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REVPAR GURU & Genares Partner to Create All-in-One Solution

Carly Walter — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 15:52:19 +0000

Thursday, August 05, 2010

REVPAR GURU, the South Florida-based leader in automated revenue management solutions for the global hospitality industry, announced last week a new partnership with Genares Worldwide Reservations, creators of the only central reservations system developed specially for the new technological age. The partnership features a direct link between REVPAR GURU’s in-hotel revenue management systems and the Genares reservations pipeline, which will help both companies’ and clients to be more effective at increasing bookings and RevPAR.

The expanded partnership corresponds with REVPAR GURU’s commitment to deliver the most responsive, most effective revenue management solutions to its clients around the world. Collaborating with Genares allows REVPAR GURU to deliver a revenue management solution with extended reach and a built-in reservations generator. The partnership has created an all-in-one solution for hotel owners and general managers seeking to maximize their occupancy percentages and RevPAR figures.

In addition to the in-line benefits inherent to the partnership, both REVPAR GURU and Genares are extending preferred pricing to one another and their respective clients. This pricing structure, coupled with the cross-promotional initiatives accompanying the partnership, provides both companies (and their hotel clients worldwide) with sizable financial advantages.

“In today’s ever-changing market, hotels need to find ways to differentiate themselves from the competition. At Genares, our services definitely accomplish that goal and now, with the introduction of REVPAR GURU’s Yield Dynamic Price Engine, our service offering is unparalleled by anything in the industry in terms of revenue generation”, said Sara Wilkins, Genares Director of Marketing & PR.

Bruno Perez, VP of REVPAR GURU agreed: “REVPAR GURU has long been an innovator in the field of revenue management and the partnership with Genares will offer our clients’ the ability to optimize RevPAR and bookings to an even greater degree.”

Hotels around the world are searching for ways to optimize their revenue per available room, and the use of sophisticated, automated revenue management systems to effectively manage rates and pricing across multiple sales channels is on the rise. REVPAR GURU has distinguished itself as a leader in this field, in part because of its strong partnerships with prominent sales channels.

Genares Worldwide Reservations is the fastest growing reservation provider and the lodging industry’s only privately-held reservations technology provider created by hoteliers for hoteliers. Genares’ services include GDS and Internet connectivity, a private-label Internet booking engine, social media marketing, direct booking through Facebook, a web-based CRS with two-way XML property management system interfaces, and private-label 24×7 voice reservations/call center services.

REVPAR GURU’s revenue management systems- based on dynamic pricing logarithms that incorporate competitors’ rates, availability and real-time demand- allow hotels to adjust their pricing automatically in response to minute supply and demand changes across multiple sales channels. For many hotels still reliant on traditional static pricing structures, this advantage represents a significant bottom-line edge in their competitive set.

About Genares
Genares Worldwide Reservation Services Ltd. was launched in 2004 by former Lexington Services Corp. founders & executives. The lodging industry’s only privately-held reservations technology provider created by hoteliers for hoteliers, Genares’ services include: seamless GDS and Internet connectivity, a private-label Internet booking engine, social media marketing, direct booking through Facebook, a web-based CRS with two-way XML property management system interfaces, and private-label voice reservations/call center services. Genares is headquartered in the suburb of Irving, Texas, with offices throughout Europe, Dubai and Asia. The company is owned by Ricky A. Wilkins, Michael G. Wilkins and Eugene Harris. For more information, visit www.genares.com.

For more information or to sign-up for REVPAR GURU’s Yield Dynamic Price Engine at a Genares preferred customer rate, please contact us at Genares@revparguru.com or by phone at 786-478-3500.

About REVPAR GURU
REVPAR GURU provides hotels around the world with an alternative revenue management software solution, to manage RevPAR intelligently and effectively, and deliver maximum profits. REVPAR GURU’s custom-designed Yield Dynamic Price Engine meets the rapidly changing needs of hotels in a demanding business environment – dynamic rate optimization, real-time pricing, integrated internet and extranet yield channel management, and GDS sales distribution, to increase a hotel’s RevPAR while maintaining rate integrity and automated rate parity. It is the only revenue management solution that automatically optimizes and updates hotel rates across all major consumer travel websites, based on all market variables and in real time, and provides a strategic room inventory control. Once deployed, hotels can boost their occupancy rates and cut their distribution costs dramatically.

Headquartered in Miami, Florida, additional information can be found at www.revparguru.com or by calling +1.786.478.3500.

Thursday, August 05, 2010

Headquartered in Miami, Florida, additional information can be found at www.revparguru.com or by calling +1.786.478.3500.

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Genares Worldwide Reservations Partners with REVPAR GURU

Kirsten — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 09:45:34 +0000

Genares Worldwide Reservations Partners with REVPAR GURU

20 July, 2010

Irving, TX – Genares Worldwide Reservations, a Global Leader in the Hotel Reservations Industry is proud to announce its partnership with REVPAR GURU, developers of a new integrated revenue management and pricing solution to help hotels increase their revenues. This partnership provides hotels around the world with an all-in-one solution designed to increase occupancy and RevPAR through the implementation of the innovative revenue management and reservations technologies provided by the two companies. The end result of this partnership for its hotel clients will be the ability to manage RevPAR intelligently and effectively, and deliver maximum profits through multiple distribution channels, while cutting their costs dramatically.

