Kayak's CEO is back and 4 more stories
MAINSTREAM IS INTERESTED IN HOTEL TECH
Hotel tech is at best a business to business problem, until now. NY Times' recent article on putting the front desk in guests' pockets is an interesting read, especially that this is a topic that rarely hits mainstream media. But as tech has become a major news story in it's own we're bound to be seeing more of this. Which is great for hotel tech.
ONLINE ADVERTISING BELONGS TO GOOGLE
A recent study released by Fastbooking on the evolution of metasearch tells many things about how metasearch has evolved. Not only does it claim metasearch now drives more clicks than AdWords, they also show that Google Hotel Ads, has taken over the top spot in generating revenue beating TripAdvisor. All that while everyone was busy talking about Kayak and Trivago's latest ads. The bad news is that between AdWords and Hotel Ads, Google has a near monopoly in online advertising for hotels. The good news is that hotels have a channel for direct revenue that pulls some weight.
STEVE HAFNER SAYS:
When Kayak's CEO talks to the industry he normally shares some wisdom. This recent talk at Skift's Forum was no exception. A 20 minute video interview with Dennis Schaal is worth every minute. His view on the future of metasearch recent mergers and how travel search can be vastly improved. Highly recommended.
IF YOU'RE SELLING TECH TO HOTELS - READ THIS
I've had the fortune of managing a few hotels. I've made it a rule for my firm to always have at least one hotel client, because I know that life in hotels is totally different from life in a tech company. This open letter from a hotel management company to tech companies is the most accurate description of why and how hotels use the tech they use. It should be mandatory reading for every tech company. But that doesn't leave hoteliers off the hook from demanding that their providers deliver excellent and connected software.
FACEBOOK'S NEWS IS GOOD NEWS
Facebook recently announced a bunch of news at their F8 conference. One of which is how Facebook is opening their messenger platform for local businesses to be able to build a small bot more easily. Canned responses such as, what are your opening times? can then be answered by a bot. But one can easily foresee how this could generate direct revenue for hotels with "hidden" rates and the likes for direct bookers.