Worldhotels generated USD108.2 million in revenue for its member properties in the Asia Pacific last year, a 7.1% increase over 2011.
SHANGHAI- Another year concluded with the Asia Pacific division of Worldhotels announcing higher revenues and brightened prospects for future growth. Overall APAC revenues climbed 7.3% over 2011 as several new properties joined the expanding Worldhotels network in Asia. With the Worldhotels value proposition recently bolstered by technological advances and new strategic alliances, the group sees its Asia Pacific region as continuing to sparkle throughout 2013.
Worldhotels generated USD108.2 million in revenue for its member properties in the Asia Pacific last year, a 7.1% increase over 2011. Reservations for the region were up 7.8%. Globally, the group exhibited strong performance as well, with GDS sales for the year increasing 4.7%, and OTA room booking ascending by a remarkable 55.8%.
The release of version 3 of the Resmaster hotel booking engine represented a significant enhancement to the Worldhotels technological advantage. Member properties that switched from Resmaster V2 to V3 during 2012 saw total revenues for the year jump by 22.34% on average, a noticeably larger leap than their average revenue in the previous year.
With innovative features that add flexibility and ease to the booking process, Resmaster V3 better enables hotels to drive direct room sales and decrease dependence on third-parties. The new engine also helps increase hotel profits by providing up-selling opportunities such as room upgrade options and dynamic rooms and services packaging. A pay-per-click advertising module that enables real time rates and availability to appear in relevant Google Maps and Google Places pages is one of the many other advantages of the engine.
Worldhotels’ new agreement with Room Key, an innovative hotel search and booking engine, will also help drive room sales for its hotels. Room Key is unique among booking engines as it provides travellers with hotel information straight from the source and the ability to directly book a room with the hotel of their choice. The new partnership with Room Key enables hotels to reach guests directly via worldhotels.com.
In 2012, Worldhotels also formed strategic alliances with Scandinavian Airlines, Baltic Airlines, TAM Airlines and Garuda Indonesia. Worldhotels guests can now earn frequent flyer miles from these airlines when booking rooms, a privilege that they already enjoy with United, Lufthansa, Air France/KLM and 17 other major carriers.
In addition, Worldhotels has stepped up on MICE sales by forming a strategic alliance with StarCite, one of the leading global marketplaces connecting meeting planners with hotels, destinations and venue suppliers. The new partnership allows Worldhotels’ properties to gain prominent exposure within the StarCite Supplier Marketplace and reach a broad audience of qualified leads.
“The upgrading of our Resmaster booking engine and the key strategic agreements entered in 2012 are all geared towards one ultimate purpose, which is to elevate our hotels’ competitive edge in the global hospitality marketplace,” said Roland Jegge, Worldhotels Executive Vice President Asia-Pacific.
During 2012, Worldhotels added a total of 10 properties to its Asian network, the new members being distributed throughout China, India, Vietnam and the Philippines. Four of these new properties are Worldhotels’ branded hotels. The group intends to significantly expand its number of branded hotels in Asia over the next ten years, with a target of 75 branded hotels by 2021 for China alone.
Forty of the independent hotels in the Worldhotels network won prestigious travel industry awards in 2012. In Asia these included the Lan Kwai Fong Hotel and Indigo Pearl Phuket, which were recognized respectively as Hong Kong’s Leading Boutique Hotel and Asia’s Leading Design Hotel by World Travel Awards 2012. One World Hotel Malaysia won Trip Advisor Traveller’s Choice Award 2012 and Best Convention Hotel Asia Pacific 2012, while Sutera Harbour Resort in Malaysia, Empire Hotel & Country Club in Brunei and the Park Lane Hotel Hong Kong were other Asian members receiving distinctions.
“2012 was another outstanding year for Worldhotels and particularly for its network in Asia” Jegge continued. “Worldhotels is making the region’s hospitality marketplace more interesting for travellers by enabling the healthy growth of independent hotels with unique character and distinction. We look forward to bringing our unparalleled technology, sales and marketing, and training solutions to more of Asia’s independently owned and managed hotels during 2013.”
Luc Citrinot a French national is a freelance journalist and consultant in tourism and air transport with over 20 years experience. Based in Paris and Bangkok, he works for various travel and air transport trade publications in Europe and Asia.
