“Online hotel distribution landscape is still very immature”

Orbitz Worldwide, Inc. says it has witnessed a significant increase in the volume of air tickets booked on its US sites since the removal of flight booking fees.

“Specifically, we have seen an increase in year-on-year air ticket growth rates of over 15 percentage points,” said Barney Harford, president and CEO of the company.

In early April, the company had announced `Fly Fee Free’ promotion, removing booking fees on most flights booked by May 31 on Orbitz and CheapTickets. In mid-April, Orbitz announced its Hotel Fee Cut promotion drastically cutting booking fees on all of its hotels around the world for rooms booked by July 15th. It has also came up with Orbitz Hotel Price Assurance.

Harford, during the company’s first quarter earnings call (posted on Seeking Alpha), said, “We believe that building out our hotel offering is the most important long-term strategic initiative for the company. This is an initiative that will take time, investment and commitment. But we believe the effort is worth it.”

“The global hotel market is huge. Yet the online hotel distribution landscape is still very immature. It is still very complicated for consumers to compare all the different options. There is still so much to be done to make things better for customers,” he said.

“We recognise that we are currently under indexed in the hotel compared to some of our competitors. However, we have strong travel brands around the world that generate over $10 billion in consumer demand over the last 12 months. We have scale at the level of customer demand and have the opportunity to close the gap by focusing on initiatives that make it easier for those customers to book hotel,” said Harford.

“It is remarkable that it’s 2009 the online travel industry is been around for over 10 years. Yet now consumers still have to click, click through and select their hotel before knowing how it’s going to cost.”

Healthy growth next year

Whilst the online hotel market in 2009 is expected to be impacted by economic pressures it will still increase in value. But it is expected to record the lowest actual growth rate in the review period – an annual growth of 3.7 percent, according to EyeforTravel Research’s North America Online Travel Report 2009.

“By 2010, we do however expect growth to return to a very healthy level of 14.8 percent and growth of the online hotel market is expected to be maintained above 13 percent for the following two years at least,” says Amy Scarth, Head of Research at EyeforTravel.

In 2008, about 44 percent of the hotel market was online and 56 percent offline. This is a noticeable jump from the 21 percent online level in 2002.

In 2010, according the report, the online/offline gap is expected to close completely and online channels are projected to overtake offline channels in value terms. Growth for online expenditure has actually been over double offline rates. This trend is expected to continue and by 2012, it is projected that 57 percent of the hotel market will be online (US$65,331 million), leaving 43 percent of hotel expenditure offline (US$49,367 million).

It is evident that online channels are increasingly important for North American travel consumers and a vital part of any hotel distribution strategy targeting this market. Nevertheless, maintaining the efficiency of offline channels is also going to remain important for the foreseeable future.

The growing success of the hotel sector online is reflected in its share of the total online travel market in North America. In 2008, online expenditure for hotel products accounted for almost a third of the North American online travel market.

http://www.m-travel.com/news/2009/05/online-hotel-distribution-landscape-is-still-very-immature.html

Online travel agencies slash service fees

In the latest round of an escalating battle to bolster sagging travel sales, online agencies are cutting the service fees their customers pay for hotel stays — and Orbitz becomes the first major booking site to show the total price of a night's stay upfront.

Expedia's unannounced fee cuts, which analysts noted in spot checks of key markets, follow this week's pledge by Orbitz that it is trimming fees on bookings made by July 15. Travelocity's Noreen Henry, meanwhile, says her company is "consistently monitoring hotel pricing. There are going to be places where we are lower, some where we match, and some where we don't."

As of this week, Orbitz also shows the final price for a room — base rate, plus combined taxes and fees — on the first screen of search results, rather than later in the booking. Though many travel websites display a "fully loaded" rate for airfares and cars, Orbitz is the only agency to do so for hotels.

But whether the changes will translate to cheaper hotel rates — and put more heads in beds — remains a question.

Under the common "merchant model" of hotel pricing, online agencies negotiate a low net rate with hotels and mark up the rate they display to consumers by 20% or more. That retail price is generally on par with the hotel's own site, but agencies keep the difference between the net and retail rate — along with other, unspecified fees that are displayed together with taxes in the final price consumers pay.

Orbitz's new "total price" policy may save travelers time in figuring the actual cost of a stay, but "it's still wild and wooly out there. There's a lot of volatility in rates and inventory, particularly with independent hotels," says Tom Botts, partner at the research firm Hudson Crossing.

