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What can hotels do to become more sustainable?

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There’s no doubt that the hotel industry – and, by extension, the travel industry – has a big impact on the environment. But with some small, significant changes, hotels can become more sustainable.

In this post, we’ll explore some simple ways hotels can make their operations more environmentally friendly, therefore reducing their carbon footprint (the name given to the amount of CO2 they produce and release back into the Earth’s atmosphere). Read on to learn more.

1. Encourage the use of reusable bottles

Add a water bottle filling station to the lobby and any other public areas where people frequently pass through, and consider offering a branded, reusable bottle for guests to buy instead of plastic bottles of water. For every six plastic bottles bought, only one is recycled, and landfills in the US alone have two million tons of discarded plastic water bottles. That’s a lot of waste saved once you switch to a reusable bottle – and adding your hotel’s branding is a nice way to spread the word.

2. Encourage guests to reuse towels

Place signs in the bathrooms encouraging this practice. A study has shown that the wording of these signs has a lot of influence over guest behavior. The researchers used three different signs, all of which noted the environmental impact of washing towels after only one use. However, one of the signs said, “75% of guests in this hotel reuses their towels”, while the third version of the sign said “75% of guests in this room reuses their towels”. The guests who saw the third sign were more likely to reuse their towels.

You could also install additional towel racks if you have space, to make it easy for guests to hang their towels up to dry.

3. Make it easy for guests to recycle

Provide recycling bins and put them in places which guests frequently pass by, such as near the elevators or in the lobby. Label them clearly so everyone can see where each item can be correctly disposed of.

4. Think about your transport options

Help drivers of electric vehicles feel confident visiting your hotel by providing charging stations in your car park.

If you offer guests complimentary shuttle services, find out if your provider offers electric or hybrid vehicles, and consider switching to a company that does if they don’t. Not just shuttle to the airport, you can provide services to other nearby public transport hubs, like train or coach stations, to encourage your guests not to rely on private cars. You could also offer e-bike or e-scooter rental (with helmets for safety, of course).

5. Conserve energy

It’s not enough to hope that guests remember to switch off the light anymore. Technology has evolved enough that hotels can automate energy conservation, reducing their impact on the environment and reducing their energy bills too.

Room sensors can detect how much light is in the room, adjusting the brightness of light bulbs accordingly.
Thermostats with occupancy sensors can adjust the temperature of heaters or air conditioning.
Smart showers can be pre-set with a limit on how long someone can take a shower, and notify the person when their time is almost up.

6. Buy supplies locally

Whether you’re shopping for produce at a local market or sourcing interior decoration from an independent shop nearby, buying products from your area is a much more eco-friendlier way of shopping. You don’t need to worry about the impact of shipping or flying items all the way across the globe – and you might find a bargain you can’t get anywhere else.

In conclusion, there are lots of things hotels can do to reduce their impact on the world around us, and this is just a starting point! We hope you’ve found these tips helpful. If you have any other suggestions, please let us know.

“Geoff is a freelance content producer and researcher from Plymouth, MA. Apart from his projects, he also attends different conferences and events on business marketing, sustainability, travel, and safety.”

About Author | Geoffrey Aldis

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Hotel Online Distribution During Post-Covid Recovery

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Covid19 had severely hit the travel and hospitality industry. Its true travel has resumed and Q2 of 2022 is witnessing more tourists than Q1, but the impact is still felt. This virus has completely changed respondents’ preferences while booking a trip. Though digital distribution is the cornerstone for hotels to sell their rooms at this time, it won’t come as a surprise to know that even large hotel groups are also struggling to adjust to changes.

Undoubtedly both hotels and guests have unlimited options in this online world, but with this comes the restrictions of a finite number of rooms to sell, customer preference, market trends, limited budgets, social distancing, covid norms and so the list goes on. The pandemic and ongoing recovery are pushing the hotel industry to be adoptive, competitive, and resilient. Travel technology, as always, is expected to play a key role in this transition.

Even before the pandemic, 82% of all travel bookings around the world took place without human interaction in 2018. According to the Phocuswright EU Travel Tech Research Report 2022, travel intermediaries such as online travel agencies (OTAs), tour operators, travel management companies (TMCs) and GDS– delivered over 63% of gross revenue to European travel suppliers in 2020. As travelers in the post-covid world search for more in-depth information than ever before to identify the most appropriate accommodation for their travel needs, they turn to online distribution channels, using them during the inspiration, shopping, and booking stages of their customer journey.

Relook At Your Hotel’s Online Distribution Strategy

Distribution, optimization, and profit maximization are the 3 interconnected rings of hotel online distribution. The goal of an online hotel distribution strategy remains the same to sell your rooms at the right time to the right people at the right channel for maximum rooms. Even the sales platforms are the same: OTAs, metasearch, GDS, website, social media, ad campaigns; but the style needs to be updated.

Even during the Covid crisis, one in five travel bookings in Europe is made on OTAs. Much has been written about the Billboard effect. OTAs play a major role in improving the hotel’s visibility and reach by showcasing them in the search results, thereby complementing direct sales. A recent report from Cornell Business, The Billboard Effect: Still Alive and Well, shows that many consumers continue to visit other travel sites before booking direct. The report suggests that 65% of guests who booked directly had visited an OTA before booking directly.

Adding to OTA’s marketing power, it becomes clear why OTAs remain very important even for hotel’s direct bookings. For years, Booking Holding and Expedia Group have remained the biggest spenders on Google – a platform that can be called their competitor. Airbnb has also ramped up its marketing spending as part of its recovery. Hotels need to use OTA listings to improve their digital presence and showcase their accommodation to thousands of potential guests who otherwise would miss it.

