“Special Guest Co-Host Max Starkov Founder & Director of HeBs”

Live Show Player

Co Hosts
Special guest Max Starkov
Robert Cole
Holly Zoba
Valyn Perini
Stuart Butler

Show Notes

00:02 The real realities of the current limitations of blockchain functionality
00:07 current transition per miner validation is 10 minutes and 9 need to be done for validation so it can take in excess of 1 hour to confirm a transaction, much different that our current instant process and the bandwidth for this to function in is already strained
00:12 add to the fact that al transaction for modifications also have to go through the same process and cost the same as the original, making it currently cost prohibitive, and once its been use it must be maintained
00:18 AI is the real impact to the industry, the ability to use bots to handle level 1 support is at a 60% level according to Hotels.com
00:30 Marriott is already is paying around 10% OTA commissions (blended) and we know this is going to continue to go down for everyone
00:32 Marriott claims that they will have around 1000 autograph collection hotels
00:35 Cruise lines lag way behind all other industries in direct bookings,
00:38 With the cruise industry held hostage by wholesalers the ya re similar to what happened to Compaq computers
00:41 Google is the good partner of the hospitality industry, but there HPA program is still not any better than it was from the in started 9 years ago
00:46 How Google really treated the HPA program and why it is so far behind what they did with its flight program with the ITA team
00:48 Google flights is turning into the point of truth for the highest accuracy of flight info, there is no version of the ITA in Hospitality
00:54 How do the changes made by Facebook and Instagram closing tools and access change the marketing landscape?
01:01 Where should Hotels advertise — TV only large brand/radio maybe some local drive markets / Print hasn’t worked in years / paid yes / social yes / its yes / meta is weak / display advertising yes / tripadvisor not so much the ‘ad tech’ is not there / programmatic some / CRM email drip campaigns etc works if well done
01:06 What about micro influencers and what to be mindful of — who are following them and what value is it to you? It must be detailed in contract to be valid.
01:15 What is the real value of TripAdvisor
01:20 The Arrivals market is underserved, only 40% of travellers even try to prebook a tour or a local destination activity, even though they provide the best experience choices especially for destination marketing
01:25 How can a hotel not in a destination value but in a secondary market do destination value planning.
01:28 how to do you do the website/flyer at the front desk / how do you coordinate the local connections and offer them / brochure rack
01:41 The news topic of how The Winners of Travel Product Consumption survey from Phocuswright
01:48 Roberts terrible experience at his daughter’s wedding in Austin’s Westin
01:54 Using the local collaborations help market advantage
01:58 Is it worth to do MetaSearch just to maintain space compared to OTA’s in the same space?
02:02 When guest go to Google they are looking for 4 things; location / Brand / physical info/price & availability quality?
02:06 What is the value of MetaSearch and is Trvagos tools useful?

TOPICS – LIVE SHOW #153:

Top Story

1. The Winners of Travel Product Consumption
https://www.phocuswright.com/Travel-Research/Research-Updates/2018/The-Winners-of-Travel-Product-Consumption

1. Why Hotels Deserve to Lose Guests to Airbnb
1. 4-star Downtown property
2. Suburban limited service property
A Robert Cole Rant…

Brands

2. Facial Recognition Check-In Coming to Marriott Hotels
https://www.hotelnewsresource.com/article100754.html

3. Le Club AccorHotels pioneers use of biometrics to get to the heart of travelers’ true needs & desires with launch of ‘Seeker’
http://press.accorhotels.group/north-central-america-and-caribbean/seekerproject/

4. AccorHotels Finally Combines Fairmont, Raffles, and Swissôtel Loyalty Programs With Its Own

AccorHotels Finally Combines Fairmont, Raffles, and Swissôtel Loyalty Programs With Its Own

Marketing

5. Great Marketing Technology Won’t Save You From a Bad Hotel Marketing Strategy

Great Marketing Technology Won’t Save You From a Bad Hotel Marketing Strategy

6. Attribute-based selling comes to hotel reservation systems
https://www.phocuswire.com/Amadeus-IHG-attribute-based-selling

7. The Evolution of Traveling – From Leisure to Luxury
https://www.hebsdigital.com/blog/the-evolution-of-traveling

Intermediaries

8. Booking.com gets down to Basics, gets rates from other agencies
https://www.phocuswire.com/Booking-Basic-test-third-party-accommodation

9. Analysts Are Puzzled Why Booking Holdings Acquired HotelsCombined

Analysts Are Puzzled Why Booking Holdings Acquired HotelsCombined

Tech

10. How Google Exploits the Hospitality Industry for Profit

How Google Exploits the Hospitality Industry for Profit

1. Google Hotel Ads joins Google Ads
https://www.blog.google/products/ads/hotel-campaigns/

2. Google triggers new AdWords update: What are the implications for hotels?
https://www.phocuswire.com/Google-adwords-hotels

11. Albert Technologies raises $18 million for AI platform that automates marketing campaigns

Albert Technologies raises $18 million for AI platform that automates marketing campaigns

Ruh-Roh

12. Alibaba’s new AI can generate 20,000 lines of copy in a second
https://www.cnet.com/news/alibabas-new-ai-can-generated-20000-lines-of-copy-in-a-second/