PELICAN
NEWS

Reduce Guest Cancellation Rates

During the pandemic, many guests cancelled room bookings because they were worried about the spread of the COVID19 virus if they had to book offline or come to the reception desk. Based on a study conducted by Mirai, on average during a pandemic, almost all hotels are affected by offline order cancellations between 25-39%. However, the cancellation rate for online bookings is lower than that which was recorded at only around 19%.

So, it's very clear that online booking is the best way to book a hotel room. With an online booking system, customers or potential guests only need to open their mobile device or gadget to book a room. Fast, practical, and still provides physical distancing according to health protocols.

Guests prefer to order hotel rooms via an online booking system because apart from being easy, there are many payment methods available. In addition, there are many advantages to using an online booking application that will pamper guests. For example, there are discounts, vouchers, to credit card payment methods, and reward points to enhance their staying experience.

Potential Customers Can Find Your Hotel Easily

One common thing for millennial to book a room is via the internet. From the search field, potential customers will be directed to the hotel website to convert "visitors into customers". Of course, in terms of marketing, an online booking system will be very helpful in increasing the level of hotel revenue. In fact, at this time it can be said that more than 80% of customers prefer to book hotel rooms online because it is more practical and faster.

Analysis of Customer Data

For every business, customer data is a very valuable company asset. Hotel online booking software collects data such as email addresses, telephone numbers and other order information. That way, you can prepare better services and marketing strategies to welcome guests. For example, you can send a discounted price offer, or upgrade a room according to guests' preferences based on customer data held by the hotel. This will build good relationships with customers and enhance the guest experience. Pelican booking engine also offer secret deal for your customer so you don’t need to worry about competition with OTA (online travel agent).

Improve branding and reputation

According to Triptease, more than 60% of room bookings are made after visiting hotel websites. Guests or travellers want to know more about facilities, services, locations, warnings, pictures and other things to feel more confident before staying. With online booking software, customers can see in real-time how your hotel branding is represented on the website. So, the level of credibility or trust of guests will increase to choose to stay at your hotel.

So, do you want to improve your Hotel Booking Engine system service? Pelican Solution Hotel has been trusted for more than 20 years as a Hotel Booking Engine with reliable services to boost hotel occupancy rates. Pelican comes with attractive services and features, such as Booking Engine Software, Loyalty System, Channel Manager, Website Design, to GDS Connectivity for the convenience and convenience of the hospitality business in the digital era. Want to learn how to get the most from online booking software to boost your hotel revenue? Send it to info info@pelicansolution.com

We hope you learned something new and can take your hotel online booking system to the next level.

Offer Different Packages for the Month of Ramadan

At this moment, for Muslims, the greatest need is to facilitate the obligatory fasting and other religious observances of Ramadan. Managers can offer packages that include the beverages and meals customarily consumed to break a fast. This is especially important for the Sahur meal, the last chance to eat before embarking on a 12-hour fast. A hotel that can guarantee a substantial meal for all guests in the pre-dawn hours will attract observant Muslims who might otherwise have to resort to boiling their own packaged noodles.

Offering Discounts for the Fastest Bookings

The booking engine plays an essential role in informing customers of all services a hotel offers. Therefore, it is important to understand what customers want. Apart from offering special Ramadan packages, managers can also offer attractive discounts during certain booking periods. A hotel can also decorate interior space with Ramadan-themed nuances. This attracts attention, giving the Muslims the feeling that this is indeed a special time, and piquing the interest of non-Muslims.

Restaurant Promos for Iftar and Sahur

Apart from having a variety of special Iftar and Sahur menus, the manager can also offer bulk orders of rice boxes for guests who, as is customary during Ramadan, share their wealth with their less-fortunate fellows. In this case, the booking engine handles restaurant orders as well as room bookings.

Faster, Cheaper, More Effective

Online-booking systems are the prima donna of hotel reservations, as, in every respect, online booking is faster, cheaper, and more effective than conventional ordering systems. With just a few clicks, people can order various services as needed.

But online booking systems are useless if guests cannot find them. When making a travel itinerary, most people search the entire web using keywords. This month, popular keywords include anything to do with Ramadan, especially fast-breaking services. So, to access the full potential of online booking to drive up bookings and profits, hotels must build, and promote, online systems that stand out among hundreds of other links and offer exactly what guests want and need at different times of the year.

To learn how to reap the advantages of booking engine and maximise your hotel revenue by direct booking for rooms, meals, and other add-on services in one click, contact us at info@pelicansolution.com

Marketing will give you higher return

As hotel spends a handsome amount of PR, marketing and sales, it’s no wonder that your hotel get a lot of attention. However rather than enjoy those hard works pay off with free commission by booking engine, yet hotel needs to share the amount with OTA who does nothing but keep pushing hotel to give lower price to be picked by costumers.

Package and Promotion Bookings

As in Covid less people go for vacation or business trip. On the other hand, there are a lot of couples that decided to get married instead. So hotel can promote wedding or honeymoon package. Setup your package and create promotion. Customize it as often as you need to support your marketing and increase the sales. All at no added cost yet might increase your revenue.

Can maintain the guest through CRM

Engage with your guests and let them feel your hospitality. Welcome them even before they arrived to your hotel by sending an automatic email to guests before their stay. Pelican booking engine enables hotel to collect the guest data; therefore can also maintain the relation with the guest with the CRM feature.

Flexible to upsell hotel’s facility

Upsell and boost your revenue with add-on items. Guests have the option to reserve pre-set packages or to customize their reservation package through selecting add-on items such as airport transfer, breakfast, full board, tours, spa treatments and other products.

Sell and maintain connection with corporate and travel agent at different countries

Not only to end costumers, you can also sell and maintain the relationship with corporate and travel agents all over the world. Set the price and contract automatically by the system. Faster and more efficient.

To learn how to reap the advantages of booking engine and maximise your hotel revenue by direct booking all in one click, contact us at info@pelicansolution.com

Work and Play

As many companies now have adopted a Work from Home policy, many employees have taken this opportunity to move to other places -- even other countries. Now people can work in the very place they would once only visit during their annual vacation. However, now they need work-related facilities as well as leisure amenities.

First on the list is a fast internet connection and comfortable work spaces. These have become the primary factors for many travellers in making a booking decision.

Outdoor Space

In 2021, most meetings, dining, and recreational activities should be in outdoor venues, or at least well-ventilated spaces to reduce the risk of viral transmission. Guests will prefer to attend social events and other activities in these spaces.

Sustainability

As border restrictions and internal travel bans force people to remain close to home, the awareness of environmental effects has increased. A Booking.com survey of international travelers indicated that more than two-thirds (69%) expect the travel industry to offer more sustainable travel options. Reducing waste and implementing proper waste management will give your hotel a competitive edge.

Automation & Tech Savvy

As Plato said: “Necessity is the mother of invention". The challenges wrought by the Covid19 crisis have also accelerated technological innovation to historic levels. Artificial intelligence (AI), until recently found only in science fiction, is now a part of daily life. Softbank has launched robots for hotels named Pepper and Whiz to welcome guests and clean rooms. AI powered chat bots also have been implemented to assist the booking process and respond to recurring questions about the protective measures against Covid19.

Contactless/Touchless technology

Covid19 spreads through droplets and contaminated surfaces, so a public-health priority is to encourage frequent hand washing and cleaning of contact areas. Contactless technologies such as QR code, mobile check-in, and digital payment reduce the need to physically decontaminate surfaces, saving operational costs.

Apps, in particular, are increasingly used by hoteliers to manage the services they provide to their guests. Apps can also control multiple elements relating to the guest cycle and experience.

With supply far outstripping demand in 2021, hotels must devise ways to stand out from the crowd. Beautiful rooms and distinctive architecture are no longer sufficient to attract bookings: a hotel needs to present a seamless integrated service to enhance guest experience and satisfaction. With more than 20 years’ experience in both hospitality and information technology, Pelican strives to set the standard for seamless technology integration of the guest experience: from promotion and booking, arrival, the stay, and even after checkout.

To better engage with your guests now, please contact info@pelicansolution.com or visit www.pelicansolution.com

According to Phocuswright research, three major factors influence online shoppers: reliable information, easy option comparison, and convenience. However, shoppers enrolled in a loyalty program will usually prefer websites affiliated with the program. Moreover, 76% of loyalty members are more likely to give recommendations to family members and friends.

Hotels who enrol guests in a loyalty program can benefit from significant competitive advantages. A loyalty program member will be likely head first to the hotel’s own website, where hotel can posts vital information about safety and convenience. If the customer then makes a booking, the hotel will get maximum benefit as no third parties will be involved.

To learn how to reap the advantages of a hotel customer-loyalty program and maximise your hotel revenue by direct booking all in one click, contact us at info@pelicansolution.com or visit www.pelicansolution.com

Reach-out through Personalised Campaigns

People are looking for ideas to make this holiday a special occasion. You can attract their attention with a personalised campaign. For example, if your target market is a wellness tourist, a special package with add-ons such as yoga classes, excursions to a rarely visited beach, spa and massage would be irresistible. Fire their imagination at how amazing it would be to spend the holiday at your hotel and to be pampered by excellent service.

Value For Money

The pandemic has impacted financial as well as physical health. Surveys indicate that many travelers expect to reduce spending this year, and to care more about price and quality. Though many are more likely to select cheaper options, some might spend more if they can be assured of good value for money.

