LONDON—Regardless of where a hotel is located or in what chain-scale segment it sits, revenue is currently a challenge that all hoteliers face. With many potential travelers opting not to stray far from home and business travel grounded to a halt due to the COVID-19 pandemic, hoteliers need every tool at their disposal to thrive and offer the right price to the right traveler, on the right channel, at the right time—and a partnership between Lybra and OTA Insight aims to do just that.
OTA Insight, based here, has completed a two-way integration of its Rate Insight software with Rome-based Lybra’s Assistant RMS to offer hotels a solution that provides the most accurate room rate data in real time, as market conditions change.
“It is more important than ever for hoteliers to be aware of what is happening in their market and with their competitive landscape. This information is crucial to remaining competitive. OTA Insight gives hotels the opportunity to change competitive sets themselves, so they can be on top of dynamic competition,” said Aida Llamas Fernández, senior business development manager at OTA Insight, which has more than 55,000 hotel clients. “The partnership between OTA Insight and Lybra provides hotels the essential industry information they need to better understand the full extent of the impact of COVID-19, now and into the future.”
Lybra’s Assistant RMS prioritizes market and competitor data, and OTA Insight’s Rate Insight monitors demand in real time. The partnership allows Assistant RMS access to Rate Insight’s current, historical and future rate data; the real-time data automatically triggers the calculation of new price suggestions in Lybra’s Assistant RMS, in addition to specific, actionable recommendations for changes that can improve the property’s overall revenue management strategy.
“Lybra’s machine-learning-based Assistant RMS uses the data to provide hotels with the most accurate room rates. As it receives more data points, the more accurately it identifies and prioritizes the best rates and recommendations, in real time,” said Fernández. “With this partnership, OTA Insight’s Rate Insight gives Lybra’s Assistant RMS real-time data, including multiple room types, rate types and meal plans 365 days in the future.”
OTA Insight was attracted to the partnership by Lybra’s strong reputation in Europe, noted Fernández, who added, “It is well-known for innovation, and its machine learning and demand-centric Assistant RMS is an industry-leading solution. For OTA Insight, working with Lybra made sense, as we are aligned with the same mission: to help hoteliers with simple and easy to use revenue management solutions.”
For Lybra, the partnership adds flexibility to its offerings. “Hotel revenue management technology has evolved out of necessity; guests’ perception of value, the increased frequency of price changes and dynamic destination cluster demand means that any RMS that ignores these data points will become obsolete,” said Erik Muñoz, chief commercial officer of Lybra. “Lybra’s Assistant offers an innovative approach to revenue management, as the algorithm is designed to optimize these necessary data elements; by adding the destination-specific, segmented demand insights provided by OTA Insight, Lybra is able to offer even greater flexibility and choice for hoteliers worldwide.”
Among the data points available to clients through the combined platforms include rate data compared to competitors; market demand data; events data (the events in a particular destination); parity data (how a hotel’s room rates are distributed across the various online channels); and ranking data for the hotel itself and its competitive set.
In related OTA Insight news, Fernández pointed out that the company recently launched Market Insight, which, according to the executive, is the industry’s first hospitality intelligence platform.
“Market Insight is a true predictive tool that enables revenue managers to understand forward-looking demand for their destination before travelers book. Like Rate Insight, this tool results from OTA Insight’s tireless desire to innovate and provide solutions that help and guide hoteliers,” she said. “Over the coming months, we will also continue updating our other solutions—including Rate Insight, Parity Insight and Revenue Insight—to ensure that we are providing the most effective and impactful solutions for hoteliers.” HB