Travel Market Life

For the Travel Monthly Review Show - April 2024 edition - with our expert panel featuring Will Plummer (CEO, Trust My Group), Claire Steiner (UK Director, Global Travel and Tourism Partnership), and James Clarke (General Manager, Travelzoo UK),

In this episode we’ll tackle:

• Latest industry developments: Spain’s traveller numbers, Dynamic pricing and loyalty schemes
• A look into Travel Payments and how this is adapting for consumers and businesses, we have a special mini-panel with
  • Maggie Bazemore, Knowledge Management Director | Mr & Mrs Smith
  • James Lemon, GTM | Global Industry Lead - Travel & Leisure - Stripe
  • Peter Gerstle, Business Solutions Director, Head of Travel Loyalty, Collinson

REFERENCES
Spain to tackle decrease in UK visitor durations
Dynamic (Surge/Demand) Pricing Is Coming for Everything in Travel
AVIS BUDGET GROUP REVAMPS ITS LOYALTY INITIATIVE
Expedia Group launches single loyalty programme but Hotels.com customers will earn less

Listen to more episodes of the hospitality industry podcast Travel Market Life and subscribe for the latest news at http://travelmarket.life/

Follow us on LinkedIn for more thought-provoking content: https://www.linkedin.com/company/travel-market-life/

Do you have a story to share about technology, digitalisation or culture changes within the hospitality and travel industry? We'd love to hear what your company is doing and the impact it is having. Please contact us through http://travelmarket.life/

In this episode of Hoteliers' Voice season 4, we speak with Mustafa Gokcen, Head of Information Technology, Cheval Collection - an award-winning hospitality group with 13 luxury all-apartment locations in London, Edinburgh and Dubai.

Mustafa has worked in the hospitality industry since 2012 following a move from the IT industry where he had spent the first 10 years of his career. He has worked with brands including Hilton, Starwood, and Marriott before joining Cheval Collection in 2023.

In this episode, he explains the moment he realised that hospitality is more than rooms and services and the impact this has had on his perception of the role of technology and strategic development. He shares his progression from IT to hospitality IT and how he approach leadership and recruitment.

Through our conversation we learn;

• What is misunderstood about technology in the accommodation market
• How the mindset and culture in hospitality needs to change/adapt
• His area of focus and investment in tech
• Managing to improve IT resources and find the best talent
• What makes a good tech vendor partner

Mustafa will be speaking at the IHTF 2024 which Travel Market Life is a media partner

Listen to more episodes of the hospitality industry podcast Travel Market Life and subscribe for the latest news at http://travelmarket.life/

Follow us on LinkedIn for more thought-provoking content: https://www.linkedin.com/company/travel-market-life/

Do you have a story to share about technology, digitalisation or culture changes within the hospitality and travel industry? We'd love to hear what your company is doing and the impact it is having. Please contact us through http://travelmarket.life/

In this episode of Hoteliers' Voice, we are honoured to be joined by Marriott International's Director of Employer Branding - Central Europe to discuss the initiatives that are engaging and attracting staff.

Florian Hepp started his career at Marriott before developing his career at Westin Hotels, and Sofitel Luxury Hotels & Resorts, back at Marriott he utilised his sales and marketing training in HR and employer branding.

Florian will speak about Attracting talent, managing staff shortages and the role of technology at 21st IHTF in Barcelona, but here we look at the operational aspect:

• Roles most challenging to recruit for
• Sharing best practice between teams
• What people expect from work and employers today
• Why showcasing company culture and values is important
• What sort of stories really resonate with people?

For the survey Florian refers to - please see this resource
https://www.presseportal.de/pm/56177/5429436

Listen to more episodes of the hospitality industry podcast Travel Market Life and subscribe for the latest news at http://travelmarket.life/

Follow us on LinkedIn for more thought-provoking content: https://www.linkedin.com/company/travel-market-life/

Do you have a story to share about technology, digitalisation or culture changes within the hospitality and travel industry? We'd love to hear what your company is doing and the impact it is having. Please contact us through http://travelmarket.life/

In our April edition of the Hospitality Monthly Review Show with our expert panel:

1. Jonny Siberry, Group Revenue Manager, Sarova Hotel Group
2. Daniel Simmons, CCO, HotelREZ Hotels & Resorts
3. Thibault Catala, CEO, Catala Consulting,

We look at pressing issues in the industry, as well as the landscape in front of us - getting insider knowledge from our expert panel and guest interviewees. This is a pretty packed episode full of additional contributors, we’ll be tackling

• Latest developments and news of the sector
• Changes in Service and delivery of guest expectations, with Harpreet Singh Saluja, AG Hotels
• IHTF, of which Travel Market Life are media partners where we’ll hear from some of the sponsors including Carlos Calvo of Proposales, Carsten Wernet of SIHOT and Philip von Ditfurth from Apaleo

We end with the quick quiz - who will win?