Connectivity

Have you ever experienced a situation when you want to buy something, but the item description is not clear? Or you want to be sure that a hotel can accommodate some special request before you book? Normally, you would simply call the hotel. But during peak season, voice lines might be busy. Adding more communication channels would be helpful. You can add a chat bot on your website; post a WhatsApp number and links to social media to give your guests more communication options. Rapid responses to guest queries are a proven method of landing bookings.

Understand your Guest

The proverb “A friend's eye is a good mirror” is especially apt in the hotel industry. In the endless quest to improve guest satisfaction, hotels can do no better than ask the opinion of their guests. Giving your guests the opportunity for feedback through ratings and surveys will help you understand them better.

So, how do hotels engage with customers before, during and after their trip, and craft personalized packages, and gauge customer preference and satisfaction? Here at Pelican we do not only think about how to display prices and book hotel rooms. We also put a great deal of thought into how hotels can maximize the service and customer satisfaction. For more information on facilitating and maximizing direct guest booking please contact us at info@pelicansolution.com or visit www.pelicansolution.com

Understand your market

Analyse your customer experience from booking to check-out. Identify points of discomfort or needless delay and apply solutions. Smoothing the entire experience will increase customer satisfaction, leading to a more sustainable and profitable guest relationship.

Infographic vector created by freepik

Design a full guest experience

With few exceptions, no one stays in their hotel for the entire holiday. Help your guests explore the destination by arranging automobile rentals, selling tickets to attractions, and providing vouchers for restaurants serving local specialities or offering romantic fine dining.

Announce your innovation

Ensure that your guests are aware of your innovative experience options. This will encourage them to return to your hotel and try out everything you share on your media channels.

For suggestions on how to best place your online advertising and other strategies to facilitate and maximize direct guest booking, please contact us at info@pelicansolution.com or visit www.pelicansolution.com

Asia Edition - China

Infographic vector created by freepik

Source: Hao et al., 2020

Despite this huge loss, more than half of the hotel operators, investors, and owners believe that the hotel market will recover by the end of 2020. First-tier cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen should be the first to get back to profitability. One of the strategies employed to kickstart recovery is “advance sales”, in which a guest can make a booking for an unspecified future date at a discounted rate. This strategy is used for event venues and other facilities besides rooms.

To learn more about how you can improve your mobile booking experience, please contact: info@pelicansolution.com or visit www.pelicansolution.com

Revive Your Hotel Identity

Fortunately, hotels are not fast-moving consumer goods: guests choose a hotel on shared identity and values as well as room rate. For example, an environmentally conscious guest will tend to prefer a “Green” hotel over a cheaper establishment that does not implement sustainable practices. Therefore, it’s important for your hotel to raise awareness of the hotel image, story of your hotel, and the value it brings to your guests to make them stay loyal to you and also keep attracting more new customers.

Stimulate Bookings with Early Bird Packages

Many people stuck in quarantine fantasize about future travel. Recent analysis of Skyscanner visitor data suggests that 85% of Americans believe it will be safe to fly domestically by the third quarter of this year -- and 74% think an international flight will be OK. Hotels can take advantage of this optimism by offering early bird packages for upcoming events such as Christmas, New Year or even Valentine’s Day. This saves money for guests while generating essential cash-flow for the hotel. In addition, guests are more likely to purchase these types of packages directly through your official website, thus saving OTA commissions. Our Pelican booking engine can create and promote various packages that can be continually updated to reflect the current, constantly changing situation.

Hosts Games on Hotel Website

After months of quarantine, people are obsessively searching the internet for new diversions. Hosting a simple game on your website such as crosswords or Sudoku, in which game points can be traded for discounts and other incentives, can attract guests with the promises of entertainment, savings, and the possibility of future travel.

Create Attractive Video Message

Global quarantines have boosted online video viewing to unprecedented levels. Take advantage of this platform by making videos exploring the inner workings or your hotel, especially how you meet the challenges of deep cleaning and other New Normal practices. Keeping the video light and entertaining will encourage people to share the video and good reviews, creating an effective marketing tool.

Use the Power of Social Media

The primary purpose of social media is to expand a member’s circle of virtual friends. Not only to interacting with your prospect guests and bring your hotel closer to them, social media can also be a promotional tool for your hotel. You can make a challenge or competition to encourage your current guests or past guests to share their experience while staying at your hotel in exchange of discounts or free breakfast voucher at your hotel. Even something as simple as reposting their photographs on your official social media page and giving them credit will encourage sharing as they feel appreciated to know that their picture is used by the hotel official page.

To learn more about how you can improve your mobile booking experience, please contact: info@pelicansolution.com or visit www.pelicansolution.com

Hygiene, safety, and cleanliness

In the past, guests had varying criteria for making booking decisions: price, family facilities, location, and many others. Now, guests have a single, overriding concern: health and safety. A potential guest must be confident that there is no chance whatsoever of contracting COVID-19 from the hotel environment, staff, or guests. Therefore, stating clear hygiene and cleanliness procedures in promotional material (and in the hotel itself) will assure guests that they and their families will be safe during their stay.

Distancing in restaurant seating

Masks are the single most effective method of preventing COVID-19 transmission, but eating while wearing a mask is impossible. So, hotels must be creative in utilizing both indoor and outdoor spaces to maintain a safe distance between groups of guests in dining facilities. F&B staff need to continually monitor room density, and watch out for crowding in bottlenecks such as reception areas by encouraging guests to pre-book tables for specific times so they can be escorted directly to their table upon arriving.

Personalised in-room service

Spas and massage rooms tend to be humid environments, ideal for airborne COVID-19 transmission. Therefore, spa facilities must be thoroughly cleaned between uses, and ideally left vacant for a couple of hours. A workable alternative is to recreate the spa experience in the guest’s own room by putting treatment paraphernalia (oils, music, flowers) on pushcarts, similar to the kitchen providing an in-room candlelit dinner.

No Contact

Bumping elbows or namaste gestures can replace handshakes, but sometimes touching a surface in the hotel is necessary, such as when calling an elevator. Hotels can present arriving guests with sanitized room keys in sealed pouches, as well as souvenir pointers for safe button-pushing and door-opening. The New Normal is also an opportune time to switch to contactless payment and keyless room access, an investment which will pay off even after the eventual return to the “Old Normal”.

To learn more about how you can improve your mobile booking experience, please contact: info@pelicansolution.com or visit www.pelicansolution.com

With technology playing an increasingly critical role in hotel business, the strategic partnership will allow more hotels in Egypt to access a good technology along with a professional close-to-client locations service. The Pelican-SITA partnership brings together deep skills in business and technology solution for hotel to attract and retain their guests through direct bookings with computer reservation system (CRS) and loyalty program.

The collaboration between Pelican and SITA brings a closer approach in the way both businesses address the needs of the market. Together we believe to deliver a breakthrough result for Egyptian market.

About Pelican Hotel Solution

Pelican Hotel Solution is a leading hospitality solution that helps many hotels in the world to increase their revenues through direct booking. Our driven team works together with our clients and partners with a shared goal to achieve positive results and redefine hospitality industry across 6 countries in Asia, Africa, and America. With 20 years experience and professionals with keen interest in hospitality industry, we offer the highest quality technology solution for your hotel.

To learn more about how you can improve your mobile booking experience, please contact: info@pelicansolution.com or visit www.pelicansolution.com

The data demonstrates, repeatedly, that companies in any industry who actively market during a time of crisis experience higher sales and net income when the situation finally resolves. So, while waiting for travel restrictions to be rolled back here are some measures your hotel can take:

Review analytics and sales data

“Know your customer” is the first principle of sales and marketing. Strategies targeting international and domestic markets must differ, as with age groups and other segments. Analytics and sales data gives us the information we need to develop these strategies.

Evaluate and enhance digital marketing

Gathering customer data is only the first step. Equally important is to compare performance gains or losses in the wake of each marketing campaign. Performance results can be used to further enhance gains by refining marketing content, re-evaluating sales channels -- or even modifying your hotel’s image.

Use this time for maintenance and renovation

Renovation and maintenance can lead to unpleasant guest experiences. Major hotel brands with ample corporate resources often choose to close down a property completely for overhauls. Now, smaller hotels forced into near-closure by the pandemic can use this strategy to refurbish and enhance facilities without disturbing guests. And since many future guests will expect a reduction in physical contact, which requires digital technology to realize, investment in touchless technology now will pay dividends far into the future.

Business vector created by upklyak

Sell the food to more customer via deliveries

Good hotels pride themselves at giving their guests exactly what they want, when they want it. The ever-increasing efficiency of delivery services, either in-house or third-party, gives hotels the ability to bring their hospitality skills directly to the homes of their neighbors (and potential guests). The opportunities are endless: a social-distancing picnic at local beach or park, a romantic candle-light dinner in the customer’s home, a family “bubble party” where the hosts feel secure because the food is delivered by staff in full protective gear. Delivery services help you maintain at least minimal levels of revenue, but more importantly keep your brand fresh through the crisis. Pelican Solution has features to help you develop and promote special packages in which you can, for example, bring a nice dining experience to your customer now, and let them stay in the physical hotel at any time in the future -- all for a single low price.

Actively communicate with your guest via social media and email

“Gone but not forgotten” does not work in the hotel industry! Unless you keep contact with past guests, they will forget about you and move on when travel resumes. “Till we meet again” email messages let you remind guests of the fun they had at your hotel, and the experiences they can expect on a future visit.

