Travel Industry News & Conferences - EyeforTravel - Revenue and Data Management

Wotif Group reports record half year after tax profit

admin — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 06:54:31 +0000

Précis:

The Wotif Group has announced a record A$28.8 million after tax profit for the six months to 31 December 2011.

The 14 percent increase in profits was generated from $596 million in travel transactions. The value of travel transactions processed by the Group improved markedly, increasing by $57 million (11 percent) when compared to the immediately preceding six months (to 30 June 2011).

The Group continued to be the number one transactional travel site in Australia on all measures, said Robbie Cooke, Wotif’s managing director and Group CEO.

“We sold one in every 10 Australian hotel bed slept in,” said Cooke.

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Ryanair Cash Passport launched in Ireland

admin — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 13:01:21 +0000

Précis:

Ryanair recently launched Ryanair Cash Passport, a prepaid MasterCard currency card, in Ireland.

The airline says the MasterCard prepaid card, managed by Access Prepaid Worldwide, will replace other MasterCard Prepaid cards as the only way to avoid Ryanair’s €6 admin fee for Irish originating bookings from March onwards.

All Irish bookings made with any other card will attract Ryanair’s €6 admin fee.

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HRG develops reporting and mapping tool

admin — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 12:56:54 +0000

Précis:

Corporate services company Hogg Robinson Group (HRG) has unveiled its new interactive mapping and reporting tool, HRG Insight.

The tool, which has been designed, managed and implemented in-house, provides vital travel data such as spend, personnel and high-risk areas, on an interactive map.

The company highlighted that data is now being used by decision makers outside the sphere of travel management, including finance, procurement and team leaders. HRG Insight has been designed to deliver data in a way that is accessible and easy to use for all disciplines to ensure spend is wisely managed and personnel are always protected.

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Offering a hotel cross sell to a customer already committed to the flight

admin — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 09:12:57 +0000

Précis:

Expedia Affiliate Network (EAN) has taken an initiative to enable airlines to maximise ancillary revenues by cross selling hotels to their online customers.

EAN stated that it has enhanced the hotel shopping and booking experience for customers of its airline partners with EAN Smart Cross Sell.

With EAN Smart Cross Sell, airlines can display dynamic, tailored hotel offers to their customers during the online booking process. The objective is to focus on offering a hotel cross sell to a customer that has already committed to the flight. According to the company, the offering also minimises checkout disruption, resulting in less shopping cart abandonment and higher conversion.

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Spirit disagrees with new ruling, adds $2 fee

admin — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 12:57:54 +0000

Précis:

Spirit Airlines has stated that the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (DOT) new regulation requiring airlines to hold fares for 24 hours after booking without penalty “comes with unintended consequences and is costing consumers millions”.

For its part, the airline says to cover the costs of this “misguided and expensive” regulation, Spirit has chosen to introduce the $2 DOTUC (Department of Transportation Unintended Consequences)fee.

The $2 fee is to cover the unintended consequences of government regulations, added the airline.

People love the idea of not having to commit to a reservation, but this regulation, like most, imposes costs on consumers, said Spirit president and CEO Ben Baldanza.

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Amadeus targets travel market intelligence opportunity

admin — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 12:40:10 +0000

Précis:

Amadeus has acquired Frankfurt-based airconomy, an international strategy consultancy supplying data on passenger demand.

airconomy will be run as a separate business incubator to develop ideas for new market intelligence products; Amadeus will commercialise the new products and handle on-going product management.

Amadeus highlighted that companies are increasingly relying on hard data to make business decisions, but the numerous booking channels in the travel industry make it a daunting task.

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New tool to let UK passengers compare the optional extra fees

admin — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 13:12:07 +0000

Précis:

The UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has introduced a new tool for UK holidaymakers enabling them to compare the optional extra fees charged by airlines when booking their travel.

The CAA has published a summary of the optional charges levied by the top airlines in the UK in one, easy-to-use price comparison document. Information on the cost of taking hold luggage on board, having an in-flight meal and reserving specific seats is all included, as well as a range of other optional charges that airlines may apply.

The fees and charges comparison table includes information on the optional fees and charges applied by the top airlines operating in the UK, based on scheduled flight numbers.

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easyJet continues to attract business passengers

kerryn — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 10:28:46 +0000

Précis:

easyJet has stated that it has made a strong start to the year, as the airline’s total revenue improved by 16.7 percent to £763 million in the first quarter of its financial year.

