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HotelsCombined.com — the world’s leading hotel search engine and price aggregator — proudly announces Hichame Assi as the new Head of Strategy – Online Marketing. In this role, Hichame will lead a number of product development and online marketing initiatives.

“With experience in both information technology and eCommerce strategy, Hichame is a dynamic addition to the HotelsCombined.com team,” said Michael Doubinski, General Manager HotelsCombined.com. “Through further development of strategic online platforms and subsequent marketing, HotelsCombined.com will no doubt continue to shine as the worldwide hotel meta-search engine leader, offering the very best product for our users and our partners,” added Doubinski. (more…)

IDeaS Revenue Optimization, the leading provider of hotel revenue management solutions and services, today celebrated its 20th anniversary. Delivering their first Revenue Management System to the market in 1990, IDeaS has been an integral part of the revenue management culture from it’s inception in the late 1980’s. Acquired in 2008 by SAS Institute, IDeaS has grown to more than 250 employees, provides revenue optimization solutions and services to more than 1,600 hotel properties worldwide, and has expanded its hospitality portfolio to airport parking, bus transportation and event ticketing.

“We’re exhilarated and continually driven by our affect on the revenue management industry over the last 20 years,” said Ravi Mehrotra, founder and president, IDeaS. “For IDeaS, it has always been about people, processes and technology – not just software.” (more…)

Amadeus GTD Southern Africa has successfully implemented a unique application at City Lodge Hotels, making it the first hotel group in the world to fully integrate the Amadeus Multi-Channel Distribution (AMCD) hotel distribution solution and Amadeus Property Management System (PMS) in a single user interface that will benefit the local and international travel industry.

Through this solution, which is on track to go live in late January, City Lodge properties will have access to a single image view of rates, availability and booking status, as well as faster response times, says Amadeus GTD Southern Africa general manager, Peter Long. “City Lodge will also have better control and operational efficiency at its hotels as a result of the two Amadeus systems working together. Amadeus travel agents globally will have efficient booking access to City Lodge rooms and rates,” he says. (more…)

Travelstart Global has sold the European part of its operation to a European travel consortium, European Travel Interactive (eTraveli).  The deal, effective from 1 February, will not affect Travelstart’s South African business, which will operate as normal.

Travelstart has run its international head office from Cape Town since 2009 and is currently the online travel market leader in South Africa.  The company’s founder and CEO, Stephan Ekbergh, says the decision to sell the European arm of its operations was primarily driven by his vision to create a strong online travel brand for emerging markets. He has plans to expand the business to the rest of Africa as well as the Middle East. (more…)

Despite the doom and gloom of the recession, GlobRes hotels have thrived throughout the year. Using a blend of innovate marketing, appropriate hotel technology and dynamic rate management, these hotels have not only weathered the storm, but are set for a lucrative 2010. GlobRes is pleased to share these good news stories from hotels that do not simply enjoy success based on a brand name, or successes of the past, but are constantly refining their internal processes and strategies to ensure success in the future.

The Miller of Mansfield in the United Kingdom epitomises a ‘hands on’ approach to maximise distribution, using special promotions and loading dynamic packaging into the web booking engine. The hotel has also implemented stay restrictions, which have been hugely beneficial in generating more revenue. Playing to its strengths and unique selling points, the hotel attracts many business travellers through the week. The promotion of the hotel’s restaurant plays a vital role in this; it has become very well known throughout the area. Despite being a small property with only 13 rooms, the hotel’s bookings through the GDS continue to rise every month. This is due to the hotel’s continued commitment to managing the GDS effectively with the help of GlobRes. (more…)

Travelstart.co.za, South Africa’s biggest online travel price comparison and booking website, today reported a 70% increase in online travel sales for 2009.

The company’s growth, recorded in a year littered with financial gloom and dismal global tourism growth figures, is a sure indication that, despite these challenges, online bookings is becoming more popular amongst South African travellers.
“We are naturally very pleased with our growth here in South Africa and believe that we will see an even bigger increase in figures for 2010, not only because we will be hosting the 2010 World Cup, but also because South African’s are fast becoming more reliant on the internet to research and plan travel.  (more…)

Europcar has introduced South Africa’s first car rental mobile phone site. The new ‘mobisite’ offers customers convenience and mobility to book anywhere and at anytime.

Features on the site include receiving quotes and making, cancelling, viewing or amending a reservation. Also available are information on the latest specials, vehicles, branch locations and all contact details.      (more…)

With the upcoming FIFA World Cup 2010 now six months away, the anticipated 400 000 overseas fans are about to scramble for accommodation in all the host cities around the country. The expected shortage of places to stay, particularly in smaller centres like Bloemfontein, Polokwane, Rustenburg, Nelspruit and PE has resulted in a number of Internet sites with private home accommodation rentals, many with little or no experience in property rental, all trying to capitalise on the projected crisis.

One well-known Internet company that has both South African and international experience is iStopOver.com, owned by Brightspark 3.0 Inc., run by two South Africans currently living abroad. (more…)

For hoteliers in 2010, very few aspects of daily and strategic operations are going to be as crucial as revenue management.  Of course, revenue management is important at all times but as the new year gets underway with a stronger recovery mentality – and about time too – it is especially important now: demand for hotel rooms is forecasted to increase only slightly more than 1%, and occupancy to essentially remain unchanged this year. It is vital, therefore, for individual properties to effectively manage their revenue streams to remain competitive and, well, keep the doors open for business.  This means optimizing rates, managing multiple sales channels, embracing new and innovative revenue management techniques and technologies, and using as much information as possible to get the best rates from every booking.

So how will hotels achieve efficient revenue management as the year unfolds?  Here are a few of the most promising strategies that are likely to impact the practice of revenue management in 2010. (more…)