Hotel Management Resources

Firstly, please accept my apologies for the lack of posts of late; I have had some serious issues accessing Blogspot. However, after uninstalling and reinstalling programs, changing my antivirus software and firewalls, and playing with my internet options, I finally discovered that the reason is completely unrelated to me or my laptop… It’s China! China has decided to block access to Blogger and to Blogspot at great inconvenience to the blogging community. I have, however, found my way around this block and hope that business can now go back to normal.

However, I don't apear to be able to add images or links with ease, so please bear with me until I find a way around this too. I'll add these as soon as possible.

The extra free time I’ve had has been great for research purposes and for gaining greater insight into groups and resources aimed at hoteliers and the hospitality industry.

Insightful LinkedIn Group

The first interesting resource I’d like to focus on is a LinkedIn group called the Hotel Online Distribution & Hotel Revenue Management Professionals Group.

I found this group to be particularly insightful due to the high level of usage and content turnaround. For example:

The discussions are always both current and perceptive; the discussions highlighted at this moment include forecasting issues and Egencia by Expedia. There have been 18 new discussions in the last 7 days.

The news is always highly relevant to the industry (How to use the downturn to your advantage. Twitter ROI.) and there have been 42 news articles in the last 7 days.

The number of well-targeted group members is high and growing fast; 53 members in the last 7 days and 2,533 in total.

I cannot recommend this LinkedIn group enough for those interested in booking systems, channel management, online distribution, and general hotel management issues.

Useful Hospitality Website

The second useful resource was introduced to me by the company’s CEO, Errol Lawrence, via the LinkedIn group I mentioned above.

It’s Hospitality is a free networking, marketing, job and search site for the hospitality industry which offers a newsfeed and electronic catalogue to help promote people, products, and services.

It’s the aim of It’s Hospitality to create one single community for all participants in the hospitality industry including hotels, travel, restaurant conventions, and supporting industries and suppliers. And, with more than 2,600 members from over 25 different countries it is definitely well on its way to achieving this goal.

Summary

So, if you are a small to medium sized hotel, motel, or guest house, or a provider of hotel booking systems, then these are two resources that you should become familiar with now. Both websites are provide you with invaluable information, news, and networking opportunities that I wish I had discovered sooner.

Many thanks for reading,

Emma

I am still on a search for the best hotel booking system for small to medium sized hotels. If you know of hotel booking software that can beat HotelSystems.co.uk for ease of use and functionality then please contact me on eharradine@hotmail.co.uk