2016 Year in Review: Hospitality and Travel Tech
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Transcript of 2016 Year in Review: Hospitality and Travel Tech
SnapShot’s 2016 Year in Review:
Hospitality & Travel Tech
www.snapshot.travel [email protected] @snapshot_demand Kurfürstendamm 212, 10719 Berlin
2016 turned out to be a very exciting year for the hotel tech industry. Most of all, it was a year where new technology was finally widely discussed and speculated upon, and even introduced and tested. New tools like analytics, messaging, chatbots and the like are now being adopted by hotels around the world. We as an industry are moving quickly forward in improving and modernizing the tools and workflows we use everyday in running our hotels and in building hotel technology.
Let’s give ourselves a major round of applause for a year well done. We can’t wait to see what’s in store for 2017.
For this roundup, we'll start with the most recent news and work our way back through the year. So, without further ado, let’s jump right into the top hospitality and travel tech news of 2016.
Here’s to a fantastic new year!
- Clay and The SnapShot Team
Editorial A look back at the top hospitality tech news in 2016.
Find out more about what we do:visit us at www.snapshot.travel
One of our most popular posts came right at the end of the year. It’s our updated Hotel
Distribution Tech Chart. It's been over a year since we published the original chart, and a lot has
changed in the industry since then. Many have written to us asking to be included in "V2" or
offered suggestions on how we could improve upon the chart. So we made a few big updates to it.
Use it to better understand the current hotel technology landscape.
View on our blog
The Hotel Distribution Technology Chart: 2017
One of the biggest themes in the greater tech
industry in general this year has been artificial
intelligence, and we’re beginning to see it
trickle down into enterprise software and even
hotel tech. Artificial Intelligence or so-called
neural-networks of learning computers have
already vastly improved Google’s most
popular apps like Translate, Google’s speech
tools, and Image search. It’s only a matter of
time until A.I. is used to improve the
capabilities of travel technology.
Read on NY Times
The Great A.I. Awakening
Leonardo on some of the major innovations, upsets, and happenings that
influenced hotel marketing in 2016: Facebook updates, Tripadvisor changes,
Voice-activated booking. Give this informative post a read!
Read on Leonardo’s Blog
Major Changes in 2016 That Impacted Hotel Marketing
It's no secret that the airline industry is often a
few steps ahead of the hotel industry when it
comes to embracing state-of-the-art technology.
Read this article that details some of the
strategies we could adopt, specifically regarding
revenue management.
Read on eHotelier
What Hoteliers Can Learn from the Way
Airlines Handle Revenue Management
In November we brought back our Hotel Tech
Insiders series with a conversation with Hotel
Christian IV general manager Kasper Linnet
Jørgensen about the pros and cons of being a small,
independent hotel using modern hotel tech.
Read on our blog
A.I. and machine learning are certainly buzz words in the world of technology, but not all of it is
really directly relevant to what we do. Thankfully, someone’s made this very comprehensive
guide to machine learning and AI, including current players, trends, and the overall industry.
Read on Medium
The Non-Technical Guide to Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence
THE NEW
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HOTEL ANALYTICS
Also in November, Skift chatted with Facebook's Head of Travel on Facebook's aggressive
investment in the travel sector and how our industry can leverage that to their advantage.
Read on Skift
Interview: Facebook’s Head of Travel Reveals How Brands are Winning on the Platform
Mews, a new cloud-based PMS, put out a lot of great content this year. We always enjoyed reading their
personal yet informative blog posts. Here is one of our favorites that offers seven potential changes GMs could
make to improve their operations in each department. Take a look, maybe you'll find some inspiration, too!
Read on Mew’s blog
7 Changes a GM Can Make Across Every Department
Net Affinity was certainly another one of our favorite industry insiders when it comes to
high-quality, informative and fun content, and this blog post is a perfect example: It’s a
comprehensive look at various strategies revenue managers can use when working with
data, with practical, usable information at the forefront.
Read on Net Affinity’s blog
How Do Revenue Managers Use Data?
Not only has Google employed their vast amount of user and historic data to notify customers
before flight prices suddenly jump, they're also now doing the same for hotel prices. Whether it’s
good or bad, data-powered functionality will inevitably become more commonplace in travel tech.
