LUXX Hotel in Bangkok introduces

"Home for the Young, Hip & Trendy Traveller"

This article deals with a left house situated in Bangkok which has been transformed in a small stylish and design hotel, called the LUXX hotel. Located next to the business centre of the city as well as to the clubs, restaurants entertaining locations of this big city, this 13 room establishment, is targeting young, hip and trendy travellers. The concept is simple: providing premimum class accomodations, which in this case can be comparable to studios, with all the amenities that 4 stars hotels offer while creating an atmosphere of calmness and zen. Luxx hotel also features a restaurant which at night is being transformed in a wine bar. There is also a reading area with a TV. Further on, the Internet is accessible throughout the building thanks to the wifi.

I believe that this kind of hotel is the new trend appearing on the market. Customers are looking for something different than what all the big luxurious hotels are offering. They need something more intimate, while having space and all the IT features that they have at home. The location for this types of businesses are very important in the sense that the environment they are situated in needs to reflect the lifestyle of its customers, ie. close to work and the entertainment area.

Costly fares, hotels crimp spring trips

This article deals with a study carried out by Travelocity concerning the average length of stay during spring break between 2002 and 2007. The result is that this lenght is decreasing with years from 5.9 days in 2002 to 4.9 days this year. This is mainly due a strong demand in travel for the past few years which has impacted air fares and hotel costs (ie. they rised).

What does this mean in terms of Revenue Management?

It could be seen as positive: hoteliers and airline companies have properly assessed the environment they are operating in and charge more in periods of high peak demand, such as spring break, when students are off school and parents take the opprtunity for a family travel.

However, this has had a peverse effect since customers are not staying that long anymore. So the question for hoteliers is: are they getting more money thanks to the augmentation in prices or are they loosing money due to the fact that people stay less?

What would the solution be?

The actors should probably very carefully study the prices they are offering. Indeed, until which extent would people be ready to pay for a 4 day break holiday? Can they augment the number of people traveling by offering more incentive prices if customers book early or at the last minute? Also, in the article it is mentionned that spring break travelers prefer warmer destinations. Is there not a niche to be filled by other places, like in the mountain for example.

Small hotels, big business

This article summarizes the journalist's interview with John SEARS, Executive Vice President of Boutique Hotels and Resort International. He explained why boutique hotels are so succesful when compared to palaces.

Boutique hotels started up in the 1980s. They focuse on exceptional experiences and unique style. Their main objectives is to provide small, luxurious, intimate hotels, surrounded by a great environment and fulfil the customers'desires and wishes "first and foremost. Boutique hotels'advantages in comparison with big luxurious chains, such as the Ritz, is that they are not part of a bigger organization that keeps on challenging them to decrease their costs.

Basically, boutique hotels are successful, thanks to the fact that they operate within a small structure that leaves them more liberty to manage their budget as they wish. This also means a better contact with the guests to whom more attention can be paid. This desire from the customers to be feel important when entering a luxurious hotel is more and more felt. This is why there are 24 hours conciergerie have appeared in 5 stars hotels. Accor's expansion with All Seasons is therefore better understandable. Hotels need to offer more customized services if they are to stay at the top, and it seems that at the moment, smaller stuctures are the best able to achieved that.

Internet becoming indispensible to European travel industry

This article is about the Internet becoming the major tool for the European travel industry. Indeed, customers and providers win on both sides.

Concerning the customers, they can book 24/7 (without having the hassle of going to a travel agency), travels and packages that are more and more transparent pricewise, and customers can even create their own "à la carte travel" without having to buy a whole package. This shows that travelers are getting used to less and less personal services but more flexbility.

On the other hand, for travel agencies or tour operators, offering their products online means also less costs. Indeed, they do not have to rent or buy offices in different places anymore and staffwise, they do not have so many employees anymore. Expedia, EasyJet and Ryanair among others are the best examples of this new trend.

For the hospitality industry, this means that hoteliers need to be more and more present on the Internet and now how to use properly this new way ofdistributing inventory. Transparency is good for the customers but also means that hotels cannot cheat anymore and need the service needs to be as perfect as it is described on the Internet. It has become even more important now that the customers can leave their commentaries anywhere on the net.

10 smart tips for travel shopping on the internet

This article deals with the internet travel shoppers and their buying habits. We will examine each and everyone of them and comment them in terms of the way hotels should use them.