To learn more about how you can improve your mobile booking experience, please contact: info@pelicansolution.com or visit www.pelicansolution.com

However, this trend was not reflected in travel-ecommerce transactions. Data from Mobile Commerce Daily showed that hotel bookings made on mobile devices accounted for only 21 percent of online hotel bookings. Google reports that people are researching more on mobile, but turning to a desktop to actually book their stay.

What might account for this discrepancy? Some industry observers note that few people travel on their own. Almost all leisure travellers plan and book travel itineraries after discussion and agreement with family and friends. Even business travellers often travel with colleagues and so must discuss personal preferences or corporate requirements before booking. It seems plausible that most bookings are made by family members reviewing destination options while gathered around the large screen of a living-room desktop, or by a company administrative staffer at their desktop workstation.

Substandard Mobile Experience

Nevertheless, the most likely reason for the low adoption rate of mobile devices for hotel bookings is that the mobile travel experience remains well below optimal levels. The seemingly endless sucession of screens, menu choices, and user inputs required to complete most ecommerce transactions can be exhausting if executed on the tiny screen of a typical mobile device.

Mobile Friendly Booking System

This reported preference for researching and booking on separate platforms might result in lost opportunities from 2018 onward with Google's plan to separate mobile content into a mobile-only index. Hotels are well-advised to enhance their mobile booking experience in the years ahead.

The first step would be to ensure that their CRS (central Reservation System) is mobile friendly. Such systems automatically detect when the user is accessing the website through a mobile device (whether IoS, Android, or Blackberry) and redirect requests to a server designed to provide the best mobile experience. Additionally, as a mobile user is likely to be "on the road" and seeking an immediate booking, the hotel can offer a special rate for mobile users as a marketing tool.

To learn more about how you can improve your mobile booking experience, please contact: info@pelicansolution.com or visit www.pelicansolution.com

To fully realize the benefits of online booking, a hotel must encourage guests to book directly through the official hotel website. But with so many alternative booking engines on the market, how can a hotel make the correct choice?

There several basic criteria for selecting a booking engine that suits a hotel´s specific requirements. For an independent or small-chain hotel, the booking engine should have:

B2C & B2B Access

A booking engine should be able to manage direct bookings from all sources: individual and group travellers, travel agents, and corporate accounts. In addition, the hotel should be able to set rates and other conditions for a wide (or even unlimited) range of user categories.

Customer Relationship Management System

Most online bookings through third parties are one-time transactions based solely on price. A good booking engine should have the tools to shift booking-decision considerations away from price toward service quality and personal recognition. A key component of this approach is continual engagement of the guest through the automatic generation personal emails before, during, and after their stay.

A Hotel Loyalty Program

Marketing data indicates that the cost of sales to existing customers can be as little as 30 percent of the cost of acquiring a new customer. In addition, existing customers of a hotel can spend up to 70 percent more during their stay. Therefore, a hotel loyalty program can play a significant role in boosting revenue. A good hotel loyalty program should provide reward points upon booking and an automated system to manage point redemption. Other necessary features include a marketing newsletter campaign and the ability to access data on stay preferences.

No Hidden costs or Long-term Commitment

Most importantly, a good booking engine should offer transparent costing with no hidden charges. The best will allow hotels to opt out at any point with no early termination penalty.

Pelican has all of this, and much more. We offer a comprehensive suite of products and services giving hotels complete control over their online booking process, from initial contact to follow-up customer engagement. Our features are managed through an interface seamlessly integrated into the official hotel website.

Pelican provides the tools hotels need to get the most from online bookings. For more information, please contact us at: info@pelicansolution.com or visit www.pelicansolution.com

It is no secret that hotel official websites and OTA compete for direct access to travelers. The battle hinges on the most-sensitive point: price. As long as both sides honored rate-parity commitments, this was not an issue. But now, some OTA are willing to trim their price in order to get more bookings.

With rates distributed through so many channels, a hotel may not be aware of an OTA undercutting their rates. However, constant monitoring of multiple channels consumes valuable resources better applied to other areas.

Pelican, as a hotel’s e-commerce partner, has the solution: a new feature called RATE PARITY WATCHER. This feature will give hotels the following benefits:

• Alert the hotel when an OTA is publicly undercutting their rates. Our system will do a weekly check and identify when any OTA offers a lower rate than the hotel’s rate on a particular date. It will also invite the hotel to update the rate on the extranet.
• Maintain rate parity. By identifying OTA listing imparity, the hotel will more easily maintain rate parity.
• Increase booking conversion rate by maintaining rate parity.

With this feature, a hotel need not be concerned with imparity issues and will see incremental increases in their booking conversion rate.

This feature is provided free of charge to Pelican partner members.

To learn more about how Pelican “Rate Parity Watcher” can help you to maintain your rate parity and increase your booking conversion rate, please contact us at: info@pelicansolution.com or visit www.pelicansolution.com

Exposure: OTA vs. Direct Hotel Booking

No one doubts that OTA provide smaller properties and independent hotel brands a stronger marketing channel than they could build themselves. The huge marketing budgets of most OTA translate into a wide consumer reach. The brand recognition of websites like Priceline and Expedia invariably place their links at the top of Google search engine results page. For most hotels, a listing on a major OTA will expose the property to millions of potential guests throughout the globe.

Revenue: OTAs vs. Direct Hotel Booking

But this enormous exposure comes with a high price. OTA can take anywhere from 15 to 30 percent of the revenue for each booking. Though paying such a hefty commission is warranted when capturing a new guest, it makes less sense to pay the same rate to handle a return booking especially if they are returning for the third, fourth or fifth visit. Hotels can avoid paying commissions for returning guests by providing a loyalty program and other incentive to encourage your repeat customer to book directly with you, not an OTA.

Drive Traffic: OTA vs Direct Hotel Booking

This strategy is surprisingly easy to implement. One little-known benefit of OTA is that they can actually drive traffic to the hotel website. According to a study conducted by Google, 52% of travelers visit the hotel website after seeing the room listed on an OTA. If your website lists the same promotional rates as the OTA (and all other factors, such as ease of payment, being equal), the guest will be certain to book directly instead of navigating back to the OTA site.

Using an OTA to attract new guests quickly fill vacant rooms is a cost effective marketing strategy. However, your goal should be to attract repeat guests or careful shoppers to book on your own site to maximize revenue from each booking.

Step-by-step guide to installation

The e-guideline will guide Pelican extranet users through each step of the setup process for modules comprising the Pelican extranet. This setup includes setting parameters for rates, allotments and availability that will automate many of the essential tasks related to both direct and agent or corporate bookings. The information required to complete each step is clearly explained and illustrated with screenshots.

Tips to maximize revenue

Besides assisting in basic installation, the e-guideline shows users how they can implement optional features to maximize room revenue. The e-guideline illustrates how to create non-room items, packages that can be modified in response to changing market conditions, and rates aimed at specific types of users.

Tips to increase direct booking from your website

A bonus section offers tips on how hotels can use the latest ecommerce trends and technology to maximize booking directly from their direct website.

The new e-guideline can now be accessed by all Pelican users through the Help section of the Pelican Back Office. Should you have any inquiries or wish more information about our e-guideline, please contact: support@pelicansolution.com

Automatic Alerts

Pelican has launched a new feature, “Flash Report“, to help hotels monitor online booking performance, statistics, and ratios.

The Pelican “Flash Report” feature provides a hassle-free way for hotels to keep informed of their online bookings in a timely and accurate manner - without the need to login to the system.
Reports will be sent by email to designated users on dates specified by the hotel.

Automatic Distribution

All reports will be distributed automatically to your email on regular basis. No need to login to extranet to retrieve the reports.

User-friendly Format

The reports are presented as graphs and charts for rapid comprehension and analysis.

Timely Updates

Each report will be sent automatically based on the dates selected by the hotel to match their reporting and performance- evaluation cycles.

This feature is provided free of charge to Pelican partner members.

To learn more about how Pelican “Flash Reports” can provide accurate information in timely manner to help you evaluate your online booking performance and develop your online-marketing strategies, please contact us at: info@pelicansolution.com or visit www.pelicansolution.com

Automatic Alerts

Pelican is addressing this issue with the implementation of the “Alert System”, a feature to remind hotels of the upcoming expiry dates of their room-rate and package offers. The system sends automatic notification of rates, allotments, items for sale, and packages that will expire within the next three months.

Fuss Free Updating

These emails are more than a simple reminders of yet another task that must be completed. Each email contains a link to a password-protected online form where users can update all listings due to expire in one session, minimizing the drain of time and resources for these administrative chores.

Never Again Lose a Sales Opportunity

Dealing with multiple connections brings many benefits, but also many challenges. Keeping track of room rates and allotment expiration dates on many channels requires considerable back-office and resources.

An expired listing is a lost sales opportunity; and the Pelican Alert feature can minimize this risk. Our Alert feature is the latest proof of Pelican’s commitment to help hotels to Empower Direct Booking and maximize online revenue.

For more information on how the Alert System and other innovative features of the Pelican Hotel Booking Engine can help to streamline your back-office procedures and boost your revenue, please contact info@pelicansolution.com

Boost Direct Bookings

The new “Secret Deal” feature of the Pelican booking engine allows participating hotels to invite website visitors to be offered a confidential rate. The booking engine embedded in the hotel's official website will request the email address of a visitor and automatically dispatch a message containing a link to a restricted-access page of the booking engine offering exclusive rates. This would increase the likelihood of a booking conversion as your customers would feel that they are being offered a special deal without risking complaints of unfair pricing from online travel agents.