As per the interim management statement for the quarter ended 31 December 2011, the airline continues to make steady progress in attracting business passengers, with 2.3m passengers choosing to fly with easyJet for business this quarter, an increase of 0.2m compared to the same period last year.

The airline attributed this performance in Q1 to firm control of costs, the strength of easyJet’s network, tight capacity discipline and pricing actions taken in the second half of last financial year.

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A call for “appropriate disclosure of airline optional fees” in the US

kerryn — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 09:25:37 +0000

Précis:

Around 140 organisations have urged Congress to direct the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) to within 180 days require airlines to disclose optional fee information in the same electronic and transactable formats used to publish airfares themselves.

According to the letter, transmitted by Business Travel Coalition (BTC) to Congressional conference committee members negotiating a long-term reauthorisation of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the corporations and travel management companies (TMCs) highlighted that Section 41712 of the Federal Aviation Act prohibits “unfair or deceptive” practices in the sale of air transportation by airlines and TMCs.

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Spirit Airlines warns consumers against new fare rules

kerryn — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 14:06:13 +0000

Précis:

Responding to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s latest fare rules, Spirit Airlines has a launched a campaign to “warn” consumers about the same. Spirit says it believes that customers have a right to know how much of their fare goes toward government taxes and fees rather than hiding it in the fare.

This week the Department confirmed that new regulations that will ensure consumers are being treated fairly when they travel by air are to be implemented.

For its part, Spirit believes that better form of transparency is to break out costs so customers know exactly what they are buying.

Spirit says all airlines “are now mandated to hide the government’s taxes and fees in fares”.

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US DOT urged to move swiftly on transparency of all airline fees

kerryn — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 13:40:06 +0000

Précis:

The US Department of Transportation (DOT) is being urged to move swiftly on transparency of all airline fees.

Even as Open Allies for Airfare Transparency praised the Department for adopting a rule requiring improved disclosure of baggage fees, the group mentioned that much more work needs to be done quickly to provide full disclosure of baggage and other major fees, such as for seating and boarding, before purchase, to enable meaningful comparison shopping across airlines of the “all-in” (fare+fees+taxes) price of a ticket.

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TripAdvisor to let businesses track how they are engaging with customers

kerryn — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 12:50:26 +0000

Précis:

TripAdvisor has launched a new analytics service that will allow businesses to track how they are engaging with customers and guests online. The service, TripAdvisor Management Dashboard, summarises a business’ performance on the site.

The data and information can be used to target areas for improvement and make informed, up-to-the-minute decisions. The service will be available for free to all registered business representatives. It can be accessed via the TripAdvisor Management Centre.

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US set to implement new airline passenger protections

kerryn — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 14:10:51 +0000

Précis:

New regulations that will ensure that consumers are being treated fairly when they travel by air are set to be implemented in the US.

Among the new provisions, part of the airline consumer rule issued by the U.S. Department of Transportation in April last year, are requirements that airlines and ticket agents include all mandatory taxes and fees in published airfares and that they disclose baggage fees to consumers buying tickets.

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What will the Revenue Manager of the future look like?

kerryn — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 13:29:12 +0000

Précis:

That seems to be a question on everyone’s mind recently. And while the debate rages on, one thing is undeniable: tomorrow’s Revenue Managers will be the decision makers who skillfully balance the power of technology (analytics and rate optimisation) with a return to human intuition, and manage the data influx in the process.

A recent article in the Journal of Revenue and Pricing Managementcites a survey of 487 professionals and found the future is going to be much more strategic in nature and will be more strongly driven by technology – a point that I’ve been making all along. The article’s data pointed out that as technology evolves, analytical pricing models and social networking/mobile technology are going to have a major impact on the future.

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Carlson and Rezidor strengthen ties, set up Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group

kerryn — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 13:39:45 +0000

Précis:

Global hospitality and travel company Carlson and The Rezidor Hotel Group have established the Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group.

While the legal status and ownership structure of Carlson and Rezidor remain the same, the Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group will pursue the global alignment and management of its brands, the ambitious development of its revenue generation engines, global purchasing opportunities, and people development on a global basis, according to a release.

Commercial activities will be conducted under the Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group name, irrespective of geographies.

