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Room Rate API to Set the Best Price for Your Hotel

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Hotel room rate is the major component of the hospitality industry for the business to keep going.  It is an essential part of revenue management and the biggest challenge faced by hoteliers. Room rates are never constant. The best price for a room may change in minutes depending on the situation.

The basic element of setting room rates is to create a balance between supply and demand in the local market. Once the balance is created the next step is to optimize your pricing strategy as per your competitor rooms. The overall mechanism is to get the best value out of your rooms and not to just boost the value they bear. After all, an unsold room adds to nothing but the cost of hotel rooms.

How to Set the Best Room Rates?

Crafting and planning a hotel pricing strategy is not a layman’s task. To sell your rooms at the best available price you need to go beyond cost and profit.

Undoubtedly with the emergence of technology and room rate API, the process of hotel pricing has been simplified and easier than before. Integration of real-time marketing data with the pricing mechanism makes it easier to monitor market demand, competitor movements, and revive your price accordingly.

Having a clear status on the market demand and a competitive pricing strategy will help you price your rooms to your advantage. But before that get the answers to the following questions:

  • What are your guests looking for in a room?
  • How much is the cost per room coming to?
  • How much is your competitor charging for similar rooms?
  • When is your competitor increasing/ decreasing room rates?
  • Which strategy blends the best with your distribution channels?

Answers to each of the above questions will take you a step closer to room rate pricing. No particular pricing strategy is apt for any hotel. Starting with forecasting and implementing trial and error methods every hotel revenue manager needs to select the best rate for their property to sustain.

Hotel Room Rate Pricing Models

Cost, customer, and competitor are the 3 pillars of the hotel pricing model. Let’s have a look at each of them:

  1. Cost-based pricing
  2. Customer-based pricing
  3. Competitor-based pricing

Cost-based pricing – This method involves adding the total costs of running your hotel from admin to room service to cleaning to electricity to food to everything. Once you have calculated the cost of providing a room, add a markup percentage you wish to earn profit at.

The total price charged includes fixed cost, variable cost, and profit percentage. The profit charged should be in line with the room type and service provided.

Customer-based pricing – It is based on the charges that the customer feels are worth of your room. Customers have no interest in knowing the cost of the room, their goal is to pay a price worth the room. If they like the vicinity of a room, they are ready to pay a high price for it.

The room rates depend on the level of satisfaction a customer determines from each stay. Customer’s choices fickle with the season and so can the room rates. Customers are ready to pay prices as per demand and situation.

Competitor-based pricing – In this age of cut-throat competition, it is unlikely that you will be the only hotel provider in any area. The moment you launch a new rate program or discount policy your competitors come up with something more exciting and budget-friendly. To survive this cut-throat competition, the only solution is to maintain a balance between your rates and competitive rates so that you don’t lose your customers. At the same time make sure you do not reduce your service quality to match the rates.

Remember, the price set must do justice to the room type.

Therefore, to master the hotel business a combination of all the 3-pricing policies is the best to maintain sustainable quality profitable rates. This way neither you compromise with the room service nor with customer’s demand nor the competitive rates.

How to Manage Room Rates?

Now when you are sorted with your room pricing strategy it’s time to update the rates on your hotel management platform. Integrating the room rate API with your hotel channel management platform allows you to set different rate types for different rooms. You can even customize the rates for the same room on different platforms like individual rates for OTAs and individual for a website.

You can have a complete overview of your daily rates and sales from the dashboard of your hotel’s channel manager like RateTiger. Along with it, it gives you the advantage of comparing your rates to competitive hotels for immediate decision-making. It also gives you the liberty to create different promotion types for different customers and different seasons. In short, you are free to sell your rooms as you want.

Takeaway

There are different room rate pricing methods and factors to keep in mind like demand, supply, cost, competitors, and other segments while determining the prices. Undoubtedly, the end goal is to set the best room rates to maximize your occupancy and revenue. There is no one predetermined way to maximize your rates. The only set mechanism is the trial-and-error method to figure out what rates work for which room type during which season and on which platform.

 
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How are Europeans Travelling this Summer in 2022?

