How to Implement a Sucessful E-Distribution Strategy at Villa Marina Lodge ? - Use a Channel Manager / PMS - Sell on OTAs (booking.com, expedia etc...) - Practice basic revenue management This document was elaborated by Florie, Hopinoer, for the Villa Marina Lodge, Panama, in a serie of works and studies allowing tourism professional to make their activity more sustainable.

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Spread the awareness, get together and act for a responsible tourism.
Hopineo for Villa Marina Lodge – November 2014

2. Become Hopinoer 2
? Market Share
Market Growth
You’re working already well with this high potential segment,
continue investing and developing it.
You’re working already well with this low future potential
segment, continue working with them but stop investing on it.
[19:13:02] Ben | HotelMinder: There is a great potential and
it needs you to work on it - Are you ready ?
Low potential, forget about it.
 DMC for international couples & families
Booking in direct and through OTA
International and National Indiv. interested in :
 Fishing
 Marine Life
 Bird-Watching & Photography
 Honeymoon
 Surfing (with higher budget)
 National from the capital weekends / holidays
 Surfers backpackers
 Groups of national guests (friends)
 Walk-in tourists with car rental

3. Become Hopinoer 3
3. Hotel
Website
& SEO
4. Revenue Management
2.
Positioning
& Guest Experience
1. Clear Understanding of the Market
• Online Distribution (Booking Button & OTAs)
• Dynamic vs Static Pricing
• Cancelation Policy
• Restrictions (MLOS)
• Smart Packages
• Rooms Category and Inventory
• Guests Reviews (TripAdvisor & OTAs)
OK
OK
OK
→ Next Step !

4. Become Hopinoer 4
1. Use a Channel Manager
and PMS
2. Start Selling through OTA
(Online Travel Agencies)
3. Practice Basic
Revenue Management

5. Become Hopinoer 5
PMS =
Property
Management
System
Rates & AvailabilityReservation Delivery
Hotel own website
(thanks to a booking button…)
Wholesalers
(Hotel Beds…)
GDS
(Amadeus, Sabre…)
Channel
Manager
OTA’s = Online Travel Agencies
(Booking.com, Expedia…)

6. Become Hopinoer 6
• Push up occupancy and rates (Revenue Management) by:
• Playing with rates : adopt a dynamic pricing strategy.
• Playing with length of stay restrictions.
• Sell on more OTA, increasing your online visibility.
• Allowing guests to book directly through the hotel website.
• Adjust inventories on real time automatically: no over-bookings.
• Avoid human mistakes by automatizing recurring tasks.
• Track your performance, get statistics, adjust your actions.
• Centralize and automatize recurring tasks:
• No need to log-in to each extranet one by one.
• Update rates and inventories in one click on all channels.
• No need to copy guests booking info : direct into the PMS.
• Guests can check availability and rates alone: less emails.
$

7. Become Hopinoer 7
There a plenty of different Channel Managers and PMS solutions.
You can ask Ben from Hotelminder, he’s an expert and can help you in making the good choice
and setting up the whole thing : ben@hotelminder.com
• Between 80$ and 350$ / month.
• Different pricing models: fix set up cost, monthly fix or % fees ?
• Find a channel manager which can be connected to your PMS if you
have already one.
• Possibility of connecting all the OTA on which you want to sell ?
• Depending of your property specificities and the level of revenue
management you want to practice.

8. Become Hopinoer 8
Channel
Manager
PMS
POS
(for F&B)
/ month
Estimated
cost /
month
Comments
1 +50 $ 350 $ The Best of the best
2 Incl. 90 $
Basic POS, great for
RM
3 Incl. 150 $
Better POS, but not so
great for RM
4 N/A 80 $ No Yielding, no POS
+ fix costs for installation may applied *RM: Revenue Management.

9. Become Hopinoer 9
 Websites allowing travelers to compare hotel room rates and book through them in exchange
of a commission paid by the hotel (15-20%).
 Increase your online presence and visibility for guests making searches on Google.
 Get more booking opportunities.
 Attract rate sensitive guests adopting a smart dynamic pricing strategy.
 Show up in “book a hotel” section of famous travel websites like Lonely Planet or Frommers.

10. Become Hopinoer 10
OTA
#
Hotels
Playa
Venao
Playa
Venao
Hotel
Resort
El Sitio de
Playa
Venao
Selina
Beach
Break
Hotel &
Surf
Camp
Villa
Pelicano
(Las
Tablas)
Posada
Los
Destilade
ros
(Pedasi)
1 6
n/a
26 r
109$
45 r
96$
30 r
80$
34 r
150$
45 r
120$
14 r
2 3
180$
11 r
99$
n/a
12$
new
3 2 140$ 74$
4 2 180$ 90$
5
*Rates for Double Room on Sun. 8th Feb 2015.