Listen to more episodes of the hospitality industry podcast Travel Market Life and subscribe for the latest news at http://travelmarket.life/

Follow us on LinkedIn for more thought-provoking content: https://www.linkedin.com/company/travel-market-life/

Do you have a story to share about technology, digitalisation or culture changes within the hospitality and travel industry? We'd love to hear what your company is doing and the impact it is having. Please contact us through http://travelmarket.life/

In this episode of Hoteliers' Voice Season 4 we explore the hostel market with Diogo Vaz Ferreira, head of commercial at Clink Hostels.

Diogo has worked with Clink since 2021, he previously worked for Accor and Hilton having worked in guest experiences, revenue, and general manager positions. He is also part of the management board chairing the accommodation panel at the WYSE Travel Confederation (WYSE Travel Confederation is a global not-for-profit membership organisation dedicated to promoting and developing opportunities for the youth, student and educational travel industry.).

In our discussion, we look at

• How the market is evolving and Clink is devleoping its brand
• Trends in the hostel market
• Diogo's career – how has it changed and adapted over the years
• Commercial performance – how to align revenue management with business goals
• Use of technology to transform the business

Diogo will be speaking at the IHTF 2024 on the topic - Technology, tactics and profit optimisation: Boosting revenue management strategies

Listen to more episodes of the hospitality industry podcast Travel Market Life and subscribe for the latest news at http://travelmarket.life/

Follow us on LinkedIn for more thought-provoking content: https://www.linkedin.com/company/travel-market-life/

Do you have a story to share about technology, digitalisation or culture changes within the hospitality and travel industry? We'd love to hear what your company is doing and the impact it is having. Please contact us through http://travelmarket.life/

Welcome to the Travel Monthly Review Show - March 2024 edition. In this episode we tackle:

• Some industry news including Late’s pricing, Agent debt and industry associations
• Spring Budget UK - The UK Government announced a range of measures to keep Britain financially fluid…we’ll analyse what they mean to the industry
• In our monthly feature - we’re joined by Joss Croft, CEO of UKInbound, to look at trends of the international traveller market to the UK
• Plus - we cannot end the show without our Quick Quiz

Featuring Will Plummer (CEO, Trust My Group), Claire Steiner (UK Director, Global Travel and Tourism Partnership), and James Clarke (General Manager, Travelzoo UK),

REFERENCES:

Trade predicts strong lates market but warns keen pricing ‘will be crucial’

Nearly half of Advantage agents still paying off Covid debts

NEW GLOBAL TRAVEL TECH ASSOCIATION LAUNCHES

FEATURE TOPIC UK - Spring budget - election year

Budget 2024: key points for hospitality at a glance

Chancellor cuts NI by a further 2p as part of Spring Budget

TOURISM ALLIANCE SPRING BUDGET 2024 REACTION

'MISSED OPPORTUNITY': TRAVEL LUKEWARM ON CHANCELLOR'S SPRING BUDGET

• Air- passenger Duty: Air passenger duty on business-class travel is set to rise
• Holiday lets: Completely getting rid of the Furnished Holiday Let scheme from April 2025,. This now means that mortgage interest will NOT be deductible
• Abolishing Multiple Dwelling Relief from June
• Freezing alcohol duty: The freeze on alcohol duty, which had been due to end in August, will continue until February 2025.

Employee and general business

• 2% cut in National Insurance This means employees were paying 12% in December, 10% January to March and 8% from April.
• The self-employed will pay 6% from April.
• Increasing the VAT threshold from £85,000 to £90,000 from April
• Increasing the threshold that Child Benefit

Listen to more episodes of the hospitality industry podcast Travel Market Life and subscribe for the latest news at http://travelmarket.life/

Follow us on LinkedIn for more thought-provoking content: https://www.linkedin.com/company/travel-market-life/

Do you have a story to share about technology, digitalisation or culture changes within the hospitality and travel industry? We'd love to hear what your company is doing and the impact it is having. Please contact us through http://travelmarket.life/

In this episode of Season 4 Hoteliers' Voice, we speak with Karen Weisheit, Hotel Manager at the Grove of Narberth in Wales, with 25 bedrooms. Spotted as one of Boutique Hotelier's women in hospitality 2023 Karen shares her career ladder so far and what makes her tick.

We look at the challenges in recruitment and retention as she shares some of the initiatives they employ at the property as we discuss cross-departmental training and a four-day week in hospitality.