Spend More Time Knowing Your Hotel Distribution Channels

Hotel Website

Your hotel’s website has always been and will be the largest source of direct bookings. It is the only platform that allows you to customize your content and sell your rooms the way you want. While creating your website, remember 50% of viewers are scrolling your website on their smart phones or tablet. Design a site that’s quick and easily accessible on mobile enhancing the customer booking journey.

For big hotel brands whose name is known to all, prospective guests will directly type the name of the hotel in the search bar of Google, Bing and other search engines and begin. Others need to fight for ranking on Google to grab that 51% of the organic website traffic. If your hotel doesn’t show on the first page, then you are to lose the prospective booking. Invest in SEO, content marketing and online advertising to rank well on search engines and attract travelers.

OTA (Online Travel Agency)

Everyday millions of travelers across the world are planning their vacations or business trips on OTA. Bringing all travel resources: flights, hotels, trains, buses, car rentals, activities, and more under one platform OTA gives travelers the advantage to plan their entire trip at a go.

Visited by millions of customers, OTA gives your hotel the advantage of presenting yourself in front of a large audience and capture more bookings by targeting a specific set of travelers. You can timely analyze your performance with access to insights. Bang-on listing on OTA is free. They charge you a commission only when a booking a made.

People of different regions prefer different websites with Booking.com dominating US travel booking and Expedia in Europe. Diversify your reach by listing your property on multiple sites most used in the regions your best guests are from.

Metasearch

As per Expedia’s recent survey, a traveler does 43 searches before making the final booking. This is what makes Metasearch a popular booking channel. Along with traveler’s preferences, there has been a shift in power dynamics among the key online sales channels. Hotel Metasearch is no more just a platform showing the best room rates for the same hotel on different booking sites.

Metasearch channels are dominating the entire game, especially with Google and TripAdvisor altering the risk of PPC campaigns with CPA campaigns. Guests get the assurance of easy cancellation and refunds with the hotel owners having to pay only after receiving the booking and no advance payments required. This comes as a boon for both travelers and hotel owners.

The dedicated offerings and Covid-related norms followed by distribution channels (especially Google) like flexible bookings, free cancellation, safety guidelines mentioning, child policy and others make the prospective travelers prefer those over others.

Wholesalers/ Tour Operators/ Travel Management Companies

Travel agencies, wholesalers and tour operators target at providing a complete travel package to the customers. They take care of all components of a holiday from travel to stay to food to activities. Thereby, they take rooms in bulk at a discounted price from the hotel owners and other providers and make a package and sell it to the end-users either via OTAs or directly from their website or social media or offline.

Selling rooms at discounted rates to travel operators will be beneficial for you to increase your occupancy rate. They can help you reach international travelers too as generally people book international tours via some travel agencies which you would have missed otherwise. Plus, if the location, amenities, and service provided attract the visitors you increase your chance of bookings the next time they visit.

Offline Sources

Focusing on online channels, do not miss the offline network that has been generating revenue for you over years. Phone calls, billboards and banners, word of mouth are your biggest source of offline bookings. Post covid telephonic queries have increased as people prefer talking directly to the hotel regarding their needs. Instantly answering phone calls and replying to messages and emails within 2 hours is the key to boosting your offline bookings.

How Are You Going to Manage All Distribution Channels?

The answer is Hotel Channel Manager, a software that connects all your distribution sites with the hotel PMS/ CRS helping you to manage and update ARI across all channels with a click in real-time. Now when you have decided to diversify your online distribution network and you know your distribution channels, integrate them all together and bring them under one screen with Hotel Channel Manager. Using a channel manager like RateTiger Hotel Channel Manager will speed up the inventory update process, eliminating overbookings and giving you time to focus more on guests.

Tips to Strategize Your Online Distribution

Find Your Target Audience

Begin with knowing your target audience. The modern travel market is very broad and so is the traveler’s demand, so first decide who you want to catch in your net. Once you know who your audience is, it is time to list down your audience preference in this newly boomed travel world. There is a probable chance of having your audience grouped into various categories. One section of the audience may give value to safety, another may be looking for a new experience, for some cleanliness and hygiene may be a top priority. So, prepare your audience proforma accordingly based on age, demography, income, destinations, choices and demands.

Set Room Pricing & Promotion Strategy

Now when you know who your audience is and how much time they are spending on Google, OTAs, metasearch, social media planning their trip and which platform is gaining people’s trust – it’s time to set the room rates and plan your promotion strategy. Post-Covid prices and preference for leisure travel remain the same with only a slight decline in upper upscale properties from 24% to 22% and a rise in mid-scale properties from 27% to 31%.

RateTiger-pricing strategy — Source: The Center for Hospitality Research • Cornell University

Maintain your room rates in line with the competitor pricing, listing and promoting all your rooms from single bedroom to suites to room packages to attract every traveler in your vicinity. Keep track on competitor pricing for similar room types with Rate Shopping tools and gift yourself the benefit of hotel market intelligence to set the best price for your property.

FYI: Maintain rate parity across all channels for maximum benefits.

Drive Bookings from Social Media

Social media had become one of the only sources of entertainment during the pandemic. Whatever people were doing from cooking to home décor to gardening, social media was the first to know. This gave content marketing a makeover.

Today people are even finalizing their travel destination by seeing the ads/ content on social media. Traditionally, it was just image marketing which has now turned into videos, travel diaries, short hotel digital tour, GIF, and going live.

The biggest challenge with social media content is the life span. A person may see something, get attracted, and then forget about it. So, integrate your social media channels with the Booking Engine offering the Book Now option to pull in direct bookings without delay.

