in turn got me thinking about how hotels could do the same thing and I remembered what used to help me gain trust in a hotel when I was a Travel Agent.

I would spend quite a bit of time qualifying my client’s needs and researching the hotel and booking the property at what I thought was the best rate available only to have the client call back a few hours later to say “Thank you so much for all of your help you were terrific but we have found the hotel cheaper on the internet so are going to book it ourselves.”

So you know what I did to stop losing sales?  I ended up with a few hotels in each major city that I absolutely trusted, along with a distribution channel that I absolutely trusted and I used them again and again because I just lost faith in those hotels that chopped and changed depending on the channel and its commission and fee structure.  How did these hotels gain my trust?  By having rate parity across all channels, so no matter where any of us looked, whether it be me as an agent or my client the rates were the same.

Now put yourself in the shoes of the potential guest, the home shopper who doesn’t even venture into a travel agency.  What if I don’t know ALL of the places I can shop for your hotel, what if I think your site should be the most trustworthy of all channels and book a room through your online booking engine only for the friend of a friend of a friend to inform me that I should have booked through such and such site because the rates are 20% cheaper there.  That’s going to leave me feeling really cheated and lose trust in the hotel.

And if I think about it from the extra net channels perspective rate parity is also imperative because why would I want to spend hundreds and thousands of dollars marketing my site which in turn is helping you to market your hotel only to have you sell it somewhere cheaper.   Isn’t that just a bit cheeky and untrustworthy?

So as an hotelier what should you do?

You need rate parity across ALL of your online distribution channels, your booking engine, the GDS network and your extra net channels.  This will help you build a relationship of trust between yourselves, potential guests and extra net channels and keep them coming back for more.

Did you know???????

I was doing some reading the other day and you know what I found out???  70% of the world’s population are mobile phone subscribers, that’s around 4.8 billion people as opposed to the 1.7 billion people with internet access and what’s more Google have recognised a 500% growth from 2008 to 2010 in mobile searches on the internet.  So this got me thinking about hotel distribution and the absolute necessity for hoteliers to implement a mobile website into their strategy because without it you are definitely limiting your exposure.

Call me old fashioned but I remember when I used to catch up with friends and we would discuss holidays or mini breaks in the city and leave it at “I’ll do some research about that and get back to you”.  Well the other night I was at a girlfirends place for dinner and we all got to talking about a weekend break in Noosa, one of the guys immediatly pulled out his phone at the dinner table and logged into airline systems and started searching for a hotel.  In todays age of instant gratification “I’ll get back to you” just doesn’t cut it anymore.  We are constatntly on the move trying to juggle to many things at once so if we finalise plans then and there thats what we do.

This brings me to the problem we had….have you ever tried to look at an hotels conventional website on your phone?  It’s all scrunchy and really, really difficult to navigate.  However if you do your research you will find that most major players in the online distribution market such as Sabre Hospitality Solutions are now offering mobile platforms that present hotel information in easy an to read and navigate  format.

So what else should you look for in a mobile phone platform for your hotels website?

• One that can be themed the same as your website giving your brand continuity.
• One that can include maps, directions to your hotel and essential information.
• One that allows a guest to book, view, edit and cancel their reservation.
• One that enables promotional products and packages on the site so you don’t miss the additional revenue extras bring in.
• One that is compatible to any phone with internet access.
• One that has built in tracking so you as the hotelier knows exactly which of your websites the reservation is coming from.

I know it seems like just another thing to put on your already over full plate but really if you don’t start investigating this NOW you will be left behind.

Increasing your visibility on the GDS – Part 3

OK so now you’ve got your property information up to date and filled with answers to as yet unasked questions, you’re offering promotional rates filled with value added extras and freebies so what next you ask?  Well you need to create a vibe for prospective guests, give them a taste of what they can expect when staying with you so give them photos……..and lots of them.

Speak with your GDS system provider to find out how to maximise your image distribution. Find out the maximum amount of images that can be shown and what the specific categories are and invest in having shots taken of your hotel that show it off to it’s best advantage.  Most importantly make sure your images are kept up to date.  If your property undergoes renovations or additional rooms are built send through revised images so they are made visible to GDS users.  Don’t forget though that oom images are not the only important feature of your hotel, remember to show at least one exterior shot, a photo of your lobby and one of the recreational facilities and restaurant.