Karen also shares:

• 2024 Market outlook
• Challenges for this year
• Changes in booking patterns and event business
• How the industry can be a more attractive place to work

Listen to more episodes of the hospitality industry podcast Travel Market Life and subscribe for the latest news at http://travelmarket.life/

Follow us on LinkedIn for more thought-provoking content: https://www.linkedin.com/company/travel-market-life/

Do you have a story to share about technology, digitalisation or culture changes within the hospitality and travel industry? We'd love to hear what your company is doing and the impact it is having. Please contact us through http://travelmarket.life/

Welcome to the March edition of Hospitality Monthly Review Show with our panel

• Thibault Catala, CEO, Catala Consulting,
• Jonny Sibery, Group Revenue Manager, Sarova
• Daniel Simmons, CCO, HotelREZ
• Plus an interview with Jeremy Daudin, Head of Sales and Marketing at Zetter Hotels looking at their corporate business.

We look at pressing issues in the industry, as well as the landscape in front of us tackling

• Latest developments and news of the sector
• Discuss business and corporate guests
• Travel trends with the Swiftie Tour Tourism effect
• then i’ll put my panellists through their paces as we dive into the Quick Quiz.
  
  
  

Listen to more episodes of the hospitality industry podcast Travel Market Life and subscribe for the latest news at http://travelmarket.life/

Follow us on LinkedIn for more thought-provoking content: https://www.linkedin.com/company/travel-market-life/

Do you have a story to share about technology, digitalisation or culture changes within the hospitality and travel industry? We'd love to hear what your company is doing and the impact it is having. Please contact us through http://travelmarket.life/

In this extended interview we speak to Clive Wratten, Chief Executive of Business Travel Association, which also featured in our Travel Monthly Review Show February. He guides us through

• Trends and market behaviours in Business Travel
• Key challenges in Business Travel for Corporates and Suppliers
• Why late payments is a key campaign
• Partnership with the Tourism Alliance
• Role of technology in business travel
• Upcoming events

Listen to more episodes of the hospitality industry podcast Travel Market Life and subscribe for the latest news at http://travelmarket.life/

Follow us on LinkedIn for more thought-provoking content: https://www.linkedin.com/company/travel-market-life/

Do you have a story to share about technology, digitalisation or culture changes within the hospitality and travel industry? We'd love to hear what your company is doing and the impact it is having. Please contact us through http://travelmarket.life/

In February episode we look at:

• Industry news of the last month and consumer spending change
• What’s RyanAir’s change of strategy?
• Our feature discussion is on Business Travel and we’ll hear from Clive Wratten, Chief Exec of Business Travel Association
• Industry developments and consumer trends talking about shoulder seasons and the best snaps
• Finishing with the quick quiz. Will won last month, has he brought his A-Game this month?

Featuring Will Plummer (CEO, Trust My Group), Claire Steiner (UK Director, Global Travel and Tourism Partnership), and James Clarke (General Manager, Travelzoo UK),

Industry News

Holidays the ‘exception’ as consumers cut leisure spend

• Deloitte Consumer Tracker - consumers intend to spend less across nine out of 11 leisure categories in Q1 2024, with an exception being the long and short holiday categories.
• The majority of consumers (57%) intending to travel abroad on a holiday are likely to book all-inclusive trips,
• 60% of consumers are expecting to take a domestic holiday in 2024.

HOLIDAY EXTRAS LAUNCHES NEW AI TOOL AFTER IT REVEALS 55% OF TRAVELLERS DON'T READ INSURANCE DOCUMENTATION PROPERLY

• AI technology that allows customers and travel agents to easily read through the terms and conditions of their insurance documents.
• Over half (55%) said they did not read it properly, with a quarter (24%) admitting to only skimming them, while 28% only refer to a brief online summary and 3% not reading it whatsoever.
• Despite the increase in extreme weather and events caused by climate change last summer, three quarters (74%) assumed their insurance would automatically cover impact on their travel caused by natural disasters, while 68% assumed it covered disruption from strike activity.

Millennial men in the U.K. are helping drive a trend of falling working hours, and it might be starting to hurt the country’s economy

• Typical hours men worked dropped from 36.3 hours in 2019 to 32.5 hours in 2020. Working hours for 2022 were 35.3 hours, the most recent year available, the Office for National Statistics said
• Millennial men working shorter work hours have contributed to labour shortages equivalent to 310,000 fewer people in employment, official figures show.
• This was reflected among women in the same age group, who saw a 0.02 hours per week rise.

RYANAIR NEWS

RYANAIR AGREE NEW

Listen to more episodes of the hospitality industry podcast Travel Market Life and subscribe for the latest news at http://travelmarket.life/

Follow us on LinkedIn for more thought-provoking content: https://www.linkedin.com/company/travel-market-life/

Do you have a story to share about technology, digitalisation or culture changes within the hospitality and travel industry? We'd love to hear what your company is doing and the impact it is having. Please contact us through http://travelmarket.life/