Agoda, the original Asian OTA, has gone rogue on pricing. Multiple hoteliers say Agoda regularly sells unauthorized static wholesale rates through the site, undercutting them on price without any regard for contracts. Other times the feeling is Agoda takes a contracted rate and shaves its margin to push the price below competitor and hotel pricing. Agoda’s […]
Expedia is attempting to move all Wotif.com contracted properties onto a single company-wide contract and is raising site commission for larger producers from 12% to 15% – an increase of 25% – four months after buying the Australian OTA. “We are in discussions with them at the moment and there are a number of matters […]
TripAdvisor has started revealing the source of reviews for properties that use its guest followup tools – an initiative that reveals hotels can in many cases drive most of the comments. For example, a survey of the first 40 current reviews in several Sydney hotels show that most resulted from management pro-activity. At 57 Hotel, 75% […]
French travel icon, Club Med, will be likely Chinese-owned by February 9 after regulators approved the takeover bid by Fosun International, which has offered €24.60 per share for the resort operator, valuing it at around €939 million. Fosun has been in a bidding war with Italian businessman Andrea Bonomi for Club Med since May, 2013, the […]
AccorHotels has announced it’s embarking on a new strategy that will see the global hotelier sell the rooms of independent hotels (for a commission of course) and also provide them with technology services, much like a modern Online Travel Agent. The big difference of course is that Accor also owns or operates 3700 properties in […]
The former Rydges on Swanston, the incubator for 90% of Victoria’s deadly second COVID wave, will be refurbished and rebranded as Crowne Plaza Melbourne Carlton. New owner Ross Pelligra bought the property for $35 million in September, and says: “We plan to lift the game and give this property a full refurb and a fresh […]
With more than 35 years in accommodation and hospitality, Quest Chairman Paul Constantinou is a respected industry leader. Paul founded Quest in 1988 and has built the business to be the largest serviced apartment group in Australasia. Today, Quest has more than 150 properties operating throughout Australia, New Zealand and Fiji. After gaining a scholarship […]
Hospitality has a multitude of moving parts but is, at its heart, a deceptively simple business, says Peter Bacon, GM of Bannisters Port Stephens. “If you get the basics of hospitality right then everything flows from there.” And for those wondering what are the basics, he unfolds: “Customer service: people being friendly, people lifting their […]
→ Subscribe to our newsletter for a weekly curation of the top travel news, straight to your inbox. We really want the first edition of the FutureTravel Summit to reflect how the travel industry navigates the pandemic, as well as the possibilities that lay ahead. Very challenging times, which brought business leaders to shift priorities and operations, adopting new tech solutions very fast, while being […]
→ Subscribe to our newsletter for a weekly curation of the top travel news, straight to your inbox. As the subject says, this edition of the FutureTravel newsletter brings your normal overview of top news on travel innovation, trends and startups and… maybe a gift. Keep reading to find out. And hey, more gifts and invitations might follow […]
→ Subscribe to our newsletter for a weekly curation of the top travel news, straight to your inbox. As we head for the weekend, we wrapped up the most relevant news about innovation, trends and startups on the travel industry. Here it goes: German startup Acomodeo announced a strategic partnership with Booking.com. Their platform now offers accommodation types specifically curated for […]
→ Subscribe to our newsletter for a weekly curation of the top travel news, straight to your inbox. Lets go straight to our weekly overview of what’s going on in the travel industry right now: Just yesterday the EU unveiled a new green plan which is kind of a big thing for the future. Amongst many of the new regulations, […]
→ Subscribe to our newsletter for a weekly curation of the top travel news, straight to your inbox. Here is your weekly roundup: Remember the days before the pandemic when social media made us feel like everyone else was traveling but us? We were witnessing a big boom of digital creators focused on travel, that’s what was going on. For now, many of […]
→ Subscribe to our newsletter for a weekly curation of the top travel news, straight to your inbox. As more and more business events go back to the ‘in-person’ format, we are all starting to make plans, right? Earlier this month there was VivaTech happening in France, next week there will be MWC here in Barcelona. If you’re […]
