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Review: Hotel Tech Greek Summit

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  2. REVIEW HOTEL TECH GREEK SUMMIT

‘Connectedness is the magic word this year’ -  that was the resounding message of the inaugural Hotel Tech Greek Summit, which took place on March 3.

Attended by nearly 200 hoteliers and consultants from the Greek and wider European hotel market, as well as representatives from hotel industry associations, the event tackled hot hotel issues such as the need for an integrated technology stack, innovations in revenue management, and revenue generation through wellness and ancillary spend from experiences.

The event was organized by Duetto and hosted by Nikos Giokas, Business Development Manager at Revitup.

Giokas opened by outlining his top priorities for hoteliers in 2021.

“Competition is going to be very hard this season so we have to be very well prepared,” he told the audience.

Top of his list of priorities was investment in technology, specifically revenue management systems and rate shoppers. He also urged hoteliers to embrace advanced performance marketing.

“You need to watch a lot of KPIs on a daily basis: Google Analytics, web traffic, booking engine traffic, etc., and determine which markets are bringing traffic? Why is that? Who is the competition in the market where you see traffic?

“Business will be very different this year,” he added. “We used to make forecasts from historical data - that is almost gone; historical data has no use any more so we need to find different ways to make demand forecasting, such as Duetto.”

 

Why Invest In Hotel Technology Now?

Representing Duetto were Cristina Blaj, Director of Sales Europe, and Juan Ruano, Director of Hospitality Solutions EMEA.

“Hotels need to be better prepared and better equipped for what lies ahead, particularly when demand suddenly changes. An RMS provides a command center to enable hoteliers to develop and implement strategies on the fly,” said Blaj.

Their presentation focused on ‘Why invest in technology now?’ with a focus on three client case studies: First Hotels, English Lakes and Ushuaia Ibiza.

Juan Ruano explained how many hotel tech stacks are fragmented, which is a barrier to success: “We need to unite the tech stack. Duetto requires a robust data flow – both inbound and outbound – to push rates and strategy. We therefore need to connect all the relevant systems and consolidate all the data sources for revenue analysis.”

While this can seem like a tall order, more hoteliers are coming to realize the importance of this integrated tech stack and the data quality it provides. Ruano cited First Hotels, who recently began rolling out Duetto at properties across the Nordics.

“Centre to their decision was the need for a source of truth,” he said.

The big question is ‘How can hotels prepare and adapt for when demand does return?’

Blaj and Ruano talked the audience through a recent Duetto Case Study with English Lakes Hotels.

“They embraced Open Pricing, and last summer experienced the highest rates they have ever experienced and beat all-time records for this property,” Ruano explained.

The third Duetto Case Study was with Ushuaia Ibiza, part of the Palladium Hotel Group portfolio.

“Palladium integrated their tech stack and fully embraced Open Pricing. With Ushuaia their main target was to bring dynamism to room type yielding. They shifted from 90% tour operator business to 90% transient business and now this hotel is equipped to really navigate the twists and turns we will face this summer,” said Ruano.

 

Wellness & Experiences Technology

Rounding out the virtual event were presentations from ΣOUL TAILORΣ (Eurotel Group) and Triparound.

Stavros G. Mavridis, General Manager of ΣOUL TAILORΣ said: “Duetto’s presentation shows that we need to connect the dots and create synergies. ΣOUL TAILORΣ is a wellness design technology. We see wellness as multidimensional – physical, mental, emotional, spiritual and environmental. Our aim is to create synergies with an application that anyone can use from the hotel room to choose whatever is suitable for them.”

The company is working with a number of other innovators in the wellness field, including an integration with Triparound.

“Connectedness is the magic word this year. We saw it in the creation of the vaccine and we will see it with technology also. The future is bright. The future is combining tech in a way that supports and helps us,” he said.

Petrina Smyrli, Sales Manager at Triparound, closed the event with an overview of the Triparound contactless concierge application.

“The new imperative of social distancing makes contactless booking more relevant than ever. In hospitality online booking is here to stay. Triparound provide guests with digital contactless concierge booking,” she explained.

Triparound can handle capacity management of a hotel gym to provide a safe environment for the guest. It can also provide tracking capabilities, for example knowing who has used a transfer vehicle. The application also provides real-time availability, scheduling and rescheduling, and multiple payment options to enable hotels and guests to tailor their experience.

“Our BI tool provides useful insights into activity trends. Management can then shape the hotel’s business strategy concerning concierge services and make informed decisions going forward. This leads to improved client satisfaction and improved guest loyalty,” Smyrli added.

If you would like to catch up with the recording of this session and were not originally registered, please email Cristina Blaj on cristina@duettocloud.com

 

Further Reading:

Building for Revenue Recovery and Resilience in 2021 - 

https://www.duettocloud.com/library/building-for-revenue-recovery-and-resilience-in-2021

English Lakes Harnesses Domestic Demand - 

https://www.duettocloud.com/library/english-lakes-harnesses-domestic-demand

Delivering A Rock Star Revenue Strategy - 

https://www.duettocloud.com/hubfs/case-study-ushuaia.pdf?hsLang=en-us

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Sarah McCay Tams, Director of Marketing Communications.

Sarah joined Duetto in 2015 as a contributing editor covering Europe, Middle East & Africa (EMEA). In 2017, she was promoted to Director of Content, EMEA, and in 2022 promoted to Director of Marketing Communications. An experienced B2B travel industry journalist, Sarah spent 14 years working in the Middle East, most notably as senior editor – hospitality for ITP Publishing Group in Dubai, where she headed up the editorial teams on Hotelier Middle East, Caterer Middle East and Arabian Travel News. Sarah is now based back in the UK.

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