Increase Customer Loyalty

Everyone loves being the privileged beneficiary of a special deal. Offering such a deal to a prospective or returning guest, especially if the recipient can confirm that the offer is lower than the alternatives, represents a giant step toward gaining that customer’s future loyalty.

Expand Your Email Database

Participating hotels are capturing an average of 200 new email addresses each month from website visitors requesting a “secret deal” offer. The captured email addresses can be a valuable resource for future marketing activities.

To learn more about how this and other features of the Pelican Hotel Online Booking Engine can attract more direct bookings, please contact info@pelicansolution.com

This past year marked a watershed in the development of hotel online booking. With both business and leisure travelers turning to their computers, and, increasingly, mobile devices to make their travel arrangements, a number of trends have emerged, each indicating a preference of how users approach online booking. During the next year, hotels will need to identify and react to online booking trends to maintain market share. The key trends that hotels should pay attention to in the coming year are:

Growth of OTA.

Online travel agents such as Expedia saw a 15% growth in bookings over the year, based on estimates in a recent Phocuswright report. . With OTA crowding out individual hotels in search results, some OTA are conditioning higher commissions in exchange for better rankings, often driving down net yield. To respond to this trend, hotels will need to explore innovative online promotion campaigns to attract potential guests directly to the hotel's own website instead of hoping for a high ranking on a basic “price-and-availability” search on a Google or “travel metasearch” website.

Rise of boutique online travel agents.

A counter trend to “do-it-yourself” online booking has been the increasing popularity of independent, small-staff travel agents without a “brick-and-motor” presence. Many of these agents attract clients needing to make complicated arrangements or seeking luxurious and highly personalized travel experiences. Hotels can capitalize on this trend by working with boutique agents to sell high-value-added packages.

Move to mobile payment:

The wide adoption of smartphones triggered a migration of online bookings from desktops and notebooks to mobile devices, with mobile bookings growing from 5 to 20 percent of all bookings since 2012. The coming year will see credit cards superseded by the more-convenient online payment providers such as PayPal for mobile bookings. This trend will require hotels to cultivate and maintain good working relationships with one or more payment providers to ensure that bookings are not lost to a competing hotel because the potential guest preferred to use an online payment service for security or convenience reasons.

Importance of online reviews

A survey by TrustYou indicated that travelers are 3.9 times more likely to choose a hotel with higher review scores when the prices are the same. However, anecdotal evidence suggests that most travelers will not bother to post a review of a hotel offering only “satisfactory” service. To ensure an adequate presence on social-media sites, hotels most provide guests with a memorable experience (such as a staff member demonstrating resourcefulness to fulfill an unusual request) and be proactive in soliciting guest reactions through post-departure emails and surveys.

Personalized web experiences

Customized travel arrangements have been the norm for a generation, and 2014 saw travel websites adopt sophisticated techniques to personalize user interaction. In the coming year, hotels will use emergent data manipulation technologies to extract and correlate data from their own databases and social media postings to generate personalized promotional emails and other online modes of contact with previous and potential guests.

People searching hotel rooms through online booking engines tend to be price conscious, sometimes to the exclusion of all other considerations. While a hotel's booking engine should promote rates and packages in all price ranges for guests placing a higher priority on other factors, the booking engine should also capture the attention of those whose only concern is finding the best possible deal.

Flash Sale listing grabs attention

The Pelican Online Hotel Booking Engine enables hotels to quickly and easily design and present rates valid only for a number of conditions, such as length of stay, booking period, promotions like “Stay 3 Pay 2” and even the device used for the booking. As with the default settings of TripAdvisor and most other travel recommendation sites, Pelican's new “Flash Sale” feature automatically places the booking option with the cheapest rate at the top. This will allow potential guests to readily identify special promotion rates which are valid during their intended staying period.

Increase booking conversion from users

A traveler booking online is spoiled for choice: the number of options returned by even a detailed search for specific requirements can be overwhelming. This is especially true if the traveler is en route to or has arrived at the intended destination. In the distracting environment of an airport or train station, a travel-weary user will often make a snap decision instead of carefully considering several options. In this common situation, presenting the user with a competitive promotional or last-minute rate as the first item on the booking engine list greatly increases the likelihood of a conversion.

Encourage users to explore your site

In the hyper-competitive environment of online hotel booking, price is only one component of a successful conversion strategy. Unlike harried travelers attempting to make a booking on their mobile device while standing in an airport arrivals hall, potential guests searching for the optimal hotel deal in the comfort of their home or office will usually browse many sites and weigh multiple factors before selecting an option. However, promotional rates do attract attention. Presenting a highly competitive rate as the first option may motivate users to explore the site further instead of clicking away. This enhances the likelihood of a conversion, perhaps with the user selecting another, more expensive package option that best meets their specific requirements.

For more information on how Pelican can effectively promote your special rates, please contact: info@pelicansolution.com or visit www.pelicansolution.com

Comparing room rates and types at a glance

Standard practice on travel websites is to list rates from various hotels on one page in ascending order. This format can also be useful for comparing rates at a single hotel offering several distinct room and suite types, such a large-scale luxury resort. The rate-and-type comparison feature lists all of the room rates and corresponding room types offered by the hotel, assisting a potential guest to make a booking decision.

Easily evaluate rate plans

A key feature of the Pelican Hotel Booking Engine is the ability to apply distinct rate plans based on criteria other than room type. This can be too much of a good thing if the potential guest is presented with a long list of booking options. The new rate-plan comparison feature summarizes the details of each rate plan on a single page, allowing potential guests to easily evaluate the plans on offer and select the most suitable option for their requirements.

Giving potential guests an easy method of comparing cost to value can provide a significant advantage in competitive markets. For more information on how the Pelican Hotel Booking Engine can drive hotel bookings, please contact: info@pelicansolution.com or visit www.pelicansolution.com

Targeting mobile users with special rates

A person using a mobile device to book a hotel room often has distinct requirements from one searching for a hotel deal using a desktop or notebook. In many cases, the mobile user has recently arrived at the destination and is seeking the best available option for accommodation that evening. The new mobile special rates feature of the Pelican Hotel Booking Engine can offer such a user a special rate on a room which would otherwise remain empty. This rate will only be displayed when the user searches from a mobile phone or tablets and hidden when it is searched on desktop or notebook.

Assisting guests to make booking decisions

The Pelican Hotel Booking Engine gives hotels the flexibility to create and update rates and packages quickly and easily in response to market conditions, particularly in creating rates and packages to attract last-minute bookings. The mobile version of the Pelican Hotel Booking Engine is designed to assist the user in navigating easily and rapid around the site, to ensure a pleasant booking experience.

Targeting mobile users can provide a significant advantage in competitive markets. For more information on how the Pelican Hotel Booking Engine can drive hotel bookings, please contact: info@pelicansolution.com or visit www.pelicansolution.com

It is not uncommon for a hotel with hundreds of rooms to offer scores of room rates. Manual updating of each rate is time-consuming and prone to error, but leaving rates in place as market conditions undergo unexpected fluctuations can have a serious impact on revenue. Hotels can lose business to more competitively priced neighbors, or can miss out on revenue by selling rooms for less than actual market value during brief, unexpected periods of high demand and low supply.

Rapid Updating

The new module gives hotels the tools to modify rates on a frequent – even daily basis – by greatly simplifying the process of managing every parameter related to rates and availability. The module is designed for intuitive interaction with all operational functions available from a single screen. The logical interface allows one-click navigation to whichever parameter requires updating – bonus nights, package promotions, agency and corporate rates – eliminating the often-frustrating scroll through a succession of screens to find the relevant item.

Rate Template

A significant feature of the module is the rate template. By using templates, the hotel can set seasonal rates once every few months, then use these rates to create rate tiers, adjusting one or more individual rates as required. This feature greatly reduces the time needed to retype individual rates for each period of time – as well as eliminating the errors often arising with manual retyping.

Useful Summaries

A room-sold summary table gives hotels a snapshot of number of room sold on a given day, useful in optimizing room allocation. Other screens, all available from the main window, extract and present information from other modules in the system, allowing a comprehensive review of the current state of rates and policies from one location.

Pelican is releasing this module as a free upgrade for hotel members as part of the corporate commitment to provide partners with the tools they need to optimize revenue in the rapidly changing global hospitality industry. To learn more about how Pelican Booking Engine can effectively power your website to increase your online direct booking, and about other benefits provided by Pelican solutions, please email us at info@pelicansolution.com or visit www.pelicansolution.com

Direct Channel To Hotel Booking Engine

Pelican has partnered with TripConnect, a new service offered by TripAdvisor that allows a Pelican-partner hotels to insert a live link to the hotel's own booking engine on the TripAdvisor price-comparison page. The link will display the same real-time, context-sensitive rate information that appears on the hotel's Pelican-powered official website. The TripConnect facility will project the innovative features of the Pelican system into the TripAdvisor site, combining the benefits of authentic guest recommendations with the marketing power of Pelican's dynamic rate management features.

