Argophilia

Αργοφιλία: For the love of the journey.

Hyatt

The Hotel Business and Critical Mass

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Any hotel executive reading this will have arrived here via social media, Google, or as a direct reader via RSS feed. The same reader is probably reading during a commute, on a smart device, or using an iPad for night table reading. Technology has almost overnight, changed our personal and business lives in ways we never could have imaged even 5 years ago.

Status Update: Predictive Analytics for Hotels

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What’s the one question every hotel owner, director, and revenue manager on Earth wants to ask about Big Data and predictive analytics? “Where’s the proof?” This is what’s missing from every conference presentation, and ever marketing pitch for tech tools that will jump start the new business intelligence (BI). For those in need of such […]

Accor & Other Hotels Say Bye Bye to Summer Profits

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Just as some have feared but so few forecast officially, this Summer’s travel was not as big a hit as expected. When Accor Hotel Group warned their investors profit may not meet expectations last week the recession’s effect on hoteliers was cemented for the season.

The Curious Case of Room Key

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A news release yesterday via Business Wire tells of conglomerate hotel booking site Room Key’s coming out of Beta status. What’s curious about this news is not so much the fluffy nature of it, but claims of millions having flocked to the startup to book their hotel rooms. At least this is the feel of the announcement. A bit of one of those “non-event” specialties creative PR agencies excel at perhaps? What’s the real story?

Roomkey: On the Verge of Success & Failure At Once

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Roomkey. If there were ever a more appropriate name for a hotel booking channel, a more symbolically significant potential for branding, that would have to be perfection. Roomkey.com actually does have that possibility. But, like all great ideas and initiatives, the big time hoteliers’ 3rd interjection of intelligent engagement, has it’s problems too. There’s room for lots of niche products in travel, but is Roomkey an escape hatch or a marketing channel? And if exit marketing is introduced, even niche traffic and conversions could be scared away.

Who’s the Big Bad Wolf of Hotel Marketing?

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Just out, the Distribution Channel Analysis study via the American Hotel Lodging Association (AH&LA) and STR, has been released. The detailed study, supposedly aimed at helping “all” hoteliers better understand hotel room distribution, discusses distribution channel mix, among other salient hotel profitability instances. But, is the study really meant for all hoteliers, or just the fat cats?

Preferred Hotel Group Picks RateGain for Intel

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RateGain, a company whose BrandGain innovation we just covered on Argo News, has just announced Preferred Hotel Group’s adoption of their iRate advanced intelligence tool. RateGain’s cutting edge rate shopping system, combined with the hotel groups iRate program, will afford managers real time advantage across multiple channels.

Welcome to Russia Joins Forces With ASTA

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Welcome to Russia joins the elite list of travel companies belonging to the ASTA. According to this latest news, Russia’s leading conduit for travel support joins the world’s largest travel agent association. Russia is set to engage travel and tourism on an unprecedented level.