“We look forward to building a long-term partnership and leveraging the synergies of two leading companies in the hospitality industry today.” Ursula Rhode, Chief Operating Officer of Genares states. REVPAR GURU’s innovative revenue management solution is a welcome addition to the many competitive services we offer here at Genares. This new partnership will further enhance the scope of services that Genares offers, giving hotels yet another tool to increase revenue and occupancy across all distribution channels.”

Jean Francois Mourier, CEO and co-founder of REVPAR GURU agreed: “At REVPAR GURU, we believe wholeheartedly in the importance of technology in optimizing a hotel’s operations, from the reservations department through to the revenue management department. In today’s global marketplace, only those properties that leverage the abilities of technology to maximize their bookings and RevPAR will be successful, and this partnership gives both Genares and REVPAR GURU the ability to offer their clients even more value for their technology dollar. It’s an exciting partnership for us and we hope that together we will be able to revolutionize the way that hoteliers use technology to run their properties.”

About REVPAR GURU

REVPAR GURU provides hotels around the world with an alternative revenue management software solution, to manage RevPAR intelligently and effectively, and deliver maximum profits. REVPAR GURU’s custom-designed Yield Dynamic Price Engine meets the rapidly changing needs of hotels in a demanding business environment – dynamic rate optimization, real-time pricing, integrated internet and extranet yield channel management, and GDS sales distribution, to increase a hotel’s RevPAR while maintaining rate integrity and automated rate parity. It is the only revenue management solution that automatically optimizes and updates hotel rates across all major consumer travel websites, based on all market variables and in real time, and provides a strategic room inventory control. Once deployed, hotels can boost their occupancy rates and cut their distribution costs dramatically. Headquartered in Miami, Florida, additional information can be found atwww.revparguru.com or by calling +1.786.478.3500.

About Genares

Genares Worldwide Reservation Services Ltd. was launched in 2004 by former Lexington Services Corp. founders & executives. The lodging industry’s only privately-held reservations technology provider created by hoteliers for hoteliers, Genares’ services include: seamless GDS and Internet connectivity, a private-label Internet booking engine, social media marketing, direct booking through Facebook, a web-based CRS with two-way XML property management system interfaces, and private-label voice reservations/call center services. Genares is headquartered in the suburb of Irving, Texas, with offices throughout Europe, Dubai and Asia.. The company is owned by Ricky A. Wilkins, Michael G. Wilkins and Eugene Harris. For more information, visit www.genares.com.

For more information or to sign-up for REVPAR GURU’s Yield Dynamic Price Engine at a Genares preferred customer rate, please contact us at Genares@revparguru.com or by phone at 786-478-3500.

www.revparguru.com or by calling +1.786.478.3500.

About Genares

For more information or to sign-up for REVPAR GURU’s Yield Dynamic Price Engine at a Genares preferred customer rate, please contact us at Genares@revparguru.com or by phone at 786-478-3500.

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In the US, Big Companies are Rapidly Adopting Social Media

Kirsten — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 23:29:42 +0000

Fastest Growing US Companies are Rapidly Adopting Social Media

Here is what this study had to say.

A one year follow up on a study of social media adoption at 500 of the fastest growing companies in the US has found that familiarity with and use of blogs, podcasting, wikis, online video and social networking has skyrocketed in 2008 to nearly double what it was in 2007. 77% of respondents now report at least some use of a social media tool in their business. Facebook has grown to be the most popular Social Network, with Twitter shortly behind. LinkedIn encompasses some of that traffic, but the mainstream Social Media Sites that companies turn to as a Revenue Source are Facebook, Twitter and Blog Sites.

The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Center for Marketing Research performed the study for Inc. Magazine and their findings confirm what previous studies have argued as well: social media use is now a major, mainstream activity. “We have known for some time that Social Media works as one of the most inexpensive, yet effective means of Marketing, it has just taken our Industry a little longer to find ways to track and prove it’s effectiveness”, says Kirsten Rhode, Vice President of Social Media with Genares.

The study was written up on Robin Good’s excellent blog Master New Media.

According to the study’s authors, “26% of respondents in 2007 felt that social media is “very important” to their business and marketing strategy. That figure rose to 44% in approximately one year. It is clear that this group of fast-growing companies considers the use of social media as a central part of its strategic plan.” In order to stay competitive in all areas, your business needs to have a robust Social Media Solution that is active in engaging with your core audience, your fans.

It’s notable that the study’s authors found much more extensive use and growth in use in the fastest growing 500 US companies than they found in the Fortune 500, the largest companies. It would be a logical fallacy to argue that the fastest growing companies are growing fastest because of their use of social media, but it is definitely a factor. Over 50% of these companies in today’s age know how important Social Media is for many reasons. It provides exposure on a whole new level, and is more effective and less expensive than traditional Marketing Strategies.

