Hello ,
I’m bringing back the newsletter. This is the dillema of a newsletter, it takes time to put together. So when one is busy with a lot of work it tends to vanish. I’m going to try to revive it, despite being busy on multiple projects. As a fractional CMO as a day-job, building 10minutes.news with Tony Loeb, and contributing to launching a new e-commerce brand in the evening.
But I still do enjoy having a channel to share thoughts and not just Linkedin rants. Let’s see if I manage to keep this going.
Best, Martin
Food for thought.
Junk fees, pushback
Major U.S. airlines are pushing back against the rule to disclose fees upfront. Hotels could take a cue from this situation by proactively disclosing all fees associated with a stay upfront. Hotel Resort Fees, were part of the reason for this rule. In the end the market will decide where they buy, and old-world tactics of hidden fees being added are less and less acceptable by hotels.
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Airbnb’s demand curve
With Airbnb projecting revenues between $2.68 and $2.74 billion for the quarter ending in June, which is below the analyst expectations of $2.74 billion, it’s indicative of a potential growth slowdown. Is this the same demand curve as the hotel industry? One might argue that hotels can take this as an opportunity to reclaim market share by highlighting unique value propositions that may not be as susceptible to these swings, such as personalized service or loyalty rewards that provide immediate benefits rather than just price-based competition.
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Booking is a gatekeeper
EU has mandated Booking Holdings to modify its contractual practices with hotels owing to its status as a gatekeeper in the online market space. I’m not entirely sure what this will mean. It could lead to the elimination of rate parity clauses, but those were never really used – at least not overtly. In general regulations, while needed, have a bad tendency of helping the large companies become larger and the smaller ones disappear, will this be another case of that?
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Brand Loyalty or Brand Rewards?
In 2022, the top ten hotel chains, held a combined market share of 74.77%. They leverage brand recognition and loyalty programs to draw customers and compete with smaller, independent players by diversifying their brands. I believe this highlights the critical importance of brand building in the hotel industry. While loyalty programs are often perceived as tools for customer retention, they can sometimes be more accurately described as rewards systems. However, the key takeaway is the reinforcement of a controlled market share by these giants through strategic brand diversification.
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OpenAI’s new model
OpenAI has recently updated their ChatGPT model to the GPT-4o version, which includes a portable robotic language translator. This enhancement to the AI’s capabilities could prove to be a significant asset for travelers who require real-time translation services. The improvements in speed and multimedia interactions, along with upcoming updates for a better understanding of photos and videos. I think the travel industry could leverage this technology to enhance guest experiences. By integrating such AI into their services, hotels could offer guests more personalized assistance, whether through in-room devices or mobile applications. It could also streamline communication barriers, enabling a smoother travel experience for international guests.
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AI Micro-campaigns
Meta has consolidated its AI-generated creative functions under Advantage+ Creative, providing tools to optimize social media advertising campaigns. The updates, including more interactive catalog ads and a suggested higher ROI for advertisers using generative AI. The use of AI in advertising on social platforms can’t be underestimated, as it can target potential guests more effectively.
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Google’s AI search
The recent announcements at Google I/O mentioned AI 121 times. Lots of amazing features promising lots of great new functionality. One which will change a lot is AI powered search. It will change SERPs, it will change hotel search but how much will it change? We don’t know yet. However we do know they will do all they can not to kill the “10 blue links” because it is their business model. And yet, here we are.
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