Yes, it’s the silly season! Readers share their views and we hazard a guess at what others may be wishing for in 2016

In the hotel world it was a tricky year in the fight to fill empty rooms. There was growing competition as Airbnb increased its market share and forayed into the B2B space. As Sally White wrote last week: “Hotel rooms may be multiplying but accommodation is plentiful”.

Today Airbnb offers 3,000 castles, 1,400 boats, and 400 lighthouses among its 2 million listings in 190 countries. Not to mention the clones emerging in various regions, and of course Expedia acquisition of HomeAway.

But there were some success stories. Shire Hotels, a small UK chain, became the first to launch price comparison tool on its website, to show OTA rates next to its own. If that seemed a strange move, the results told a different story. Conversions on their direct channel rose by 98%.

In spite of that success, Sam Wilson E-commerce Marketing Manager, has this wish for 2016.

Please Santa, can hotels claw market share against the OTA’s, can commission rates fall and can we reduce and direct bookings rise across all parts of the business?

Please Santa, can hotels claw market share against the OTA’s, can commission rates fall and can we reduce and direct bookings rise across all parts of the business?

Too greedy? We think not.

TripTease raises eyebrows

Jumping on the price check bandwagon was eyebrow-raising TripTease, offering a similar solution to hotels in the form of its Price Check Widget. Except, according to booking.com they are getting that wrong. Although they initially refrained from comment, a booking.com spokesperson did eventually go on the record to say this:

“We do believe that Triptease are illegally accessing our data”.

Let’s just say the talks between the two parties continue. Let’s also say that a speedy resolution to the dispute will most certainly now be on the Christmas wish list of the 8,000 hotels that the Price Check widget is now live on.

Another significant bit of news in June 2015 was the French National Assembly’s decision to cancel rate parity clauses in contracts between hotels and OTAs. “It’ll be interesting to see how this affects worldwide policies in 2016,” Wilson says.

One’s to watch!

Making memories

For Serdar Kutucu VP - Brand, Marketing & Communications at Design Hotels, a hospitality service company to over 280 independently owned small boutique and luxury hotels, the most significant development of 2015 was that the ‘experience revolution’ bedded down.

“Consumers tend to spend more money on memorable experiences than material goods; it’s not a development of this year specifically, but I think everyone in the industry now accepts that this is not just a trend anymore,” Kutucu says.  

To hazard a guess at what Kutucu wants on his Christmas wish list: a vacation photographer to capture those happy memories.

Design Hotels also recognised the importance of driving loyalty by joining forces with SPG (Starwood Preferred Guest) to give member hotels access to a broader target group, giving guests the opportunity for guests to customise experiences and earn and redeem points.

Another play for loyalty, and a recognition of the ‘local experience’ was Hilton’s move to tie up with Uber. In 2015 Uber launched its ‘local scene’ feature within the Hilton Honours mobile app. The aim: to provide members with a list detailing top venues most frequented by Uber riders in each city. HHonors members will also be able to use the app to gain exclusive insights from other Uber riders on where to go or what to explore in the city they're visiting. 

There is certainly all to play for in the T&A (see more in our upcoming predictions for 2016) space.

As Chryssa Oikonomidou GM Tourboks, an online platform for tours and activities puts it:  “Tours and activities activity is a hard thing to sell online. It’s not a T-Shirt; it’s difficult to measure inventory and availability. This takes time to digitise it and to put it into comprehensive databases. The industry is there today though. And that is impressive."