Read on VentureBeat
Google Now Tells You When To Book Cheap Flights and Hotel Rooms
If you're considering making the switch to a different
PMS system, here are the big questions you should
be asking before making the leap.
Read on our eHotelier
Next-Generation Property Management Systems: Is Now The Right Time To Upgrade?
The Hotel Technology Index is a community-updated knowledge base for the hotel tech and hospitality
industries. Software, applications, providers and terms! It's the result of hundreds of hours of research
and we're very excited to share it with you. Learn more about it and how we made it on our blog.
Read on our blog
There are many ways hotels can use chatbots
to enhance the customer experience. This
article gives some useful examples for the entire
customer journey from before their arrival to
after their departure.
Read more
Five Ways Chatbots Could Change The
Hotel Industry
Travelers want more amenities for cheaper prices, hence the promotion of packages.
But what, specifically, can hotels capitalize on?
Read on Skift
How Hotels Can Drive Revenue by Rethinking the Hotel Package
We sat down with the experts and put together a detailed chart exploring the connections
between data sets you can find at your hotel. What happens when you compare your various
types of metrics? Our Infographic can help you find out!
Read on our blog
David Chestler of Siteminder gives an interesting look at the potential future of hospitality tech,
including what the future might hold for OTAs, distribution, and more.
Find out more
Hotel Distribution, OTAs, and the Future Of Hotel Technology
Towards the end of the summer, Tnooz and Triptease published this great infographic outlining
the battle between OTAs and hotels. So let's take a moment to walk down memory lane! Check
out how metasearch engines have evolved since the mid 1990s, in the educational infographic.
Read on Tnooz
Direct Hotel Booking Battle: A Historic Infographic
We put together this guide to how to use Google Analytics for a hotel, including detailed examples of UTM
tagging, e-commerce setup, and a free reference doc. There are other guides out there, but we made this one
because there was a clear need for a very useful guide for hotels. Take a look!
Read on our blog
As one of the world’s fastest growing chains, Yotel’s has always been ahead of the curve with
hospitality technology, and they've got big plans ahead of them. Learn how they’re “disrupting”
hospitality in this interesting profile in Digiday.
Read on Digiday
How Yotel is Disrupting the Hotel Industry
Here’s another disruptive, forward-thinking hotel.
Yet, with just one hotel up and running, Virgin hotels
have already made a big splash. By embracing
innovative digital marketing and a responsive booking
engine, Virgin’s further raising the bar for hoteliers who
want to look further into the future of the industry. This
one’s a nice one to compare with the earlier Yotel piece.
Read more on Tnooz
How Virgin Hotels’ Digital Marketing Strategy has
taken Shape
It’s always good to keep up on the
developments in how shoppers are using
(and feeling) about OTAs. Tnooz compiled
some key takeaways from a recent
Phocuswright study that looks at exactly
that.
Read on Tnooz
The State of Online Travel Agency Bookings in Charts
They say 80% of your future business will come
from 20% of your current customers. Customer
retention should be a top priority in order for
your business to survive. Here are some tips on
how to keep it up and stay in the game.
Learn more here
How to Improve Customer Retention
in 2016: 10 Best Practices
(Infographic)
There is no doubt that Google tends to
overshadow other apps, but so far they've shied
away from travel apps (aside from Maps, of
course, and their Flights website, used by
advanced travel hackers). Google Destinations
seems to be their first major contender in the
space. Must say, it looks pretty cool.
Read on Travel and Leisure
Everything You Need to Know
About Google’s Crazy New Travel
Planner
An important read on recent changes made in tripadvisor that may influence your web traffic, and what you can do about it.
Read on Pulse
Has Your TripAdvisor Traffic Plummeted? If So, This May Be Why
Our in-house Demand and Revenue Management Consultant, Linda Girrbach's practical guide to
developing a modern, effective segmentation strategy for hotels.
Read on our blog
How To Set Up Modern Hotel Segmentation
Our friends at StayNTouch put together this
list of tips for hotels using cloud tech. The
trend is undeniable: Many hotels are moving
to cloud-based tech. Here are some reasons
to consider making the leap.