Do Not Miss the Acquisition Cost

Parallel to the objective of getting more bookings, revenue management continues to dominate the landscape. The key is to calculate the acquisition cost for every booking that you receive from direct or indirect channels. For bookings from OTAs and metasearch calculate acquisition cost in terms of commission or subscription fees or CPC (Cost Per Click) or transaction fees and others. For direct bookings, your cost includes the resource cost, technology cost, digital marketing cost and others.

Your end goal is to generate revenue. So, calculate the NRevPAR for each of your distribution channels individually and your distribution mix in total to figure out how your hotel is performing. This will help you take a decision on which channel is to be stopped or which one requires more effort and strategize your distribution accordingly.

Takeaway

Diversify your distribution mix and optimize your sales and promotion strategy accordingly to keep revolving around the counter of revenue maximization. Shake hands with the fluid environment and key distribution channels. This way you will generate infinite ways to sell your finite rooms to the ever-evolving travelers around the globe.

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Your Guide to Understanding Airbnb’s Search Rank Algorithm

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Airbnb uses an algorithm to generate search results that appeal to guests. The algorithm sorts through millions of listings on Airbnb to find the right listings for each search. Guests enter search criteria, and the algorithm returns listings that reflect those criteria.

Airbnb provides a variety of filters to help guests refine search results. The algorithm considers many factors to determine how to rank search results, but some factors have a larger impact than others. In particular, the quality, popularity and price of a listing heavily influences how a listing appears in search results. Airbnb’s algorithm considers how often guests click on your listing, how often guests attempt to contact you from your listing page, and how many booking requests you accept.

If you want your listings to always outperform your market, these are some of the most important things for you to do:

Price – To determine how attractive the price of a listing is, the algorithm considers a variety of price data, including how the price compares to similar listings in the area for the given dates. Listings that are priced below other comparable listings – other listings in the area with similar guest capacity and amenities – tend to rank higher in search. Setting a competitive price can help improve your ranking because listings offering the best value in any given region tend to appear higher in search results.

Location – The location of a stay also has a large impact on how the listing appears in search results. Listings located in places that guests like to stay tend to rank higher – for example, accommodations close to popular landmarks.

Enhance your listing – Airbnb’s algorithm factors in how guests engage with your listing, when guests attempt to contact you from your listing page, and whether guests add your listing to their wish lists. If lots of guests add your listing to their wish lists, it will also rank higher, and those guests will be likely to find your listing again in future searches.

To help spark guests’ interest:

Feature a high-quality cover photo that looks inviting.
Describe the unique characteristics of your space in specific, accurate details that let guests know exactly what to expect.
Offer amenities that guests want, such as high-speed wi-fi and free parking.

5-star Reviews – One of the categories that affect search ranking is the listing details and one component of it is the number of 5-star reviews. Consider sending a message to your guests asking for honest feedback for their stay that will potentially help you become an even better Host.

Option for Instant Book – Guests often search for listings with Instant Book. Keeping your calendar up-to-date is key to using Instant Book successfully. Many hosts report that they earn more money by making the booking process easier for guests, and that they appreciate the convenience this provides. Use Instant Book so your listing appears whenever guests search for Instant Book listings in your area. Once the responses are immediate and automatic, Instant Book can also improve your ranking.

Quick Response – Respond to requests within 24 hours to help improve your ranking in search. Try to avoid repeatedly declining booking requests. Though it’s occasionally necessary to decline a booking, doing so often can negatively affect your search ranking because having reservations rejected is a poor experience for guests.

Cancellation Policies – A great way to stand out to potential guests is by offering flexible cancellation policies. Adding a new, more flexible policy or updating an existing policy to make it more accommodating can help you secure more bookings in times of low demand and high uncertainty. Airbnb’s latest data shows that hosts who switched from a strict or moderate cancellation policy to a flexible policy after April 2020 saw an increase in next-month bookings of 10% or more. Last minute bookings are also on the rise and much less likely to be cancelled. In 2021, the average cancellation rate by a guest was around 15% making Airbnb a very attractive solution for accommodation providers.

Pricing – Promotions and Discounts – Promotions are special prices that a property can offer during a certain time window, or to a certain type of bookers. Hosts can encourage travelers to book longer stays by offering a weekly or monthly discount. Hosts can encourage their guests by promoting early bird rates and last minute deals. Less than 50% of hosts offer a weekly or monthly discount, and those who do tend to get more bookings for longer stays. Also, if you add a monthly discount, your listings will be searchable by guests looking for listings for more than 28 nights.

While Airbnb marketing is an essential part of business growth, it is equally important to be visible across different channels and travel sites. RateTiger offers strong connections with over 450 OTAs and technology providers. The company provides channel management, price intelligence, connectivity solutions and centralized management platform to hotel chains, independent and boutique properties and large serviced apartment groups globally.

You can now manage your property on Airbnb via RateTiger. Contact us today to connect to Airbnb or manage your existing connection via RateTiger – https://www.erevmax.com/airbnb/#register

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What is a Good Hotel Occupancy Rate?

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Hotel Occupancy Rate is one of the Key Performance Indicators (KPI) for hoteliers as it is directly related to revenue. As a performance metric, it showcases the percentage of hotel rooms occupied and goes alongside other revenue management strategies like ADR (Average Daily Rate) and RevPAR (Revenue Per Available Room). The three terms altogether reflect the performance of the hotel, and the percentage keeps changing from season to season.

With travel booming after a break of 2 years in U.S, the hotel occupancy rate in summer 2022 is at par with pre-pandemic booking levels in April and May 2019. As per Amadeus’ Demand360, April 2022 was the first month to outcast the reservations in 2019, rising to 63% in May 2022 compared to 60% in May 2019.

