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Traveller spending and hoteliers’ profitability expected to rise in 2013

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Maldives Promotion House – TripAdvisor has revealed the results of its TripBarometer, a biannual study, conducted on behalf of TripAdvisor by independent research firm StrategyOne (a division of Edelman Berland), that reports on top travel and hospitality industry trends, according to more than 35,000 travellers and accommodations around the world.

The results of the TripBarometer highlight country level, regional and global trends within the travel sector and reveal insights into economic outlook, travel planning, booking methods and traveller expectations.

Accommodations in Asia are able to look back at last year with satisfaction: 79% of the over 1,600 accommodations in the region surveyed for the TripBarometer reported that 2012 was economically successful for them. In fact, 24% of accommodation owners in the region went so far as to describe 2012 as “very profitable”.

Accommodation owners in Asia are amongst the most bullish in the world with 72% of them stating that they are optimistic about their probability this year, which is slightly above the global average of 68%.

  • North America 82%
  • South America 77%
  • Asia 72%
  • Africa 71%
  • Middle East 71%
  • Australasia 65%
  • Europe 54%
  • GLOBAL 68%

Looking at hiring trends within the global accommodation industry, 19% of respondents are planning to add new jobs in 2013. According to the TripBarometer, Asian accommodations are nearly three times (32%) as likely to add news jobs in 2013 as European accommodations (12%).

Asian accommodations are amongst the most likely to increase their room rates in 2013, with 42% of accommodation providers planning to increase rates this year.

  • South America 48%
  • North America 43%
  • Asia 42%
  • Africa 41%
  • Middle East 39%
  • Australasia 36%
  • Europe 32%
  • GLOBAL 40%

Global Travellers’ Plans to Increase Travel Spend Present Opportunity for Accommodations

Travellers from Africa are showing the biggest increase in their planned travel spend for 2013, with 76% of respondents saying they estimate that their travel budget will increase this year.

Travellers from the Middle East (75%) and South America (58%) also plan to spend notably more on travel in 2013.

Globally, 50% of travellers expect their travel spend to go up this year.

  • Africa 76%
  • Middle East 75%
  • South America 58%
  • Asia 49%
  • Australasia 44%
  • North America 44%
  • Europe 44%
  • GLOBAL 50%

Online Channels Acting as Megaphone for Traditional ‘Word of Mouth’

The TripBarometer reveals that 69% of travellers globally use travel review websites when researching and planning their trips. Over half (62%) of respondents in Asia look to travel review websites.

The three sources of information reported as being most useful by global and Asian travellers are all online sources.

  • Travel review websites 38%
  • Web based travel agencies 19%
  • Travel operator websites 16%
  • Friends and family 10%
  • Travel magazines & brochures 6%
  • Social media 4%
  • High street travel agencies 4%
  • Other 3%

With travellers going online for their travel research and planning, they are also showing preference for online as the primary booking channel. Globally, the majority of travellers are booking accommodation via web-based travel agencies (27%), closely followed by accommodations’ own websites (23%).

Business owners report their own website as the channel that generates the most bookings (35%) for them, followed by online travel agencies (18%). The data paints a slightly less positive story for store front travel agencies, with 9% of travellers booking their last accommodation through an offline travel agent.

Looking strictly at the results for Asian accommodations, 28% report their own website as the channel that generates the majority of their bookings, followed by online travel agencies (24%) and their own mobile app (13%).

The results of the TripBarometer reveal that travel review websites have the biggest influence on travellers’ decisions when choosing a hotel: 95% of Asian travellers indicated that other people’s reviews and opinions on travel review websites have influenced their decision to book accommodations for their last trip. Not surprisingly, a majority (97%) of accommodations in the region perceived online reviews to be of crucial importance for generating bookings.

Asian Properties in Control of Their Online Reputation

According to the TripBarometer, 31% of Asian travellers claim to have written a review about the accommodation they stayed at after a trip.

It is not surprising that a majority (91%) of Asian accommodations indicated that they are taking active control of their online reputation by monitoring traveller reviews online.

Asian accommodations consider both guest rants and raves equally valuable feedback. Properties in the region are proactive in responding to both positive and negative online reviews with 71% of them responding to positive reviews and 78% responding to negative reviews, either online or in private.

Good staff performance does not go unnoticed with over half (65%) of Asian properties indicating that they have congratulated or rewarded staff as a result of positive online reviews.