11. Become Hopinoer 11
→ Originally based in the Netherlands.
→ Owned and Operated now by Priceline, based in the USA.
→ One unique travel booking site.
→ + 200 countries.
→ #1 Worldwide
Link to list your property : https://join.booking.com

12. Become Hopinoer 12
→ Headquarter: USA
→ + 150 travel booking sites.
→ + 70 countries.
→ # 2 Worldwide
Link to list your property : https://join.expediapartnercentral.com

13. Become Hopinoer
→ Headquarter: USA
→ Main investor: Travelport
→ 7 travel booking sites.
→ In Top 6 Worldwide
Link to list your property : http://corp.orbitz.com/supplier/contact-us
13

14. Become Hopinoer
→ Headquarter: Netherlands
→ One unique travel booking site.
→ + 120 000 hotels partners
→ In Top 6 Worldwide
Link to list your property : http://hotelpartner.easytobook.com/?amu=280823224
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15. Become Hopinoer
→ Headquarter: UK
→ Owned by TUI Travel.
→ One unique travel booking sites.
→ + 100 countries, + 50 000 hotels partners
→ In Top 6 Worldwide
Link to list your property : http://suppliers.hotelbeds.com/en/index.html
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→ Headquarter: USA
→ Owned by Sabre Holdings Corporation.
→ 3 travel booking sites.
→ + 5000 hotels partners
→ In Top 6 Worldwide
Link to list your property : http://connect.travelocity.com/Hotel

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→ Headquarter: Argentina
→ One unique travel booking site.
→ # 1 in Latin America (21 countries)
Link to list your property : http://comercial.despegar.com/pa/advertisehotel
17

18. Become Hopinoer
→ Revenue Management is the art of increasing your hotel incomes by pushing up :
 Occupancy in low season.
 ADR (Average Daily Rate) in high season.
The main KPI (=Key Performance Indicator) to watch out for your hotel is the
RevPar : Room Revenue Per Available Room
18
Occupancy
%
Average
Daily Rate
$
RevPar
$

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* LOS= Lenght of sStay
19
*

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• Rooms Superior : starting from 95$
• Rooms Deluxe : starting from 130$
• Stay 4 nights, get a free sunset meal for two.
• At each new booking received, send an email back with offer
for one more night.
• Be very clear about your cancelation and modification policy.
• Make special rates with no-refundable policy at J-30
• Put minimum Length of Stay (LOS) restriction on busy week-
ends (2 nights minimum on Saturdays).
• Offer to guests on arrival to get an upgrade for only 20$ more
(if avail).
• Offer clearly set of activities and restaurant food & beverage.

21. Become Hopinoer 21
# rooms : 9 Occ % ADR $ RevPar $
Monthly
Rev $
Additional
Monthly Rev $
12% 135$ 16$ 4 374$
Optimistic 40% 140$ 56$ 15 120$ 10 746$
Normal 30% 125$ 38$ 10 125$ 5 751$
Pessimistic 20% 115$ 23$ 6 210$ 1 836$
Current Results
Projection

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 1/3 of the visitors on OTA sites will go check the hotel website either for more information, larger photos or to
compare rates.
 1/3 will go and search for the hotel on Social Media sites to find out what others are saying about the hotel, they
will either go back to the OTA or search for your hotel.
 1/3 of the guests on your website will go to OTAs to find out if rates or sales conditions are better or if booking
process is easier. Or will go there because they are used to dealing with OTAs
Read these three articles :
http://www.wihphotels.com/publication/hotel-distribution-and-the-billboard-effect/
http://www.xotels.com/en/marketing/case-studies-in-hotel-internet-marketing
http://www.tnooz.com/article/crack-the-booking-com-algorithm/
…

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3. Hotel
Website
& SEO
4. Revenue Management
2.
Positioning
& Guest Experience
1. Clear Understanding of the Market
…
OK
OK
OK
→ Next Step !
OK
5. Sales & Communication
• Tour Operators & DMC
• Events Agencies
• Social Media
• Blogs & Magazines
• Travel Forums

24. Become Hopinoer 24
Contact :
Florie Thielin
floriethielin@gmail.com
www.hopineo.org
www.thehospitalitytour.com
www.facebook.com/thehospitalitytour
This document was elaborated for the Villa Marina Lodge, Panama,
in a serie of works and studies allowing tourism professional to make their activity more sustainable.
What is missing? Which improvments could be done?
Please, feel to free to share with us your feedback to continue
building together a better future for Hopineo, its partners, and more globally
for a more responsible tourism.
« The recognition of tourism as an economic powerhouse and contributor to all three pillars of sustainable
development – economic, environmental and social – underlined the enduring relevance of UNWTO’s mission to
promote responsible, sustainable and universally accessible tourism. »
World Tourism Organization, 2013