A New Era Of Exploration Is Coming To Hoteliers. Stay Tuned!
In the past, exploring opportunities in new source markets and demand channels came with both risk and time-consuming implementations on the part of the hotelier. To start, the exploration in itself was challenging and often left to vague promises and hope. It was hard to know what channels were producing, what the real target audience was, and what their buying power was. In simple words, "is this audience a good fit for my hotel, and will the revenue generated be worth the investment in time?" Also, with many new and upcoming channels, the maintenance of adding new channels can become a severe headache for hoteliers. To give an idea, in brand hotel website the direct booking cost is $2-$5, whereas, for independent hotels, the cost per booking is $8.5- $12.5. Also, direct online bookings are 10-12 times cheaper than OTA bookings [1]. Constant monitoring of channels to ensure accuracy, may not be feasible or would require a larger team to monitor the channels manually. But this era of uncertainty may very well have come to an end. When RateGain acquired DHISCO in 2018, we did so with a clear vision on how switch technology and channel management could bring synergies to hoteliers by leveraging the strengths of each other. We knew that we had a unique opportunity to solve for the battle between push and pull models favoured by hoteliers and demand channels equally. Being customer-centric, it is in our DNA to always listen to the customers and understand their goals and challenges. Over the years, we zeroed in on a few key trends common to almost all hoteliers:
Accuracy is everything
It's no secret or surprise that the vast majority of hoteliers prefer the push model of distribution while demand partners prefer the pull model. Each model has its own advantages and favours either the hotelier or the demand partner in its own way. Until now, there seemed to be no middle ground. But with DHISCO's push technology leveraging cache and Change Discovery Services (CDS), demand partners maintain 99.9% accuracy, without a high load on CRS systems, with no missed booking due to time-out subjected to a dependency on CRS systems used by chains, and a 20-100 millisecond response time.
How is this possible you might ask? Caching and the concept of storing data with an intermediary is not new. And while it does help offload pressure on hotel CRS systems, however, accuracy was still an issue, as the cache didn't know when to refresh. With DHISCO and RateGain's utilization of the Change Discovery Service, which is a feature of the CRS, one can leverage artificial intelligence to keep the cached data fresh, by looking for patterns as well as using shopping data to look for changes. With over 250,000 hotels and alternate lodging properties in our database, we process over 200 billion transactions per month. Why does this matter? Artificial intelligence needs data to improve and become smarter. This vast network of customers, large and small, is what has allowed DHISCO's distribution network to be the most accurate and the fastest. To summarize, here is a snapshot of the Connectivity quality that DHISCO Switch provides.
 
A New Era Of Exploration Is Coming To Hoteliers. Stay Tuned!
|
Distribution for differentiation
In any industry, and especially in the hospitality industry, differentiation is highly critical. However, as you cater to niche traveller segments or want to tap into emerging source markets, you also have to tap into the marketplaces used by these travellers to book trips. These emerging marketplaces can cater to certain geographies, traveller demographics, or a specific type of properties. In the past, connecting to these "long-tail" sites was not worth the investment in time and money. But this is all about to change. Here at DHISCO, we've invented and gone LIVE with Shop-to-Push technology with one of our large hotel chain partners opening up the landscape of long-tail demand channels.
This new connectivity opens up opportunities for large chains to distribute to over 300 new channels previously unavailable via the switch. Firstly, it drastically reduces the implementation time if you are connected to the switch. Secondly, DHISCO can customize your connections to fit your needs. You can also optimize your shopping plans to ensure high cache accuracy. The large chains are already seeing this as a game-changer. It is especially true for chains with a deeper regional distribution strategy that leverages strong local channels to drive demand. Lastly, having access to both the top demand channels and long-tail channels with one provider will eliminate the need for a mix of distribution technologies (switch, channel manager, direct) to manage. DHISCO Connectivity also provides a Direct Push mechanism that can be customized to connect to 1,500+ channels, along with other distribution platform provided by RateGain, in a complete push mode. Also, it comes with the ability to handle billions of transactions seamlessly in push mode.
Introducing Distribution Insights & Optimization
As I've laid out, having a stable and reliable distribution network, and having the freedom of choice to craft the perfect mix of demand channels is critical. But how do you know what is working? How do you know that your connectivity is stable? How do you know which demand channels are performing in different regions as compared to your competitors? What is the scope of improvement? DHISCO has always monitored connectivity and communicated transparently with our customers, but now you no longer have to take our word for it. As we introduce DHISCO Insights & Optimizations, all the intelligence is at your fingertips. Leveraging the world's broadest inventory of connected properties, now you can get insights on:
 
A New Era Of Exploration Is Coming To Hoteliers. Stay Tuned!
|
Of course, all data is kept anonymously and aggregated to protect customer data and confidence. This is available in an intuitive dashboard format and can be consumed in a preferred format - Excel/Daily Mail Subscription/Browser.
The new normal just got better
There is risk, uncertainty, and our options feel limited in the world we are currently living. It doesn't mean your distribution has to be the same. As we open our doors, dust off the linens, and start welcoming guests back into our hotels, let's put our best foot forward as travel returns. At RateGain, we link our success directly to that of our hotel and OTA partners. Our customers told us they care about the accuracy and stability of their distribution channels. They want a better choice with faster implementations and insights to make better decisions. Working with key clients, we are excited and honoured to introduce the fastest and most reliable distribution technology to-date, with more options than ever. Let's welcome travel back - together.
One of the largest US based chains wanted to switch their connectivity partner for one of the largest bed-banks in the world. With over 4,000 properties to be migrated worldwide and the channel being one of the most critical for the chain, the migration had to be seamless. With Direct Push Connectivity, we rolled out 4,000 properties in 4 weeks with zero downtime. The increase in number of distributed rate plans and ability to process high transaction volumes resulted in uplift in bookings by over 240%.
Do you want to know how? Write to amanda.smith@rategain.com or request a demo for DHISCO Switch Connectivity.
[1]HospitalityNet: ADR Rise Versus Distribution Channel Cost, Revenueyourhotel.com
RateGain Travel Technologies Limited is a global provider of AI-powered SaaS solutions for travel and hospitality that works with 3,200+ customers and 700+ partners in 100+ countries helping them accelerate revenue generation through acquisition, retention, and wallet share expansion. RateGain today is one of the world's largest processors of electronic transactions, price points, and travel intent data helping revenue management, distribution and marketing teams across hotels, airlines, meta-search companies, package providers, car rentals, travel management companies, cruises and ferries drive better outcomes for their business. Founded in 2004 and headquartered in India, today RateGain works with 26 of the Top 30 Hotel Chains, 25 of the Top 30 Online Travel Agents, 3 of the Top 4 Airlines, and all the top car rentals, including 16 Global Fortune 500 companies in unlocking new revenue every day. For more information, please visit www.rategain.com.
Contact
Ankit Chaturvedi
AVP-Marketing
Phone: +91 9654502760
Email: ankit.chaturvedi@rategain.com
Organization
RateGain Technologies Limited
https://www.rategain.com
6th Floor, 9 Appold Street
London, EC2A 2AP
United Kingdom
Phone: 44 2035141419
Email: marketing@rategain.com
Recent News
 RateGain Launches the First CRS Integrated AI Voice Agent for Hotels |
|
RateGain Appoints Toby March as Executive Vice President – Americas |
|
RateGain Recognized as a Preferred Partner by Trip.com |