In this article, we are going to have a clear understanding of what is occupancy rate for hotels, its importance, how to calculate it, and the ideal occupancy percentage.

What is Hotel Occupancy Rate?

In general terms, the hotel occupancy rate is the percentage of rooms occupied in an accommodation in comparison to the total number of rooms in the property. The occupancy rate can be calculated on a daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly basis as required. It gives the hotel owners like you an estimate of how much space is occupied during a particular period and plan your strategy accordingly.

Why is Occupancy Rate Important for Hotels?

Occupancy rate is an important KPI for hotels as it helps you understand how many rooms are booked and how many are going vacant during each season. If the number of rooms booked matches the target set then the hotel’s strategy is correct, but if the number is below the target set then, you need to readdress your distribution and pricing policy.

In an ideal world, you will aim for a 100% occupancy rate and set the room rates as high as possible to get the most of your strategy set and optimize your revenue. But this is not the story always. Hence, the occupancy rate with ADR and RevPAR is calculated to get the actual performance report.

How to Calculate Occupancy Rate?

The formula to calculate “hotel occupancy rate” is as follows:

Occupancy Rate = No. of rooms sold/ Total no. of rooms in the hotel

Let us take the example of Hotel ABC with 100 rooms. If on any day all the 100 rooms of a hotel are sold, then the occupancy rate will be 100%. If on a particular day in June only 60 rooms are sold, then the occupancy rate will be 60%. From where did this percentage come? Let’s see:

Total no. of rooms = 100

Case 1

No. of Rooms Sold = 100

Occupancy rate = 100/100 = 1 or 100%

Case 2

No. of Rooms Sold = 60

Occupancy rate = 60/100 = 0.6 or 60%

This was occupancy rate calculation on a per-day basis. If you are to calculate the weekly occupancy rate or average rate per week, then add the number of rooms sold each day for 7 days, divide the sum by 7 and then divide the result by the total number of available rooms for sale in the hotel and multiply the result by 100 to get the percentage. Sounds confusing?

Let’s take the example of Hotel ABC for a week in June:

No. of rooms sold in a week

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
60	54	72	60	82	95	95

Total no. of rooms sold = 518 rooms

Average no. of rooms sold = 518/7 = 74

Weekly occupancy rate = 74/100 = 0.74 or 74%

The weekly occupancy rate will of course vary from week to week depending on the number of rooms sold. But this data will give you an idea of how your hotel is performing week over week and how your sales will fluctuate during different times of the year.

Important note: It is customary to subtract the rooms that are out of order or under renovation from the “total number of rooms” while calculating the occupancy rate.

Is Your Hotel Occupancy Rate Good?

From a general perception, a good occupancy rate will of course be 100% and that should be the target of every hotelier. But it is not always so. There are instances when even with 100% occupancy you aren’t earning maximum revenue and hotels are happy with less occupancy but more revenue. After all, the end goal for every business is revenue maximization.

The ideal occupancy rate varies from hotel to hotel. For some, it can be between a range of 70-95%, though the best occupancy rate may depend on multiple factors like the hotel’s location, no. of rooms, room rates, service, etc.

From an occupancy point of view, if Hotel ABC sells all rooms everyday and has a 100% occupancy rate, it is awesome. But in this case, they might be losing out on revenue that they could have earned by selling fewer rooms at a higher price.

From the revenue point of view, selling 100 rooms means the electricity cost, cleaning cost, laundry cost, and other variable costs for 100 rooms. Suppose 1 staff caters to 8 rooms, then for 100 rooms you need 12.5 staff which isn’t practically possible, so Hotel ABC will have to hire 13 staff. It will be in the best interest of the hotel to sell 96 rooms. Plus, if any guest isn’t happy with their room or there is some problem in any room, they will have an extra room to offer to them and win their loyalty.

Takeaway

The best occupancy rate for your hotel is the level at which your NRevPAR is maximum. It is the key indicator of the hotel’s historic, real-time, and future performance and should be measured against average daily rate and revenue per room to find the ideal occupancy percentage for your hotel.

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Importance of Rate Parity in 2022 and Beyond

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In this digital age of hyper-transparency, hotels are expected to maintain price transparency across online sales channels for travelers. While the dynamic pricing means the acceptable value offered by a given room rate for a day stay by a property would vary based on demand, hotel rate parity ensures practice of maintaining consistent prices across all channels of distribution.

FYI: Customers are much savvier in this tech world.

With Metasearch platforms aggregating rates from various distribution channels, it has become rather easy for travellers to compare price of a hotel across websites. So, why will a traveller book from a site when she/ he can find a better price on any other site or hotel’s own website? This way you will be restricting your sales channel and even the channel owner wouldn’t be interested in listing your property if you aren’t giving them the best price. Agreed? With 82% of the travel booking taking place online, would you like to take this chance?

What is Rate Parity?

Hotel rate parity in the hospitality industry is the process of maintaining the same rate for the same room type across all distribution channels. In simple terms, if the quoted price of the room is same on all third-party-channels and hotel’s website, then it is said to be in parity.

If the price differs across different channels or if the price listed on OTAs is higher than the price on hotel’s website, then there is disparity.

For example, if you are selling your Super-Deluxe room for $150 over the weekend on your brand site and $160 on OTAs for the same room type, then you’re violating rate parity. On the other hand, if your price remains the same on all sales channels – direct as well as on OTAs and metasearch channels – you are in parity.

Is Rate Parity Legal?