Earlier this month, Expedia, Orbitz and Travelocity waived airline booking fees — about $7 per transaction — on tickets bought through May 31.

http://www.usatoday.com/travel/hotels/2009-04-23-online-booking-fees_N.htm

Hotels want you to take stuff home

More times than he can count, Gregory Day has been asked where guests of Shutters on the Beach can buy the rolling shutter doors that inspire his Santa Monica hotel's name.

"I must get 10 requests a week for all kinds of things," says Day, general manager of the $500-a-night hotel. "They want to know where they can get our light fixtures, the hotel's rental bicycles, the uniforms the staff wears."

Shutters addressed the demand five years ago by launching Shutters Beach Style, a catalog and online boutique offering many of the hotel's distinctive home décor items, gifts, totes and towels. Even though the shutter doors aren't in the catalog, Day says the boutique is an unqualified success.

"You would be absolutely shocked at how much stuff we actually sell," he says.

In these recessionary times, other hotels have taken notice. Looking to augment slimmed-down revenue, hotels are opening or improving online boutiques and selling more than just logo-laden robes and golf shirts. Others are using vending machines on-site to sell wares.

In February, the Ritz-Carlton launched www.ritzcarltonshops.com, its first online version of the Shops, its glossy catalog of signature Ritz cobalt glassware, small leather goods, jewelry, Steuben glassware and take-home versions of the luxury hotel's bath and spa products.

Spokeswoman Allison Sitch says the launch has been profitable and "a very positive experience."

For many hotels with online retail, the results have boosted the bottom line and reinforced customer loyalty. For those customers, the online shopping opportunities have helped them take home a piece of vacation bliss without having to lug it through security.

Online boutiques perform an important function as equal parts customer service and marketing tool.

When guests ask where they can buy their favorite guest-room items, hotels can more easily direct them to a website than to an in-house gift shop, one that may not stock the bestsellers -- mattresses, sheets and pillows.

Though hotel guests have long lusted for hotel logos on towels, robes and polo shirts, today's customers buy their favorite hotel brands in many forms -- and the hoteliers couldn't be happier.

"The first year the online store opened, sales grew 1,900%," Eva Ziegler, global brand leader for W hotels, says in an e-mail. "Online revenue is double that of our store revenue . . . and has grown 50% each year, year over year, for the past six years."

Of the 21 W hotels around the world, only nine have boutiques on-site, yet all link to the online version at www.whotelsthestore.com, which stocks $49 beaded bangle bracelets and $410 Louis XV "Ghost" chairs, designed by Philippe Starck.

The W hotels' retail catalog and website are notable for selling items not usually found in a guest room: shoes, jewelry, watches, CDs and sunglasses, items that help reinforce the hotel's hipster aura.

Though the sites do bring in money, most hoteliers look at online retailing as marketing that pays for itself.

"Having an online boutique helps us create a lifestyle brand," says Elon Kenchington, chief operating officer of the Gansevoort Hotel Group. The Gansevoort hotels in New York, Miami and Turks and Caicos are known for their fashionable clientele (modeling agency Wilhelmina is in the Miami hotel), an image reinforced by its on-property, brand-name shops, such as Henry Beguelin leather goods, Inca swimwear and the boutiques Big Drop and Curve.

Kenchington says Gansevoort's online boutiques, now being updated, are "always profitable."

Another plus: "Because of the economy, we are getting a lot more great brands that want the association of being partners with us."

Every purchase is a potential mobile billboard, Kenchington says: "Wouldn't we want everyone to carry our umbrella or shopping bag wherever they are? It's product placement in our target cities."

Furthermore, when a customer pays the ultimate compliment by asking to purchase a part of a hotel room, "You can't just say, 'No, I'm sorry.' There is no such thing as 'no' in our brand," Kenchington says.

At Mondrian South Beach Hotel in Florida and other luxury lodgings, it's not an online catalog that dispenses items; it's a vending machine called the Semi-Automatic. The machine can sell items as diverse as a toothbrush and an automobile -- a real one. These "vendotiques" aren't about hotel branding as much as they are about offering adults a grown-up version of a gum-ball machine with significantly better prizes.

Passion for hotel products is relatively new, a few million snitched Holiday Inn towels notwithstanding. Then came a revolution: the Aug. 31, 1999, launch of Westin's Heavenly Bed, 10 layers of pure white fabric and fluff.

