Tech industry leaders: Hoteliers, don’t cannibalize direct sales, it’s the most profitable

Leading experts from the hotel and tech industry at the Rentlio Rediscover conference pointed out that direct reservations are the most profitable and cheapest sales option for hotels, and the key factor for their increase is the personalization of content and offers. The third edition of the only hotel-tech networking event in Croatia was held on Thursday at Fortis Club in Petr&ccaroni, and this year the conference was visited by more than 330 regional hoteliers, technology partners and leaders from the world of the hospitality industry.

The event was opened by Marko Mišuli, CEO of Rentli, which is celebrating its tenth anniversary this year. In his presentation, he referred to the slow reaction of Croatian hoteliers in the implementation of new technologies, pointing out that the record number of tourists will not fill the accommodation capacity forever.

– Croatia’s record number of visitors will stop at some point and then the hotels will be left with big problems such as outdated technology and lack of manpower. At the moment, a large number of hoteliers see investing in technology as an expense, while buying new furniture is an investment. We must understand that tourism is also a technology business, which is why OTA platforms such as Booking.com and Expedia allocate 15 to 20 percent of their budget to technology. On the other hand, hoteliers invest less than 3 percent of their income in digitization – Mišuli said.

Concrete advice on improving direct sales with the help of artificial intelligence and content personalization, offered Elena Klouda, Market Director for Mediterranean markets from The Hotels Network, a company that cooperates with more than 20,000 hotels worldwide. As she stated, the data show that 98 percent of visitors to the hotel’s website leave without a reservation because they did not find adequate content for themselves.

– If that figure were to drop by just one percent, there would be an increase in income from direct sales by about 50 percent. Therefore, if we take into account the fees that hotels pay through booking platforms, direct booking is the cheapest and most profitable sales option. Hoteliers must therefore stop cannibalizing direct sales – said Klouda and added that the key increases in the personalization of offers and content.

Photo: LOVRE PERAIC

Personalization was the main topic of the panel discussion “Redefining Seamless Service: What Modern Guests Expect?” powered by Worldline, in which Damir Knežević, CEO of Hoteza Europe, Chris Willette, Head of Global Business Development at Worldline Global, and Roberto Gobo, Director of Digitalization in Valamar. The discussion was moderated by Filip Gerin, Product Manager from Rentli.

Knežević pointed out that guest data is a key tool for content personalization. Information such as nationality or vacation reservation period can be of great help when creating an offer, but also when choosing services while the guest is staying. located in the building. Willette spoke about the importance of introducing different types of payment for the guest, but also about new trends that could spill over from the USA to Europe. He particularly pointed out the hotels that immediately offer the guest various local programs and contents that would suit him during the reservation.

In the discussion, Gobo touched on the digitization of the guest registration process, stating that hotels that offer the possibility of online registration save money and speed up the process themselves.

– Guests do online check-in through the software that the hotel uses, which saves the receptionists time and gives them the opportunity to focus more on creating personalized offers – said Gobo and added that scaling is not possible without quality technology.

A novelty at this year’s conference was the “Fireside Chat” lecture format, where partners and clients of Rentli discussed their experiences with technologies in the hotel industry. Diana Rubić Radman, director of one of the most prominent hotels in Split, Marvie Hotel & Health, in a conversation with Pankraci Barać, Head of Engineering at Rentlio, described what the process of switching to the Rentlio Pro PMS system looked like and what was the motivation behind their decision. The second “Fireside Chat” was attended by Ivan Brezak Brkan, founderč Netocracie, and Martina Tolić, Product Success Manager from Infobip. In their conversation, they pointed out how to use conversational chatbots to improve sales, useful experience and efficiency of the call center.

The last block of lectures was opened by Joana Pires Coelho, Revenue Manager at PriceLabs. In her presentation, she explained that when determining prices, hotels must not only look at hotel competitors, but also; and private rentals. Pires Coelho emphasized that understanding data from both segments is key to creating pricing strategies that ultimately lead to maximum revenue and maintaining competitiveness on the market.

The conference was closed by Krešimir Drvar, digital and growth marketing manager from Lauris, a Google and HubSpot partner. Drvar listed five key factors that a hotel must fulfill in order to improve the personalization of content for its guests – centralization of communication, automation of sales, advanced marketing strategies, decisions made based on data and, finally, personalized offers for guests. He mentioned HubSpot as the ideal tool for achieving that goal, and at the end of his presentation he revealed that Rentlio will complete the integration with that platform by the end of the year.