Yes, hotel rate parity is a common legal agreement between the hotel owners and the online travel agencies to maintain consistent room rates across all distribution channels. This clause has been legalised in many countries.

The 2 Basic Problems of Rate Disparity

Hotels tend to lose on direct bookings by sending the customer to third party channels with lower rates and paying higher commission. Thereby, bringing lower revenue to their table.
Customers tend to lose their trust in hotels quoting different rates on different platforms giving rise to confusion and losing confidence in the hotel’s viability. Thereby, affecting the brand value of the hotel.

Understanding the Importance of Rate Parity

It’s true that direct bookings from (brand.com) bring the maximum revenue to a hotel as compared to any OTA. Reason being the hotel doesn’t need to pay any commission for it. But, can a hotel only rely on its website for bookings in the current time when OTA bookings are one of the major sources of online hotel bookings? Having a presence on online sales channels is as important as to having its own website. It is your gateway to hotel marketing and reaching the maximum customers looking for a hotel in your region.

Online Travel Agencies have different clauses and charge differently. Depending on the commission rate, hotel’s revenue per sold room may change. For OTAs, rate parity has remained an effective tool to ensure that the hotels will not give any discounts to the customers to woo them to book direct. On the flip side, this takes away the hotel’s key weapon to attract direct bookings.

For the hotel all are indirect sites and it has to pay charges for bookings to both though more or less. It’s clear that direct booking is the biggest source of advantage. So, why favour one site over the other? Take the straight road and maintaining rate parity across all your third-party distribution channels gear the customers towards direct booking from your brand.com.

Why is Rate Parity Important for Hotels?

Maintaining the same rate across all sites, hotels enjoy the trust and confidence of the travellers.
Hotels maintain the same reputation with different OTAs and are able to extract the plus point of every channel.
It helps the hotel travel around the right market mix with a perfect blend of direct and indirect channels.
Hotels can avail the undue advantage of direct bookings by pushing travellers towards their website by offering more values than OTAs in terms of add-on services.

Why is Rate Parity Important for Travelers?

It gives the customers a clear picture of the hotel’s price.
It helps them chose their booking source by maintaining consistency.
It removes any confusion prevailing in the customer’s mind.

Rate Parity Strategies to Drive Direct Bookings

Now when your hotel is having the same price across all direct and indirect sales channels, let’s see how you can bring in more direct bookings to turn the situation to your advantage.

Create a plan of action to out value the commission loss on indirect bookings by having a market mix.
Offer add-on services on your website like free Wi-Fi, free parking, early check-in, etc. giving the customer reasons to book directly without affecting the actual room rate.
Make the booking process on your website simple and easy avoiding any technical glitch.
Target specific customers like corporate travellers by giving them extra discounts/ offers via email marketing or on call services.
Leverage your presence on Metasearch sites making the most of their business model of CPC on listing your hotel and directing the customer to your booking engine when they click to book.
International travellers always have a longer stay, so attract international travellers by making your presence on OTAs/ Metasearch most used in those regions from where you have the maximum international guests.

Undoubtedly, rate parity comes with many challenges. But customer trust is one of the prime requirements to sustain in the hospitality industry which rate parity gives you. However, by setting up a defined plan with a perfect mix of the right business partners, distribution channels and market trends; you can optimize your revenue by maintaining rate parity with rate shopping software like Rate Shopper by RateTiger.

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RateTiger expands Partner Ecosystem with CHECK24, HappyEasyGo & Rehlat

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Guests are travelling with a vengeance. Hotels need to be in the forefront across multiple customer touch point to ensure proper visibility for their brand. The ground rule of working with any distribution/sales channel is to ensure that you keep your hotel listing up-to-date to give a true picture to the guests.

Knowing the right channels that bring business to your city and being connected to them is very important to increase your hotel’s presence online. RateTiger, the leader in hotel distribution technology, continues to partner with travel channels, booking engine providers and other tech companies to provide hotels with maximum connectivity options to choose from.

If you are looking to connect to any specific tech partner or a channel, do explore the RateTiger Partner List of 450+ distribution and tech providers. For any queries or channel addition request, contact us on – https://ratetiger.com/contact/

CHECK24

CHECK24 is Germany’s largest comparison & the second largest travel portal which offers customers the opportunity to compare a wide range of products and services – including city breaks, holidays and suitable accommodation. The CHECK24 hotel comparison offers over 1,000,000 accommodations in more than 80,000 travel destinations. Their customer program reaches more than 15 million registered customers in Germany. You can now manage CHECK24 directly from your RateTiger interface.

HappyEasyGo

Is India a big source market for your property? Connect to HappyEasyGo and get visibility to over 10 million Indian travellers. HappyEasyGo is one of India’s leading online travel aggregators. It offers domestic and international flight tickets along with thousands of hotels across India. Budget properties, lush resorts as well as 5-star hotels, HappyEasyGo has something for everyone. Get your property listed with HappyEasyGo to attract domestic bookings in India.

Rehlat

If you are looking to expand into the Middle East market, do consider adding Rehlat to your channel network. One of the leading OTAs in the region, Rehlat enlists more that 1 million hotels and has been trusted by over 500,000 travellers for bookings. It brings a carefully curated list of destinations for travellers to have a “travelastic” time with a localized payment system, offering the best possible vacation. If you would like to connect to Rehlat, contact us today.

Are you looking for a connectivity provider or a hotel channel manager software. Contact us today.

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What Is Hotel RevPAR & Why Should It Be on Your Focus List

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If you are from the hospitality industry then you must have come across acronyms like RevPAR and ADR almost daily or rather every hour. I don’t need to tell you that RevPAR stands for Revenue Per Available Room or ADR stands for Average Daily Rate. However, if you are still struggling with the difference between the two or which one to give more importance or why is everyone speaking about focusing on RevPAR to boost their hotel revenue, then we have a cheat sheet just for you.

