Weekly Roundup #29: Travel, Tech and Social Media
Week 29/2017
Happy Friday, everyone and welcome to the Weekly Roundup! Hopefully you had a great, productive week. As usual, we prepared for you the most important news and stories from hospitality, so you could go through a quick recap before you head into the weekend.
Enjoy the read and in case you do not follow us on social media yet, here’s where you can find us: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ and Instagram!
Have an amazing weekend!
Industry News
Elite Hospitality Group Improves Operations and Scores with TrustYou’s Guest Feedback Platform:
This week we released a brand new case study, presenting the improvements that our client, Elite Hospitality Group has reported after using our guest feedback platform. You can check out the exact scores that were boosted due to our product and the way in which Elite Hospitality Group has improved operations and got much more insights into the guest experience. Among the key areas of improvement you can notice a remarkable 878% boost in the number of Google reviews - see it for yourself!
Business Travel responsible for $547 billion in U.S. GDP in 2016, creates over 7.4 million jobs:
A new report issued at GBTA Convention 2017 by the GBTA Foundation, the education and research arm of the Global Business Travel Association, in partnership with American Express Global Business Travel (GBT), highlights the positive economic impact business travel has on the nation’s economy. The study, titled "The U.S. Business Travel Economic Impact Report," reveals business travel was responsible for about 3 percent ($547 billion) of U.S. GDP in 2016. Additionally, the research found that for every 1 percent change in business travel spending, the U.S. economy gains or loses 74,000 jobs, $5.5 billion in GDP, $3.3 billion in wages and $1.3 billion in taxes.
Egencia expense is open for business:
Egencia demonstrated the success of its new expense management suite at the GBTA Convention in Boston with demos of its first fully-integrated global travel and expense solution with expense software provider, Chrome River. In February 2017, Egencia announced plans to revolutionize the expense management space by solving user needs that were previously ignored by accounting-based solutions. The cornerstone of the Egencia expense management suite is an integrated travel and expense capability that simplifies expense reports for the user. In a market where global business travelers say filing expense reports should take 23 percent less time than it does today, and 41 percent still create paper expense reports manually, automation solves a key pain point for road warriors.
Trends and Insights
The hotel guest’s on-site experience – Communicating with the guest:
In anticipation of our upcoming webinar with our friends from StayNTouch and Fuel Tavel, we published this week a new blog post, all about the guest’s on-site experience and the best means of communication. In our most recent study, we analyzed the guest preferences and expectations for direct hotel communication. We revealed that the majority (80%) of hotel guests expect that the accommodation provider will initiate communication regarding their booking, and 80% also expect this to be sent via email. For more interesting data and insights make sure to check out the extended blog post and don’t forget to sign up for the webinar, on July 27th.
StayNTouch releases eye-opening infographic: Keeping up with hotel guest expectations:
StayNTouch recently announced this week the release of their most inspiring infographic yet - titled Keeping Up With Hotel Guest Expectations. This infographic lays out the trend lines and data points that tell a story about the changing dynamics of guest expectations and how technology has become an essential tool in today's hotel market. To satisfy this enormous appetite for technology, hotel companies of all sizes must be relentless in their efforts to improve experiences at every touchpoint. In fact, two thirds of consumers (68%) say it is somewhat or very important that companies they interact with are seen as a technology leader (Salesforce Mobile Behavior Report 2015) and according to Phocuswright, 64% of U.S. hotel guests said it is “very or extremely important” for hotels to continue investing in technology to enhance the guest experience.
Higher travel pricing expected next year: 2018 Global Travel Forecast:
According to the fourth annual 2018 Global Travel Forecast, Travel prices are expected to rise by nearly 4% next year. Global airfares are expected to rise 3.5% while hotel prices are expected to be 3.7% higher. Ground transportation such as taxis, trains and buses are expected to rise slightly by 0.6% – significantly below the 3% inflation forecast for 2018. “The higher pricing is a reflection of the stronger economy and growing demand,” said Kurt Ekert, president and CEO, Carlson Wagonlit Travel.
Technology
What are the top trends in hospitality technology?
This question is always valid, especially considering the fast-evolving technology nowadays. Triptease talks in this post about how technology trends can vary from hotel to hotel and which are the ones that are the most relevant this year. So take a look to learn about how mobile users are moving from research to bookings, how the revenue management is getting automated and how hotels are taking their hospitality online. See which one applies for your particular hotel and make sure that you are up to date with the 2017 tech trends.
Travelport helps passengers with mobile rebooking technology:
Travelport is claiming a first with the launch of Resolve, technology for airlines to help passengers with hotel rooms and flights during disruption. According to a statement the Resolve product helps with the sourcing of hotel rooms, air re-booking and meal and transport requirements. The mobile-based technology, being trialled with a “major US-based airline” is designed to get in touch with passengers when an itinerary changes so they can make local hotel arrangements via their mobile devices.