"The first week, 32 people called and said, 'I would like to buy that bed,' " says Sue Brush, global brand leader for Westin Hotels and Resorts.

To date, the chain of 173 hotels has sold 30,000 beds, more than 100,000 pillows, 32,000 sheet sets and 13,000 shower heads.

It now also sells dog beds, collars and leashes because, she says, "It builds goodwill and loyalty."

It must be working. Beds and bedding remain the top sellers at the Ritz-Carlton, W, Westin, Wyndham and other hotel companies.

Yet for some hotel companies, selling guest soaps or sheets isn't about the money.

"We don't look at it as a retail opportunity," says Kevin Rupert, marketing vice president for Wyndham Hotels and Resorts.

"We prefer to have that product in a customer's hands so that they have a good affiliation with Wyndham, as opposed to making a couple bucks off the product."
http://travel.latimes.com/articles/la-trw-boutique19-2009apr19

NyloHotels.com Wins Top Hotel Web Site Award

NYLOhotels.com won top honors in the 2009 Internet Advertising Competition Awards, earning the distinction of Best Web Site in the Hotel and Lodging category.

Launched in late January 2009, NYLOhotels.com (http://www.nylohotels.com) was recognized for outstanding design, content and search engine optimization. The site is a collaboration between hospitality innovator NYLO Hotels and Milestone Internet Marketing, Inc., Santa Clara, Calif.

Now in its 13th year, the national Internet Advertising Competition is produced by the Web Marketing Association. Entries are judged by leaders in the field of Internet advertising according to six criteria: creativity, innovation, impact, design, copywriting and use of the medium. Awards are given to the entries receiving the top ratings in each industry category.

Since the new NYLOhotels.com went live three months ago, visitor traffic has soared 60 percent, page views grew 800 percent, and online reservations jumped 35 percent over the same period the previous year.

“NYLO is honored to receive this award in the Hotel category,” says Patrick O’Neil, executive vice president of operations, NYLO Hotels. “The site sets a new standard for search engine optimization in the lodging industry.

“Despite the challenging economy, NYLO is enjoying big gains in Web-generated revenue,” O’Neil continues. “We’re delighted with the growth in visitor traffic and page views too, indicating travelers are connecting with the site and spending more time there, exploring the rich new offerings.”

e-Commerce-Driven Site
NYLOhotels.com merges Milestone’s expertise in Internet marketing with NYLO’s flair for hospitality and design. The search-engine-friendly site takes e-commerce to the next level, reaching out not only to travelers who want to book hotel stays. It also connects with people coming to NYLO markets looking for engaging lifestyle experiences – dining, shopping, sporting events, culture, eco-travel and more.

“Every page is focused on a distinct market segment,” explains Benu Aggarwal, Milestone’s founder and president. “In each NYLO market, for example, the site is designed to come up in searches for deals and packages as well as for hotels near airports, businesses, sports stadiums, shopping, dining, museums and more. Each page acts as a virtual salesperson working 24-7 to boost traffic and revenue.”

“Franchisees can leverage NYLO’s commanding online presence,” O’Neil points out. “They also get the benefit of the brand’s state-of-the-art marketing and reservation systems.”

Each hotel has its own designated area, or robust mini site, of approximately 35 pages. With vibrant images, calendars, e-maps and more, NYLOhotels.com provides a window into every property. Travelers can customize their stays, viewing guest lofts, common areas and packages, as well as nearby shopping, dining, entertainment, cultural events and more. Every mini site is search-engine-optimized from the ground up, further building traffic and occupancy.

Staying Unique
Like the entire brand, NYLOhotels.com places its emphasis on service, design and fun. With original artwork by emerging artists, the site boasts a unique style. Visitors here find an amalgam of offerings: a rich mix of hotel information as well as art, music, design, fashion and entertainment.

The ONLY@NYLO section spotlights cool and contemporary guest lofts and the brand’s fashionable clothing line - NYLO Wear by Daniel Vosovic – by the Bravo-TV “Project Runway” fan favorite. Also in ONLY@NYLO: information on PURE allergy-friendly guest lofts, the ultra-comfortable NYLO NYTE™ bed and each hotel’s green features. There’s music to discover as well, listening to NYLO Uncovers compilation CDs featuring ascendant artists in NYLO markets and across the globe. If you like NYLO’s music, art and apparel, you can buy it online here too.

