Weekly Roundup #27: Travel, Tech and Social Media
Week 27/2017
Hello everyone! It’s good to have you back for another Weekly Roundup! As always, you can count on us to put together the most interesting hospitality news of this week and we can only say that it’s been an exciting one for us. We hope you enjoy the read and, for a daily dose of news and stories, don’t forget to follow our social media accounts: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ and Instagram!
Until next week, have a fantastic weekend!
Industry News
TrustYou and DEHOGA Bayern presented the “Award of Excellence” to the best rated hotels in Bavaria:
Together with our partner, the Bavarian Hospitality Association “DEHOGA Bayern”, we awarded the best rated Bavarian hotels of the year 2016. DEHOGA Bayern members with an excellent TrustScore score of 91 and above were awarded the "Award of Excellence" to honor the outstanding quality based on guest reviews. Our very own Account Manager for Strategic Partnerships, Maurice Sausse, visited the TOP 30 winners and handed over the award personally.
AccorHotels & LP Holding partnership brings three new hotels to Myanmar:
This week it was announced that our client AccorHotels and LP Holding signed a joint agreement to develop three new hotels in Myanmar. The partnership will see the opening of Mercure Mandalay Hill Resort in the second quarter of this year and the development of Pullman Yangon Centrepoint and Mandalay Hill Resort MGallery by Sofitel slated to open in 2017 and 2020 respectively. In 2015, tourism was the driving force in the Myanmar economy where revenue grew by 19% as inbound traffic increased totally $2.1bn or more than 4% of the country’s GDP. In the next 10 years, the World Travel and Tourism Council projects that Myanmar’s tourism industry will rank second out of 184 countries for long-term growth. It was ranked 15th globally in 2016.
HITEC’s Canadian debut draws largest conference attendance in 45 year history:
The numbers from HITEC Toronto are in and we can only say that we’re so happy to have been there! HITEC Toronto, the brand's first Canadian feature, was the highest attended conference in its 45-year history with more than 6,500 industry professionals representing over 65 countries. This year's North American event had over 130 speakers, including four keynote speakers, for its daily educational sessions that addressed trending topics including: AI/BI, cyber-security, IoT, virtual reality, ROI, blockchain revolution, global travel trends, guest experience and more. HITEC Toronto was the second of three HITEC's that HFTP will produce this year. Next up, the inaugural HITEC Dubai – a Middle Eastern counterpart – will take place November 14-15 at the Conrad Dubai in Dubai, UAE in partnership with Naseba.
Tui Group shakes up hotel division management structure in bid for growth:
Two divisional heads are to run the hotels and resorts division of our client Tui Group, as Europe’s largest travel company seeks to expand in the accommodation sector. Half of the group’s profits are already generated by its own hotels and cruise companies as part of a re-organisation initiated by chief executive Fritz Joussen. The company wants to further accelerate this growth with a new management structure in the hotel division, which will see a major push to further expand the Tui Blue lifestyle brand.
Trends and Insights
European cities marketing benchmarking report 2017 confirms the resilience of European cities:
In 2016, European Cities Marketing has once again demonstrated the most dynamic aspect of European tourism. Over the last 5 years (2012-2016), bednights in European Cities Marketing Benchmarking Report's cities (+14.2%) have been still increasing at a faster rate than of the 28 EU nations (+8.8%). Thus, confirming once again that city tourism is growing against disturbances. The report is published yearly and is the result of a cooperation between European Cities Marketing, the platform for convention, leisure and city marketing professionals to exchange knowledge, best practice and widen their networks to build new business, and MODUL University Vienna. Take a look at the extended post for the top 15 European cities - total bednights 2016.
Survey finds the need to use personal devices on vacation outweighs cybersecurity concerns:
University of Phoenix today released the results of its summer travel cybersecurity survey, which found that while half of registered voters worry about cybersecurity risks while on vacation, 55 percent feel that the need to use personal devices outweighs those risks. “Vacations are often a time when we let our guard down, which can leave us vulnerable to hackers who want to steal personal information,” said Dr. Kirsten Hoyt, academic dean, College of Information Systems & Technology at University of Phoenix. “Whether you are in another country or down the street, it is important for people to take precautionary measures when travelling this summer.”
Hotwire releases 2017 Summer Inspiration Indicator with best deals on travel:
For summer 2017's Inspiration Indicator, Hotwire surveyed "travel-ready" Americans to get a sense for their travel inspiration over the next three months, and for the first time, are announcing a travel Inspiration Index. Of the people surveyed, 96% plan to go somewhere for fun in the next three months, and more than one fifth are ready and motivated to drop everything and take a spontaneous vacation. Plus, 9 out of 10 said the next three months are a great time to get away (89%), and that they already know where their next trip will take them.
Technology
Sabre Labs’ Radar Report looks at what’s next for artificial intelligence:
The next big thing in artificial intelligence will be “AI as a service,” according to a soon-to-be-released “Radar Report” from Sabre Labs. The opening up and growth of AI platforms will allow everyone to tap into existing AIs, building new functionality on existing services. That could be a real game-changer, with small companies and even individuals making use of the AI tools and resources of companies like Amazon, Google and IBM.
Tech innovation is why bleisure is happening:
Due to technology rising and mobile accessibility, it’s no secret anymore than more and more employees use their devices to work remotely, even outside working hours. The lines between home and work are become somewhat blurry and it’s important for employees and businesses to find new ways of balancing the two lives. This post offers a viewpoint on bleisure - the combination between business and basically, the idea is that employees add a day or two of holiday time onto the end or the beginning of a business trip. Bleisure can be used in order to save both money and time.
