Interesting research recently released by Triptease following survey and usability testing with consumers into their browsing behaviour on hotel (and travel) websites. Hotel and travel websites have notoriously low conversion rates, so TripTease’s motivation in part is to find out what can be done to add just a percentage or two to that ratio.
Read MoreWe are delighted to welcome East Pier Hotel in Napier to the Clarity family of users.
In choosing a Property Management System to support their business, they needed a cloud hosted system able to interface to their POS and their OTA provider. Clarity Hotel Manager ticked all the boxes and East Pier went live on our cloud hosted SaaS in April.
Read MoreA total of 172 billion euros was spent on international luxury travel last year. This means that for foreign travel every eighth euro was spent on luxury products. More than 1,000 euros per night was spent by luxury travellers from the United Arab Emirates, India, Kuwait, Brazil, Australia, Canada and China (in descending order). Turnover did not increase due to higher spending per person but rather from a rising number of travellers. Growth drivers were above all new customers in emerging markets, who moved up into the luxury travel segment, or those who returned to the luxury market after the crisis, such as travellers from the USA.
Read MoreThis interesting article by Bruce was published in the June 2015 Hospitality magazine and in my opinion deserves repeating.
Bruce writes that the economic outlook is positive and transaction data suggests there is continued growth in spending across accommodation and food and beverage. A period of economic growth is an opportune time to review prices and margins. Over the past few years hospitality operators have been reluctant to increase prices despite facing increased input costs. Costs are still increasing in a number of areas, particularly supplier costs, rates, wage increases and skilled staff shortages.
Read MoreNearly every hospitality business can relate to this one; that grumpy customer who leaves quietly and then vents their frustrations through online channels such as social media or review websites such as TripAdvisor or booking portals such as Trivago.
As a manager or owner of a hospitality establishment, it's hard not to become emotionally invested in your business and in your premises, leaving you open to a less then favourable reaction to a bad review. The best thing to do? Cool down, then publicly respond.
Read MoreThe tourism industry is heading towards an annual arrivals figure of three million, with data in late May showing yet another month of growth in visitor arrivals.
Visitor arrivals for the year ending April 2015 have been boosted significantly by visitors from Asia, and are sitting now at 2.96 million says Tourism New Zealand chief executive Kevin Bowler.
The Statistics New Zealand data sees total arrivals for the year up 6.7 per cent, and holiday arrivals up 9.7 per cent.
Read MoreThe NZ Chefs Taranaki/Wanganui Hospitality Competitions, held at New Plymouth's Western Institute of Technology (Witt), brought out around 100 aspiring cooks, front of house staff, baristas, mocktail artists and more for a full-day of action.
Witt Faculty Leader of Trades Angela Ferguson said it was the fourth year the competitions had been held at the institute and students were constantly bringing new skills to the table.
Read MoreOn Thursday (June 4th) I attended the 2015 NZ Hotel Industry Conference at the Langham Hotel in Auckland. This was a very full day of presentations and workshops with over 300 of the country’s hotel manager, senior personnel and suppliers.
Read MoreEmail marketing is a very effective way to build a closer relationship with your guests and encourage repeat business while selling extra products and services. If you are struggling to find time to communicate with your guests, automation is the answer!
The Automatic Marketing Email module for Clarity Hotel Manager allows the setup of pre-arrival and post-departure emails to engage with your guests. The emails are automatically sent at a scheduled number of days before and/or after their stay.
Read MoreCompared to the month of April 2014, 2015's International visitor numbers rose a total of 7%. Both Canadian and Indian visitor numbers grew 34% on this time last year, followed closely by a 29% growth in North American visitors, and a 24% growth in Chinese visitors. It seems the hospitality industry is on a high as a result. In order to make hay while the sun shines, make sure your software systems allow you to increase productivity, make the most of your opportunities, and increase profit. If you're not seeing improvements in all three areas, give Clarity a call.
Read MoreWe now consume information online in a very different way than we did a decade ago. More devices, more screen sizes and less want/need to click to find the information you're after has created new standards in web design. Choicehotels.com have seen and reacted to the constantly changing digital landscape.
Read MoreAccording to a Radio New Zealand report on Tuesday morning, Tourism is expected to overtake Dairy as this country’s biggest export earner within the year. This is predicted following the March year tourism figures showing annual growth of 7% with just under 3million international visitors with a spend of 7 billion dollars and predictions of over 4 million visitors and a spend of 11 billion dollars by 2021. Chris Roberts of TIA says “the industry is buoyant after a 3rd consecutive year of growth.”
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