Vervotech, an AI-powered hotel and room-level mapping providers, announced a partnership with TravelgateX, a global marketplace for the travel trade. Vervotech is excited to join hands with TravelgateX and integrate its AI-based Hotel Mapping and Room Mapping products to provide smart mapping solutions to its customers.

TravelgateX runs the largest connectivity marketplace. It offers one single API integration to receive standardised feed of all sellers, in addition to offering distribution options ranging from Tour Operators to OTA. This new partnership will help its customers simplify the way hotel and room content is displayed and consumed.

“TravelgateX's continued efforts in making the life easier for buyers and sellers is a testament to its global success,” said Sanjay Ghare, MD, Vervotech. He further added, “Vervotech is pleased to integrate its AI-based mapping solutions with TravelgateX and help its customers enable smart mappings to increase conversions.”

“We are thrilled to kickstart this partnership with Vervotech,” commented Iván Font, Chief Strategy Officer, TravelgateX. He also added, “We are confident that this integration will add further value to our customers and will play a massive role in increasing their sales by displaying error-free and accurate accommodation data.”

Good news for the travel industry: Not only are folks giving in to wanderlust again, but they’re enjoying all the accommodations along the way.

According to the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI^®) Travel Study 2022-2023, satisfaction across all four industries measured — airlines, hotels, car rentals, and online travel agencies — is up. The outlook is especially cozy for hotels.

“After two years of decline, a sweeping surge in guest satisfaction with hotels could signal that the industry is moving past the pandemic,” says Forrest Morgeson, Assistant Professor of Marketing at Michigan State University and Director of Research Emeritus at the ACSI. “Concurrent with a wave of pent-up demand, the positive momentum is widespread as all hoteliers increase satisfaction year over year.”

[Click here for a high res version of the infographic.]

Hyatt helps guests rest easy

Overall guest satisfaction with hotels climbs 6% to an ACSI score of 75, with Hyatt skyrocketing 10% to tie Marriott (up 3%) atop the industry standings at 80. Both Hilton (up 4% to 79) and IHG (up 3% to 76) experience valuable gains.

Despite sitting at the bottom of the industry, the large group of small hotels sees the most significant bump, ascending 11% to a score of 72. Wyndham, up 4%, sits in a tie with the smaller hotels.

Despite facing ongoing challenges such as staffing shortages and supply chain issues, hotels show strong signs of improvement across multiple elements of the guest experience. Moreover, guests feel they are getting more value for their stays, and extras like hotel amenities (76) and food services (74) receive much higher ratings than in years past. In short, the ACSI results are cause for optimism for the hotel industry at large.

Alaska flies past the competition

It’s no secret that the airlines had a turbulent holiday season. Widespread cancellations in December 2022 left thousands of passengers stranded, while staffing shortages and other operational issues impeded airlines’ ability to get travelers to their intended destinations.

Customer satisfaction, unsurprisingly, suffered, plunged 8% in January 2023 compared to December 2022, reflecting passenger sentiment from year-end travel experiences. During that time, call center satisfaction received particularly low marks, along with in-flight service and cabin cleanliness.

And yet, the plummet seems to have been a brief blip in an otherwise positive year. Overall passenger satisfaction with the airline industry increased 1% year over year to an ACSI score of 76. The outlook for the coming months may be even rosier, as passenger satisfaction rebounded substantially in February, regaining about two-thirds of the ground lost from the end of 2022.

Alaska ranks best in customer satisfaction, taking over the top spot after soaring 8% to an ACSI score of 81. Meanwhile, Delta (down 1%) and JetBlue (down 4%) at 76 apiece are the only airlines to see satisfaction move in the wrong direction. Despite its struggles during the holidays, Southwest ties American for second place, both with a 1% improvement to 78.

Alamo still leads car rentals, but Avis is in hot pursuit

Satisfaction with the car rental industry increases 1% to an ACSI score of 76.

Alamo remains in the pole position, up 5% to 83, but Avis zooms into second place after surging 8% to 80. Enterprise takes third following a 4% improvement to 79, while Budget gets a 6% bump to 76.

Newcomer Sixt starts near the bottom of the industry with an ACSI score of 72, but outpaces the group of smaller car rental companies, which finishes last with a steady mark of 71.

