Booking Phase News Today

Recently, there have been a lot of buzz and heated discussions about the impact and role of generative AI like ChatGPT in the hospitality industry and travel in general. From bold predictions that ChatGPT will "revolutionize the industry" and "liberate the industry from the yoke of the OTAs" to expert statements that it will lead to complete overhaul of the hotel tech stack and help solve labor shortages in hospitality.

This week I asked a ChatGPT-powered itinerary builder to suggest a week vacation in Kyoto, Japan and within seconds it s

This week I asked a ChatGPT-powered itinerary builder to suggest a week vacation in Kyoto, Japan. Within seconds it spat out a recommended itinerary that was exactly - experience by experience - like the tourist program I did in Kyoto during my recent visit there.

Google just announced that it would be launching a new search algorithm update over the next few weeks, enabling people to find high-quality content. The new ranking improvements aim to reduce the low-quality or unoriginal content that people find in the search engine results pages (SERPs) and allow them to see content that is useful, credible and original.

Uber became the latest player to enter the OTA space in its pursuit of the "seamless journey" with plans, which they just announced, to add flights, trains and hotels to its app, for the time being in the United Kingdom. This latest attempt to create a travel "superapp", a full-blown OTA mobile app, comes in addition to similar incursions into OTA territory by Airbnb and Hopper, both of which have already added local experiences and contracted with channel managers like SiteMinder, RateGain and...

We are all aware of the many articles that stress the importance of storytelling by hotels. Today. we see some hotels and brands being active with blogs, posts on social media, and influencer initiatives.... a myriad of fragmented efforts on isolated islands of content... not connected or integrated into hotel websites or consumer booking journeys. That being said, we all agree that a well-executed storytelling strategy allows consumers to connect with a unique hotel or brand experience. What i...

Recently I saw a statement claiming that 75% of travelers use metasearch at some point during the planning process, which made the channel crucial for driving direct bookings.