Why should your hotel not be dependent on just one geography?

The tourism has dipped to a whopping 60 percent in Morocco post the tragic Charlie Hebdo attack in January 2015. French National Union of Travel Agencies (SNAV) reports that Morocco has been largely affected by the attack and is facing huge loss in bookings from France. The bookings from France to other destinations registered a 13.7 percent decrease in January which does not include internet bookings.

According to the reports, the bookings had started slowing prior to the attack with the number decreasing to 46 – 38 percent. If the downfall continues, the tourism in Morocco will suffer a huge loss as most of the tourism business comes from France. The main reason behind the downfall is the terrorist threats. Prior to that, the incident of beheading a French national in Algeria also created a furor and led to the French Foreign Ministry calling for a vigil in many countries including Morocco.

Why does the hotel industry suffer the most?

Crisis events like natural calamities, terrorist attacks, economic collapses or other crimes impact all kinds of industries, and more so, the hotel industry. Safety becomes a major concern for travelers who are looking for value for their money and a hassle-free experience.

Since the hotel industry is more prone to face losses due to crisis events, they should not focus on one geography alone. As mentioned above, Morocco is a point in case as they received huge number of tourists from the French market and post the attack, the tourism revenue has dropped by more than half. Other hotels who limit their reach to specific geographies should learn from this incident. Depending only on established customer base is also not a recommended practice for the hotel business.

It’s about time that hotels look at new ways to enhance their presence in the global markets by targeting international travelers from varied geographies.

Attract global travelers through a Distribution System

A Distribution system gives hoteliers options to expand their reach to newer regions through the exposure to online booking channels. Any hotel looking to expand their reach internationally must consider a distribution system which reaches out to maximum online channels thus attracting bookings from various geographies.

Hoteliers often face troubles when their rooms remain unoccupied, overbooked or double booked. These reasons are good enough to turn their guests away. Distribution system overcomes all these hurdles as it works as a trustworthy middleman and relays real-time information to the hoteliers and booking sites. Because of this, a hotelier is able to boost room sales and expand brand visibility.

A typical distribution system offers

– Channel Manager Connect to sell rooms on unlimited OTAs like Expedia, Booking.com, Agoda and more

– Global Distribution System to connects to 800+ booking sites and over 600,000 travel agents

– TripConnect integration to reach out to 315 million visitors of TripAdvisor

– Website Booking Engine to drive direct bookings

– Facebook Booking Engine to convert fans into guests

Hotels that have benefited with Distribution System

Bond hotel, USA, experienced increased occupancy from 55% to 95% with Hotelogix’s integrated channel manager and now the hotel enjoys a steady occupancy and powerful online visibility.

“Today, occupancy remains steady at 95 percent, thanks to Hotelogix. I prefer to leave the technology to the experts so I can stay focused on my staff and guests.” – Jason Purkiss, Owner, The Bond Hotel & Extended Stay

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Fountain Inn, USA attained number 1 position in its location on TripAdvisor. The owner is happy as the hotel is being discovered by travelers easily online.

“Now with Hotelogix my guests are finding Fountain Inn and that is why we have been rated the number 1 hotel in Van Wert by TripAdvisor. All the credit goes to my team at Hotelogix.” – Dipika Ping, Owner, Fountain Inn.

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These hotels have benefited using technology that helps position themselves and reach out to the global audience.