In this blog, we are going to discuss about what is RevPAR, its calculation and why it is essential for revenue management.

What is hotel RevPAR?
How to calculate RevPAR?
Understanding RevPAR in Real Sense
Significance of RevPAR

What is Hotel RevPAR?

RevPAR (Revenue Per Available Room) is a KPI used in the hotel industry to assess the performance of the hotel. It shows the revenue generated per room. Combining occupancy rate and Average Daily Rate, RevPAR gives the hotelier a true picture of the hotel’s performance.

It is an important way of analyzing and drawing the correct balance between occupancy, pricing and overall revenue that has a substantial impact on your hotel’s success.

It is that performance indicator that helps the hotel understand whether it is making a profit or not by looking at a single figure and taking action accordingly.

How to calculate RevPAR?

For calculating the RevPAR, 4 essential information are needed:

ADR (Average Daily Rate) – Total revenue generated/ No. of rooms sold
Occupancy Rate – (Total number of rooms sold/ Total number of rooms) X 100
Total revenue generated – Room price X No. of rooms sold (it is the total income generated by selling different room types)
Total rooms available

Once you’ve the above-mentioned information at your fingertips, you’re all set to calculate your RevPAR. Let’s see the two RevPAR formulas:

RevPAR = ADR X Occupancy rate (this uses the 1^st two data terms)
RevPAR = Total rooms revenue/ total number of rooms (this uses the last 2 data terms)

Key Note: ADR is calculated on the basis of number of rooms sold and RevPAR is calculated on the basis of total rooms in the hotel.

Understanding RevPAR in Real Sense

To have a clear understanding of how is RevPAR calculated, let’s take a hypothetical example.

For example, you have a hotel with 10 rooms: 5 standard double rooms priced at $100 and 5 deluxe rooms priced at $200.

Scenario 1:

All 10 rooms are sold, which means the occupancy rate is 100%

Total revenue generated = (100*5) + (200*5) = $1500

ADR = 1500/10 = $150

RevPAR = 150*100% = $150

At 100% occupancy rate, RevPAR is same as ADR because as all the rooms are sold, revenue per room will be same as the average room rate. It means that the hotel is generating the expected profit and is in a good position.

Scenario 2:

The hotel has received a booking for 4 standard double rooms and 3 deluxe rooms, i.e., 7 rooms in total. In this case, the occupancy rate is 70% (7/10 *100).

Total revenue generated = (4*100) + (3*200) = $1000

ADR = 1000/7 = $143

RevPAR = 143*70% = $100

Now, when RevPAR is below ADR the hotel operator may decide to reduce the room rates to increase the occupancy which might in turn increase the RevPAR too. But, in case the hotel RevPAR goes down then it means the strategy isn’t working.

This shows that there is an indirect correlation between the average daily rate and occupancy rate. Both of them go vice-verse and have their individual impact on RevPAR.

Significance of RevPAR

In simple terms, RevPAR is the revenue generated for every night for the total number of rooms, irrespective of whether it is booked or not. It gives a clear measurement of the hotel’s average daily revenue earned and scope of improvements to fill the unsold rooms reflecting the pain points.

It gives you the answers to 3 main questions that have a big impact on your profit:

Are your room rates rightly priced?

Right pricing is the strategy that gets you the maximum revenue in hand. But, how do you know if the price set is right or wrong? The price depends on a variety of factors like customer demand, trends, season, etc. The price at which the net revenue per night is the highest is the right price for the room type irrespective of the occupancy rate.

Did you just underprice your rooms to increase occupancy?

There are instances when the hoteliers reduce their room rates to meet the targeted occupancy. But it is a sheer loss for you if at the end of the day the net revenue goes negative. Remember: more bookings mean more room service costs. Hence, NRevPAR (Net Revenue Per Available Room) plays an important role in this scenario to get an overview of your performance.

Which room type is your major bank and which is your loan?

It’s a known fact that all your rooms won’t perform the same. You can calculate RevPAR based on the room types to understand which room type brings in more revenue and which is draining your money in case you are making a loss on any particular room type. This figure will give you a hack of your pain points and how to turn them into happy rooms.

Though RevPAR is not the whole and sole of revenue management, it gives you a clear picture of your hotel’s performance and profit generation. At the end, the ultimate goal is profit maximization for every hotel big/ small. And hotel RevPAR is a good indicator of your financial and hotel growth.

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Revenue Management in the time of Mega Events: A Checklist for Middle East Hoteliers

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2022 has been a year of mega events for the Middle East. From sporting championships to international expo the region is hosting some of the biggest events in the world and the hospitality industry is banking on that for full recovery. Stepping into 2022 with the on-going Dubai Expo, the hotels have witnessed an increase of more than 90% in hotel bookings for the first time ever since 2007. This was just the beginning for the region with Middle East to host multiple mega and sporting events further this year.

With international travel restrictions being lifted and mega events taking place, UAE has again become a hot spot for travel with over 2.7 million overnight visitors in Q1, 2022. Hospitality events like ATM Dubai, HITEC Dubai, and others have started driving the industry experts from all corners of the world to Middle East. The positive sentiment is seen across the region as the Middle East is expected to be the first region to reach pre-pandemic level.

While cultural festivals and events of Middle East is always a treat to watch, the region is all set to host a few of the biggest sporting events this year. Whether you are a tennis or football or cricket or golf or horse racing lover, the region has tournaments and matches for all of you this year. Sports lovers from all around the world have already started planning their trip to Qatar for the most awaited sporting event of the year.