While the industry’s satisfaction surge was slight, car rental companies didn’t exactly sit in neutral. They were able to restock their fleets after a big dip in 2020 and used their time wisely to up their game in everything from reservations technology to staffing. ACSI data show that customers were much happier with vehicle variety (78) and appearance (82), as well as pick-up (80) and drop-off (81) locations, compared to a year ago.

Expedia gives smaller online travel agencies some competition

User satisfaction with online travel agencies overall inches up 1% to an ACSI score of 76.

Despite improving 3% to 79, the group of smaller online travel sites no longer have sole possession of the top spot. Expedia rises 8% to earn a share of the lead. Expedia’s Travelocity makes strides as well, improving 3% to 75.

Orbitz, in contrast, flounders, falling 7% into last place with an ACSI score of 71.

The ACSI Travel Study 2022-2023 on airlines, hotels, car rentals, and online travel agencies is based on interviews with 10,588 customers, chosen at random and contacted via email between April 2022 and March 2023. Download the study, and follow the ACSI on LinkedIn and Twitter at @theACSI.

No advertising or other promotional use can be made of the data and information in this release without the express prior written consent of ACSI LLC.

dailypoint, a European  Data Management and CRM platform for hospitality , has partnered with OpenTable  to allow hoteliers access to customers’ accommodation and restaurant preferences in one central place. Through the integration, OpenTable guest insights will be made available in the hotel’s central guest database, allowing hoteliers to provide their guests an even more personalized experience.

71% of respondents say using data to understand guest preferences and behavior is a top business driver impacting POS upgrade decisions, according to HT’s 2023 POS Software Trends Report.

The integration, available to hotels across Germany, comes at the perfect time, allowing hoteliers to maximize operations leading into the busy summer holiday season. It gives each guest a Central Profile, which is enriched with information from a wide range of sources, such as PMS, POS, or the hotel website with information from booking behaviour, interest in wellness or sports to restaurant preferences, allowing them to provide even better hospitality. This single source of truth in turn is the basis for personalized, precisely tailored communication that guests expect today.

One of the first hotels to take advantage of the new integration is the luxury boutique hotel TORTUE HAMBURG. The extraordinary design hotel in the center of Hamburg offers three restaurants and four bars, open to both public and hotel guests. By using the new setup, guest communication and service approach will be even more tailored to specific needs and preferences.

 Snapping up travel technology talent, UK hotel technology company Journey Hospitality embarks on a recruitment drive to further bolster its growing team as it seeks to revolutionize hotel ecommerce. 

The former Head of Engineering at Booking.com and most recently Director of Engineering at On The Beach, Craig Griffin has taken the role of Chief Technology Officer, tasked with delivering the technology vision for the company, leading the product development for the company’s all-in-one ecommerce platform onejourney® and spa management system Premier Software. Craig has led teams of more than 120 software engineers with experience digitalizing other sectors delivering ecommerce experiences including Yodel and Beazley Insurance. 

Griffin will join the C-Suite alongside CEO and Founder, Simon Bullingham, and COO Mark Reed, who will manage the company’s operations and lead product client services and agency services. 

Simon Bullingham, Founder and CEO of Journey Hospitality, said: “Craig’s experience leading and scaling software teams with Booking.com and On The Beach will enable us to grow our talent and organization to deliver our technology to a wider audience. Craig understands the complexities of hotel tech and will help us continue to innovate the online guest experience for a more profitable future for the industry.”

Griffin said: “Journey has built a strong reputation for itself over the past decade and its vision is exciting in a very underserved and complex hospitality sector. The new strategic direction, as it evolves into a tech-first company with ambitions to disrupt, is an opportunity too good to refuse. I’m looking forward to building a strong community of engineers that are enabled to deliver their best work and advance their craft.”

Journey has over 120 staff working from Cheltenham and Cannock, providing consultancy and marketing services combined with proprietary ecommerce and spa software. In the coming months, the technology company will be recruiting more roles, with plans for further expansion later in the year. 