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Travel is back and Europe is exploring new travel trends this season. Europe is a year-round travel destination with summer and early autumn (mid-June to September) being the favorite of travelers. This is the time of the year when the sun is high, the weather is warmer, and the Europeans are ready to get tanned.

Undoubtedly, the Russian invasion of Ukraine had added to uncertainties and new challenges bringing the world to a pause, however, travel getting a chance to hit the beach after almost 2 years of pandemic made people travel. Recovery is in full swing this summer.

As per ETC’s (European Travel Commission) forecast, Europe is going to recover 70% of the pre-pandemic travel revenue by 2022 end with summer bringing the maximum.

With Covid-19 restrictions withering away and the weather being at its best, 78% of Europeans have travel plans this year and are out ticking off their bucket list. Those who avoid the peak season crowd are planning their vacations in late August and September_ at the beginning of the fall.

Let us have a look at what is on the bucket list of European travelers this summer 2022.

  • Domestic vs International Travel
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While the world is targeting international trips post-Covid as a way of “revenge travel”, Europeans are taking a different route. 8 out of 10 Europeans do not tend to be a part of this trend. They are planning to travel within the continent between now and September.

Instead, 56% of the summer vacation tourists are travelling within the country. Of those planning to venture out, 42% say that will be going out but within Europe. Simultaneously the percentage of international travelers to Europe is rising.

This is a signal for the hotel owners to be ready to serve the rising demand which has already taken its peak. It’s your chance to welcome both domestic and international guests with attractive offers and customer-centric booking options.

Last-minute bookings are the essence of time for impromptu travelers and hoteliers to multiply their room rates.

  • Splashing the Beach

Speaking of a holiday, the next big question is “where to go?” With the trending domestic travel, the respondents prefer short trips. As per Europe Travel Trend Survey, 2022 conducted by Booking.com 44% of Europeans are likely to splash on the beach this summer.

While the majority want to get tanned on the beach sipping their favorite Pinacolada drink, 38% are planning a weekend getaway and 32% prefer exploring the city.

Short trips bring a bigger chance for a hotelier to make an impact on their guests with an easy booking process, pick-up and drop facility, seamless check-in, travel guide, well-cleaned and hygiene rooms.

  • Going Green

The iconic landscape of Europe is one of the prime reasons for making it a top tourist destination. With the rising global warming and environment degradation, how long is it to survive? The answer to this is “Green Tourism”.

With the growing concern for environmental health, the concept of green tourism or sustainable tourism is growing. Travelers prefer to give added value to hotels opting for environment-friendly ways and saving the local biodiversity. Hotels are opting for smart hotel technology.

One such example is electric power in a room gets on the moment you insert the key card in the cardholder and power is off as soon as it is the card is taken off.

Hotels tend to market their rooms in this niche highlighting sustainable tourism to attract more guests and be in their good books.

  • Choosing the Accommodation
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When it comes to choosing accommodation, 57% of European travelers have a likeliness toward hotels. But this is not all.

Europe is the 2nd largest business travel destination after APAC. More than 60% of business travelers prefer staying in vacation rentals to get a homely feeling. Vacation rentals have long been popular in the region. With workations becoming common, it has emerged as the preferred choices for “workation” guests, especially for those in France as it gives them the freedom to live as they want. Italian travelers however still have a strong likelihood to book their stay in good old hotels and BnBs.

To make the most of the travel enthusiasm among your guests, step into the shoes of a traveler. Categorize your visitors into groups, know the preference and needs of different travel groups, and strategize your marketing plans accordingly.

Highlighting the amenities available at your property and your unique propositions increases your chance to receive reservations.

It’s true that travel trends keep changing from season to season and from person to person. But these are the ones dominating the Europe tourism sector now and in times to come. Before you lose your opportunity in search of a lasting trend, start working on the above pointers to connect with your guests and give them the stay of their life.

 
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BAR- Best Available Rate Pricing for Your Hotel

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A hotel’s real challenge is pricing the rooms in the best interest of the hotel and the guests. While as a hotel owner you would like to charge the highest rate for your property to maximize your RevPAR (Revenue Per Available Room), as a guest one would want value for every penny spent. Plus, there is always the pressure of competition next door from your fellow hotel ready to welcome the prospective guests.

