World Panel Viewpoint News Today

In the latest Thematic World Panel, we posed the question of how primary data extractions from the property management system (PMS) can be used for machine learning (ML) to the grow a hotel or heighten productivity. With a range of astute viewpoints from respondents, there are two main themes that the answers revealed.

Using interfaces to access the multitudes of information housed within a hotels property management system (PMS), technology vendors have on their hands a literal treasure trove of first-party training data for machine learning applications. Any primary data extraction must nevertheless be focused around specific use cases that must be tested and verified before deploying in a live environment. Thus far, weve seen lots of discussion around whats possible in the abstract for machine learning, but...

In the early stages of Revenue Management, cranking up rates when the hotel was on a clear path to selling out was about all it took to be a successful Revenue Manager. But as digital transformation has taken hold in hotels, the role, and the definition of success, have evolved greatly. Once the gold standard, technical knowledge and decent Excel skills are now table stakes. Todays successful Revenue Manager must focus far beyond forecasting and setting prices. A mastery of the constantly evolvi...

To "four airlines," CarTrawler chief commercial officer Aileen McCormack said, ancillary revenue is already the "predominant revenue source." He calls this phenomenon the "ancillary revenue revolution." However, in our industry, up/cross-selling seems to be perceived as mainly a "vanity metric."

For as long as most hoteliers can remember, RevPAR has widely been accepted as the most critical hotel performance KPI. Taking both occupancy and average rate into consideration, RevPAR indicates how successful the hotel has been filling its perishable inventory AND the overall caliber of business that it was able to fill it with. Back then, more RevPAR simply meant more profit.

Please note that the submission deadline has been postponed to 03 June 2022!

Undervalued and unloved, the brand websites of many hotel companies need more than a bit of care and attention. With travel finally taking off, what should hoteliers focus on to improve their direct websites in order to ensure they receive their fair share of online bookings?

Expedia Group CEO Peter Kern believes that 2023 will be the year that we stop predicting a travel recovery and actually start enjoying it. In an interview with Bloomberg, he said further: "Summer 2022 will be the busiest travel season ever." But after two years of little to no demand, many hoteliers have started to look beyond traditional room revenue and warmed up to the opportunity which lies in non-room revenue. With a possible record summer ahead, will the idea of total revenue (and total...

When it comes to hotel tech, we may all agree that PMSs are at the top of the food chain. Its semantically already in the name itself: a PMS is the SYSTEM used to MANAGE your PROPERTY. This gives the software connotations of centrality in operations. However, a new wave of leaner systems is rising: PMSs are becoming "hubs" rather than all-in-one solutions, using open APIs to allow users to plug in other software and tools as needed. These systems are less about "managing the prope...