For more information on Social Media Marketing, please call Kirsten Rhode, Vice President of Social Media Today! 817.722.2844. Your Online Reputation is at stake!

Fastest Growing US Companies are Rapidly Adopting Social Media

Here is what this study had to say.

The study was written up on Robin Good’s excellent blog Master New Media.

For more information on Social Media Marketing, please call Kirsten Rhode, Vice President of Social Media Today! 817.722.2844. Your Online Reputation is at stake!

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Answering the Tough Question, How do I Track Social Media ROI for Hotels?

Kirsten — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 04:34:48 +0000

Answering the Ever Allusive Social Media Tracking Question – “I Know it’s Working, but How Do I Track It?”

One of the best things that you can do for your hotel is to ask new guests how they found out about you. But when you do this, don’t expect to get accurate information, unless you ask specific questions.

I know this sounds strange, but it makes sense, I promise.

If you make decisions about how to promote your hotel, then you will want to know how your guests find out about your business. The information you get when you ask these questions, is not always accurate. In fact it’s mostly inaccurate. Statistics show that it is about 25% accurate at best.

There are two reasons for this.

One reason is that people simply do not remember. So something we can do, is make sure we ask questions that trigger their memory.

The problem is, a lot of people want to be helpful, so they say something that makes sense. “I saw your property on Facebook” they might say. Or “I think I found you on Trip Advisor”. If you think about it, haven’t each one of us done the same thing? It’s not that we’re dishonest; we just want to be helpful.

I recently read about a Hotel that did a survey for an event they helped promote. They asked people how they found out about the event and over half of them said they heard about it on the radio. On the surface this sounded like great marketing feedback.

But there was one problem.

They never promoted this event on the radio.

People said, “I heard about it on the radio”, because they wanted to be helpful and because they listened to the radio a lot. So, it made sense (to them) that they probably heard about the event on the radio.

The second reason this sort of feedback is usually not accurate is because people hear about your hotel in many different ways.

Remember, if you’re doing your social media marketing well, you are probably using more than one medium to deliver your message to your targeted market. Depending on your budget you might be using five or more different ways to let people know who you are, what you’re about, and what you do.

It’s not hard to find five or more ways to promote your hotel:

*Email Marketing
*Facebook
*Twitter

*Travel Review Sites

*Contests
*Newspaper
*Specials
*Networking
*OTA’s
*Radio
*Local sponsorships

*Hotel Directories

These build both awareness and credibility for your hotel. (Remember, the more ways a person hears about your hotel, the more credible and memorable your message becomes to them, and the more likely they are to stay at your hotel.)

The trouble is, people are not always going to remember (or tell you) that they saw it in all of these different places. They’ll give you the name of one place they that they saw your AD, (Usually being the most recent place they saw it.)

So, we have a marketing paradox.

To get the best results, you want your message to be seen by people in multiple ways, which makes it impossible to determine (with any accuracy) which social media networks are working best. You need to know which marketing strategies are working best and that are having the greatest effect reaching potential guests, so that you can make the best use of your marketing dollars.

What do we do about this?

It depends on a lot of factors like your hotel, your budget, your social media marketing goals, etc.

It also depends on how important tracking your Marketing ROI is to your hotel.

One of the biggest obstacles for tracking results is scale. As a small hotel, if you went through the expense of trying to survey and track every type of marketing available for your hotel, you’d spend much more on tracking and surveying than you would on the social media marketing itself.

If you have a multi-million dollar marketing budget, then you can afford to do some serious testing. Once your testing shows you reasonable results, then you roll out the big campaigns on a larger scale, but that only works because your testing costs are a tiny fraction of your whole marketing plan.

For those of us with small hotel establishments, this method simply does not work. The testing would eat up most (or all) of our marketing budgets.

Here are some tips to make your Marketing, and Social Media Marketing, work better and to help you monitor it.

1. Establish a budget and commit to it. Consider this as important as your rent or payroll. Don’t make it a low priority unless your revenue and profitability are low priorities.

2. Decide what you want to say and who you want to say it to. Keep the message simple, clear and concise.

3. Decide if you want to increase awareness for your hotel, or if you want a direct response. These are two DIFFERENT goals and they require different tools and strategies.

4. Stick to it for a reasonable amount of time. Don’t quit after a couple months. Give it time to work.

5. Get feedback from guests, friends, hotel associates, employees. Try to find out WHO is seeing your message and HOW they are seeing it. Always be willing to tweak and tune it as you go, based on feedback.

6. Watch your revenue and your new guest activity. Does it go up or down as you implement this marketing strategy?

Remember, that the key to bringing in more guests is to let more people know who you are, what you can do for them and why they should consider staying with you. Focus your resources on making sure your potential guests know you and remember you. Then they will consider staying with you.

If you focus too much on tracking, you can end up wasting time and money on efforts that do not build your hotel guest numbers or build your revenue. It is however important to cover as many bases as you can within your allotted budget. This enables you to spend your Marketing Dollars in the right places!