This calls for a pricing mechanism that delivers satisfaction to guests without compromising on the hotelier’s income and position in the competitive market. With multiple pricing schemes available, the hospitality industry is going more and more intricate towards revenue maximization. Today here in this article, we are going to discuss the BAR (Best Available Rate) rate.

What is BAR?

BAR is the acronym for “Best Available Rate” which is also known as BRG (Best Rate Guaranteed). Going by the terminology, it is the lowest rate for a day at which the guests can book a room.

It is a pricing mechanism used by the hospitality industry to set the best room rates in line with the demand. This system was first used by the airline industry to set the fare by forecasting the bookings during a particular season.

As per Sheryl E. Kimes, BAR rate is an “attempt to reduce confusion and to guarantee that the guest is quoted the lowest available rate for each night of a multiple-night stay.” It is the lowest rate paid by a guest for a particular day of their stay, without any prepayment or cancellation fees, or rescheduling charges apart from the normal cancellation fee imposed by the hotel itself.

What is the Purpose of BAR?

The BAR pricing strategy is an attempt by the hospitality industry to remove the confusion among guests caused by the complex pricing strategy including various clauses.

Ratetiger-hotelbar-pricing

How does BAR Work?

In simple terms, BAR rate is the flexible rate that varies on a day-to-day basis depending on the demand. There are 2 ways to find the BAR price: either by setting a fixed price or by going dynamic following the price ceiling and price floor concept. The price ceiling is the highest rate for the room and the floor price is the lowest possible rate for the same room.

It is the basis of setting the room rates and includes the price of only the room. It does not include corporate discounts or breakfast charges or anything. It is exclusively the best rate guaranteed for a particular room type on a particular day. The best practice to set the BAR rate is via a percentage or a fixed markup above/ below the floor price and ceiling price.

The BAR price depends on the following 3 factors:

  • Occupancy rate
  • Season or day of the week
  • Events

For example, there is an ongoing event of company XYZ in your hotel on a Friday night which went long after the scheduled hours and all the attendees of the event book a room in the same hotel. This will increase the occupancy rate of the hotel. Going by the demand the BAR rate will simultaneously increase for the following day.

Benefits of BAR

  • Benefit of BAR to Consumers

The feeling that you are paying extra for a room than the actual price is always frustrating and affects your trip experience. Providing transparency, BAR pricing gives the guests clarity of how much they are paying and what they are paying for.

The best part of BAR is that this rate is available to everyone, and you do not need to be a premium member of the hotel/ hotel group to avail this room rate.

  • Benefit of BAR to Hotels

Going transparent and setting the best available rate or rather say the lowest rate for their rooms the hotels are making a profit in terms of goodwill and customer loyalty. Plus, revenue too.

Would BAR Rate Break Rate Parity?

Rate Parity across all your sales channels is a predominant to keep selling your property on multiple channels like hotel websites, OTAs, metasearch, and GDS. With OTAs being an indispensable sales platform, you cannot sell the rooms at a lower price on your website or booking engine and afford to lose the guests here. Therefore, it is advisable to better not to sell the “room only” prices on OTAs and maintain parity.

You can reserve your room-only rates for the website and booking engine giving the traveler the choice of booking the room at a lower price or better say at the best available rate and maintaining transparency and parity.

 
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How does Hotel Metasearch Work?

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To facilitate their planning and booking processes, people use a range of solutions. While the planning or inspiration often starts with general search and travel review sites, over the years metasearch has emerged as the one of the most important channels during the shopping and selecting products phase.

Hotel Metasearch Engine is a tool that aggregates rate and availability data from various travel sites including hotel website and OTAs and presents it to the user based on various parameters like popularity, rate and reputation. Popular metasearch sites of 2022 are Google Hotel Ads, TripAdvisor, Trivago, Skyscanner and Kayak. Without having to browse through multiple sites, it gives you the feasibility to check a hotel’s price, images, services offered, ratings and reviews across different sites all at once.

RateTiger - metasearch - hotel bookings
RateTiger- metasearch - travel bookings

How Metasearch Works?

