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Archive 2008 and 2009 we think

I would draw a small budget of 2008 with regard to the tourism and especially the on-line hotel reservation, not based on figures and statistics, but the sensations experienced, and from these to suggest what could happen in 2009.

Disintermediation is the queen

In 2008, consolidated one which started long before almost on the sly, that the trend towards disintermediation thrust of the hotels on the internet and booking online. The main OTA (Online Travel Agencies), have been those who more or less drops but not transit visitors, a clear sign that the interest has not decreased but increased use of internet sites only as an information and research . The hotels that are equipped with efficient systems for immediate booking on their web site owners have seen significant increase direct bookings at the expense of intermediate ones, with a decent savings committees converted, in many cases, readily in discounts and promotions to customers, in a vicious circle reinforcing the belief that you can save by booking directly.

This course, like all technological advances are unstoppable and you can not fight. Online-booking software and management of online presence ever more sophisticated and low cost are coming on the market, and enable them to quickly even the less tech hotels to offer direct access to their customers without intermediaries.

Google Map has changed the search for hotels

The thing was started in the second half of 2007, but it took several months to implement in full Google searches geotargettizzate that allow you to see the results of the search business on the map of the location. This new system has changed radically in a short time and the manner in which the user searches for the accommodation more suitable to him, with primary emphasis on the location. Google has also given due priority in this type of research to the direct link to the official website of the hotel and this gave a further push towards disintermediation. Some critics to the fact that only use the Yellow Pages database for this type of research, with its problems of incompleteness and differences between the information given (one for all the names rather than trade names).

TripAdvisor makes the rules

The year 2008 also saw the final and indisputable statement of TripAdvisor as the only (or almost) judge the quality of facilities worldwide. This has caused on the one hand many headaches for hoteliers to try to climb the ranking undeserved or disprove a negative feedback, but also helped to destroy the concept of user behavior one stop shopping, ie a single site web where to search, learn and buy.

The explosion of social networks today leads many users to visit multiple sites to find the best information before making your purchase decision, then the OTA portal becomes only one of many ways to learn, but it is not necessarily the best way to complete the purchase.

The price is not everything

This exponential increase of information and the ease of finding them has inevitably led to a downsizing of the component linked to the price. Who today would book a hotel at a very competitive price but with mostly reviews negative on the web? That's the value added that the hotel itself is able to communicate on the network, the ability to differentiate, to engage potential customers, and become true basics of marketing tools that can influence sales regardless of price.

HOW TO BE 'THE 2009?

Apart from the crisis that may or may not affect the entire hospitality industry, and unfortunately not depend on our will and our behavior, I would highlight trends that are few but significant:

Hard times for OTA

The two avenues for online booking portals are, in my opinion that the enlargement of the offer and that of specialization. To combat disintermediation should increase the pool of supply and sales, go to emerging markets both geographically and as a niche market, but also rethinking the role not only in the market such as retail stores, but as travel consultants. If the customer can choose and book now from only the individual hotel, may still need help when their needs are a little more complicated and require some effort. Solutions of dynamic packaging and supply of ancillary services may be the only living the trump card to be able to give the customer something extra. The B2B market, particularly the middle market and corporate travel, may also be areas where DIY is still too difficult and disintermediation is still limited.

expect however that the time of acquisition / merge between portals is not finished yet, and indeed, the 2009 is the year of reckoning for some great reality. Unfortunately, the spaces are shrinking, and many small fish will end up in the network.

Everything goes to the respective

is now unstoppable, and in 2009 will witness an orgy of social networking, and unfortunately I fear also abuse bordering on the ridiculous fielded by those who use it just to ride the wave of new media in a makeshift or inadequate. It 'a minefield where it is very dangerous move and where, in my humble opinion, have yet to be defined new languages \u200b\u200bfor use in this specific field. There is much room to experiment, but never overdo it.

New opportunities for the good old travel agent

I know I'm probably going against, but I take a number of signals going in the direction of a rediscovery by clients of the consultant's role, be it online and traditional. Paradoxically, the exponential increase in possibilities offered by the network makes it much more difficult to orient the client does not own expert. The agencies that will take the opportunity to reinvent themselves consultants, they can go to fill a gap that is slowly opening up. The hardest part is being able to reach the customer at the right time, perhaps through the same social networks where the customer is present and inform, and where it can be more receptive to the offer of professional help.

Conclusions

2009 will be a year of challenges on all fronts, who is running for an accommodation for those who must sell it on-line and off-line, and in general for those who live off tourism. Surely it was already engaged another gear much faster, and there will be surprises for many companies in all sectors, especially for those who do not run fast enough to keep pace with change. Roll up our sleeves and happy 2009.

