Customers, Distribution and the Hotel Industry
Article written by Tony Dessauer. Tony has over 25 years in hotel revenue management distribution and web strategies, focusing on Customer Acquisition and Retention. He has written the following article on customers and the importance they play in the hotel business in particular, and the way that hotels currently spend their budgets.
Not just pancake mix…
The pile of e-newsletters grows every day, so do the opinions and assessments of the way that the hospitality and travel industry is developing, all mixed in with advertisements and ‘insights’ from companies selling their wares, like a giant bowl of pancake mixture. The culinary proficient reader will be aware that such a mixture contains a lot of air; it helps the pancakes to attain a light and fluffy consistency. Similarly a high proportion of those articles and insights may also contain quite a lot of air, but they won’t be quite as useful in crepes Suzette! Unfair? Possibly, but if you read them, with the intention of gaining knowledge, you may be disappointed to find that the ‘wisdom’ is restricted to four or five lines of meaningful information and the remainder is dedicated to the ‘expertise’ of the Company and how you can’t succeed without them.
Anyway, back to the pile. The trend these days seems to be varied and the content likewise. Opinions vary as to the degree that the Internet is revolutionising travel and hospitality and the level of impact that will be seen, but all agree that the trend remains in a steep upward curve, continuing to climb and fast. An example of this is GetThere.com which published figures recently showing that growth in the 4th quarter of 2002 was 250% ahead of the same period in 2001. Please remember that GetThere is the Internet booking tool made available to the Corporate ‘bookers’ and ‘stayers’, who may traditionally have chosen the intermediaries using GDS to complete their transactions. And of course the latter part of 2001 was affected by the events of 9/11. Similarly to GetThere, Hotels.com, seen by suppliers to be both the saviour of their business and a devil to their profit, also grew substantially with their gross revenues standing at almost $946 million, an increasing of 76% in 2002 over 2001. Expedia, inc. another in the s
Vegas’s Billion-Dollar Secrets – What They Don’t Want Tourists to Know
Visit Florida’s New CEO Bryan Griffin Shares His Vision for State Tourism with Graham
Chicago’s Tourism Renaissance: Graham Interviews Kristin Reynolds of Choose Chicago
Graham Talks with Cassandra McCauley of MMGY NextFactor About the Latest Industry Research
Destination International’s Andreas Weissenborn: Research, Advocacy, and Destination Impact
Graham and Don Welsh Discuss the Success of Destinations International’s Annual Conference
Graham and CEO Andre Kiwitz on Ventura Travel’s UK Move and Recruitment for the Role
Brett Laiken and Graham Discuss Florida’s Tourism Momentum and Global Appeal
Graham and Elliot Ferguson on Positioning DC as a Cultural and Inclusive Global Destination
Graham Talks to Fraser Last About His England-to-Ireland Trek for Mental Health Awareness
Kathy Nelson Tells Graham About the Honour of Hosting the World Cup and Kansas City’s Future
Graham McKenzie on Sir Richie Richardson’s Dual Passion for Golf and His Homeland, Antigua
ADS PRO 
Phocuswright reveals the world's largest travel markets in volume in 2025
Higher departure tax and visa cost, e-arrival card: Japan unleashes the fiscal weapon against tourists
Cyclone in Sri Lanka had limited effect on tourism in contrary to media reports
Singapore to forbid entry to undesirable travelers with new no-boarding directive
Euromonitor International unveils world’s top 100 city destinations for 2025