With so much to experience and considering the zeal among people the demand for hotel room bookings in Middle East in 2022 is expected to take a super high jump this year. But, the question is: “Are the hoteliers of the region ready to welcome guests from all around the world?”

Are the Middle East Hoteliers Ready to Face the Rush?

The mega events are expected to attract travellers from all regions and to bring a huge leap to the travel and tourism economy of Middle East. More travellers mean more room bookings. So, how are the hotels preparing themselves to welcome this revenue?

Are you planning to earn once for all by following the Super Surge model of Uber by irrationally increasing your room rates? Or you are planning to make the most of it by following the hotel dynamic pricing model and earning goodwill, customer loyalty and revenue for now and always?

What is Hotel Dynamic Pricing Model?

Hotel dynamic pricing is a strategy used by the hotel revenue managers to increase revenue by ensuring maximum occupancy during all time of the year, irrespective of high or low season. The concept behind dynamic pricing is that no room should go unsold even during off-season, nor to over exploit your customers during peak season. This model is a combination of customer demand and true value of the room.

Thanks to the competitive benchmarking tools available in the marketplace, most hotels now monitor real-time online rate performance and see how they can change their prices more frequently to increase revenue. It allows you to optimize your pricing strategy based on room availability, demand, loyalty and customer behavior for long- term returns.

Better Go Transparent than Lose Customers!

With increasing customer awareness, options available and rate transparency; it is always important to ensure the customers do not feel exploited. You are always free to multiply your room prices by 2x or as much you want to make the maximum during a season. But, history says that this might be your last season or worse you might end up getting no bookings even during this season.

With rate getting more transparent, hotels are moving away from pricing only approach, and including availability, loyalty and personalization in their revenue management process. While there is always a provocation to get the most in a super event like royal wedding, there needs to be more strategy behind these rates to better align them with customer expectations, which in long run helps build better relationships with potential customers.

Therefore, it is always a smart choice to go transparent and dynamic by already setting a high end and low end cap for your rooms and considering competitive rates in your revenue management process.

Now when you know what to do, the next question is how to do it? Hotel Rate Shopping tool is the answer to your question.

Why is Hotel Rate Shopping Important for UAE Hotels?

Business Intelligence and Data Analytics is the bread and butter of the current day business world! So, is the same for the hospitality industry. Hotels need to segment their customers, forecast the demand, have an optimal pricing strategy integrated against each room, their room rates must be in line with the industry rates, keep a tab on competitor pricing and so on. Hotel rate shopping is the mechanism to do all of it and Hotel Rate Shopper is the tool that helps you set the best room rates.

Now when UAE hotels have already started welcoming corporate and leisure travelers from around the world, it’s the best time to strategize your pricing decisions. This is when you need a rate shopping tool like RateTiger Shopper to bring value of the data collected rather than simply looking at it. Let’s see how a rate shopping tool brings value out of data:

Data Parity: Distorted data or different data across different OTAs can get you to lose the booking within seconds with the customer thinking your hotel to be unreliable. The biggest asset of this tool is that it brings all data from all your sales channels together under one dashboard to help you maintain data parity.

Competitor Monitoring: Gone are the days when Uber’s surge charge model could make you the king. Along with your data, it helps you keep a track on competitor pricing for different rooms across different channels to know where you outperform your competitor and to make it your USP or know which rooms of yours need more work.

Room Mapping: Have an apple to apple comparison of some specific room types of your and your competitors to get a clear insight of why is there room priced differently from yours and what should be your next move. You can also compare the same room types for different competitors.

Data Integration: Integrate Rate Shopper by RateTiger with your hotel’s PMS to monitor the data changes and data history for better decision making.

Demand Forecasting: With 2022 calling for mega events, it is essential for the hoteliers of the region to forecast the local market needs and better anticipate their pricing strategies accordingly. Effective forecasting on the major events and the regular days is your key to solid revenue management.

While rate shopping may seem to be a price determination strategy, it is your gateway to revenue maximization and maximum bookings. It provides the revenue managers with the vital market insights to set their room rates accordingly and the marketing managers with the demand forecasts to market the room types and plans as per the market trend.

Takeaway:

For a long time, hotel revenue management was all about looking into the historical data for forecasting. Pandemic changed that. Faced with the challenge of doing more with less, revenue managers are now going back to basics by focusing on the demand in the market and the pace and booking patterns in their hotels. Travellers have new set of priorities – which is pushing the industry to accept a more dynamic approach, not limited to just rates and occupancy.

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Three things guests are looking for from their hotel accommodation in 2022

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Since the start of the pandemic, hotel stays have been few and far between for millions of people around the world who have endured lockdowns and travel restrictions. Now, with the world opening its doors to travelers once again, what are guests demanding from hotels as we collectively contend with the lasting impacts of the pandemic?

Not only do hotels need to consider how COVID-19 has changed the way we travel, but they also need to take into account other modern issues, as well as the latest trends in the way people travel.

Here are three things that guests will be looking for from their hotel stays in 2022.

1. Smart In-Room Devices

Smart technology is being used more commonly in homes across the world, as people seek modern solutions to minimize the stress of home life. With guests looking for home comforts from their hotel stays, incorporating smart devices into the rooms can go a long way to helping enhance guest comfortability. Examples include smart thermostats or lighting, which can be controlled via a mobile app for added convenience, or even voice assistants that could act as a telephone and much more.