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Farm, cross and delight of the on-line booking

I received a nice email asking me Fabio advice on how to set up an online booking portal for agritourism. I try to bring my experience in this field, the premise that today my company has only marginally to handle this kind of reality.

The highlights of the request for Fabio:

In terms of efficiency / effectiveness should assume that the contents of the various farm insert them directly in the portal or should we design a web interface that allows each of them to insert the contents or a solution of half!?

pricing policies: a fixed fee for various services, a commission on room sales and services ... or party!?

try to frame the general problem of the sale of the cottages on the Internet, and especially the difficulties of doing so as an intermediary.

The farm is not a hotel

seems obvious, but must always be borne in mind that a farm has a few things in common with a hotel, especially in terms of organization and management, and this affects a whole series of choices:

• A farm has almost never organized a reception and staff, then you can not expect that someone with sufficient computer skills and above all that is also willing to spend some time daily to update data in an on-line. Also claim that the emails are read and answers in a short time is sometimes a demand that goes beyond the capacity of certain structures.
• Almost always the administration is required by a qualified accountant, so relations with intermediaries regarding fees and payments can be difficult
• The Farm difficult to apply the trade policies of revenue management, price lists are often seasonal and permanent. The negotiation is done on the phone with the customer.
• Often the structures have a few rooms, so they can not manage because many brokers should be sold on all the same rooms overbook and the risk would be very high. Usually after a period of enthusiasm the operator chooses to stay only with those who have obtained the best results and ruining others.
• Who is the famous location and has sufficient carrying capacity often signed blank contracts for full allotment, or with foreign operators to have a guaranteed flow at a predetermined price, usually by leaving the intermediary 20 to 40% margin.

The first consideration suggests the organization is very unlikely that the owner or operator of a farm has skills and time available to load on-line text, photos, descriptions, and above all sensible multi-lingual. There is also the question that any self-respecting tourist portal must pursue a minimum level of standardization and quality in the content presented. The solution gives the best fruit is to have an editor from the structures that collect all the available material (texts and descriptions from the paper brochures, photos, list of services offered and so on) and then packages the presentation so even and especially care in the translations where multiple languages \u200b\u200bare not available. The time taken to load the data will always be less than that spent on the phone to explain to the poor how to use the backoffice operator to load the data and then for the past ricorreggerli and adapt.

Regarding the loading pricing and availability, now becomes a fundamental distinction between sales portal or single promotion. In the first case the data must be accurate, current and allow to arrive at an estimate of the precise price and undisputed. In the second case can be sufficient to reproduce the lists provided by the seasonal structures. Of course between these two solutions there is a gulf in terms of technology investment, employment and human relationship with the structures.

sell or let's just promotion?

Simply put: if you do not have the strength and structure to sell and therefore be a true broker, then you better get paid a promotional fee honest.

The reasoning is simple, to be intermediaries and deserve the commissions you have to supply customers and therefore bear responsibility for promoting and giving visibility to the portal and structures. In a segment as one of the farm is no easy task, as we must call for most foreign markets.

addition to the issues raised above and especially the limited number of housing units per structure, it is difficult to have guaranteed availability of free-sale or allotment, and in most cases, the farm will manage the bookings on-request, reconfirming that from time to time. This can lead to real bloodshed when the high season, perhaps for Easter, dozens of requests from the portal arrive on time that are rejected because the farm has already been filled by himself.

Today, who makes money by buying only intermediating farm makes the rooms a year for full vacuum as the first (in this case even 50% discount), or with very large allotment, to ensure it can meet the demands its customers and can therefore better plan initiatives Promotional knowing exactly how many rooms will need to fill.

The method of payment is important, the intermediary must be able to manage him the receipt by the customer and then pay structure, otherwise it risks having to chase the payment of small bills to committees, which because of its small amount it is difficult to enforce when the other side there is an administrative office organized as it is rather that of a grand hotel.

If you are not able to face all this, then you better tie the gain of the portal to its ability to attract visitors and send requests to the structures, making a fixed annual pay for the visibility and perhaps a tot for each request sent, regardless of the good end. This solution is very simple to implement, but doing the math is not the gold mine and one expects the competition in this type of solution is certainly very strong.

In conclusion, the farmhouse is definitely the type of tourist accommodation that has the greatest difficulties in managing an on-line sales, surpassed only by the campsites. Catching a ride on the web shows that only the big players really let you book online in real time, while all others are windows with the ability to send requests are not binding. Certainly times are changing rapidly, the Internet culture, and always arrives on a farm more structures are organized with tools and people dedicated to online sales. In my humble opinion, the numbers are still too limited to create a real business of selling online as we used for years for hotels.

available to broaden the discussion.