A metasearch engine works by taking a traveler’s query and generating the related search. For instance, if a traveler is looking for hotels in a particular place for so and so dates, then these metasearch websites will generate search results showcasing the property name, location, room type, room rates and so on.

Your hotel may have its property listed on different OTAs like Booking.com, Expedia, MakeMyTrip, Hotels.com, and more. When a potential customer visits any particular site to find a hotel in any region, the hotel name and room rates are shown. Along with this, the OTAs also participate with the lists curated by metasearch sites.

Suppose your hotel is listed on five online travel agencies and you have different rates for the same room type on each of the five platforms. Once a prospective guest clicks on the hotel, metasearch will show him/ her the price at all the sites taking part in the metasearch campaign.

It gives the travelers the ease to compare the rates of the same hotel on multiple channels on a single platform, more extensive, multi-brand choice, the inclusion of traveler reviews, ratings, and trip ideas. Plus, the seamless experience of the one-stop-shopping process that allows multiple products to be booked in one place. With price being a major factor during the booking process, users have the tendency to compare prices during the booking process and hence it is advised to maintain Rate Parity.

When the prospective guest finds a deal and clicks on a link to book a hotel, the metasearch directs the guest to the particular website to complete the process. You can also integrate your hotel’s booking engine with metasearch redirecting the customer directly to your brand’s website. In the first instance, the metasearch website works on CPC (Cost per Click) or PPC (Pay per Click) model and in the second case, it works on the CPA (Cost per Acquisition) model.

Best Ways to Work with Metasearch

As mentioned above, CPC and CPA are the two main types of cost models for metasearch campaigns. There is also a third type called CPM (Cost Per Impression) where the focus is on the number of impressions.

The hotel owners used to follow the CPC/ CPM model before Google and TripAdvisor started with the “Book Now” feature allowing customers to book directly on their platform. With this model, whenever a hotel received a booking, Metasearch received a commission for the booking made and the traveler received direct and seamless booking experience.

Let us now have a look at the best cost model to begin a metasearch campaign:

RateTiger - CPC -model
  • Cost Per Click (CPC)

Under this model, a hotel is charged every time someone clicks on the ad. The metasearch shows the hotel ad to the maximum number of visitors and charges the hotel a fixed price per click.

Pros – It is the most transparent way to increase visibility and leverage the advantage of showcasing your property to prospective guests and maximize your revenue.

Cons – If you haven’t set the price aptly (i.e., your rate isn’t effective in comparison to competitor’s or if you are better priced on OTA than your website) then you are going to lose your revenue and sales in return.

  • Cost Per Stay (CPS)

Under this model, a hotel is charged only when a booking is made. The metasearch charges the hotel a fixed commission or a percentage of the amount of booking made. Guests can book on the metasearch channel without leaving the platform, and hotels can advertise on a risk-free “no booking no fee” basis by opting for Pay Per Stay bidding instead of Pay Per Click.

Pros – The USP of this model is that you are charged only when a booking is made and you get return for every penny spent.

Cons – Your visibility goes parallel with your ROI and the revenue generated by the metasearch. There is a possibility that the provider may be earning better with CPC for another hotel than the commission received by you. Therefore, you lose your position and visibility on the site.

  • Cost Per Impression (CPM)

Under this model, the hotel owner pays a charge for the number of people seeing the ad irrespective of clicking on it or not. A predetermined charge is set for a certain number of impressions.

Pros – This model is the cheapest way to broadcast an ad and to display it to a maximum number of people, increasing your hotel’s visibility.

Cons – There is no guarantee that the number of people seeing your ad will click on it or visit your website or make a booking, thereby affecting your ROI.

  • Hybrid model (CPC + CPA)

This model is a combination of both the pay per click and cost per action. The hotel leverages the advantage of pay per click in line with the commission factor.

Pros – The hotel can set the maximum budget and freely invest in the ad media. As long as the campaigns are running below the maximum cost the hotel is making profits. This way the hotel grabs the benefit of maximum visibility and revenue maximization.

Cons – The target CPA model comes with its own share of risk. Firstly, it directs a way to conversion but doesn’t guarantee conversion. Secondly, if the conversion turns out to be bad it is a total loss for you.