Bypass Third Party Handlers

Pelican's partnership with TripConnect will help to enhance the revenues of client hotels by reducing the role of online travel agents in the booking process. Like other features in the Pelican system, the TripConnect partnership will facilitate a direct connection between hotel and guest, eliminating the need to pay a commission on bookings. The direct connection will also facilitate upselling and promotion of special packages, further enhancing revenues and, in many cases, laying the foundation for guest loyalty.

For more information about how Pelican and TripConnect can increase direct bookings and enhance revenue, please contact info@pelicanhotelsolution.com

"The Price Is Right" may be true on the classic television game show, but finding the most effective pricing levels has become increasingly difficult for hotels in the face of market competition and the growing popularity of online booking. In the past, most hotels would determine price tiers for each period of the year as part of the annual budgeting process, leaving day-to-day adjustments and deal packaging to agents and wholesalers. Now, online booking has disrupted this system by giving end-consumers the ability to compare rates offered by competing hotels – and those offered by the agents representing those hotels. Corporate clients can wield even greater influence. With the possibility of realizing significant cost reductions through comprehensive online research, a corporate travel officer need no longer settle for a rate that is "good enough."

An Art And A Science

While no one really knows what is the best rate for a specific room at a specific time, everyone, from owner to back-office clerk, has an opinion, generally based on feelings rather than facts. But these opinions can be valid, for pricing is an art as well as science, and emotions do influence booking decisions. Guests might be willing to pay a premium for such intangibles as proximity to a favorite restaurant, historical association or ambiance, or even the exceptional resourcefulness or kindness displayed by an individual staff member during a previous visit.

Guest Surveys Provide Essential Market Data

Identifying and quantifying such assets is difficult or impossible, but failing to do so can have a real impact on the hotel's bottom line. Fortunately, the same technology that gives guests power to shop around also gives hotels much greater access to crucial information that can be employed to determine optimal pricing. Guests can be surveyed at time of booking and departure, competitor hotel rates and occupancy can be monitored daily, historical trends can be analyzed and correlated to external events such as economic conditions in distant regions that are a regular source of guests.

Automatic Dynamic Package Pricing

Large hotels and chains often outsource this data collection and number crunching to third parties, who supply detailed pricing recommendations. But smaller hotels can use existing technology to monitor rapidly changing markets and gather useful information from potential and actual guests. Many online booking engines now feature add on that automate interaction with shoppers and bookers, allowing the hotel to dynamically offer preferential rates and custom packages to specific types of guests – even individuals. This type of flexible, dynamic booking made possible by automating the booking process largely removes the guesswork from pricing. Marketing managers can determine – in real time – the market response to a current price, and instantly (and automatically) adjust base and derived rates accordingly.

The Importance of Rate Parity

Day-to-day monitoring and adjustment of rates across the board also helps to foster a mutually beneficial relationship with online travel agents (OTA) by maintaining rate parity among the hotel and outside suppliers. Though hotels gain optimal revenue from direct bookings, travel agents, both online and traditional, are still required to supply guests through their own channels and contacts. While a hotel should not alienate an OTA by offering cheaper direct-booking rates, neither should the hotel rates offered online be significantly higher that the OTA rate for a similar room or package. Many online shoppers will also discover the OTA rate, and book through the agent instead. Besides forcing the hotel to needlessly pay a commission, there is a real risk that the OTA will directly engage with the customer and offer a better deal at a competing hotel, thereby losing the booking altogether. Automated monitoring of agent rates and regular updates on the hotel website will ensure that rate parity is maintained, to the benefit of both the hotel and agents.

Optimal pricing is basically the process of hitting constantly moving targets. Automated monitoring and dynamic pricing based on real-time market feedback can take much of the guesswork from setting rates, allowing a hotel hit the right mark at all times.

We will be holding seminars on similar aspects of how the online world impacts the hospitality industry in the future, to which you or any member of your staff are welcome to attend.

For email updates regarding our upcoming events and seminars, please visit www.pelicansolution.com or email us at ari@pelicansolution.com with a list of your staff/colleagues (please include their full names and the hotel name) who would like to receive regular email updates.

We wish you the best for your E-commerce success.

We are returning with a new solution for all hoteliers to maximize hotel revenue based on our “Effective E-marketing Tools” and “Proactive Customer Care”.

If you are looking for a solution for your hospitality organization, please drop by Booth A80 at TTM+ 2013. To show our willingness to be partner in your success, we are offering special rates for our Hotel E-commerce Solutions exclusively for this event.

However, today's rapidly growing market requires hotels to act speedily to provide accurate information of rates and allotment across multiple sales channels, and to offer different rate options to satisfy various client needs.

Pelican CRS addresses these concerns with a new feature called “Cascading Rate Tiers”. This feature gives hotel managers the ability to set one base rate and automatically generate derived rates to offer to specific markets under various conditions. Cascading rates enable hotel managers to manage just one rate with the confidence that all other rates will be automatically adjusted to conform with the hotels’ revenue strategy.

Hotels can realize a two-fold benefit: reduced use of human resources and better pricing control. Instead of manually updating individual rates to reflect changing market conditions, a manager need only modify the base rate, which will trigger modifications in all derived rates. This saves the administrative costs associated with modifying and verifying a complicated matrix of rates while empowering hotels to better differentiate products by setting details information for specific channel.

Derived rates can include advance purchase rate, corporate rate, limited promotional rate, and many more.

Please contact us to discover how easy to set rates among various sales channels.

A 2012 study of travelers by Google & Ipsos MediaCT found that the percentage of travelers using a mobile device to search for travel information are:

Characteristics of Mobile Hotel Bookers

Shorter booking lead time
A Priceline.com snapshot survey found that almost half of mobile users made reservations when on the road – mostly for that night.

Free wifi access most valued
For the mobile-equipped guest, free wifi access is considered more valuable than free breakfast or free parking.

Easily attracted by last-minute special offers
A November 2012 Hotelmarketing survey found that more than 40% of mobile bookers were on the road when they reserved rooms offering a today-only special rate.

The Importance Of Multi-Device Websites

Travelers are now migrating from full computers to mobile devices to access travel information. Travelers frequently use mobile devices not only for hotel booking, but also for travel planning activities such as destination research, itinerary planning, or searching for special offers.

Hoteliers should re-evaluate their e-commerce strategy and expand their website capability to include desktop , smartphone and tablets. Optimizing website format for mobile devices is essential to enable on-the-go travelers to easily search, read, and share hotel information. In addition, websites optimized for mobile devices are also suitable for viewing on other formats.

Reach On-The-Go Guests with PELICAN Mobile Booking Engine

Pelican Hotel Solutions has upgraded their innovative booking technology, which allows hotels to adjust rates and packages instantly and automatically to reflect market conditions, to mobile device format. Specifically designed to capture on-the-go bookings, the Pelican mobile booking engine gives hotels the right tools to capture the attention of last-minute bookers.

Key Benefits

• Dynamic package booking.
• Image gallery.
• Multiple room type booking.
• Automatic phone dialing through a single click.
• Google Maps and location integration.

Please contact us to learn more about accommodating the growing mobile market with Pelican Mobile Website and Mobile Booking Engine.

Location and facilities are major factors in deciding where to stay, but most modern travelers, especially those conducting their own research online, compare rates, promotions, and packages before making a decision. To grab the attention of a knowledgeable traveler, a hotel website should prominently feature current rates and package information and other commercial incentives to book.

Displaying current rates increases website selling power

A survey recently conducted by www.reviewpro.com indicated that 42 % of guests browsing for accommodation are price sensitive. They tend to search as many as 22 different websites looking for the best deal (ThinkWithGoogle). Including special rates, promotions, or special packages in your website will give a competitive advantage with many potential guests -- but only if information is displayed prominently and kept current through automatic integration with your CRS / BE system.

Attractive room photographs are more effective with updated room and package rates placed alongside.

Don’t hide your rate and package info behind the Booking Engine

A website booking engine can be an important source of information that can promote sales, but only website visitors with a firm intention to book will navigate to the booking engine interface. In average 70 % of web visitors are casual browsers who might be enticed to book if presented with an appealing rate or package. Up-to-date pricing information should be prominently displayed on every relevant web page.

Pelican Solution launches RATES & PACKAGES interface

The latest Pelican feature allows clients to display up-to-date rates and package rates for specific room types anywhere in the hotel website. The feature will automatically update room rates / package information on each page view based on valid rates on offer. Options include package information such as: rates, description, validity, package inclusion, and cancellation policy.

This feature is a free upgrade to all pelican partner hotels as part of Pelican's commitment to provide the best excellent client support. For further information please visit our website at www.pelicansolution.com or click here to contact us by email.

STOP COMPETING WITH YOURSELF

RATE PARITY is the key. Many hotels make the mistake of providing packages for OTA without offering the same package in their own website. Offering different packages and rates to OTA and directly on your official website allows guests who may have already decided to stay at your hotel to book at OTA website for the better deal, needlessly costing your hotel a commission fee.

Hotels must effectively and consistently control rate parity across all online distribution channels to increase consumer confidence in booking with the hotel website. A hotel offering the guaranteed lowest rate on the official website will discourage shopping around by potential guests.

LIST YOU HOTEL WITH ALL MAJOR OTAs ( Online Travel Agencies )

In 2012 it was estimated that 2.4 billion people used the Internet to some extent. These users are scattered worldwide and speak one or more of scores of major languages. Most users making travel arrangements online prefer to shop around and tend to visit multiple OTAs, GDS partner websites, social media and review websites in search of the best deal. A hotel must ensure a prominent brand presence in all OTA and travel-related sites to help increase awareness of the hotel name. But be careful in your strategy and remember that you MUST maintain your rate parity with all OTA or you will lose direct business.

