From your experience working with
Armenian market can you please tell us
what problems or issues you face starting
from the registration of the property to
managing them in Expedia’s platform?
What are the points that you see there is
a need to improve?
would note two major challenges that
hoteliers make. They can appear at any
stage of cooperation with Expedia: both
at the very beginning, and after several
years of work.
Firstly, hoteliers often forget that working
with OTA is a continuous process. There
is a misconception that you can simply
create room types, set rates, and upload
photos, and then wait for bookings. But
the market is dynamic, it is necessary to
use various promotion tools, update rates,
advertise additional hotel services, work
with reviews, analyze the demand and the
behavior of competitors.
Expedia Group offers a wide range of
analytical tools that are available to all
our partners in their Extranet including
through the mobile application. Therefore,
the hotelier can analyze the situation at
any time and make changes, for example,
in his pricing policy.
I always draw a parallel between the online
booking site and the supermarket. In
order for a consumer to buy your product,
first, it is necessary that he finds it in a
huge store, distinguish among others and
I
choose to purchase. In 2019 it is no longer
enough just to place a price tag on the
packaging of goods, it is necessary to put
efforts on its promotion.
In other words, it is important to invest
your knowledge and time in working with
online resources, and then they will bring
the desired income.
Secondly, the lack of understanding of
the market situation is often interfering
hoteliers and, as a result, the incorrect
positioning of the hotel. When we talk
with hoteliers about their competitors,
our partners name 2-3 properties nearby.
Perhaps this is relevant for a business
traveler who chooses between several
hotels in close proximity to the office of
the hotel to the office, the availability of
breakfast and the price.
But if you think outside the box and
talk about the leisure-segment, then
the hotelier must remember that
competition is also created by an
alternative
accommodations
-
the
same apartments that we have already
mentioned. Moreover, a competitor can
be located not only in Yerevan and even
in Armenia, but, for example, a hotel from
neighboring Georgia.
Therefore, we always urge to consider
your hotel inseparably from global trends:
follow how hotels in other countries
(especially where potential guests from
feeder markets go) position themselves,
follow the launches of hotel chains and
the arrival of new airlines, communicate
with colleagues, alternative resources
and the media, to participate in industry
events. The comprehension of the
market situation is the key to the correct
positioning and promotion of the hotel,
and not only through online channels.
In my practice, there were cases when
the hotel created the demand for a
specific destination. People wanted to
come to this or that place that they had
never heard of before in order to stay at
a particular hotel, and the interest for the
region contributed to the opening of new
accommodation facilities. I wish there
were more stories like this.