So Zomato, a restaurant discovery company, was the poster child of the media as they propped it up to be the headliner in India’s startup space. “Silicon Valley was heading East”, seemed to be the mantra.

The CEO – Deepinder Goyal happily accepted all the accolades pouring in from all quarters. All good, till it lasted.

This episode is about Business Intelligence. Whether you’re actively aware of it or not, your Property Management System is constantly generating a ton of data on a daily basis. And this data, if sliced and diced the right way, can present you with some excellent opportunities to boost revenue. But the challenge is to find a way to effectively tabulate and measure this data.

Stayful.com is a company that’s been making waves of late. They’ve been getting some excellent press coverage and the business model is extremely hotel-friendly. Take a look to see why this is a great resource for hoteliers who want to sell off any unsold inventory for arrivals within the next 30 days. The best part – All reservations are final and the hotel gets paid within 48 hours.

I don’t think I need to elaborate on the case for independent hotels having their own website. Clearly, they do and we all understand that.

But if your hotel is a part of a brand and you’re already represented on the brand website, does it make sense to have an independent website of your own? There are pros and cons to each side.

As hoteliers, one can learn a lot about the guest experience simply by being the guest at the property. Simply reversing roles allows you to see things that you might take for granted otherwise.

An interesting personal story illustrates the point.

Reputation management for hotels can be a tricky one.

Just a decade ago, reputations were built by way-of-mouth referrals, extensive advertising and good ol’ fashioned public relations campaigns.

Not anymore.

Here are some simple rules that can help hotels along the way.

Most online reservation systems offer the functionality of the “Post-Stay” email. This is the email that goes out to the guest after the scheduled date of the checkout thanking them for their business.
I think the power of this email is underestimated. It can be a powerful ally in so many ways.