News Briefs

SiteMinder, the name behind the only software platform that unlocks the full revenue potential of hotels, has today released its industry-leading platform on mobile, to give accommodation providers the power to execute their property’s revenue management strategy and mitigate real-time risks, free from their desk. The mobile app represents the first phase of the delivery of SiteMinder’s smart platform, set to launch later this year, and a key milestone in SiteMinder’s mission to make sophisticated revenue management accessible to every hotel in the world.

Available in eight languages, today's release of SiteMinder’s mobile app follows a Beta period which saw more than 800 users in over 60 countries signup in spite of no marketing or promotion. It allows accommodation providers to forecast revenue performance and take targeted action whenever needed, using their personalized 14-day overview of rooms sold, revenue earned and best performing distribution channels. Unlike existing solutions, users can also respond to real-time booking demand by easily executing time-sensitive revenue management functions in-app, such as instant rate and availability adjustments, minimum and maximum stay length adjustments, and room sale closures until pricing is fully optimized.

SiteMinder’s chief product officer, Leah Rankin, says SiteMinder’s mobile app is a response to the thousands of hoteliers who for years have been accessing the company’s platform for desktop from their mobile device. The release of SiteMinder’s platform on mobile is about ensuring they and all accommodation providers have the continuous ability to maximize their property’s revenue performance and take rapid action to avert risks.

“We are living in a new era of travel that brings with it new booking patterns and behaviors. Never before have hoteliers had to be so dynamic in their response to an unpredictable booking landscape. Speed-to-market can now mean the difference between thousands upon thousands of revenue gained or revenue lost. That is why today, the power of SiteMinder, which for more than 41,000 hotels last year generated over US$45 billion in revenue from more than 115 million reservations, is officially in our customers’ hands,” says Rankin.

“Without any marketing or promotion, we saw significant early sign up volumes to our mobile app, which indicated the real need and demand for a mobile-optimized experience. It’s an experience where hoteliers can execute their end-to-end revenue management and marketing strategies at speed, when on the move. It’s also where trusted data ensures they don’t miss out on ultra time-sensitive revenue opportunities, like demand-driving public events or changes in competitors’ pricing, and where errors can be fixed within seconds, before any monetary or reputational damage occurs. These are capabilities that have traditionally felt too complex and large scale to execute, even on desktop. But this is the new era of dynamic revenue management, and mobility is at the heart of it.”

One of the app’s first adopters is Solmar Hotels & Resorts in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico – a favorite destination for US travelers. Hermes Alejandro Avendaño Lopez, the company’s Corporate E-Commerce Coordinator, says  "The new SiteMinder app has been a lifesaver. It was a much-needed step up compared to accessing SiteMinder through our mobile’s browsers, enabling us to be much more dynamic at managing the inventory, rates, and availability of our properties."

Another early mover, Le Thi To Mai, Revenue Manager at Alba Wellness Valley by Fusion in Vietnam, comments, “SiteMinder’s new app has streamlined our revenue management with quick availability checks, performance reports and rapid rate updates – perfect for our dynamic pricing strategy. It's been a game-changer for us.”

Adds Encarni Ogea Bermúdez, Director at Costa Azul Hostel in Spain: “The mobile app is super practical, fast and easy-to-use. It allows me to instantly visualize key information, like availability and minimum stays, from the palm of my hand.”

SiteMinder’s mobile app has been unveiled at ITB Berlin, where the company’s revenue product consultant, Aimee Olley, will provide a keynote presentation about what the release means for the world’s hotels. 

Domino's Pizza Inc. introduces its new and improved loyalty program. 

Domino's Rewards offers loyalty members even more opportunities to earn and redeem points across its corporate and franchise store locations. Domino's enhanced rewards program allows customers to:

• Earn points for less
  • Loyalty members will now earn 10 points on every order of $5 or more
• Redeem points for even more menu items – and earn free Domino's after just two orders
  • Members can redeem a variety of points for more menu items:
    • 20 points: A free dipping cup, a 16-piece order of Parmesan Bread Bites or a 20 oz. drink
    • 40 points: An order of Bread Twists or Stuffed Cheesy Bread
    • 60 points: A medium, two-topping pizza; pasta; Oven-Baked Sandwich; or a 3-piece order of Chocolate Lava Crunch Cakes
• Earn more rewards
  • Loyalty perks are now even better, as members will have exclusive access to member-only deals, special discounts and opportunities to earn bonus points!

