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How can hotel providers and travel agents be part of the choice-driven world of travel?

With Asia Pacific boasting more than 1 billion smartphone users , travellers are becoming more savvy, discerning and have higher expectations when it comes to their travel experiences.

Imagine whizzing by the queue at the concierge to go directly to your hotel room and open the door with your Apple watch; streaming Netflix from your account on a Wi-Fi enabled widescreen HDTV; and having your needs catered to simply by communicating with a chatbot. From robots to digital keys, hotels are embracing the mobile guest to enhance the traveller experience.  
 
Digital transformation has given travellers more power than ever to tailor their very own travel experiences. With Asia Pacific boasting more than 1 billion smartphone users , travellers are becoming more savvy, discerning and have higher expectations when it comes to their travel experiences. After all, they use their devices in every step of their travel journey, from planning, to booking, to experiencing and finally…to sharing. 
 
We live in a choice-driven world.
 
Engaging with this world means travel agents and hotels must be able to provide all the information travellers need to make informed choices, on the right platform and at the right time. 
 
Empowering the travel agent
For travel agents, it means the ability to inspire leisure customers with rich information about the hotel’s key features, including reviews, photographs and accurate descriptions. With travel inspiration being the key reason why Asia Pacific travellers consume travel content , empowering travel agents with deeper and more relevant information is ever more crucial for travel agents in the region. 
 
Traditionally this level of rich information came from a direct relationship between a hotel property and a travel agent. Solving the challenge of the highly fragmented accommodation, activity and transportation suppliers, Amadeus is making this content accessible to travel agents around the globe on a point and click solution.  Never before has our hotel content been so rich, boasting an excess of 402k properties, 1.4 million shopping options with instant confirmation. 
 
Through a single point of access, agents can find full information on everything from a single independent hotel to global hotel chains and bedbanks. The agent can maintain their relationship with a given property – and discover and compare new accommodation choices to offer their customers. 
 
We also play a key role on the corporate side, expanding the choice for business travellers and balancing it with the requirements of corporate policy. For example, by only displaying negotiated options or allowing preference management, an automatic tool that ensures a traveller’s personal preferences are factored into their hotel booking.
 
Giving control to the hotelier
We believe hoteliers who have invested in service and differentiation should have full control over where their content is going. With Amadeus, hotels know exactly what inventory they are selling, and at what rate – and they know who is buying. Hotels can communicate the richness and breadth of their offer – and maintain control over distribution. That level of control just isn’t available to hardworking hotels via other third party channels.
 
With the increased tourism in Asia, the higher propensity for ‘staycations’ among domestic travellers and the rise of Bleisure travel, the hotel sector holds great potential for industry players in the region. It is thus not acceptable that fragmentation should lock the hotel industry players out of the opportunities of the choice-centric world. 
 
Amadeus has therefore invested in enhanced technology that brings choice back to hospitality, offering everything from a vast range of quality global hotel content through to a huge choice of rate and payment options to help hotels and travel agents strengthen cash flow.
 
Ultimately our aim is to deliver clear choice and clear rewards: the qualities that can underpin real partnerships through the hospitality value chain.
 
1The Fifth Annual Global Media Intelligence Report by eMarketer 
2Skyskanner Travel Content Survey  
 
 
Christian Lukey, Head of Hotel Hotel Distribution at Amadeus Asia Pacific
 

 

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