BENEFITS OF USING OTA

Billboard effect – There is much evidence that online consumers eventually book on the hotel official website after searching OTA websites. The Billboard Effect can help your hotel brand showing on all OTA channels where online customers do their research –– actually helping to drive them to book in your official website.

Bringing new guests – OTA can help introduce your hotel to new customers. While your official website offer only a few languages, OTA offer information in many languages to promote wider market penetration. This availability of information in many languages can help promote your hotel in new markets, and the new customers can become loyal guests who will recommend your hotel to their friends, who may also book direct.

Helping small hotels – Small hotels with limited marketing budgets can benefit most from OTA services in accessing multiple markets. and connecting to the potential customers worldwide. Even with the higher commission charged to low–volume clients, booking through an OTA can be a cost-effective solution to expanding market share.

START IMPLEMENTING PROPER CRM (Customer relationship management)

In the constantly changing online market, rate parity alone will not keep a hotels competitive edge and retain customers. Large hotels compete for guest loyalty through incentives and cash rewards, expensive programs that are often beyond the capabilities of small-group or independent hotels.

Proper CRM activities help hotel not only to retain customer loyalty but also to encourage onward promotion to friends and colleagues. The rapid growth of social media is exponentially expanding the impact of CRM. Hotels can enhance CRM through:

Automated Campaign & Mailing – Keep in constant touch with your customers with automated emails containing special offer packages, promotion, and birthday/holiday greetings.

Social media maintenance – Social-media marketing is a two-edged sword: the bad experience of one guest can be propagated to thousands of potential customers. A hotel should constantly monitor all travel-related social-media platforms, weblogs, and websites, responding to positive postings with courteous remarks, and to negative comments with a expression of gratitude for pointing out the lapse in service. Even bad postings can generate positive promotion if the hotel communicates a sincere desire to improve.

Successful technology integration – CRM monitoring and communication activities can place a large burden on hotel staff. Integrating CRM into a hotels booking engine or central reservation system allows the automation of many tasks, reducing the load on human resources. (more about Pelican integrate CRM).

While the successful exploitation of online booking and social-media presence is essential for a hotel to remain competitive, a marketing strategy is only as good as the product it promotes. A hotel, perhaps more than any other business, is entirely dependent on the dedication of staff and management to their primary duties. Automating routine reservation and customer-relations tasks through careful application of new online technologies frees time for hotel employees to do what they do best: keeping each guest satisfied, comfortable, and looking forward to another stay.

PRIVATE OFFERS OF SPECIAL RATES

The Pelican Booking Engine addresses these concerns with a feature offering automated, individual email communication with potential guests at booking time. By previous specifying parameters (validity period, separate room allocation, booking lead time, etc.) the hotel can offer each guest, by private email, a special rate that will maximize the chance of securing a booking without risk of underselling, allowing the hotel to increase occupancy without jeopardizing rate parity.

AUTOMATIC ANNOUNCEMENTS OF PACKAGES AND PROMOTION

The Pelican CRM can also email package information on a pre-set schedule to previous guests and even those who have only visited the hotel website. These can be a high-value recipients, as a guest who has had a satisfactory stay experience is likely to pass along package offers as recommendations to friends and colleagues.

UP-SELLING GUEST BOOKINGS

The Pelican CRM can send an automated email greeting to a guest three-to-ten days prior to arrival with a reservation re-confirmation and useful information about hotel facilities. This message can be used to promote appealing non-room items such as airport transfers, champagne and wine, spa treatments, restaurant vouchers and theater bookings.

INCREASE GUEST LOYALTY WITH AUTOMATED THANK YOU EMAIL & GUEST SURVEY

The Pelican CRM can send an automated email thanking your departing guests for their stay. Besides being good manners, this email can solicit valuable feedback and comments. A link to an online survey form will help to capture your guests experience for future reference.

ENCOURAGE REPEAT BOOKINGS WITH AN E-NEWSLETTER

Update targeted guests about new amenities, services, events, or simply the latest special offers. An e-newsletter can reach out to former guests and encourage repeat bookings, building familiarity with your hotel and loyal relationships through consistent and personalized communication.

This new feature is provided free of charge to most Pelican partner members as part of the company commitment of continuing product and service enhancement .

If you like to know more about the CRM integrated feature or other PELICAN products or services please contact us or visit our website at www.pelicansolution.com.

TRENDS AND STRATEGIES

Hartono Liman, Pelican Hotel Solutions Managing Director, opened the seminar with a presentation on e-commerce trends in the hospitality industry and strategies to attract online direct booking. The presentation focused on the importance played by emerging web-based technologies to efficiently interact with actual and potential guests and build lasting relationships. The second speaker, Dieter Runge, Regional Director at Transpacific Translations, shared his views and experiences regarding multilingual web trends and strategies in relation to the hospitality industry.

NETWORKING OPPORTUNITY

The participants praised both the content of the presentations, and the opportunity the seminar provided to network with fellow regional hotel executives.

“Thank You Pelican Hotel Solutions for sharing some valuable information with us. The statistics provided compounded the fact and drive home the points on customer behavior when it comes to this fast changing digital landscape.”
– Lily Chee, Sales & Marketing Manager for the Ritz Garden Hotel

“I am very grateful to attend the event. Great speakers and great eye opener.”
– Jidabha Seejong, E-Commerce Director at The Sukosol Hotel

A similar event was held in Bangkok on 1 November 2012 at the Westin Grande Sukhumvit with a guest speaker from Tripadvisor. Lewis Ng, Commercial Director APAC.

For more information or to keep you updated with our next event, contact marketing@pelicansolution.com.

The Art of Packaging

Creating appealing hotel package deals as much an art as a skill. To create a unique market profile, a hotel should offer more than the family, honeymoon or singles packages. However, the time spent in designing a wide selection of packages, each appealing to highly specific market segment, will be amply rewarded when potential guests discover that your hotel offers exactly the mix of services and facilities they are looking for at a competitive price.

Local Interest

Many guests book a hotel room to attend a special sporting event, festival or concert. Event packages can include tickets, transportation to the venue, and take-away refreshment. Other packages can exploit unique characteristics of the hotel, like the architecture or history, as well as nearby places of interest. In all cases, the package should be heavily promoted through printed advertising, social media and blog updates, and other channels. Equally important is publishing of positive reviews by satisfied guests.

To learn more about creating and promoting effective hotel packages, visit www.pelicansolution.com or email info@pelicansolution.com. Remember, a package is more than just promotion.

The seminars will feature presentations by Hartono Liman, an early pioneer in introducing e-commerce to South East Asian hotels, online marketing expert Dieter Runge, and Lewis Ng, an executive at TripAdvisor. Participants will learn of the importance of selecting the appropriate e-commerce strategies for penetrating specific market segments, and the general concepts underpinning effective hotel online business.

The two seminars will be held at :

The seminar is free of charge with limited seating. Register today and secure a place by contacting Ms. Ari, ari@pelicansolution.com.

For further information please contact:

KL SEMINAR
Ms. Friyana, friyana@pelicansolution.com or call +65 90443987

BANGKOK SEMINAR
Ms. Vicky, wipawadee@pelicansolution.com or call +66 2 129 3119

These seminars will be most valuable for hotel general managers and e-commerce directors/managers, but are open for all e-commerce staff members.

Boost Productivity and Reduce Error

While the ability to communicate in more than one language is an essential skill for hotel front-line personnel, multilingual abilities are seldom a consideration in hiring staff to perform administrative or accounting functions. Pelicans recently launched interface-language localization function allows employees to interact with back-office applications in their preferred language, boosting productivity and reducing error.

Individual Language Selection

Each user may select their preferred language on login. Allowing staff to work in their own language increases efficiency, reduces training time, and encourages employees to explore the system and utilize the full potential of Pelican Solutions applications.

Fully Customizable Localization

Pelicans multilingual interface feature currently includes major Asian Languages, with many more to come. On request, Pelican Solutions will compile a localization package for additional languages.

Please contact info@pelicansolution.com or visit our www.pelicansolution.com for more information on how language localization of back-office applications can boost staff productivity.

Pelican Hotel Solutions proudly announce the launch of “Integrated Email Marketing” a platform for hotels to optimize service quality and provide time-and-context-sensitive up-selling of supplementary products and services. As a FREE upgrade to all our valued customers, this integrated email marketing solution includes best practices for scheduling, implementation, and management.

Integrated email marketing can be used for pre-arrival greetings and post-departure appreciations, offering room upgrades and add-on amenities, as an e-concierge, for customer surveys, and for hotel promotional campaign updates. Both content and design are fully customizable. An automated delivery system enables hotels to schedule automatic email delivery at specified dates and times.

Welcome Email & Up-Selling

Greet your guests three-to-ten days prior to arrival with a reservation confirmation and information about hotel facilities. Pre-arrival emails can also promote appealing non-room items such as airport transfers, champagne and wine, spa treatments, restaurant vouchers and theater bookings.

Thank You Email & Guest Survey

Thank your departing guests and solicit valuable feedback and comments. A link to an online survey form will help to capture your guests experience for future reference.