"We are thrilled to give the brand's loyal customers additional ways to earn free Domino's items more often," said Mark Messing, Domino's vice president of digital experience and loyalty. "At a time when most brands are scaling back their loyalty programs and making it more difficult to earn and redeem points, Domino's is doing the opposite. We want to make it easier to reward our customers and give them more options so they can get rewarded faster."

Marketing a LTO 

From now until Oct. 22, 2023, rewards members can take advantage of a limited time offer to redeem 20 points for a free order of Domino's new Pepperoni Stuffed Cheesy Bread, which is normally a 40-point redemption, in celebration of the product's recent launch. 

Amadeus, leveraging its proven leadership in hospitality distribution for business travel, is expanding its expertise in the dynamic world of leisure travel. The latest offering, Amadeus Leisure Connect, unifies three complementary products: Private Agreements, Amadeus Value Hotels™, and the Amadeus Travel Platform™, to deliver a connected traveler experience, more personalization, and an optimized distribution strategy for leisure travel sellers.

The Leisure Connect portfolio streamlines hotel content distribution by connecting hoteliers and travel sellers throughout the booking process and eliminates the need for multiple content provider integrations. Travel sellers enjoy enhanced data sharing and revenue management, while hotels benefit from enhanced customer experiences. With Leisure Connect, both parties can optimize their distribution and sales strategies.

The components of Leisure Connect for Travel Sellers: 

• Travel sellers can use the Private Agreements solution to access real-time rates, availability, and inventory for their directly contracted hotels worldwide. Beyond enhancing the customer experience, travel sellers are empowered to upsell additional services and personalize their offerings with room preferences, flexible dining, spa and fitness options, additional activities, and experiences to maximize returns.
• Additionally, Amadeus Value Hotels equips leisure travel sellers with a range of exclusive prepaid net rates and allows sellers to set their selling prices to optimize revenue. There are over 600,000 properties within the Amadeus Value Hotels program.
• These solutions are supported by the centralized Amadeus Travel Platform which streamlines the overall booking experience.
• Together, these solutions come together within Amadeus Leisure Connect to drive profitability, optimize operations, and guarantee the delivery of tailor-made offerings to every leisure traveler.

Leisure Connect for Hotel Providers:

• Leisure Connect allows hotels to improve their control over distribution, manage inventory, optimize pricing strategies, and ensure rate parity. From hosting content to handling payments and providing innovative analytics, it offers everything hoteliers need to attract the leisure traveler.

The Amadeus Leisure Connect launch partners value the solution for its scalability, speed to market, and exclusive deals, which help both hoteliers and travel sellers meet customer demand and optimize revenue.

Mirja Sickel, Vice President, Hospitality Distribution, Amadeus, explains, “The key concept behind the launch of Amadeus Leisure Connect is ‘hotel selling made simple’. Our aim is to leverage our experience and continued investment in innovation to make global leisure hotel distribution easy, directly connecting hoteliers and travel sellers and empowering them to optimize their distribution revenues. By expanding our services in the realm of leisure travel, we will be better able to serve the evolving needs of today's travelers.”

Mews and Amadeus announced their extended strategic partnership to better connect the hospitality technology ecosystem.

Mews, which has over 1,000 partners in its marketplace, empowers hoteliers to build the tech ecosystem that perfectly suits their goals and provides an exceptional experience for their guests.

Since 2018, Mews has integrated with Amadeus’ iHotelier®, an industry leading reservations and booking engine that makes it simple for hoteliers to capture, curate and convert more bookings with hundreds of channel partners and GDS connectivity for a larger distribution network. The integration has almost 100 joint customers to date.  Central to the strategic relationship is the addition of three new integrations to provide a best-in-industry solution for both Mews and Amadeus customers. This approach empowers hoteliers to build their own bespoke technology stack, now including:

• Amadeus Delphi®: One of the most trusted names in sales and catering software, the cloud-native solution enables hoteliers to streamline their sales and event processes from lead to execution.
• Amadeus Guest Management System (GMS): More than just a customer relationship management tool, GMS offers a suite of marketing automation capabilities to engage hotel guests and drive incremental revenue and deeper loyalty.
• Amadeus Demand360+®: The most comprehensive, forward-looking market insight data available in the industry to inform hotelier marketing and revenue strategies.

With these integrated solutions, customers can enable a more seamless guest journey, improve guest experience and reduce administrative work for hotel staff.

