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THE BUSINESS OF HOTEL MANAGEMENT
9.95
Aug/Sept 2015 • Vol. 1 No. 2
“While most of the time an OTA helps to increase the revenue, it does not really change the percentage of direct reservations in the overall channel mix.” Roland Leemans, CEO of ReserveGroup Consulting (see page 9)
INDUSTRY ASSOCIATIONS IN PRELIMINARY MERGER TALKS NOVOTEL STAR BEST RECEPTIONIST
RISING hospitality star Victoria Hillman from the Novotel Queenstown Lakeside has been named the 2015 New Zealand Hotel Receptionist of the Year. The AICR international competition regional final at SkyCity earlier this month has given Victoria the chance to represent New Zealand at the world final in Vienna in January. The 19-year-old Victoria is studying for a Diploma in Hospitality Management at Queenstown Resort College and is nine months into her role as a guest services agent at the Novotel. l
HOSPITALITY New Zealand and the Motel Association have begun preliminary talks to merge the two organisations to create a new sub brand representing commercial accommodation business across the country. But a word of caution has been issued by the Tourism Industry Association (TIA) who clearly thought MANZ should be merging with it. “The voice of accommodation in New Zealand has been fractured for many years,” said HNZ president Adam Cunningham. “The need to ensure all accommodation providers are being well represented whether they are hotels, motels serviced apartments or any other accommodation style, is essential in an industry that is the backbone of tourism.” MANZ president Peter Nash said: ”We have initiated this to help ensure we maximize benefits and advocacy for business owners who need all the help they can get. Gone are the days where our industry could have a myriad of small associations all fundamentally doing the same thing. We really want to see a united voice and a united industry.” But TIA believes an open mind
Chris Roberts
Adam Cunningham
should be kept by MANZ as to how their collective interests could be best represented. CEO Chris Roberts has said that TIA was happy to extend its current relationship with MANZ and its relationship with other groups in the industry could be a suitable forward model. He said HNZ was a fine organisation but it was more focused on hospitality issues whereas motels were first and foremost in the tourism business – and TIA was the voice for the tourism industry including the accommodation sector. HNZ represents around 2500 hospitality businesses of which over 500 are in the accommodation sector while MANZ has over 800 motel members across the country. Both organizations say it is early days and there is much work to do to ensure a positive outcome but already talks have been running for several months and the feedback has been positive. The two agree that they are looking to the future to ensure operators have every opportunity to prosper, and have the government understand industry needs for growth. Both associations have upcoming annual meetings and an outcome from these current talks is expected to be announced in October. l
WHERE TO WITH THE OTA’s ?
THE rising tension between OTA’s, the megasearch engines and hotel properties is intensifying, not only here but around the globe and the eventual outcome has never been more uncertain. Commission levels are high with OTA’s and their market share is increasing as more venture into what is becoming a lucrative business. The situation has created a quandary for many owners and operators because OTA’s can become both a friend and a foe. Often described as the lazy man’s approach to hotel marketing, many hotel operators are now looking at driving guests direct to themselves and in the past month, one local chain has even resorted to television advertising. It is recognized that there are no silver bullets in the marketing mix that can obviate substantial and growing commissions. Certainly online travel and accommodation bookings are a growing feature of the marketplace but what is a hotelier to do ? The major question of rate parity is certainly a serious issue and it is only a matter of time here, as it is overseas, that it will come under fire. No doubt there are benefits to be had from the relationship but it is a question of balance. And hotels still need to make rapid changes to convince internet users to book on their own website using best rate guarantees, stronger rewards programmes, more effective social media and decent content marketing on their sites. Clearly the industry cannot allow OTA’s to control supply and this particularly applies to regional hotels and motels that don’t have their own booking engines. Already there is a European and US trend of plus-20% commissions and the signs are ominous here unless a stand is taken. l
CONTENTS 05 The Concierge 10 Sustainable Practices 16 Keeping it “Sacred” 20 Meet the Chef 29 Changes mean flexibility
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