Skift Take

Getting your hotel tech demands right is never an easy process. Why should tech for hotel distribution be any different? Hoteliers end up working with many vendors to help grasp demand, set rates. and get rooms on the right channels. Here's some clarity to figure out that morass.

Technology has played a part in hotel distribution since the 1970s, when hotels copied the central reservation systems as invented by airlines, to better manage their room inventory and connect to the global distribution systems (GDS).

But truly, hotel distribution remained largely devoid of considerable tech penetration up to the turn of the century, when online booking platforms started to flex their muscle and hotels launched their own websites with booking engines, to allow customers to book their rooms online.

Since then, hotel distribution has become far more complex, and technology has penetrated every layer of distribution. From channel managers to rate shoppers, from business intelligence to rate parity tools, hoteliers have a wealth of tech vendors vying for their attention.

In Hotel Distribution 2020 Part II: The Tech Landscape, we have set out to provide clarity on the different tech systems that are available, what issues they pertain to solve, and what solutions different vendors offer.

This report is part of a two-part report series on hotel distribution. Part I discussed the different channels that hotels distribute their rooms on. We have now launched Part II, which focuses on the technology that is available to hoteliers to enhance distribution. Together, the two reports provide a consensus view of the key issues and main opportunities for hoteliers, tech vendors, and distribution platforms.

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What You’ll Learn From This Report

  • The history of technology in hotel distribution, and what technology is used today by hotels.
  • The tech vendors that are active in this space, and what solutions they offer.
  • How the role of channel managers is evolving.
  • How hoteliers struggle to get a clear overview of demand, and how tech has evolved (and will continue to evolve) to tackle this problem.
  • How hotel distribution is becoming a more holistic topic which involves looking at the entire guest journey.

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This is the latest in a series of reports and data products that Skift Research puts out to help you analyze the impact of the coronavirus on the travel industry. Tap into the opinions and insights of our seasoned network of staffers and contributors. Over 200 hours of desk research, data collection, and/or analysis goes into each report.

After you subscribe, you will gain access to our entire vault of reports conducted on topics ranging from technology to marketing strategy to deep dives on key travel brands. You will also be able to access our proprietary Skift Recovery Index and Skift Health Score data and reports.

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Tags: booking engines, business intelligence, channel manager, hotel distribution, hotel tech stack, hotel technology, rate parity, skift research

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