Today’s hoteliers are equipped with lots of tools from companies like Travel Click, and the past cou

Leaders from the hotel industry gathered recently in west suburban Chicago to discuss industry trends and forecast 2014 business. Hosted by the Bricton Group and moderated by Travel Click, the event featured a panel of franchise representatives from IHG, Marriott International and Kimpton.
Hotel business is up July Smith Travel Reports indicate that occupancy growth grew 1.7%, ADR grew by 4.1% while rev par grew 5.8 %. Demand data shows that transient growth outpaces st joseph michigan vacation rentals silver group growth 3.6% to .7%. Moving forward, group is up but very narrow.
New transient business being added is good news for hoteliers that have been beaten up on rate for the past 5 years. Hotels are also seeing corporate spending return as industry rebounds, which pushes up ADR. Roy Nassau, Area Vice President Franchise Operations, st joseph michigan vacation rentals silver Marriott International, said, "We are telling properties it's okay to put the most aggressive rate out there and see what happens. People are back traveling and it's pushing rates up."
Hotels are getting more aggressive in promoting their own websites, including best-rate guarantees. Marriott st joseph michigan vacation rentals silver is driving up to 45% of reservation volume through its website, and hotel chains across the board have stepped up their efforts to enhance their loyalty programs.
Some hotels are backing away from Online Travel Agencies (OTA's), or picking which of the online giants to work with. The quasi-merger of Travelocity and Expedia decreases competition and puts more negotiating power with the OTA's. The panel concluded that since the OTA's have tremendous marketing power and are here to stay, the industry has to find productive st joseph michigan vacation rentals silver ways to work with them. However, concern lingers over opaque networks.
The online booking trend will continue to grow as the younger generation enters the travel st joseph michigan vacation rentals silver world. Generation Y grew up with technology and "many young people may never have to use the phone to make a reservation," said Bob Ekman, Vice President of Franchise Sales Development, IHG. "Whether it's through the franchise's own website or an OTA, online booking is more efficient than offline."
Since group business is flat and it largely is an off-line st joseph michigan vacation rentals silver process, the panel was asked what technology they were exploring to bridge the gap. Kimpton is developing an online group booking tool that will allow planners to build a profile and then input their group data, historically a stumbling block. More people are using Marriott's online group booking tool, typically small meeting groups who can now go online and book a group. Marriott is also rolling out a meeting service mobile st joseph michigan vacation rentals silver app that helps planners communicate changes and needs before and during events. Group and meeting business is catching on to technology, but need to stay current.
While major chains have teams to monitor social media activity surrounding their brand – both positive and negative, hotel general managers need to respond to social media comments, said Ron Vlasic, Chair of American Hotel Lodging Association Regional Vice President of Hotels at Kimpton Hotels. "Activity on the social media networks, especially to negative comments helps consumers see and respond to those comments. Sometimes this is as simple as a sentence or two." Roy Nassau of Marriott International added, "We believe social media is so important at Marriott, it's part of how we evaluate hotels. Social media is part of our lives – we need to be able to address negative comments."
Government travel continues to lag, down 1.5% across the board and a staggering 10% in Washington, DC. Government group business is still struggling as the administration and its agencies seek to avoid the backlash caused from past extravagant meeting and conference spending. Understanding the importance of government group travel, the industry mobilized in DC and the President's office acknowledged the importance of travel to the economy. Another bit of good news: Government rates went up universally except DC, some areas as much as 7%.
Today's hoteliers are equipped with lots of tools from companies like Travel Click, and the past couple years, hotels have made sure that they are not limited to revenue managers. Making sure reports are shared at all levels on property helps identify trends such as arrival and departure patterns, the value of certain corporate accounts, group business and where each market is going. Using these tools effectively helps hotels understand what they are able to achieve.
Ed Doherty, President of The Bricton Group, articulated that today's economy is a tale of two markets – those that are hot and those that are not. This is dependent upon destination and the type of property – extended stay, urban, suburban, collegiate or interstate, with performance varying from sector to sector, market to market. "Fox News said that this is a barbell economy and that's true of the hotel business, too. Some of our hotels are lighting it up and others are just coming out."