Guest feedback is taken seriously by Asian accommodations with 66% indicating that they have addressed the content of a negative review with the staff involved and a further 57% having invested in staff training on account of receiving a negative online review.

“With travel review websites as the biggest influence on travellers’ decisions when choosing a hotel, it’s encouraging to see hotels in Asia taking immediate action to manage their online reputation by engaging with past guests and the wider traveller community through management responses to online reviews,” said Lewis Ng, Commercial Director APAC, TripAdvisor for Business. “One of the best ways to generate more traveller reviews is to simply ask hotel guests to share their travel experiences online.”

Accommodations Not Meeting Travellers’ Mobile Expectations

According to the TripBarometer, 79% of Asian travellers think it is beneficial that properties allow them to book accommodation via a mobile device. Similarly, when asked, three quarters of accommodations in Asia (74%) think it is important to allow guests to book their property on a mobile device.

However, despite the perceived importance of mobile booking capabilities and consumer demand for this, just three in ten (29%) Asian properties currently engage with guests via mobile devices. Of those that do engage with travellers via mobile, 67% allow guests to book rooms on mobile devices, 39% have a mobile friendly website and 25% have special offers for mobile device users.

“With consumers turning to online channels at every step of the travel planning process, we’re experiencing an increase in direct bookings through our hotel website which not only enhances our bottom line but allows us to manage the customer relationship end-to-end,” said Kevin Croley, Senior Vice President at Pan Pacific Hotels Group. “Also, as consumers are now spending more time on their mobile phones than ever before, travellers are expressing a growing preference to conduct business transactions from their own mobile devices. Recognising this growing trend and the opportunity to capture market share amongst consumers booking accommodations via digital devices, Pan Pacific is investing more resources into mobile websites and other digital marketing initiatives.”

“The TripBarometer has revealed useful insights into what global travellers are planning and shone a light on the areas where accommodation providers can do more to meet guests’ expectations,” said Christine Petersen, President, TripAdvisor for Business. “With travellers choosing digital channels for their travel planning and research, traditional word of mouth has been amplified and online booking has become the norm across the globe. The next logical step is mobile, especially considering that travellers in some emerging markets are bypassing desktops and getting online for the first time using mobile devices. Furthermore, as business optimism and travel budgets increase across Asia, it seems likely that hospitality businesses in the region will benefit from this positive sentiment.”

 

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Emirates undertakes largest known fleet retrofit project

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Emirates has kick-started its plans to upgrade the entire interior cabins of 120 Airbus A380 and Boeing 777 aircraft – two of the largest commercial aircraft types in service today.

This ambitious project, representing a multi-billion dollar investment to ensure Emirates’ customers “fly better” for the coming years, officially commences in November and is managed entirely by Emirates’ Engineering team.

The target is to completely retrofit four Emirates aircraft from start to finish every month, continuously for over 2 years. Once the 67 earmarked A380s are refreshed and back in service, 53 777s will undergo their facelift. This will see nearly 4,000 brand new Premium Economy seats installed, 728 First Class suites refurbished and over 5,000 Business Class seats upgraded to a new style and design when the project is complete in April 2025.

In addition, carpets and stairs will be upgraded, and cabin interior panels refreshed with new tones and design motifs including the iconic ghaf trees which are native to the UAE.

No other airline has handled a retrofit of this magnitude in-house, and there’s no blueprint for such an undertaking. Therefore Emirates Engineering teams have been planning and testing extensively, to establish and streamline processes, and identify and address any possible snags.

Trials began on an A380 in July, where experienced engineers literally took each cabin apart piece-by-piece and logged every step. From removing seats and panelling to bolts and screws, every action was tested, timed and mapped out. Potential impediments to completing the installation of Emirates’ new Premium Economy Class or the retrofit of the remaining three cabins in just 16 days were flagged and documented for expert teams to review and address.

As part of the programme, new purpose-built workshops will be set up at Emirates Engineering to repaint, re-trim and re-upholster Business and Economy Class seats with new covers and cushioning. First Class suites will be carefully disassembled and sent to a specialised company to replace the leather, arm rests and other materials.

From the trials, Engineers discovered several unexpected solutions for instance: that existing food catering trucks could be easily repurposed to move parts destined for refurbishment from the aircraft to the workshop for their refresh, as these vehicles had doors of the right width and offer sufficient space.