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Travel agents in the US set air ticket sales record in 2011

kerryn — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 13:33:47 +0000

Précis:

ARC, a technology solutions company providing transaction settlement and data information services, has reported that the consolidated dollar value of airline tickets sold by US-based travel agencies in 2011 increased 6.11 percent year-over-year compared to 2010, and 25 percent over 2009.

Last year’s ticket sales totalled a record $82.1 billion, compared to $77.4 billion in 2010, and $65.8 billion in 2009.

According to ARC, results are based on sales data for 12 months ending December 31, 2011 from 14,052 US retail and corporate travel agencies, online travel agencies, and satellite ticket printing offices. It does not include sales of tickets purchased directly from airlines. Total sales are equal to the total amount paid for a ticket, which includes taxes and fees.

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Lowest-priced air tickets are bought six weeks before flight: study

kerryn — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 13:16:10 +0000

Précis:

A study in the US has indicated that airline passengers acquired the least expensive airfares six weeks in advance of their flights.

According to ARC’s study based on research into the purchase price of airline tickets in 2011, at that point during any given 120-day advance purchase period throughout 2011, flyers paid 5.8 percent below the year’s average fare of $358.30.

ARC, a technology solutions company providing transaction settlement and data information services, determined this by examining close to $80 billion worth of ticket sales, spread across almost 144 million transactions, for flights with a U.S. origin and destination.

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Optimising revenues via apt integration of revenue management and marketing

kerryn — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 14:00:08 +0000

Précis:

IN-DEPTH: The ultimate goal for hotels should not be about just filling the rooms, or to charge the “best rate” but to incentivise exactly the right amount of demand to fill the hotel every night, such that profitability across the property is achieved.

This vision cannot happen if the analytical, tactical and strategic decisions of CRM and RM are not synchronised, says Kelly McGuire, Executive Director, Hospitality and Travel Global Practice, SAS.

By Ritesh Gupta

When it comes to optimising revenues from CRM, for long it has been mentioned that CRM must establish similar credibility within organisations that its evaluation methodologies can incrementally improve the incumbent RM practices.

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easyJet replaces its booking fee with an admin fee of £9

kerryn — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 13:29:51 +0000

Précis:

easyJet has decided to replace its booking fee with an admin fee of £9 which will be included in all advertising, displayed as part of a full and final flight price at the first stage of the booking process and will be applied to all bookings regardless of payment method and how many flights are made.

The airline, which mentioned that it is taking this initiative in order to make booking flights with the airline more transparent, says the decision is valid from 12 January 2012.

Whilst passengers using a credit card will pay an additional fee to cover handling costs, easyJet will not charge passengers for handling debit card payments. The admin fee is charged on all bookings and contributes to the airline’s administrative costs, the airline shared.

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US DoT’s delay means “no meaningful way” to find the best deal on an all-in price

kerryn — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 12:18:04 +0000

Précis:

It is being highlighted that consumers will have to wait until 2013 to compare airfares that include fees as the U.S. Department of Transportation (DoT) has further deferred its consumer rulemaking III.

DoT’s delay has been caused by a requirement to do a cost/benefits analysis of its proposal, and the need to competitively bid out the contract for the analysis.

The development will have significant consequences for consumers who want to know the full cost of their airline tickets, including fees for baggage, seating, boarding and more, and be able to compare them with other airlines, before purchase.

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Letting consumers efficiently compare the total cost of air travel

kerryn — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 11:11:34 +0000

Précis:

It is being highlighted that going by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (DOT) recent rulemaking calendar the publication of an airline consumer-protection Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) is going to be delayed by four months.

This NPRM, now scheduled for publication on August 10, 2012, will address the availability of unbundled optional services (e.g., checked bags) and associated fees to agency and corporate sales channels, thereby facilitating efficient comparison-shopping for consumers.

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easyJet comes up with its biggest sale ever

kerryn — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 10:56:29 +0000

Précis:

easyJet says it has launched its biggest ever flight sale, with up to 20 percent off 25 million seats.

Passengers booking any flights across the easyJet network between 6 and 10 January 2012 for flight departures between 1 February 2012 and 11 July 2012 will receive a discount of up to 20 percent. Travellers can avail these deals at easyJet.com.