Read on StayNTouch
4 Ways Independent Hotels Can Get Ahead with Cloud Technology
opensmjle put
together a great list of Internet Booking
Engines AKA IBEs for our educational
enjoyment. You have to sign up for the full list
but you can still get a good idea from the
article here (though it's worth the sign up).
Read on opensmjle
Internet Booking Engine Provider Overview - 2016
Data can be complex, so data analytics is
important to reveal the story data has to tell. It
is up to hotels themselves to give them a clear
and useful meaning. More often used for
marketing purposes, how does data also
empower employees?
Read on Skift
Data and Analytics are Defining the Future of Hotel Employee-Guest Relations
The title really says it all. But it doesn’t need to be that way! There are many ways, both in the front-of-house
and back-of-house that hotels can improve guest experience and operations, done simply by implementing
smart technological upgrades. Read more on Skift.
Read on Skift
Hotels Struggle to Exit the Analog Age
What's wrong with hospitality I.T. and hotel tech integrations? What can we do about it? The infamous
Spaghetti Chart holds the key. Get a better idea of why hotel tech often hits roadblocks, and what you can
do about it. Darja and Anton explain.
Read on our blog
The Sad State of Hotel Tech Integrations:The Spaghetti Chart
Not every hotel owner immediately
understands the value of revenue
management. Thankfully, we have
resources like this to help owners better
understand how their hotel can benefit from
solid revenue management.
Read on eHotelier
How to Demonstrate The Value of Revenue
Management to Property Owners
While it costs a pretty penny to view the full
report, you can get a very nice overview of it
from the executive summary, which is worth
reading on its own. It's a look at the industry
as it both consolidates and is disrupted by
numerous companies who are thinking
outside the standard hotel tech box.
Read on Skift
The Strategic Guide to a Modern Hotel Technology Stack
Social media can be powerful marketing
tools for hotels, but how to judge success
on various platforms can be confusing.
Nevertheless, Facebook is a serious tool
for acquiring new customers and keeping
old ones happy. Here are some tips on
how to see how well your hotel is doing on
Facebook from eHotelier.
Read on Net Affinity
The Facebook Metrics that
Matter for Hotels
We’ve share a few similar lists before, but this Hubspot list of data visualization tools adds a new layer of
usefulness. Lots in here from digging up publicly-available data to visualizing that data.
Read on Hubspot’s blog
17 Data Visualization Tools & Resources You Should Bookmark
"Data is only as good as its use."
“
”Image source: Tableau
The Definitive Oral History of Online Travel
This extensive read that Skift put out this
past spring was one of the major highlights
for us this year. Major props to Skift for
this oral history of the Online Travel
industry. In it they chat with some of the
original founders of the businesses that
got the industry going as well as today's
mover's and shakers.
Read on Skift
There’s a lot of data out there. I mean, the hospitality industry has more guest data than almost any other industry, so it can
be naturally kind of intimidating. Once that data is organized, however, it starts to make a lot more sense. That’s what this
Types of Hotel Data Infographic is all about. It’s the Wheel of Discovering Your Hotel Data… Or something like that. No
matter what you call it, this chart will help you understand the types of data your hotel encounters: big data, small data, their
sources, and the tools used, so take a look and get a better handle on your data today.
Read on our blog
The Hotel Data Types Chart 2016
Alice was another tech insider that
regularly published stellar content. Here’s
one of their best, an eBook on the
data-driven hotelier. From an average
morning in the life of a big city GM to use
cases for data, this eBook is a great
introduction to how GMs can use data to
improve their day-to-day operations. Not
just informative tips but a look at real hotels
leveraging data and analytics. Any hotel
interested in doing the same should check
this out.
Get the eBook from ALICE
The Data-Driven Hotelier
An eBook
If you’re looking for a all-in-one no-B.S.
guide to what your hotel website should look
like in 2016, take a look at this guide put
together by our friends at Tambourine. It’s
an awesome checklist of features that any
successful hotel website should have. After
all, it’s one of the most important marketing
tools at your disposal, so make the most of
it!