E-Concierge

This interactive email provides local information to help your guests plan activities during their stay. A detailed guide includes maps, directions, weather, local transportation, restaurant recommendations, shopping advice, local activities, and other attractions.

E-Newsletter

Update targeted guests about new amenities, services, events, or simply the latest special offers. E-Newsletter is a great way of reaching out to former guests and to encourage repeat bookings.

Build familiarity with your hotel and loyal relationships through consistent and personalized communication.

Harnessing The Force Of Social Media

Word-of-mouth recommendation is a hotels most effective--and elusive--marketing tool. Where once travelers relied on friends and family for travel advice, increasing numbers now consider the shared experiences of social-media contacts when making travel decisions.

Encouraging Guests To Share Good Experiences

Travelers love to tell friends about good travel experiences, and social media expands their circle of friends to a global audience. This innovative social media tool encourages arriving and departing guests to share, tweet, or otherwise tell the world of their experiences by making the process effortless – and offering incentives to be enjoyed or passed on to friends and social-media contacts.

Sharing Incentives

On completion of an online booking, the guest will be presented with confirmation screen that includes an option to post a message on the social network of their choice, along with an e-voucher for a room upgrade or other incentive. Departing guests will be sent an email asking for comments about their stay, again with an incentive for a future stay.

Seamless Integration

Like the Pelican booking engine, this feature seamlessly integrates into a hotel website, with all screens and emails carrying the distinctive look-and-feel of the hotel.

Same Day Response

Pelican Hotel Solutions announces a new customer service that guarantees same-day response to all support queries. With 3-Hours Response, a Pelican Customer Care team member will respond within three hours during a business day to an email query or request for assistance regarding any Pelican Hotel Solution product.

Each Customer Is Unique

We realize that every Pelican customer is unique, and requires service flexibility and responsiveness. Each member of our Customer Care team can access all relevant information regarding each customer, anywhere in the world. As a Pelican customer, you can obtain assistance for someone familiar with your specific requirements and situation at any time.

Only an Email Away

We at Pelican Hotel Solution are ready to assist you with all your e-commerce requirements at your property. Remember, we are just an email away 24/7!

Both business and leisure travellers increasingly rely on small and lightweight mobile devices for performing web-based tasks for arranging accommodation - especially when already on the road. But web pages and applications designed for the desktop and laptop are frequently difficult to use on a small screen.

Capturing On-The-Go Travelers

The ever-increasing quantity of transport and accommodation options encourages travelers to make travel arrangements on the fly - using their mobile devices. Capturing business travelers needing last-minute accommodation or leisure travelers who change itinerary on a whim can significantly increase a hotels market share. The key is to fully engage the attention of the potential guest from wherever they are: office, cafe, airport lounge - or even in a competing hotel!

Booking Solutions for Mobile Devices

Pelican Hotel Solutions has developed a mobile-friendly booking engine specifically designed to capture on-the-go bookings. Based on Pelican booking technology, which allows hotels to adjust rates and packages instantly and automatically to reflect market conditions, the mobile booking engine gives hotels the ability to offer optimal rates to last-minute bookers.

Innovative Mobile Commerce Features

The Mobile Booking Engine also comes with Google Maps integration that will show potential guests the hotel location relative to their own, and automatic dialing puts a reservation office a single click away. Guests can book multiple rooms, even in different types, in one transaction. And time-, place-, and contect-sensitive displays offer promotions and non-room items at time of booking. An image gallery and other visual aids, all optimized for viewing on a tiny screen in adverse conditions, shows off the property and facilities in the best light.

To build your mobile commerce capability and reach on-the-go travelers, visit www.pelicansolution.com or email us at info@pelicansolution.com

The ever-growing travel market presents unlimited opportunities for hotels willing to invest in global marking through online and offline travel agents, corporate clients, GDS/IDS, and call centers. The more sales channels you have the more booking will be delivered to your hotel. However, hospitality industry has witnessed how todays rapidly growing market requires hotels to act speedily to provide accurate information of rate and allotment across their sales channels.

Nowadays, with the technology advancement, an automated Central Reservation System (CRS) can easily and seamlessly manage the distribution of hotel information to sales channels in real time. A reservation made on any sales channel is immediately communicated to the other channels, eliminating the possibility of overbooking or fixed allocations going unused.

Discover how easily Pelican CRS can automate communication among sales channels. Your hotel will enjoy more exposure to travel agents and corporate clients as Pelican CRS includes a complete B2C and B2B hotel software application. Moreover, Pelican CRS optional features can distribute your hotel to thousands of offline and online travel agents with minimum workload.

Pelican CRS gives your hotel a competitive edge through:

• Instant update of rates and allotments across all sales channels.
• Maximizing room allotment utilization with Pelican dynamic room allotment.
• Minimizing operational costs through automating reservations from large- and small-scale travel agents and corporate clients.
• Maximizing website power and closing sales immediately through Pelican reservation system that is accessible 24/7 by internet end-users, travel agents, and corporate clients.
• A call center system facilitating cross-sales among hotel properties to minimize denied bookings.
• Connections with 600,000 offline travel agents through GDS and with over 700 online travel agencies through Channel Management.
• Effective monitoring through customized reports covering all reservation activities, guest profiles, and market dynamics.

Key features of Pelican CRS include automatic cascading modification of rate plans triggered by updating a single rate, a B2B reservation system, hotel yield management tools, pre-set and dynamic package hotel booking, mobile browser compatibility, and support for twelve languages. Optional features encompass facilities for setting up multiple rate programs with different payment terms and conditions, e-media marketing tools, hotel custom intelligence reports, GDS connectivity, OTA (Online Travel Agency) channel management, online card payment and a PMS interface.

Distributing rates and allotments to online travel agents through multiple channels is an effective means of raising market profile. However, the time and effort needed to maintain a widespread online presence can divert skilled resources from other important duties. Moreover, assigning allotments to poorly performing channels can result in vacant rooms.

Channel management applications are specifically designed to minimize risk and the unproductive use of skilled human resources by automating the updating of rates and allotments throughout the entire distribution network via a single interface.

Key benefits of Channel Management:

• Maintain rate parity across multiple online distribution channels.
• Update competitive rates and allotments to all online distribution channels simultaneously through one single interface to minimize the risk of overbooking.
• Control over rate and allotment policy as all changes will be applied to all online distribution channels simultaneously.
• Contract more online channels to gain more exposure to maximize the number of bookings.
• Reduce costs of managing multiple online channels by automating manual data entry.
• Safeguard good relationships with distribution partners by maintaining consistent rates across all online distribution channels.
• Increase consumer confidence through a rate parity strategy as potential guests will compare rates in several distribution channels before selecting a hotel.

Pelican System OTA management can connect hotels with up to 700 channels, instantly updating multiple rate plans across all channels after a single rate change. Pelican OTA can also optimize room allotment management by sharing allocation across a group of distribution channels, adjusting availability in real time in response to reservation confirmations. Pelicans two-way interface and data aggregation allows users to monitor and modify rates and allocations across all channels through a single, easy-to-navigate screen.

Distributing rates and allotments to online travel agents through multiple channels is an effective means of raising market profile. However, the time and effort needed to maintain a widespread online presence can divert skilled resources from other important duties. Moreover, assigning allotments to poorly performing channels can result in vacant rooms.

Channel management applications are specifically designed to minimize risk and the unproductive use of skilled human resources by automating the updating of rates and allotments throughout the entire distribution network via a single interface.

Key benefits of Channel Management:

• Maintain rate parity across multiple online distribution channels.
• Update competitive rates and allotments to all online distribution channels simultaneously through one single interface to minimize the risk of overbooking.
• Control over rate and allotment policy as all changes will be applied to all online distribution channels simultaneously.
• Contract more online channels to gain more exposure to maximize the number of bookings.
• Reduce costs of managing multiple online channels by automating manual data entry.
• Safeguard good relationships with distribution partners by maintaining consistent rates across all online distribution channels.
• Increase consumer confidence through a rate parity strategy as potential guests will compare rates in several distribution channels before selecting a hotel.

Pelican System OTA management can connect hotels with up to 700 channels, instantly updating multiple rate plans across all channels after a single rate change. Pelican OTA can also optimize room allotment management by sharing allocation across a group of distribution channels, adjusting availability in real time in response to reservation confirmations. Pelicans two-way interface and data aggregation allows users to monitor and modify rates and allocations across all channels through a single, easy-to-navigate screen.

Your hotel website is a reflection of your corporate identity, and a major factor in raising awareness of your brand. Your hotel has, or should have, a distinctive logo, color scheme and even typeface, which should all be visible on your website.

But a modern hotel website is more than just words and pictures. The rapid growth of online reservations means that any competitive hotel’s website must offer sophisticated online booking facilities. But not all booking engines will integrate into the hotels own website. In most cases, the booking engine will have a distinct look and feel. It is as though the doorman of your hotel wears a completely different uniform from the rest of the front-line staff.

Pelican Solution gives you both: one of the most advanced booking engines that nonetheless can be customized to match the look and feel of your website. This gains the confidence of potential guests and creates stronger brand awareness through a consistent website layout. On every page the potential guest will be reassured by a familiar environment, as they would stroll around the hotel itself.

An online booking engine will automate the entire online booking process. Benefits include Instant confirmation of bookings and processing of payments, real-time rate and availability status, higher “Looker to Booker” conversion and Increased Return on Investment.

