AT THIS EVENT LAST YEAR , THERE WERE WARNINGS ABOUT A POTENTIAL SLOWDOWN IN INTERNATIONAL VISITORS . UNFORTUNATELY , THAT SLOWDOWN HAS ARRIVED . EVEN THOUGH THE GLOBAL TRAVEL MARKET IS GROWING , THE U . S . SHARE OF THE MARKET FELL NEARLY 13 % OVER THE PAST FEW YEARS . THAT MEANS WE MISSED OUT ON 7.4 MILLION INTERNATIONAL VISITORS , US $ 32 BILLION IN LOST SPENDING AT AMERICAN DESTINATIONS AND BUSINESSES , AND 100,000 ADDITIONAL JOBS … MANY LEADERS IN OUR INDUSTRY BELIEVE THAT RIGHT NOW AMERICA ’ S MESSAGE TO THE WORLD IS NOT VERY WELCOMING . IT ’ S A LEGITIMATE CONCERN : IF PEOPLE DON ’ T FEEL WELCOME , THEY WON ’ T VISIT THE U . S . THEY WON ’ T SHOP IN OUR STORES , EAT IN OUR RESTAURANTS , STAY AT OUR HOTELS AND VACATION AT OUR DESTINATIONS . PUBLIC POLICY AS WELL AS PUBLIC RHETORIC IMPACT AMERICA ’ S IMAGE AROUND THE WORLD AND AFFECT OUR ABILITY TO ATTRACT VISITORS .
TRENDING
BLOCKCHAIN ’ S potential
Justin Reese , risk services lead in Hub International tion na ’
s hospitality practice , says blockchain , a distributed public digital ledger secured via cryptography , has enormous potential for hotels . He suggests three areas to explore — with some caveats :
Eliminating middlemen . Some 25 % of online booking transaction fees goes toward middleman processors . But blockchain technology was designed to decentralize security and easily verify data , ultimately allowing a direct connection between lodging providers and customers .
Improving internal management . Different hotel operations can be managed through blockchains and integrated , improving both transparency and security . For example , rates , inventory and availability rules could be stored on the blockchain ledger , along with “ smart ” contracts for transient , corporate , group and other agreements . Germany ’ s TUI Group , a 300-hotel company , is testing this — in one instance , by using an in-house blockchain in tandem with a yield management system to control and manage room inventory .
Improving the customer experience . Blockchain is a secure way to capture and manage information from travel and purchasing patterns to personal data . That makes it ideal for one-on-one marketing initiatives like loyalty programs . TUI Group also is looking at the “ mass individualization of 20 million ” customers through blockchain . This could allow the hotel immediate access to accurate information on a guest ’ s simultaneous eligibility for discounts , affinity groups , reward programs and targeted promotional rates , as well as free room upgrades and other benefits . In other words , blockchain could enable the integration of information on into a single profile for each customer — the kind of personalization that t is behind true loyalty .
But there are practical cal matters , including a knowledge gap among the people p who decide d whether to foot the bill — the CEOs and heads of marketing and development . There e ’ s a severe e shortage of proficient developers , and technical c barriers rier from limited scalability ab to lack of governance nce and standards ards . Clearly , blockchain ch is a work in progress s and a technology ogy whose early adopters hotels would do well l to monitor .
Missing OUT
AT THIS EVENT LAST YEAR , THERE WERE WARNINGS ABOUT A POTENTIAL SLOWDOWN IN INTERNATIONAL VISITORS . UNFORTUNATELY , THAT SLOWDOWN HAS ARRIVED . EVEN THOUGH THE GLOBAL TRAVEL MARKET IS GROWING , THE U . S . SHARE OF THE MARKET FELL NEARLY 13 % OVER THE PAST FEW YEARS . THAT MEANS WE MISSED OUT ON 7.4 MILLION INTERNATIONAL VISITORS , US $ 32 BILLION IN LOST SPENDING AT AMERICAN DESTINATIONS AND BUSINESSES , AND 100,000 ADDITIONAL JOBS … MANY LEADERS IN OUR INDUSTRY BELIEVE THAT RIGHT NOW AMERICA ’ S MESSAGE TO THE WORLD IS NOT VERY WELCOMING . IT ’ S A LEGITIMATE CONCERN : IF PEOPLE DON ’ T FEEL WELCOME , THEY WON ’ T VISIT THE U . S . THEY WON ’ T SHOP IN OUR STORES , EAT IN OUR RESTAURANTS , STAY AT OUR HOTELS AND VACATION AT OUR DESTINATIONS . PUBLIC POLICY AS WELL AS PUBLIC RHETORIC IMPACT AMERICA ’ S IMAGE AROUND THE WORLD AND AFFECT OUR ABILITY TO ATTRACT VISITORS .
JONATHAN TISCH , CHAIRMAN AND CEO OF LOEWS HOTELS , SPEAKING AT THE 2018 NYU INTERNATIONAL HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY INVESTMENT CONFERENCE
12 hotelsmag . com July / August 2018