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Travel Distribution Summit India 2012

admin — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 07:06:28 +0000

Event Date:

Wed, 2012-07-18 - Thu, 2012-07-19

Event URL:

http://events.eyefortravel.com/travel-distribution-summit-india/

Event Location:

Mumbai, India

Event Organiser:

Tim Gunstone

Event Organiser E-mail:

tim@eyefortravel.com

Text Date:

18-19 July, 2012

Travel Distribution Summit North America 2012

admin — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 07:04:31 +0000

Event Date:

Tue, 2012-10-09 - Wed, 2012-10-10

Event URL:

http://events.eyefortravel.com/travel-distribution-summit-north-america/

Event Location:

Las Vegas (Dates TBC)

Number of attendees:

700

Event Organiser:

Marco Saio

Event Organiser E-mail:

marco@eyefortravel.com

Expect further increases in taxation in 2012: easyJet’s Carolyn McCall

admin — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 17:35:28 +0000

Précis:

Carolyn McCall, chief executive of easyJet, has stated that next year UK airlines and passengers will face further increases in taxation while the development of the Government’s aviation policy continues at a snail’s pace.

“Airlines join the European Emissions Trading Scheme in January – undermining still further the imposition of Air Passenger Duty – while APD will itself rise still further in April. Both changes place a further financial burden on British airlines and their passengers while APD will undermine the aviation’s sector’s ability to support UK jobs and economic growth,” said McCall.

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We don’t impose any debit or credit card charges: Ryanair

admin — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 11:49:21 +0000

Précis:

Even as the UK government is gearing up to bring forward legislation to tackle excessive card surcharges, Ryanair has pointed out that the £6 charge per passenger per one-way flight relates to costs associated with its booking system.

Ryanair has stated that it does not impose any debit or credit card fees. According to a report filed by guardian.co.uk, Ryanair claims instead to charge an “admin fee” per passenger per one-way flight. This £6 charge is levied when a passenger comes to pay and can only be avoided by using the airline’s own prepaid Mastercard.

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Primary Event:

Travel Distribution Summit Europe 2012

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Contributing to a hotel’s bottom line in 2012 as a revenue management specialist

admin — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 11:23:37 +0000

Précis:

IN-DEPTH: As revenue management gains prominence, the discipline has to exhibit its proficiency by focusing on several issues, be it for unpredictable forces shaping demand or taking on responsibilities for broader activities. RM needs to be put in a position to steer the overall revenue activity, armed with detailed forward-looking reporting on segments and channels at the hotel level.

By Ritesh Gupta

The hotel industry has had to deal with complicated pricing situations where every market and every day can be different and therefore one needs assistance from systems to price correctly. This is where revenue management has showed its prowess over the past few years.

RM professionals believe that the most consistent development across the hotel industry in 2011 has been the increased prominence of the discipline itself.

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Primary Event:

Travel Distribution Summit Europe 2012

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UK government to implement a ban against excessive card surcharges

kerryn — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 11:07:07 +0000

Précis:

The UK government has decided to bring forward legislation to tackle excessive card surcharges. Efforts are being made to make sure that consumers paying by card do not have to pay the excessively high surcharges being imposed on them by some airlines and other businesses.

The government stated that it will: Ban excessive surcharges on all forms of payment, not just debit cards; Extend the ban across most retail sectors, not just transport; and Become the first European country to act by implementing forthcoming European legislation early to ban this practice before the end of 2012. The government will publish a consultation in the New Year setting out next steps.

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Combatting unpredictable habits of consumers with automated and dynamic pricing strategies

kerryn — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 11:16:22 +0000

Précis:

Social media, interconnectivity, consumer review sites –these have all become game changers in the booking process for hoteliers.

No new insights there, but with less than two weeks to go before we hit 2012, what “new” advice can I give to revenue managers to stay ahead and above the comfort curve? Let’s start with implementing intelligent, automated and dynamic pricing strategies to manage and preempt the evolving and sometimes unpredictable habits of consumers - starting on January 1^st.

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Working on optimal revenue management strategy for 2012

kerryn — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 13:06:09 +0000

Précis:

IN-DEPTH: RM professionals need to watch out for continuing innovations in channel revenue management - incorporating cost of sale into revenue management decisions systematically and guiding hotels on the most optimal channel mix that maximises total profits in 2012.

The industry is expected to witness more research into the customer choices and integrating that within the traditional Revenue Management and pricing decision-making process, says Dev Koushik, Director, Revenue Optimisation & Analytics, InterContinental Hotels Group.

By Ritesh Gupta

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