“We highly recommend the Pelican Solution, as it helped to generate a steady stream of bookings directly to the hotel. Communication has been great, setup and implementation was smooth and efficiently done. The system is stable and easy to use for both our guests as internally" said Arjan van de Laak - Sales Manager of The Wharney Guang Dong Hotel Hongkong.

About The Wharney Guang Dong Hotel Hongkong

The Wharney Guang Dong Hotel Hong Kong, is managed by Guang Dong International Hotel Management Holdings Limited.

But online purchasers are the world’s most demanding shoppers, notoriously fickle and with zero tolerance for inconvenience or delay. Attracting and serving online customers requires substantial resources: both financial and human, with no guarantees of acceptable results.

How can a hotel find success in the competitive online world at an affordable cost? By having the essential component of the back office, the online reservation system, do double duty as a marketing resource.

Pelican Solution integrates a reservations management application with cutting-edge promotion and marketing facilities to provide a powerful, easy-to-use method of increasing revenue without significant upfront expense.

Pelican Solution offers a highly flexible reservation and online payment application featuring instant booking confirmation on receipt of deposit. Seamlessly embedded in the hotel’s existing website and reflecting the look-and-feel of the brand identity, Pelican is an effective and efficient solution to enhancing online presence and increasing revenue from Internet-based transactions.

Key features of Pelican Solution are multiple room bookings, flexible room-type option for packages booking, bonus-night feature, multiple languages, customized reports, email alerts of significant system changes, differential rate for accompanying children, and customized email booking confirmations. Other informative features include an activity calendar, guest testimonials, and newsletter for travel agents and frequent guests.

B2B applications include a single Interface to multiple channels (GDS, Expedia, and many more), an online payment gateway, tools for yield management and a property management system interface facilities. Aflexible package booking facility allows you to sell excess room nights without undercutting the local market. The best online shopping sites ensure that everything a prospective customer needs to know: price, availability, shipping time, features, third-party product reviews and most importantly, instant confirmation of a successful transaction, are either displayed on the page or lie a single mouse click away. Pelican Solution applies these proven e-marketing principles to the hospitality industry, providing a reservations system that is far more than just a booking engine.

The collaboration between ATF and Pelican Solution began with ATF Brunei 2010 and continued with ATF Cambodia 2011. The multi-property reservation system enables delegates to book their accommodation arrangements online with instant confirmation.

Participating ATF hotel partners have full control over display of their rates and allotments, which can be changed instantly at any time. Delegates can preview rates and availability from ATF hotel partners in a single screen.

This continuing collaboration with ATF demonstrates the growing recognition of Pelican as an effective and efficient on-line reservation system.

About ATF

ASEAN Tourism Forum (ATF) is a cooperative regional effort to promote the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) region as one tourist destination. This annual event involves all the tourism industry sectors of the 10 member nations of ASEAN: Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Each year, the hosting of ATF is rotated among the member countries. ATF 2012 marks the 31st anniversary of this event since its inauguration in Malaysia in 1981. Indonesia will host ATF 2012 and is all geared up to welcome over 1,600 delegates which includes about 400 international buyers and 100 international media.

The growing importance of e-Commerce in the modern hospitality industry has created an urgent need for simple solutions to manage online presence. The Pelican e-Commerce Solutions package allows hotels to outsource routine e-Commerce tasks in a cost-effective manner.

This package includes comprehensive administrative services, a channel-management system, rate competitor report, personal guest correspondence, an online guest questionnaire, e-Marketing, e-Design, e-Newsletter and e-Commerce services, SEO maintenance, and hospitality industry news.

“This is an exciting opportunity for the hospitality Industry, specifically hotels," said Pelican Managing Director Hartono Liman. "Our e-Commerce Solutions Package offers significant time and cost-saving advantages. In addition, the package provides access to consistently high-quality and cost-efficient e-Commerce marketing expertise.”

1. Hotel Back Office Main Menu Display

Our new "Alert Message Board" will remind your hotel of approaching or passed expiry dates for rates, allotment, packages, and items for sale.

2. Thai Language Option** (TH)

The addition of Thai brings to 13 the number of language options in Pelican solution. Available languages are: English (default), Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, French, German, Korean, Spanish, Japanese, Indonesian, Russian, Malaysian, Arabic, and Thai.

3. Instant Multi-language Settings for Hotel General Information**

Expansion of database capability now enables hotels to display descriptions in many languages.

4. Multiple Rate Categories (tiers) for Travel Agencies and Corporate Clients***

Pelican solution now allows you to improve your yield from agents and corporate bookings by setting differential rates.

Regain your festive spirit; get your holiday promotion and event acknowledged. Our state-of-the-art web promotion tools will attract attention to your promotional images and present interesting content, and a high possibility of a final transaction, in the shortest possible time.

Our E-Promotion Feature program is designed to enhance your hotel’s website to create interest among visitors.

The innovative synergy of design and technology, the hallmark of Pelican Solution, captures and holds visitor interest, encouraging them to linger, resulting in longer exposure to your promotional images and links.

If this piques your curiosity, as it is to your visitors, contact us now

At the moment, most of the benefits of this rapid growth fall to major brand hotels with a strong Internet presence and extensive offline marketing campaigns. However, there are opportunities for independent hotels, small chain hotels, and family-run hotels to enjoy their slice of the growing online revenue pie.

Pelican® has participated in the development of online travel sales since its inception with their online booking engine, one of the most advanced on the market. Now the Pelican solution has been expanded to include a Rate Distribution Manager. This revolutionary system assists hotels to distribute rates and allotments to wholesalers, retail travel agents, and third party (B2C) travel websites. Fully integrating all concepts of “online contracting”, “dynamic room allotment”, “real-time rate and allotment” and “instant confirmation booking”, Pelican’s rate distribution manager is designed to provide direct access between a hotel (as the supplier) and its market (travel agents, corporate clients, and Internet Users).

If you are a new hotel with a limited marketing network, Pelican solution can give you the facilities to easily build and manage your own B2C and B2B network. With Pelican Rate Distribution Management, thousands of travel buyers anywhere in the world can view of your rates and allotments and instantly make bookings!

How may we assist you? Contact us now at info@pelicansolution.com or visit www.pelicansolution.com

We hope you will find with this website both pleasant and educational. Our existing guideline materials are now available for easy searching, and information about our activities will be added regularly.

Useful information on this website includes:
Comprehensive feature reference. Full descriptions of all features available in Pelican Solution.
Guidelines on module use. Module guidelines listed by category for easy reference.
Pelican Solution news. Keep up to date about Pelican Solution additions and improvements.
Smart Topics. Selected industry news items relating to online reservations.

Our design goal is to make comprehensive information about Pelican Solution available to clients in a timely manner with minimal effort.

If you have any questions or comments please let us know.

Singapore - A website is an essential requirement in the modern travel industry. But a poorly designed website is like having a poorly trained, sloppily dressed sales agent: you will probably lose customers instead of generating new business. Here are a few pointers to make your website a productive component of your sales team.

Grooming. In a hotel, a well-groomed front-line staff is as essential as clean sheets and shiny floors. Good grooming is just as important to your website. Choose a color scheme that reflects the style and ambiance of your hotel. Select images that display your property to best advantage. Appealing photographs, artful layout, and clear, correct text will demonstrate that your hotel is professionally managed, the first step in creating customer confidence.

Language. In any good hotel, multilingual employees are prized. Like a guest made comfortable speaking their native tongue with a receptionist, an Internet browser will be drawn to a website written in a language they can most readily understand. Website text in their own language will make a guest feel at home even before they have booked a room.

Information. Your website must contain several distinct types of information, from static descriptions of room types and size to constantly changing data such as rates and availability. Good website design and technology ensures that potential guests can find and understand exactly the information they need when they need it. And it the fast-paced contemporary world, most website visitors want instant service. When hundreds of competing hotels are a mouse click away, unnecessary delays often result in lost opportunities.

About Pelican
Pelican solution is a hotel booking engine and central reservation system that also serves as a platform for online promotions, announcements, events calendars, guest testimonials and more: anything that will help to convert website visitors into hotel guests. Pelican solution is designed to maximize online bookings, increasing the conversion of website LOOKER into BOOKER.
More information visit www.pelicansolution.com

Our back office user-friendly page makes creating packages duty so much easier. We provide all the buttons and the field for you not just to select room types and minimum length of stay, but we also do the discount math for you and help you determine period settings. First you might want to think and check back of what items in your hotels that a slow motion progress lately. Say you want to leverage your 6 or 8 hours of city tour, or your Lomi-lomi Healing Spa Treatment, or even show tickets to your nearest theme park, just combine all of that (or each of them) with 2-3 nights stay at your most compact room.

If that part is easy, then what you have to do next is checking the pricing range validity and making sure each of them also has valid quantity. For all charging purposes don’t forget to select frequency of stay or date and select your packs, either per person, or per room, per adult, or per child. You could also combine your package with complimentary 100% discount or only a specific amount of discount. Perhaps you want to introduce your guest to your hospitable chauffeur by complimenting your airport transfer or the complimentary champagne and cheese biscuits for the newly wed couple, slip your extraordinary services to your guest and watch the impact.

Would you like your guest to reserve your packages prior to check in date? We’ve got specific fields to organize it. Just add images for inviting and enticing people to book, add few lines of your own promotion words. With some click here and there, voila… you got yourself nice package to spread around town. Curious about this system, click here for more info.