In March 2022, Journey launched its revolutionary all-in-one ecommerce platform, onejourney® servicing over 150 luxury hotels and resorts worldwide, facilitating multi-product shopping baskets, and driving sales of non-accommodation facilities and services, and ancillary revenue streams. In March 2023, Journey extended its hotel ecommerce portfolio with the acquisition of Premier Software, the UK’s leading spa management system.

The team at Shiji ReviewPro has released a new guide to help hoteliers improve their reputation on Booking.com, one of the leading travel booking websites globally. Titled "The Hotelier's Guide to Booking.com,” the guide provides valuable insights into the importance of reputation and how to improve review scores, resulting in better visibility and increased bookings.

The report highlights that 95% of travelers read reviews before selecting an accommodation, with more than 85% trusting online reviews as much as personal recommendations. The report also presents six tips for hoteliers to improve their review scores on Booking.com, including replying to reviews, managing expectations, providing breakfast, delivering great service, ensuring cleanliness and comfort, and monitoring positive mentions in reviews.

The report also reveals that Booking.com is the leading platform for hotel reviews, accounting for 42% of all reviews worldwide, followed by Google and Tripadvisor. The new review system on Booking.com, launched recently, allows guests to provide a specific score out of 10 and submit customized subscores for different aspects of their stay, providing a more detailed analysis of the guest feedback. The system also aims to eliminate anonymous reviews and plans to make guests pinpoint reasons when giving extreme reviews to help hoteliers address pressing issues.

Furthermore, the report emphasizes that sustainability is an increasing priority for travelers, with 38% of them actively seeking information on a property's sustainability efforts prior to booking. Booking.com has responded to this trend by offering different sustainability badges that can be highlighted on a property's page and enabling a search filter for sustainable properties.

"Reputation is one of the most significant assets a hotel can have, and the internet and online reviews amplify, if not carry that message," said Michael Kessler, Chief Executive Officer at Shiji ReviewPro. "We hope that The Hotelier's Guide to Booking.com will help hoteliers understand the importance of reputation management and provide them with valuable insights to improve their scores on Booking.com." Added Kessler.

To download The Hotelier's Guide to Booking.com, please follow this link.

Atomize, a global revenue management software (RMS) has been selected by Criterion Hospitality to support their Commercial Strategy in the UK. 

Criterion Hospitality is a management company in the UK and owns several hotels in some of London's most iconic locations, such as Zedwell Piccadilly Circus, Assembly Convent Garden and Victory House in Leicester Square.

Criterion Hospitality operates over 1000 rooms currently with an additional 2000 under construction or in planning, and has an ambitious expansion plan for the coming years.

Implementing Atomize is an important piece in building a modern tech stack that supports Criterion’s growth journey ahead. The ambition is to operate a fully integrated tech stack, using the best technology to offer a smooth and personalized service for their guests and at the same time support a lean operation.

Atomize is part of this tech stack and with its automated rate updates that are based on the latest market demand shifts, the properties can be more proactive in their pricing and capture more bookings with the right rates and offers.

Assembly Covent Garden and Victory House went live in Q1 of 2023 and In the coming months the remaining properties will be deploying Atomize, providing the entire portfolio with real-time price automation.

"It just works! Atomize has already proven itself to be a powerful RMS solution that provides a strong combination of artificial intelligence and pricing control mechanisms which from day one started to save our team a vast amount of time. In a competitive market like London, to use a powerful RMS like Atomize with real-time price optimization enables us to instantly respond to demand shifts and allows us to benefit from those demand surges," says Regis Morin, Commercial Director at Criterion Hospitality.

The access to future demand insights in combination with real-time price automation, resulting in precise and just-in-time pricing - were some of the key criteria for their decision. Criterion Hospitality utilizes a very powerful combination of Atomize and OTA Insights comprehensive product portfolios.  This includes Revenue Insight, Market Insight and Rate Insight - providing Atomize with advanced comp set data, from OTAs and brand.com as well as future market demand data to optimize prices up to 730 days into the future in real time. 

“We are thrilled to work with one of London’s most reputable and forward-thinking hospitality companies. It's clear that Criterion Hospitality are looking for innovative solutions that can help them grow and improve the efficiency of their operation. We are happy to be part of their growth journey and are looking forward to supporting Criterion Hospitality Group’s expansion with our cutting-edge RMS,” says Alexander Edström, CEO at Atomize.