Back in January we announced new in-house training courses for Hotels and other companies in the travel sector. The programs have been a great success, especially for independent hotels that are struggling to compete with OTAs.
Through the delivery of these training courses for hotels, we have discovered that many companies in this space need more help. Specifically – a common sense approach to becoming more digital and more customercentric.
In the Northern Hemisphere, it’s the middle of the Summer season, but around the world, we are hearing the same story:
“We have to get better at marketing and selling direct to customers. We can’t afford to get all our bookings through the Online Booking Engines (OTAs).
The Good News
- The cost of the technology required for Digital Transformation of Independent hotels is coming down.
- Open Source and SaaS solutions are giving smaller businesses functionality that was once the preserve of Enterprise and global brands.
- Many of the OTAs and bigger brands are invested in legacy solutions that can’t easily be upgraded and smaller operators can ‘Leapfrog’ to the latest products.
- There is some backlash by consumers, particularly Generation Z and Millennials who buy travel in a different way and are savvy when it comes to aggressive re-marketing and non-personalised offers.
The Bad News, or Opportunity
- Your problems might not be technical. Even if you found the right digital solution, finding talent to maximise the available tools can be difficult. This gets even harder in markets where localisation and understanding of local language and culture is key to repeat business. We can fix this one – In-house training for your team can have results within 6 weeks.
- Change needs to come from the top. Which means – this should not be an IT project. This should be the responsibility of the COO or Chief Revenue Officer. If you can get these key people in the leadership team involved, then your Digital Transformation project may have a chance of succeeding.
- You don’t have much time. The big guys have invested in data. They know where they are vulnerable, but more importantly, they know where they need to invest and how to react. It’s not too late though.
- You don’t have much time. Other companies like Toroq.me have also seen the opportunity presented by a lack of personalisation and a race to the bottom on price. If it’s not high season for you right now, you can act – right now.