“Amadeus is one of the biggest names in travel technology and we know its people are full of passion and expertise,” said Matt Welle, CEO, Mews. “Offering these new integrations as part of our growing partner network is key to delivering our vision for the industry. We want to provide access to modern technology solutions that hoteliers can use to fit their own unique needs and maximize their potential.”

"Partnerships are a core element of our strategy in Amadeus to constantly reinforce our value proposition and bring a more connected hospitality ecosystem to life,” added Javier Campo, Vice President, Partners, Hospitality, Amadeus. "We are excited to work closely with Mews to shape a more dynamic and innovative industry for hoteliers and their guests." 

Leading consumer privacy and security company ExpressVPN and Europe’s oldest luxury hotel group, Kempinski Hotels, are partnering up to offer hotel guests a premium VPN experience during their stay and beyond¹.

Safe and reliable Wi-Fi access is essential for anyone who travels or works remotely. No matter where they are in the world, travelers are looking to stay connected privately and securely.

Through this partnership, Kempinski guests can enjoy a complimentary 7-day trial of ExpressVPN’s premium VPN service, to enjoy even greater security and privacy throughout their journey.

With its firm dedication to delivering exceptional services, Kempinski is further supporting guests with enhanced digital privacy through ExpressVPN’s best-in-class VPN service. Together with ExpressVPN, both industry leaders are addressing the evolving digital needs of travelers—allowing them to experience the internet as safely as they do in the comfort of their own homes.

“As a leading global luxury brand, Kempinski tailors every aspect of our service and offerings to meet the expectations of our discerning guests. As digital connectivity continues to play a vital role in their travel experiences, this partnership with ExpressVPN signals our unwavering commitment to make guests feel at home throughout their journey”, said Riko van Santen, Chief Information Officer and Member of the Management Board Kempinski Hotels. “It allows them to easily access their favourite shows and apps with additional privacy.”

“Whether traveling for business or pleasure, Kempinski Hotels and ExpressVPN are coming together to offer guests a premium VPN service that brings them greater privacy and unrestricted internet access during their luxury stay,” said Lauren Hendry Parsons, Privacy Advocate, ExpressVPN. “This new relationship reflects the fact that VPNs are now a digital essential, especially when traveling. Our best-in-class VPN service offers connections optimized for speed, security, and stability—providing peace of mind for travelers when they connect to networks in their home away from home .”

From today, Kempinski Hotels guests can unlock even safer browsing experiences by simply connecting to the wireless network available throughout the hotel. Upon connection, guests will be able to redeem their 7-day VPN trial via ExpressVPN and Kempinski Hotels co-branded web page.

1 - In selected hotels

Hotelbeds, part of HBX Group, consolidates its strategic partnership with H World International, marking an expansion of its preferred portfolio. This distribution agreement offers clients enhanced access to premium lodging options across 21 countries.

Through this alliance, Hotelbeds will leverage its global network of more than 71,000 travel distributors across 190 source markets to seamlessly integrate H World International’s properties. These include hotels from the Steigenberger Hotels & Resorts, IntercityHotel and Zleep Hotels brands, amplifying distribution opportunities for clients worldwide, including in hard-to-reach areas.

Carlos Muñoz, Chief Commercial Officer of HBX Group, said: "This strategic alliance underscores Hotelbeds’ steadfast commitment to delivering unparalleled value and choice to our clients, reaffirming our position as the preferred partner for travel professionals worldwide. With H World International, we are poised for a journey of mutual growth and success."

H World International’s portfolio encompasses a wide range of acclaimed hotel brands, each offering distinctive experiences tailored to meet the diverse needs of travellers. From luxury experiences at the Steigenberger Hotels & Resorts, urban vibes at IntercityHotels to Zleep Hotels which combine Scandinavian simplicity and quality where it matters: These brands embody excellence in hospitality catering to a wide range of traveller preferences.

"The partnership with Hotelbeds is an important pillar of our distribution strategy. It enables us to increase awareness of our strong brands like Steigenberger Hotels & Resorts and IntercityHotel and make our portfolio available to a global B2B network. Overall, it helps us continue our international growth, giving us access to new markets and segments", said Johanna Lamke, Senior Vice President Commercial H World International.

In the picture, from left to right, Contracting Manager Chains at Hotelbeds, Eve Vranken; Chief Commercial Officer at HBX Group, Carlos Muñoz; Senior Vice President Commercial H World International, Johanna Lamke; Regional Manager Chains at Hotelbeds, Mónica Pascual and Digital Senior Director, Jade Liu, at ITB Berlin on Tuesday 5 March.