Remember, not only do guests want value for money but they want to know what they are going to be experiencing BEFORE they lay down their money, they want to know the vibe and feel of your property and the best way to do this is through beautiful images.

Show Me The Money

I’ve worked at a few places.

I’ve managed a high profile take away store where I had to say “Would you like fries with that?”

I’ve managed a lingerie store and drummed into my team to ask “Do you need a wash bag to wash this in?”

I’ve worked at a car dealership where it was MANDATORY that everyone buying a vehicle made a trip to the aftermarket lady.

And a sale was not made at the travel agency without me asking about Travel Insurance

Why???  Surely if the customer wanted these items they would have asked for them.  But how many times have you been asked “add on” questions and actually said “Oh yeah I forgot about that….Yes please.”?

If they hadn’t asked these questions companies would have missed out on that additional revenue; revenue that can turn a minimum sale into one that will really increase your bottom line.

The booking engine on your website should do the same thing for you; it shouldn’t just sell your core product of guest rooms it should also offer guests optional extras during the booking process.  The offer of these extras should flow seamlessly on from the process of booking a guest room making them hard to miss and even harder to resist with beautiful images and descriptions.

Why not consider adding these extras;

• A Room Upgrade for a reduced rate
• Tickets to local attractions and shows
• Bathrobes, slippers and  bathroom accessories
• Wine and Champagne
• Flowers
• Dinner vouchers
• Car parking
• Transfers

The bottom line is that by adding an extra here or there to a sale your revenue will increase and your guests will love the ease of “one stop shopping” and isn’t that what we are in this game for?

Simplify, Streamline and Increase Revenue

With so many different channels to distribute to do you get scared of over booking?  Do you have horrible images of guests turning up to check in to non existent rooms and then having to send them to the competitors down the road?  Or worse people making an horrific scene in your lobby so your happy guests turn into weary ones?

It used to be that hotels needed one system for their PMS, another for their Channel Management and yet another for their Online Reservation system and the above situations could easily become the case.  Well times have changed dramatically and although I can totally sympathise with you when it comes to learning new systems (beleive me I have just had to learn 3 new ones in the space of a couple of months) you are going to have to bite the bullet and do it in order to symplify, streamline, increase revenue within your business and keep your team and guests happy.

In my very first blog I touched on a system that Auctas is introducing into the market place that is designed to take the worry out of your day and is simple to use.  Now I know how bad it is to toot your own horn when it comes to blogging but seriously it would be remiss of me not to inform you of this brilliant product, so here is just a little taste of how it can change your world at work.

Seekom iBEX is a web based booking system that is a complete online solution for accommodation providers.  Its many varied themes allow the booking engine to integrate seamlessly into your existing website and interface with many of the systems you may already have in place.  If you are looking to streamline your business even further iBEX offer the following plans at a flat monthly fee with no lock in contract.

1. iBEX Channel Manager – enables you to work with as many sales channels as you like without having to manually update them with rates and availability and without fear of double bookings.
2. iBEX PMS – is a fully featured system that allows room changes, group bookings, room servicing, reports and invoicing.
3. iBEX Lite – provides your website with an online booking engine that allows 4 different sell modes along with packages and optional extras.
4. iBEX Online Plus – is a complete online solution that incorporates all of the above with a content managed website.

More information can be found on our website or if you would like to take advantage of our free 30 day trial please email me through our contact page.

Increasing your visibility on the GDS – Part 1

If you’re like everyone else out there at the moment you may be looking at increasing reservations so your’e looking for new ways to maximise exposure.  Being an ex travel agent I understand only to well how difficult it is to make yourself stand out amongst other hotels in the surrounding area on the GDS system as it does not offer a lot in the way of stand out presentation.  I thought I might spend the next few blogs giving you a little insight into the minds of travel agents and how they perceive your hotel on their screen.  Scary I know….but useful.

