Hoteliers, do not cannibalize direct sales, it is the most profitable

Leading experts from the hotel and tech industry are at the conference Rentlio Rediscover 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 the Fortis Club, within the Falkensteiner Punta Skala resort in Petrčani, and this year the conference was visited by more than 330 regional hoteliers, technology partners and leaders from the hospitality industry.

He opened the event Marko Mišulić, CEO of Rentlij, the leading regional hospitality-tech company from Zadar, which is celebrating its tenth anniversary this year. Rentlio is a leading regional hospitality-tech company from Zadar, which has 40 employees and has been developing technological solutions for efficient management of accommodation units for 10 years. Rentli's Property management system, Channel Manager and Booking Engine are used by users from over 40 countries around the world.

In his presentation, Mišulić 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 capacities 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"Croatia's record number of visitors will stop at some point and then the hotels will be left with big problems such as outdated technology and labor shortage. 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 just under 3 percent of their revenue in digitization", Mišulić said. 

She offered concrete advice on improving direct sales with the help of artificial intelligence and content personalization 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 shows that 98 percent of visitors to the hotel's website leave without a reservation because they did not find adequate content for themselves.

"If this figure were to drop by just one percent, there would be an increase in revenue from direct sales by as much as 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", stated Klouda and added that the key to growth lies in the personalization of offers and content.

Personalization was the main topic of the panel discussion "Redefining Seamless Service: What Modern Guests Expect?" powered by Worldline, in which they participated Damir Knezevic, CEO of Hotez Europe, Chris Willette, Head of Global Business Development at Worldline Global, and Roberto Gobo, Director of Digitalization in Valamar. He moderated the discussion Philip 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 already in the facility. 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 US to Europe. He particularly pointed out the hotels that immediately offer the guest various local programs and facilities that would suit him during the reservation. 

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

"Guests check-in online through the software used by the hotel, 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, is in conversation with Pankraci Barać, Head of Engineering at Rentlio, described how the process of switching to the Rentlio Pro PMS system looked like and what was the motivation behind their decision. They participated in the second "Fireside Chat". Ivan Brezak Brkan, founder of the Netocracy, i Martina Tolic, Product Success Manager from Infobip. In their conversation, they highlighted how to use conversational chatbots to improve sales, user experience and call center efficiency.

She opened the last block of lectures Joana Pires Coelho, Revenue Manager at PriceLabs. In her presentation, she explained that when setting prices, hotels must not only look at hotel competitors, but also private renters. 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.

He concluded the conference 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 the presentation he revealed that Rentlio will complete the integration with that platform by the end of the year. 

This year, Rediscover is supported by renowned technology partners such as Infobip, Worldline, Hoteza and PriceLabs, and Hrvatski Telekom was the networking and afterparty partner of the conference program.