The Things To Do sections provide an insider’s guide to each hotel’s local culinary, cultural and social hotspots. As virtual concierge, NYLOhotels.com serves up an array of options: nearby restaurants, bars, clubs, shopping, parks, zoos, universities, concerts, sporting events, art exhibits and more. Helpful extras include e-maps and door-to-door directions.

Travelers find easy booking on every page. Packages are prominently displayed. Plus, a simple sign-up for clubNYLO lets travelers receive unexpected rewards at check-in and advance notice of new offerings and special deals.

“In this economy, everyone is looking for value,” O’Neil comments. “NYLOhotels.com captures the personality of the brand, showing travelers how to get exceptional value, while also enhancing comfort and style.”

http://www.hotelsmag.com/article/CA6650213.html?industryid=47564

Catering in Hyderabad

There is large seating capacity that can comfortably accommodate Garden parties, garden venues, kitty, birthday, other parties and Outdoor Catering ,Catering in Hyderabad.

Track hotel prices with these online tools

Most web-savvy travelers are familiar with various websites that let you track and compare airfare prices. (Think Farecompare.com, Farecast.com, Yapta.com, plus the major agencies like Travelocity.com and even airline sites.) Now come two online tools that help travelers track hotel prices.

Yapta has just introduced a feature that allows consumers to sign up for price tracking on specific hotels. Search the site for hotel availability on specific dates, then sign up for notification if rates drop on a specific hotel that interests you.

Hotwire.com has long offered a similar tool for hotel and car rental rates, but it doesn't disclose the name of the hotel or vendor until after you book. The site has just added a monthly hotel report (www.hotwire.com/hotelratereport.jsp) that highlights the U.S. destinations where rates have dropped the most over the past 12 months -- translation, where you're most likely to find good deals. (Top 5 on the current list: Las Vegas, Phoenix, New York, Montreal, Orlando.)

Also just launched from the people at Kayak.com: TravelPost.com, designed as a one-stop-shopping hotel site with reviews, content and rates on more than 140,000 hotels from over 200 travel sites. Consumers can book directly with the hotel or via other websites.
http://www.miamiherald.com/living/travel/just-in-travel-news/story/965813.html

Fraudulent online hotel booking

Identity theft and credit card fraud represent multifaceted problems with far-reaching consequences, including Web-based crime targeting the travel industry. Fraudulent booking of hotel rooms through the Internet has become a major issue. To commit this crime, suspects obtain someone's credit card number--by stealing a person's identity or charge receipts--and book multiple rooms online at one or several locations. Then, they either use the reservations or sell them to associates. In addition to the loss of revenue experienced by credit card companies, individuals, travel firms, and hotels, communities suffer when offenders perpetrate additional offenses in their lodging areas. Evidence found at numerous crime sites suggests that fraudulent booking may fuel local street crime and narcotics traffic.

In dealing with booking fraud in its jurisdiction, the Anaheim, California, Police Department undertook a problem-oriented policing (POP) (1) project that has proven successful. This effort can serve as an example for agencies operating in cities impacted by issues affecting the lodging industry. The department found that resolving Internet-booking fraud required a collaborative effort between police and private industry. It used the SARA (scanning, analysis, response, and assessment) (2) model to tackle this problem and the related crime and public safety issues affecting the city.

THE PROJECT SITE

A suburb of Los Angeles, the city of Anaheim has approximately 350,000 residents and is known as a major tourist destination. It also is home to a popular theme park, professional baseball and hockey teams, and one of the largest convention centers in the United States. Together, these attractions swell the city's population daily--Anaheim's residents seem to disappear compared with the 10.2 million overnight visitors per year staying at one of the 153 hotel properties. (3)

Another one-third of the lodging facilities appeal to clientele seeking luxurious amenities, and most are located in the hotel district, locally referred to as the resort area. Accommodations vary widely in size and price; the cost of rooms also differs between the low off-season and the peak summer and holiday periods. Approximately half of the properties cater to the family/budget or midrange market, and most are affiliated with large hotel chains.

The Anaheim Police Department strives to maintain public order in this highly transient city. All agency employees remain committed to POP as a means of resolving community crime and public safety issues. The Anaheim hotel corridor is located in the south district where police personnel work out of a satellite station.

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2194/is_5_76/ai_n27248681?tag=content;col1