The 25 Most Important Features Of Your Hotel Website
Read on Tambourine’s Blog
Here’s a look at how you can use tech
and data to customize and improve the
guest experience, from the time they
book through arrival. (It's pretty useful
during their stay and after their
departure, too). Everything from
destination marketing, personalized
emails (and other communication tools),
and building better guest profiles.
Read on Net Affinity
10 Key Trends for Modern Revenue
Management
Why must we subjugate ourselves to frankly boring Excel charts and uninspired graphs? How you communicate information
doesn’t end at the data used, but actually how it’s presented. Human beings are visual learners so when data is presented
in easily understandable ways that are also aesthetically pleasing, more information is retained. With that in mind, here is a
great list of data visualization tools for both non-techies and developers. Why look at never-ending lists of numbers when
you can look at pretty (and informative pictures?) Get those XML files ready!
Read on Next Web
The 14 Best Data Visualization Tools
Hotel marketers often get concerned with getting good stats rather than investigating whether they are actually using the
right metrics. This article lists some highly useful tips on the hotel marketing numbers that actually matter today. Agreed on
the important categories mentioned here by Vikram, and also will use any reason to sneak an awesome dinosaur picture
into these slides.
Read on Words of Vikram
Dinosaur Metrics Are Taking a Bite Out of Your Hotel Marketing Performance
THE NEW
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HOTEL ANALYTICS
This list showcases the top trends of hotel
tech that started in 2016, which are,
unsurprisingly, mostly data related. From data
security, to location-based data, to improving
mobile engagement, hotels are beginning to
make better use out of the current tech tools
available to them. Check out this list for all the
interesting stats and get a head start on
understanding where the industry is headed.
Read more
6 Mega-Trends In Hotel Technology
Data isn’t numbers, it’s people.
“
”- Riley Newmann
Data Scientist, Airbnb
Image source: Tableau
Airbnb’s Insights from 5 Years of HypergrowthData science belongs everywhere at Airbnb
Airbnb was one again of the hottest topics in
the industry this year. Their "disruptive"
approach to hospitality can teach a thing or
two, regardless of how you feel about the
company. One of their biggest resources for
growth is their forward-thinking use of data.
"Data is not numbers, it's people." That sums
it up pretty well. Read more on their Nerds
blog post about how data factors into just
about everything they do.
Read on Airbnb's blog
Many in hospitality use Excel on a daily basis. But like most applications, we stick to what we know. This highly informative
eBook on how to use Excel will show you some useful tricks you'll want to have handy. As the author correctly states, “You
may know how to plug in numbers and add up cells in a column, but that's not going to get you far when it comes to
reporting on your metrics.”
Read on Hubspot
How to Use ExcelA Must-Have Guide
Around the beginning of 2016, Net Affinity
published these useful tips on how to build a
beautiful landing page for your hotel that actually
converts guests to book direct. It’s a compilation of
posts from various sources that give you a
well-rounded understanding of landing page best
practices in the hospitality industry.
Read on Net Affinity
Landing Pages: Hot Tips For
Your Hotel
And finally, for one of the first posts we shared this year, also one of our favorites that we keep returning to, it’s: “Designing
Data-Driven Interfaces.” Because telling the story behind your data is just as important as the data itself. Here’s a great look
at how to think about representing and presenting data by one of Uber’s designers.
Read on Truth Labs
Designing Data-Driven Interfaces
At SnapShot, we believe hoteliers should have
a right to their data, and a right to use it
intelligently. That's why we built SnapShot
Analytics. Analytics is a cloud-based hotel
analytics tool that presents a comprehensive
overview of your hotel data on a powerful yet
intuitive dashboard. Everything you need in
one place: PMS data, benchmarking, pricing,
web analytics, and social media stats. Dig as
deep as you want, or keep it surface level for
immediately actionable intelligence. Click
below to learn more about us.
Learn more
About Us
Everything you need to see,nothing you don’t.
HOTEL ANALYTICS
www.snapshot.travel
This Hotel Data and Analytics 2016 roundup
is brought to you by Clay and the SnapShot
team. Thanks for reading!
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