ITB Berlin News 2020 - #4

I SPECIAL FEATURE I TRAVEL TECHNOLOGIES I
How virtual hosts
transform the
management of
holiday rentals
Meeting Package and Nordic Choice Hotels are aiming to making online meeting bookings easier
Unveiling a new way
to book direct meeting
and hotel rooms online
SABA Hospitality is highlighting how digital hosts can
transform the management of holiday rental properties on
ITB Berlin's eTravel Stage today.
The holiday rental industry is rapidly
expanding, representing an estimated
€80bn annually. While the extra
income is undoubtedly appealing, the
time and energy it takes to service
an increasingly demanding guest
demographic is becoming problematic
for many private rental operators,
no matter how many properties they
manage.
Digital guidebooks can provide some
relief, but by themselves, fail to meet
the communication needs of the
modern traveller. Despite providing
comprehensive property information
in the form of a physical or digital
guidebook, hosts are often confronted
to guests messages or emails with
questions already answered in the
SABA Hospitality's solution
manual. It is often due to the necessity
for the guest to communicate directly
and actively with his host.
The use of chatbots, or virtual
hosts, will give guests a means to
communication that is in alignment
with their wants and needs, while
providing private rental operators
a level of automation that give them
more free time. Virtual hosts can
turn into a great platform to service
guests, provide recommendations
and increase revenue
Booking meeting rooms can be a frustrating and
time-consuming process as meeting planners need
to enquire with venues through email, phone or
RFP correspondence to determine meeting space
availability and pricing.
The MICE segment is the latest
in the hospitality industry
to embrace digitalisation.
In partnership with Nordic
Choice hotels, MeetingPackage
provides unique cloud-based
venue management software
that enables hotels and other
meetings & events venues to sell
their meeting rooms and event
spaces more efficiently online.
“Even though the hospitality
industry is in the vanguard of
innovation when it comes to
digitalising sales channels, MICE
has stubbornly remained a largely
manual and offline segment.
Nordic Choice Hotels is one of
the first major European hotel
chains to adopt an online sales
strategy for their MICE services,
believing that it is time to digitise
Meetings & Events sales and offer
a better customer experience to
clients while decreasing costs,”
said Joonas Ahola, CEO of
MeetingPackage.
“The arrival of online booking
for conference and meeting
rooms and hotel overnights has
led to the creation of an easier
workload for organisers, planners
and travellers. Our eight hotels
in Stockholm have already
submitted extremely positive
feedback and the plan is to
launch this service at our hotels
across all Nordic countries,” said
Lisa Farrar, CDO of Nordic Choice
Hotels
ITB BERLIN NEWS • THURSDAY 26 TH MARCH 2020 • 27