SOUTHLAKE, Texas, June 11, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Sabre
Corporation (NASDAQ: SABR) released a new travel trend report today
that outlines a clear path to help hoteliers successfully retail to
modern travelers. Sabre's report, The Future of Hotel Booking –
A Guide to Hotel Retailing, explores recent
technological innovations within retail, tech, media and travel
industries and offers practical, actionable recommendations to help
hotels apply these practices to a successful retailing strategy.
The report identifies 10 distinct trends powered by technology
within three key focus areas – World as Media, Intimate
Intelligence and Instant Service – and examines their applications
to the hospitality industry.
![Sabre Hospitality Solutions explores emerging retailing trends and their impact on travel. Sabre Hospitality Solutions explores emerging retailing trends and their impact on travel.](https://photos.prnewswire.com/prnvar/20150611/222535)
The explosion of consumer-facing technology services has
multiplied the paths to purchase and inundated consumers with
information from price comparisons and reviews to promotions and
deals. While this rapidly expanding travel marketplace is an
advantage to travelers, it presents a challenge for hotel brands
looking to connect with their guests in a meaningful way,
particularly when it comes to booking a stay. As a result, hotels
must develop retailing strategies across channels including online,
social media, mobile apps and aggregation websites to meet
connected travelers' growing demand for interactive, personal and
immediate service and offerings.
"Technology presents the single largest untapped opportunity in
the hospitality industry today," said Alex
Alt, president of Sabre Hospitality Solutions. "The goal of
this report is to help hotel owners, operators and brands leverage
the retailing best practices of other industries into successful
strategies to grow revenue and cultivate loyalty."
The report's key findings on hotel retailing success
include:
- Convert through context – Whether offering deals or perks at
the right moment or providing relevant follow-ups or reminders,
technology increases conversion rates by capitalizing on moments
when travelers are more inclined to complete a transaction.
- Reduce friction – Technology that identifies pertinent booking
details, uses known data to auto-fill forms or creates one-click
transactions can close the gap between discovery and purchase,
creating a smoother booking process.
- Sync the cross-channel experience – Integrated technology
systems can share data across channels and devices so travelers
have a unified and consistent experience at every stage of the
purchase path, regardless of where they book.
- Help guests envision the ideal trip – Virtual reality and
live-streaming platforms allow hotel brands to immerse their guests
in the sights, sounds and feel of a destination before
booking.
- Use customer data and preferences to treat guests like old
friends – Every interaction that a customer has with a brand's
digital or physical property gives the hotel insights to uniquely
tailor every touch point with that individual guest.
Sabre solicited input from some of its hotel customers in
preparing the report. Hotel operators confirmed their desire to
take a customer-centric approach to retailing:
Kristie Goshow, senior vice
president, commercial - Viceroy Hotels & Resorts commented on
the importance of an omni-channel strategy in achieving Viceroy's
retail goals. "Our goal is to engage consumers on their path from
discovery to purchase. We must sell the way our customers wish to
buy and ultimately, that means we need to distribute ourselves
'brilliantly' across all consumer facing touch points," said
Goshow.
Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants Distribution Director
Nadine Pagel spoke on the importance
of creating a unique, personal experience for Kimpton guests. "In
the decision-making process, first impressions are paramount. We
believe in delivering highly personalized guest service anchored by
local insights and recommendations, all before you even walk in the
door – that's what makes the Kimpton experience truly unique,"
commented Pagel.
In addition, The Future of Hotel Booking shows how the
identified trends could impact the traveler experience by looking
at five different scenarios that follow travelers with differing
needs and reasons to travel throughout their booking journeys.
The Future of Hotel Booking was commissioned by Sabre and
conducted by PSFK Labs. The full report can be downloaded from the
Sabre Hospitality website.
About Sabre Corporation
Sabre Corporation is a
leading technology provider to the global travel and tourism
industry. Sabre's software, data, mobile and distribution solutions
are used by hundreds of airlines and thousands of hotel properties
to manage critical operations, including passenger and guest
reservations, revenue management, flight, network and crew
management. Sabre also operates a leading global travel
marketplace, which processes more than $110
billion of estimated travel spend annually by connecting
travel buyers and suppliers. Headquartered in Southlake, Texas, USA, Sabre operates offices
in approximately 60 countries around the world.
About PSFK
Each day we share better ways to live,
work and play through PSFK.com and our social platforms. We publish
new ideas across areas such as design, retail, technology and
travel, and hit 10 million impressions per month across our
channels. Our thought leadership reports are written by our PSFK
Labs team—a group of researchers who study the trends in
market places and advise brands like Apple, BMW, Google and Samsung
on how to leverage trends to develop new products, services and
trends.
Media Contact:
Heidi
Castle
Sabre Corporation
682-605-4290
heidi.castle@sabre.com
Logo -
http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20131216/DA33636LOGO-b
Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150611/222535
To view the original version on PR Newswire,
visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/sabre-releases-new-travel-trend-report-the-future-of-hotel-booking---a-guide-to-hotel-retailing-300097909.html
SOURCE Sabre Corporation