December 3, 2012
DENVER, Colo., December 3, 2012—Sceptre Hospitality Resources today announced the launch of its latest multimedia communications platform, MotionNotes for Hospitality.
MotionNotes allows for email delivery of custom video messages or campaigns with impact. It is an interactive communications platform designed to simplify the process of creating, distributing and tracking personalized multimedia messages without costly production, programming or IT resources. With MotionNotes, users can interact with guests and potential clients through recorded messages or video introductions that can be sent with presentations, proposals, slideshows, movies or any file attachments. Built-in analytics, contact management and visual branding support campaign effectiveness and ROI analysis. (more…)
November 27, 2012
By: Leland Fox, Business Analyst for Sceptre Hospitality Resources
Priceline’s announcement of its intent to purchase Kayak on November 8 was quite an unexpected acquisition in the online travel arena. While the industry has shown waves of consolidation in the past, this acquisition is the most important event to take place in the Online Travel Agents (OTA) industry in recent memory. The online travel giant agreed to pay $1.8 billion in cash and stock for Kayak; this represents nearly an $800 million premium over the metasearch giant’s market cap when it launched its IPO back on July 20. This premium signifies Priceline’s belief in the incredible potential of the new relationship and the importance of metasearch engines in the online travel environment. Previous acquisitions for Priceline (booking.com and ActiveHotels) have only been in the $100 million range, so the Kayak acquisition is a significant departure from the past. But what exactly does this collaboration do for both companies, the online travel industry, and the consumer? Let’s take a look. (more…)
November 12, 2012
By: Laura Pisinski, Client Services Manager at Sceptre Hospitality Resources
I recently attended a webinar that I found to be interesting. The topic of discussion was geared to hotel marketers on what some online retailers have done to be successful. The presentation was for hoteliers to learn from these online retail marketers and expand on those ideas to utilize to market hotels. The final goal for all marketing teams, regardless of their industry, is to attract potential clients/customers to purchase your product. (more…)
November 5, 2012
Five Key Areas of Central Reservation System Technology Upgraded
DENVER, Colo., November 5, 2012—Sceptre Hospitality Resources today announced that it has made enhancements in five areas of its industry-leading central reservation system, WindsurferCRS. Significant improvements include an upgraded multi-property booking engine, automated monitoring for PMS reservation delivery failures, a user-configurable dashboard, an enhanced currency converter and improvements to its rate derivation functionality. (more…)
October 23, 2012
By: Drew Rosser, Vice President of Enterprise Sales at Sceptre Hospitality Resources
The overriding goal is a satisfying user experience. However, any hotel or hotel chain must first ensure that the booking engine not only reflects the proper image of the property but allows the property to manage their revenue management strategy as well. Then of course there is the issue of usability. If the engine is too confusing or dysfunctional no amount of wonderful images or descriptive text will help… (more…)
October 16, 2012
By: Eric Gourdie, Strategic Revenue Director at Sceptre Hospitality Resources
When it comes to getting invited to the game for national corporate travel, most branded hotels have the advantage. They have large national sales offices through their brand affiliations that allow the hotels to pick and choose which companies they want to submit RFP’s to. For the independent hotel it can be challenging to even know where to start. There are a couple of things that the independent hotel can do to get noticed by the large travel management companies and to receive RFP solicitations. (more…)
October 9, 2012
Completed Windsurfer CRS Beta Testing, absolute integration with WinPM and NiteVision
Phoenix, AZ — October 8, 2012 — Multi-Systems, Inc. (MSI), a cloud services hospitality technology solutions provider, has marked the successful completion of beta testing of the integration between its WinPM and NiteVision PMS solutions and the Windsurfer CRS, a product of business affiliate, Sceptre Hospitality Resources. (more…)
October 2, 2012
By: Drew Rosser, Vice President of Enterprise Sales at Sceptre Hospitality Resources
The mobile device has changed how the world communicates. The freedom it has given and the always-connected attitude has been readily consumed, some would say to our detriment. However, with creative know-how and a conscious effort to respect one’s privacy the device can be a valuable tool for the hotel and travel industry. (more…)
September 27, 2012
By: Colleen Foligno, Area Director of Revenue Management
We are always looking for a way to grow overall ADR.
Be sure not to overlook the way you price your “premium” room types. It is important to analyze if you are actually selling these premium rooms or are guests being upgraded into them at no additional charge? Review the price difference between your standard rooms and premium rooms – is there too much of a gap? What does the guest get for that additional room fee? If your analysis reveals that the premium rooms are not selling, it may be time to reevaluate that pricing strategy. (more…)