Top Travel Metasearch Engines Worldwide

RateTiger - websites- google

Launched in 2010, Google Hotel Ads has become the largest hotel metasearch engine accounting for 57% of the hotel bookings. For millions of people Google is the starting point to plan their trip: from destination selection to flight/ train/ bus to hotels people start their search on Google. With the introduction of hotel booking option directly on Google and CPA scheme, this search engine grew to become one of the most preferred platforms by most travelers and hotel owners.

As the name suggests, founded in the 2000 TripAdvisor has become the online travel guide for the people. Traveling to different parts of the world, it has more than 1.4 million hotels and properties listed. Showing the best rate for a hotel by compiling the rates and availability on different sites, and the direct booking option brings more than 463 million visitors per month to this platform.

Owned by the Trip.com Group this Scotland based travel metasearch engine was founded in 2003. As the name suggests, this travel metasearch was started with showing the best price for flights and is known for its security in online purchase. Evolving over time, they started with Skyscanner hotels in 2014 becoming one of the most popular global hotel metasearch engines.

Takeaway

Now when you know how metasearch works, make sure to choose the right metasearch website and invest effectively in the pricing model to grab your share of success. All hotels in your area are running this race and winning maximum booking. So, are you ready to win this race?

 
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Metasearch – Hotel’s Best Friend to Drive More Direct Bookings

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Hotel Metasearch is a popular term in the travel industry! Though the usage of this aggregator tool is multiplying day by day, the concept of metasearch isn’t new. It dates back to the mid-nineties when there were search engines/ crawlers like SearchSavvy, Hobot, Metacrawler and others. Even to an era when Google was an unknown. But this tool started making a visible impact in the travel and tourism industry since 2004 with Kayak, a metasearch for hotels, flights, rentals and more. Since then, metasearch is a common hotel booking platform with new brands having made their way: TripAdvisor, Google Hotel Ads (previously called Google Hotel Finder), Trivago, and so on.

Now when online booking is a major source of hotel bookings, metasearch plays a major role. The moment a user types a location on Google, multiple options are displayed along with the price and details of the same hotel on different sites. The facility of comparison before booking makes 94% of the travelers find the best deal on metasearch.

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Metasearch Bookings are Growing Rapidly

Hotel metasearch engines are highly polarizing! With Google dominating the market, and around 15% of the hotel reservations coming from metasearch, you are losing on a big number of bookings if your hotel is not marketing on metasearch.

A majority of the travelers are of the age group 18-35 and this age group is known to be taking maximum domestic tours. Being tech-rich, around 47% of this demography has been reported to be using price comparison tools while booking an accommodation. One reason being at this age budget is a big factor. Just behind them is the age group of 36-55, 45% of which are known to be booking their stay via metasearch. Even the oldest generation of 55+ aren’t quite below, with 36% reporting to be using metasearch sites.

Looking at the consumer trends and behavior, the percentage of metasearch traffic is growing rapidly coinciding with the fall in organic traffic to brand.com.

Popular Metasearch to Market Your Hotel

Speaking of the hotel industry, only a handful of metasearch engines are there to market your hotel for the best revenue in return. These are:

With the increasing number of metasearch users and the advantage of easy price comparison metasearch hotel ad is outrunning the traditional ad style day by day. The campaign models like CPC (Cost Per Click), CPM (Cost Per Impression) and CPA (Cost Per Acquistion) give the hotel owners some control on where to show the ad, whom to show and how much to spend on which ad type.

RateTiger- metasearch

Hotel Metasearch is Trending

A lot is happening over here. With big companies stepping in, like Expedia taking over Trivago, there has been an influx of money in marketing. Accepting direct bookings TripAdvisor is targeting to become the one stop platform for hotel research and bookings. Undoubtedly Google is the master player. Witnessing all that is going on and the number of reservations hotels are getting via metasearch can be said to hotel’s best friend to seek direct bookings.

