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Think Tank Digital Developments in Hospitality

On April 23^rd I attended the Think Tank “Digital Developments in Hosptality” which was organized by Oneglobe network and the CMH Business School.

We talked about many subjects and had the chance to listen to some nice presentations of people who work for the hospitality sector.

The insights that I gained during this Think Tank can best be resumed as “The Hospitality Sector moves towards the new technologies and will be more and more influenced by the web”

I recognized during this Think Tank that especially Luxury Hotels don't use the web effectively and that they should take the opportunity to modify their homepage in order to appeal more to the luxury customer. 65% of the luxury customers are influenced by the web before they buy a product or book a hotel so the luxury hotels should not only rely on their status but should improve the visual appearance of their homepage and add new features like for example social media which is also used by a large amount of luxury customers.

Here is an interesting example of the importance of social media for luxury consumers.

The other important point that was mentioned during this Think Tank and which was my favourite one, was the influence of hotel review websites on the customers. I knew before this Think Tank that customers were looking for reviews before booking a hotel but that they use it as much that in many cases they read reviews for 8 hours was really knew to me. I think that hotels still not really realize what influence online reviews have for their business. Of course there are many hotel review websites today but hotels should really observe the most important ones like for example tripadvisor and respond to the bad reviews. They can also use the “reviewpro” program which was also presented to us during this Think Tank and which collects all the online reviews and delivers them to the hotels in different categories so that they know what people exactly thought about the rooms, service etc.

Here is an interesting video which shows the importance of answering to online reviews.

Video

The other important fact which was mentioned during this Think Tank was that Mobile Phones play an important role in the hospitality sector of today and will be the future in the hospitality sector. It is not so easy for me to understand this because I still have a basic mobile phone without a touch screen and I can travel or book hotels differently and I don't feel the desire to use a mobile phone to make all my bookings or to see the details of my hotel or the surroundings of my hotel on a small screen. I like the adventure, to be lost in a city, to find the way by myself and also discover places on my own...but as I know myself in one year I will also have a smartphone because it's the future and I will follow the trend. The majority of the people want to have everything very fast and in a short amount of time. On smartphones more and more apps will appear which will propose any kinds of servises which will range from bookings to service deliveries in the hotels. So the hotels have to think of their mobile phone strategy now because to appear on the apps is an additional source to attract some customers.

Watch a video about a smartphone app which enables you to book a hotel.

Video

You can also find this article on the facebook page "Digital Developments in Hospitality" and on my twitter account TJPhilippe !

Guid’el App economy

A new application for hotels

Guid’el app economy

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Corsby Street Hotel New York

Really interesting Hotel idea !!

http://bit.ly/bwDTaK

I think that having a private screening room is something really unique and will attract many new customers to the hotel.

Nh Hoteles

How does NH Hoteles use Social media?

Nh Hoteles

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I pinged my Blog !!!

Try it yourself on www.ping.fm !!

Comparison of 2 Hotel Websites

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

Comparisonwebsites

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Guests want to know hotels' rate rules

A Comment on the article "Guests want to know hotels' rate rules, says Cornell Study"

I think that this is totally right. Guests would like to know or at least have more details about the
rate rules of the hotels. The hotel rating strategy of the hotels is sometimes really confusing so the guests think that they are getting a rate which was made without any clear rules. The problem is that in hotels rates are varying really often and that's why guests can get really confused. It's well known that the reception often gets comlplaints of the guests who don't understand why they paid a higher rate then the other guests. I think that rate a rule indication on the reservation sheet or on the hotels' homepages could help the guest to better understand the rate strategy of the hotels.

Price Impact on Guest Satisfaction

A comment on the article "Price Impact on Guest Satisfaction"

I totally agree with the fact that the price influences the guest's

value perception, loyalty and expectations. It's normal that
when the guest pays a higher price it will be more difficult to

satisfy him. If he is paying a lower price the guest expects less

but can be more satisfied because he didn't expect such a good quality.
I think that today with the economic crisis people want to pay less
money but still have the same expectations so a hotel have to satisy
these two points. I don't really agree that price satisfaction has a
freater influence on loyalty than quality, because if a guest
didn't like his stay in the hotel, even if he likes the price he will

not come back for another stay.

Comment

A comment on the article "On Twitter and in the Workplace, It's Power to the Connectors"

I think that today to make a great career you need good visionary skills, leadership skills and you have to bee a team player.
Today with information that are growing very fast and also because of the economic crisis it is important to have Visionary skills.
Intuition, decisiveness and also reasoning are the three important keywords. In former times these skills were not so important because many companies didn't think about the future.
But today with the higher competition, with the technological process and the economic crisis to have these skills can be benefitial for a company. Leadership skills are very important to achieve a great success
with the help of other people. The best leaders make things happen through a powerful mind. Compared to former times the modern leader has also to understand the people he is leading. He should work with them and not be on an upper scale. To be a team player is also really essential today
because in a team you achieve a higher performance and so a higher success. It's important to interact and to have a good communication with your collegues.
I think that those skills cannot be really learned. People are natural leader or not or have visionary skills or not.
To be a teamplayer is perhaps the only one that can be strenghtened by
doing sports in a group or playing theatre for example. All the activities
where people do something in a group.
Formal assignments and connector skills belong together because today formal assignments should be given
to a person by interacting and connecting to the person.
Persons have to feel connected today, to build relationships to be successful.

Aggregator Travel Sites

What are Aggregator Travel Sites?

The benefits of using those sites

Comparison of 2 Aggregator Travel Sites:

Mobissimo

Sidestep

What do experts think about those sites?

My Opinion

Comparison: Matador Travel and BootsnAll Travel

Comparison: Matador Travel and BootsnAll Travel

Presentation Matador Bootsn All Travel

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