1. Before buying these shoppers visit on average three different sites such as Travelocity or Expedia, which are third party websites, but also supplier sites. This means that buyers are looking for the best deals afford around and do realise that the third party web sites do not always propose best value for money. However, the latter can be used as some kind of advertising tool. If the hotel is attractive enough, even though the price isn't quite right, the fact that the potential consumer also checks the hotel sites may be positive for the said hotel. In terms of revenue management, this means that hotels should also save some good deals on their own site.

2. Third party sites will charge fees for packages (hotel + flight) which can be overthrown if the visitor decides to buy directly to the airline company. In other words, prices have to be well studied in order to be interesting enough for the buyers, otherwise they will go elsewhere. In this case, it might be interesting for hotels to post a link on their site which would direct the buyers straight away on the airline companies flying ticket prices.

3. Online guarantees are hard to claim if not honoured and consumers are becoming more and more aware of that. When purchasing a travel on the Internet, these guarantees better not be opaque, at the risk that it will not be sold. Therefore, hotels might need to work with the third party web sites to make it clearer and with more guarantees to the consumers.

4. Hotels are not quoted in terms of stars in the same way from one site to the other. This has two implications. First of all, hotels need to be aware of that should be careful concerning their choice of the third party web sites that are to distribute their inventory. Secondly, an harmonization of the stars given to the hotels is probably needed. The aim of this being, not to fool the customer.

5. Customers'reviews cannot always be trusted. Even they are alwas interesting to look at, they should be taken into account very carefully by the customer. In other words, to much praises on a hotel can discredit its value.

6. "Sales out isn't necessarily so", meaning that whereas one site has sold out all the inventory it had been given, it isn't necessarily the case for all the others. The consequece for hotels being that they should perfectly know the buying consumer habits so that the rest of the inventory can easily be found.

7. Whereas some customers like to buy way in advance in order to make sure that they have the best deals possible, it is also sometimes interesting to wait until the last minute to get very good deals. This means that hotels should not accostum their clientele to one way of buying but several.

8. E mail notifications are also one of the best ways to be kept up to date with what is happening and the fluctuation of prices. Hoteliers should get in the habit of having and regularly sending those kind of e mails. They can also be used as a way to keep in touch with the customers if personnalised.

9. Travel agents are still working and can still be used by customers. In other words, hotels should not loose track with any of their dustribution channels even if they are not the most widely used, they can still generate revenue.

Global Hotel Market Shifting

This article summarises the 2006 results of the HotelBenchmark Global Ranking Index which compares, on an annual basis, hotel performances in terms of Revenue Per Available Room (RevPar), outside North America.

What comes out of those results is that room occuapancy is subject to loads of external factors. Indeed, Paris and Venice are the two top ranking cities mainly due to the fact that they market themselves as the world's romantic places. Also, other hotels in different European cities have achieved good performances thanks to the events that took place there. The best examples of those hotels are situated in Germany (with the World Cup) and in Turin (World Olympic Games). Further on, economic factors also boost hotel's RevPar, like in India or in China. Middle East hotels have also known a remarkable growth thanks to the buiding of numerous facilities such as airports, resorts, gulfs, etc...).

So what do those results mean in terms of Revenue Management?

When setting their prices, hotels should take into account what is happening in the environment in which they are operating. An event, a town marketing itself, economic growth, each and every one of them can influence the revenue of the hotel. Of course, one has to be careful. Here we have only mentionned positive influences on hotels activities; nevertheless, hotels should also pay attention to "negative factors".

Marriott plans high-def TVs with 'digital connectivity panels'

This article tackles Mariott's move to offer rooms which feature more and more high-tech gadgets. Indeed, after doing research they have found out that the people travelling nowadays are younger and younger and whether it is for a business trip or just leisure, they need to be surrounded by technology at all time. This is to say that with these gadgets, noty only is Mariott helping the workers by providing them with all the material they need, but these high-tech devices can also be used by the youngest generation as an entertainment tool.

This story demonstrates that high-end hotel amenities need to improve and involve in accordance with their guest's needs and demands. It also showing that these amenities are not only a gift to their guests anymore, but rather something that the hotels owe to their customers in order to help them continue leaving their normal lives (need to be updated, entertainment, listening to their music, etc...) while they are not at home.