Tips to Win Metasearch Bookings

i) Strategize Your Channel

Strategy matters! Metasearch platforms like Google and TripAdvisor offering direct booking are more preferred by the travelers than those offering combined hotel, flight and other services like Kayak. Invest a larger sum of your advertising budget on sites with “accommodation only” and CPA ads with guaranteed return. If you are a small/ independent hotel focus on platforms that provide full connectivity with your Booking Engine and bid management to maximize your ROI. Evaluate the investment and return before selecting the channel.

ii) Do Not Miss on Rate Parity & Integrity

Rate Parity is one of the key requirements to rank on a few metasearch channels. For instance, Google pays high value to Rate Parity and hotels with different room rates on different channels tend to lose the game on Google. Remember your rates should be in line with the competitor’s pricing for the prospective guest to not move to the next property. Changing your room rates too frequently also has a negative impact on your ad positioning.

iii) Connectivity Partner Plays a Big Role

Hotel Booking Engine provided by a channel manager approved by the metasearch platform is one of the reliable ways to integrate with metasearch and pull-in direct bookings. Using the right CMS/ PMS will not only help you integrate data and drive direct bookings but also provide you with the much-needed customer statistics.

iv) Research the On-Going Bid Price

Everyone wants to be in the top position of the search engine. To be on the top you will be competing with the leading OTAs which is nearly impossible unless you are a big hotel chain. But that doesn’t mean that independent hotels have no chance. If not on the top, you can definitely try for the position below the Online Travel Agency. For this your bid price needs to be nearly equal to the one raised by the leaders. Play around with the bid within your budget to win the booking and this requires a thorough study of the market rate.

Ready to Start?

The value of metasearch has kicked up in years, changing the style of hotel bookings. It has immense opportunity for your hotel to drive direct bookings and maximize your revenue. Make sure you have the right connectivity partner to effectively integrate the Booking Engine and redirect the prospective guest directly to your website. Roll the dice and get ready to claim your position.

 
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Malta based Osborne Hotel improves online revenue with RateTiger

Press Release

Valletta, 04 August 2022


Experiences consistent growth with RateTiger Channel Manager and Rate Shopper

Housed in one of the magnificent palaces built by the knights of the Order of St John, Osborne Hotel, a 3-star luxury property in Valletta, has strongly recommended RateTiger as its technology partner of choice for hotel rate shopping, channel management and online distribution.

The property has experienced significant improvement in their operational efficiency by leveraging RateTiger’s cloud-based channel manager and on-demand shopping tool. They have been leveraging the 2-way XML connectivity with global and regional OTAs, and niche channels to drive more bookings.

RateTiger’s pooled inventory model allows the revenue management team to continuously distribute its live rates and inventory to multiple booking channels and deliver updates back into its property management system (PMS) in real-time, without worrying about overbooking. The in-built booking trends and business analytics data combined with competitor benchmarking reports give them key market insights to make informed decisions.

With summer travel in full swing across Europe, hotels are spreading their inventory across multiple distribution touch-points and creating attractive packages & promotions and RateTiger provides the platform to make this easy.

We have been using RateTiger for the past 7 years and are extremely satisfied with it and we highly recommend RateTiger to other hoteliers. RateTiger helps us increase revenue through OTAs. It is very easy to use, especially updating rates and availability. We have a dedicated Account Manager, and the technical support team is highly efficient. The team always try to resolve problems efficiently and as quickly as possible. Thanks to RateTiger, in this competitive market, their solution is helping us greatly to recover our business after the difficult time in the last 2 years,” commented Brian Caruana, General Manager, Osborne Hotel.

“Malta is one of our key markets in Europe and we are happy to win this strong recommendation from Osborne Hotel. We strive to help hotels by making online distribution management easy and seamless while assisting with revenue maximization. We have invested in building stable connectivity with over 450 OTAs and technology providers. Our solutions simplify operations, improve efficiencies, and give hoteliers time to focus on strategy. Backed by real-time data and analytics, hoteliers can respond to market dynamics more efficiently, and optimize online revenue,” said Trupti Mokal, Regional Sales Head, RateTiger.

The 63-room hotel is set amongst Valletta’s 320 monuments, is the perfect place to stay, for families & business travelers, to discover one of the most concentrated historic centres in the world. RateTiger provides channel management, booking engine, rate shopping, website development and online distribution solutions to hotels worldwide.

 
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