Until the retrofit programme starts in earnest in November, a cross-disciplinary team has been assembled to regularly review the planning process, address any issues, and track updates on various aspects of the project such as procurement, staffing, and training.

Emirates’ new Premium Economy cabin class, which offers luxurious seats, more legroom, and a service to rival many airlines’ business offering, is currently available to Emirates customers travelling on popular A380 routes to London, Paris, Sydney. More customers will be able to experience the airline’s new Premium Economy cabins starting from year end, as the retrofit programme picks up momentum.

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Eleanor helps over 30 Maldives hotels elevate guest services

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Eleanor has been named as one of the top 10 concierge software providers globally.

Based on accurate, timely reviews from real users, the HotelTechAwards rank the world’s best hotel software firms and products and it also provides hoteliers direct access to a growing network of hotel technology professionals and decision-makers.

“The guest experience is the cornerstone of our platform. Our unified resort wide solution, Eleanor, has been built for resorts off the back of many years working in the industry and addresses the needs of both Sales and Marketing departments and perhaps just as importantly, the operational requirements of the team on the ground at the property. The days of resorts working with disjointed systems are now behind us,” says Darren Caple, co-founder and CEO.

“We are on a mission to make the guest’s resort experience as easy and as frictionless as possible. Whereas traditional providers in the market have come at this purely from a guest communication perspective, our background in resorts has allowed us to combine this basic requirement with the streamlining of operational processes. The result is truly a resort wide solution that removes the need for countless different systems to be deployed.

Eleanor allows resorts to deliver consistent, superior service levels to guests across all stages of their journey with contactless features helping to alleviate sensitive touch-points in the post pandemic period. More than 30 properties in the Maldives use our Eleanor platform to help butlers and guest services elevate the guest experience. These properties are seeing an increase in incremental revenue by over 30% and operational efficiencies of 600+ man hours per month. We are also beginning to roll out the platform in some Caribbean properties!”

Eleanor is making waves in the hospitality industry by pushing the conventional limits of what a resort guest app can achieve through its unique ability to facilitate direct bookings for services and activities. The traditional ‘request to book’ feature that is common amongst almost all other hotel apps is removed by a power booking and operational platform sitting at the heart of the solution that covers all the resorts’ departments. It’s this module which realises enormous operational benefits and insights for the resort.

“We, at Eleanor, are humbled and honoured that our clients have provided such positive reviews. Feedback from our clients, partners and hoteliers are incredibly valuable for us and we will continue to improve our offering and services”, said Caple.

To celebrate this success, Eleanor is currently offering resorts a free one month trial, together with free setup and training and discounted monthly fees.

Eleanor, founded in 2018 and has its headquarters in the United Kingdom. Created from over 15 years of hands-on expertise, Eleanor allows resorts to deliver consistent, superior service levels to its guests across all stages of their journey with contactless features helping to alleviate sensitive touch-points in the post pandemic period. Eleanor also helps to unlock operational efficiencies and boost incremental revenue and guest loyalty.

Hotel Tech Report’s Best Concierge Software 2022 Runner Up, reviewed as a preferred and reliable hotel software product by the global hotelier community.

For more information, visit www.eleanorapp.com.

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Emirates’ recruiters scour the world for cabin crew talent with 30 city stops

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Emirates, the world’s most global airline, is seeking talented people with a passion for service to join its award-winning cabin crew team.

As air travel returns with a vengeance, the airline’s recruiters are busy meeting and hiring candidates in 30 cities from now until the end of June. In this latest drive, Emirates’ teams will travel from Australia to the UK, and dozens of European cities in between, as well as Cairo, Algiers, Tunis and Bahrain.

Abdulaziz Al Ali, Emirates Group’s Executive Vice President for Human Resources said: “There’s no more exciting airline than Emirates for anyone interested in a flying career, and we’ve received tremendous interest since we began our recruitment drive for cabin crew in November.”

“While parts of the application process are done online, we always make the effort to meet our candidates in person whenever we can, and that is why our Talent Acquisition team is doing a whirlwind 30-city tour over the next 6 weeks to assess prospective candidates.”

Emirates’ truly global cabin crew team represent 160 nationalities, reflecting its customer mix and international operations in over 130 cities on six continents.

All Emirates crew are based in the exciting cosmopolitan city of Dubai, with company-provided accommodation, tax-free salary and more benefits.

Interested candidates can read more about the Emirates cabin crew role, and apply online at: https://www.emiratesgroupcareers.com/cabin-crew/

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