PDF, 35.0 MB - ITB Berlin

TRAVEL TECHNOLOGIES
SPECIAL FEATURE
41
How Mobile
Can You Go?
Manfred Osthues, cofounder
and managing
partner – protel –
has been at the very
heart of hospitality
software development
for many years. We
asked whether he felt
hotels are catering
adequately for the
mobile revolution…
Not enough to be honest.
Many hotels now offer free
Wi-Fi, which is a good start,
but there is much more
to consider. For instance,
many hotel websites and
web booking engines are
not “mobile”, meaning they
have not been adjusted to
the smaller screen size of
mobile devices. It is much
more pleasant for guests to
enter new room bookings
via a web booking engine
that is optimised for
smartphones. And isn’t
it the comfort guests are
looking for – even before
arrival?
What new products/
upgrades are you launching
this year?
We are highly motivated to
guide our clients throughout
the entire guest journey: to
provide hoteliers with tools
that aid in the interaction
with guests before, during
and after their stay to ensure
repeat visits and increase
customer loyalty.
Our latest innovations
which will be presented
at the ITB Berlin include
protel Messenger and protel
Housekeeping mentioned
above, new features of
protel for iPad (mobile PMS)
and a new version of protel
Survey and protel Voyager.
We are also very proud of our
new Web Booking Engine
(protel WBE 4.0), which is
geared to maximize direct
bookings and cut down on
OTA commissions.
We treat ITB Berlin as the
main opportunity to present
Manfred
Osthues
Co-founder and managing
partner – Protel
our latest innovations to our
prospects and clients who
are accustomed to finding
out what’s new at protel
during this time. Many, in
fact, just visit our booth
and ask us to present our
newest releases because
they know what to expect
from us at ITB Berlin. This
year we will show the
hotelier step-by-step how
he can better interact with
the mobile guest once he
has the proper tools from
protel – on-site as well as in
the cloud!
®
Hall 8.1
Stand 103
Hotel Distribution
Technologies
The growing need to stand out… and reach your
desired consumer
How difficult is it for a hotel to gain recognition
in today’s ever more complex market and how
can a technology solutions company help? We
put the question to Alex Alt, Chief Operations
Officer of Sabre Hospitality Solutions, who is
set to replace Felix Laboy as the company’s
new President and General Manager, effective
April…
There are two interesting
challenges when it comes
to recognition. The first
is the continued growth
and diversity of hospitality
developments in emerging
markets. As competition
grows, so too does the need
to stand out and reach your
desired consumer. The
second is that of changing
consumer profiles in
emerging markets.
These so-called ‘virgin
consumers’ will engage
and buy in different ways.
Establishing recognition
with this consumer group
may necessitate new
distribution strategies and
brand positioning.
Larger brands are
increasingly adept at
consumer engagement
via multiple channels and
CRM initiatives (e.g. the
Delta /Starwood crossover
rewards program) and
therefore setting an
important precedent.
In comparison, smaller
groups and independent
properties find themselves
challenged by a gap in
knowledge, resource and
tool sets. Sabre Hospitality
Solutions operates as
Idiso Continues Expansion in 2013
Spanish hotel distribution
company Idiso, who launched
the Innwise hotel e-marketing
service at the end of 2012,
is continuing its expansion
of its booking platform. The
expanded platform allows
for reservations in every kind
of hotel, ranging from urban
to holiday destinations and
including both independent
hotels and the big chains.
The platform is accessible to
end-users, tour operators, and
travel agencies both on and
offline. Idiso offers its clients
more than 2000 hotels in 35
countries through booking
aggregators Amadeus, Sabre,
Worldspan and Galileo,
an extension to a hotels’
revenue, distribution,
marketing and property
operations team. By
understanding our hotel
customer’s brand and
commercial objectives,
we can provide them with
the same level of market
visibility and distribution
reach that a larger brand
would typically enjoy.
What are the biggest
problems for hoteliers
when it comes to
distribution? How
does Sabre Hospitality
Solutions help?
The biggest issues are how
to attract and successfully
convert website traffic
into firm reservations and
deciding which channels
they should partner
with to distribute their
inventory sets in a way
that supports their revenue
management, CRM and
content strategies
Sabre Hospitality Solutions
creates award-winning
websites and has a proven
booking engine that
helps convert shoppers
into bookers with usertested
features like
and the company is also
significantly expanding its
services with over half of its
current offer consisting of
newly introduced products.
Hall 8.1
Stand 104
Alex ALt
Chief Operations Officer of
Sabre Hospitality Solutions
custom booking paths,
promotional pricing,
comparison shopping and
expanded photo galleries.
In addition, we have
experts that consult with
our hotel managers to help
them create and implement
a distribution strategy that
will support their goals.
This combination of
sophisticated technology
and human touch is what
differentiates us from
many other providers.
Hall 8.1
Stand 125
ITB BERLIN NEWS • Wednesday 6 th March 2013