Not only do smart devices have the power to improve guests’ comfort and all-round experience, but they can also be used to help make more eco-friendly choices. Sustainable travel is a hot topic just now, and hotels have a responsibility to offer more eco-friendly stays for their guests. Using smart devices makes it easier to track energy usage, and limit wastage, both for guests and the hotel.

2. Refundable Rates

The demand for refundable rates is nothing new, but with the unpredictability of Covid-19 still very much at the forefront of people’s thinking, there are more calls for it than ever before. Though the world is starting to slowly find its feet again after the pandemic years, there is still some uncertainty around travel plans, and guests will be seeking comfort in flexible booking policies.

Of course, cancellations, particularly at short notice, can present a challenge to hotel owners who are looking to fill their booking sheets and maximize profits. To mitigate the potential impacts of last-minute cancellations, you might want to consider different strategies to retain the booking in a different guise. For instance, you could offer gift vouchers on future bookings, perhaps with an added incentive to ensure you retain their custom.

3. An ‘Airbnb’ Experience

Short-term holiday rental bookings have skyrocketed in recent years, with companies like Airbnb and Vrbo reaping the benefits of this trend. In response, hotels are adopting the processes that make this style of accommodation popular, to attract more guests in the post-pandemic era.

Research reveals that the biggest reason for customers choosing to stay in short-term rental properties instead of hotels is the added privacy they can provide. Part of the appeal of these properties is the lack of contact that’s required with the owners, which has been particularly important during the pandemic. Contactless check-in and other automated services are catering to this demand, which is likely to remain a feature of the industry going forward.

To Sum Up

The hospitality industry is always evolving, and has to constantly be looking for ways to accommodate guests’ latest wants and needs if it wants to remain competitive. As we’ve discussed, it’s likely that hotels will need to combine innovative uses of modern technology with changes to booking policies to help meet consumer demands in 2022. Both from a personal comfort perspective and in response to the climate crisis, incorporating the latest technologies throughout the accommodation will go a long way to satisfying the modern hotel guest.

“Geoff is a freelance content producer and researcher from Plymouth, MA. Apart from his projects, he also attends different conferences and events on business marketing, sustainability, travel, and safety.”
About Author | Geoffrey Aldis

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How to improve your property’s listing on Airbnb

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As the hospitality industry continues to recover, hotels are seeing new travel trends and behaviour. It’s time to improve your visibility on your sales channels as that can make a direct impact on your bookings.

Here is a step-by-step guide to take you through the process of crafting and perfecting your Airbnb listing from start to finish.

Tip #1
Make your photos shine

Guests spend more time exploring photos than on any other part of the listing page. They don’t always read description, but they’ll almost certainly flip through (and study!) your pictures. Quality images help Hosts showcase their personality and style. Along with the listing title, the cover image is the first thing guests will notice in search results.

Prioritise your cover photo. Your cover photo is what appears first in search results, so make sure it’s one that catches travellers’ attention. Also adding brief captions will help guests learn important info about your space and listings with 20 or more high quality photos in general have higher conversion and occupancy on the platform.

Tip #2
Add new amenities

Remember that things you’re factoring into your pricing may not be obvious to guests. For instance, the safety and beauty of your neighbourhood may mean nothing to someone who doesn’t know your town, so be sure to mention them in your listing. Among 2021’s most searched amenities include a pet-friendly space, wi-fi, air-conditioning, washer, and TV, so make sure to list any that you offer. Many guests are looking for listings that enable them to live and work anywhere. Listening to the travelers’ needs may help increase your bookings. Give guests helpful tips to get the most from your amenities. It’s important to make sure your property is a good value for the location and amenities you offer.

Tip #3
Listing Title, Description & Property type

Try to create engaging content that helps travelers to get to know your area better. The first step to marketing your home may seem small, but it’s an important one – and that’s to name your space. You want to find a name that’s distinct, memorable, and clever. Airbnb Guidebooks let hosts put together a comprehensive list of destination recommendations and tips. Try to keep your listing details as accurate and up to date as possible. A great listing description is one of your best tools for securing bookings and setting guests’ expectations. Make sure your properties are accurately categorized. Is it a hotel room, apartment, bed and breakfast or a house?

Tip #4
Competitive nightly price

Price is one of the main factor’s guests consider when choosing where to stay. It is always up to the Hosts to decide the nightly price they charge. It’s important to make sure your space is a good value for the location and amenities you offer. When setting your nightly rate, it’s helpful to consider additional fees—like cleaning fees, extra guest fees, service fees, and local taxes—and how they’ll impact the total price your guests will pay. Market Research is must, learn how hosts near you adjust pricing seasonally, at weekends, and for special events or public holidays. Guests are hesitant to book listings with no reviews, so for new hosts, setting your price a little lower than your ideal number is a great way to attract guests.

While Airbnb marketing is an essential part of business growth, you can only go so far without the right tools on your side for property management. RateTiger offers stable and secure solutions for channel management, price intelligence, connectivity and centralised reservation management to hotels, apartments, chains as well as boutique properties globally.

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What can hotels do to become more sustainable?

Hotel Online Distribution During Post-Covid Recovery

Your Guide to Understanding Airbnb’s Search Rank Algorithm

What is a Good Hotel Occupancy Rate?

Importance of Rate Parity in 2022 and Beyond

RateTiger expands Partner Ecosystem with CHECK24, HappyEasyGo & Rehlat

What Is Hotel RevPAR & Why Should It Be on Your Focus List

Revenue Management in the time of Mega Events: A Checklist for Middle East Hoteliers

Three things guests are looking for from their hotel accommodation in 2022

How to improve your property’s listing on Airbnb

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Let RateTiger help you grow your revenue and simplify your operations.

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Let RateTiger help you grow your revenue
and simplify your operations.