Using their GDS system is the absolute easiest, most time efficient way for an agent to make a booking.  Most wholesalers nowadays spend a lot of time and money on beautiful brochures and online booking systems but in most cases their systems are really hard to navigate through and because they are all different agents need to remember to many different entries.  The GDS is easy and if hotels use it properly, it gives them all the information they need in which to make a booking.

This brings me to my first point…..make sure your information is up to date.  Your system provider should be able to send you through a report which details exactly what information an agent sees in relation to your hotel.  To be brutally honest in many cases if an agent has to ask a question they won’t, they will move onto the next hotel that gives them the answer on the screen.  Here is a list of important information agents and guests will ask questions relating to before booking a hotel.

• Property description, facilities, services and room amenities.
• Cancelation, refund and no show policies.
• Payment types accepted.
• Directions to your hotel from major airports, train station and bus terminals.
• Local area attractions and facilities.
• Offer agents commission 10% is the general rule.

Try to keep these in mind when you next perform a property information audit.

It’s soooo frustrating!!!!

So you have spent all of this time and money on implementing the system of ALL systems for online distribution and property maintenance.  It’s supposed make your life simpler, your business run more efficiently and your team happier but now you have to learn how to use it and worse still remember how to use it.

For ten years I was a travel agent and although we were using different systems I suffered the same infuriating frustration….where do I go to get support?  I want someone who can solve the problem then and there, quickly and efficiently and whilst talking to many people within the travel and hospitality industry this seems to be everybody’s main problem.

As I am sure you have found, unfortunately most help desks are either shipped offshore or you have to spend ages navigating the companies website looking for an email contact to send a query too, which means you are unlikely to receive a response within 3 days let alone instantaneously.  Worse still you try to navigate their help guide and, is it just me, or are the answers to your questions never there or located in some weird place under a heading that has nothing to do with your problem?

So what do you do about it???  Well you really need to be thinking about this BEFORE you decide which system to implement.  When you’re shopping around and talking to the company’s sales team make sure you ask them about support.  Make sure they are not just going to set you up and leave you.  Find out if their support base is local, ensure you have their phone number and support desk operational hours at your finger tips and don’t be scared to ask them to make up a “clue card” for you.  Clue cards have been my saviour on many occasions as you can keep them next to you at your desk and they give you a basic guide on how to do things within the system.   It doesn’t have to be an entire manual; a well thought out clue card could mean the difference between you coming across professionally or clumsily.

At the end of they day we are in this business because we love people and wouldn’t it be great if all companies out there had a local support team that you could just make a phone call to, get a person on the other end that doesn’t use tech speak, is patient and understanding and most importantly happy to be helping you.

Competing with the Big Boys

One of the guys from our sales team had an interesting conversation with an hotelier during the week which brought to light something I wanted to share with you.

As I’m sure you already know one of the most important factors of online distribution is having a great booking engine, all the big chains have invested in it and many of the smaller hotels are turning around their way of thinking to include it also.  Booking Engines come in many varied forms depending on the product, they can be embedded directly into your website, they can interface with your current PMS and they can be your Channel Manager but at the end of the day they all aim to do the same thing……convert more “lookers” on your website into “confirmed guests” for as little expense to you, the hotelier, as possible.  At Auctas we have added a terrific system to our range of products (more on this in later blogs) that can do all of this and more so we are trying to make hoteliers aware of it.

The property in question has a website that is filled with terrific information to get you excited about staying with them and they have even thought about including a booking engine on their site but when you click on the “book now” button it takes you straight to an extranet channel to make the booking.  Now as a consumer this wouldn’t cause you any concern but if we place ourselves in the shoes of the hotelier it just doesn’t make sense.  Not only does the extra net channel take 10% commission per booking from you as their fee but they take payment for the booking and then don’t pass this revenue onto you, the provider, until a month after your guest has stayed with you.

So this leads me to the question…is the hotelier uneducated or have they become complacent?  Why would you run your business this way if there was a simple product on the market that allowed bookings to come directly into your system along with the revenue, all for a low monthly flat fee?

When asked why they were running their business this way the hotelier replied “because it’s easier”.  I ask you “Is it really easier in the long run to be giving someone else 10% of your revenue when you could be spending 1% on doing the same thing”?