Classwork on 02/17/2010 with Mathieu and Caroline

Booking Engine

AVAILPRO is a tool that hoteliers can use in order to have control over rooms sales via internet. It allows to build online its a distribution system.

The advantage is that it has no set-up fee, no monthly minimum and the cost of each reservation can even be partially or completely paid by the hotelier's distributors or partners.

It has the following characteristics:

You can build up the online distribution system, rates structure, rate plans, sales conditions etc. Manage online reservation on your own website: reservation interface and dynamic rates page. Customers can make a reservation request, reserve online, pay all or a part of their stay, receive booking confirmation, etc.
You can collect all or part of the reservation amount and receive these sums directly on your bank account.
Commissions can be paid directly to your distributors directly manage and synchronise rates and availability with the distributors in real-time
Manage all your distributors Special reservation interface on your site

More information about the company that develop the software AVAILPRO by clicking here

Classwork on 02/17/2010

Here is my work with Mathieu and Caroline

Hotel Direct Website

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

Hotel Direct Website

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http://screencast.com/t/MjViODAyNDY

Luxury Hotelier Interviews ~ Rocco Forte.

First of all I would like to precise that I have chosen this article because it talk about my own hometown: Sciacca the city where the Verdura Golf & Spa Resort has been set.
Of course the place presents all the touristic characteristics hoteliers may desire: rugged coast, suggested countryside, Mediterranean climate, clean water, vivid setting, etc.

But what went wrong?

· First of all, a local community that did not quickly understand the importance of the project.
· A populist politic which tried to restrain the development of the project
· A criminal association which tried to threaten the Rocco Forte group through intimidating acts
· A climatic change, which reduce the sunny days

In a good negotiation process the parts try to find a WIN – WIN situation but the local politic did not understand that so quickly.
Sciacca is a city with a huge touristic potential, which still remain unused, but it is not enough to play its role in a pretentious way.

Next to these cons I feel to underline a lot of pros like:

· The mayor’s support to the project
·The regional’s deployment of a specific legislation concerning the development of the golf resort.
· And a niche of the working union which saw a great opportunity for the local worker.

Marriot showed a certain interest for the area but it is not easy to manage a project like the Verdura one in a bureaucratic environment.

The final question is does it worth to invest in this piece of earthly paradise (http://screencast.com/t/NjFmZTc3)? Sir Rocco Forte, Chairman of “The Rocco Forte Collection” would better answer to my question. In any case, the future will answers us.

Ignazio SUTERA

MBA 2

IEMI - CMH

Metrosexual Hotels.

Metrosexual hotel? What does it means?

We could say that it is a more fashionable kind of new Boutique hotel. I would like to precise that in a general sense a metrosexual person is a metropolitan and heterosexual man that has a strong concern for his appearance and lifestyle that displays attributes stereotypically associated with homosexual men.

Metrosexual hotel is actually a new generation of hotel targeting a stylish, successful and heterosexual male but increasingly gender-neutral, which is highly selective about how, whom and where to spend their money.

In this way, the Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide’s W Hotels is stylizing the service delivery and designing facilities component in order to attract the metrosexual customer
The means are simple: hiring the stylist Amanda Ross, the music director, Michaelangelo L'Acqua, etc.

Of course it is a good point for hoteliers to have a precise and innovative target but in my personal opinion I do not think that it is a good marketing strategy calling this new “gender” of hotel the Metrosexual one because of a masculinity concern of the metrosexual person. Moreover it would exclude the female gender and it could involve an unnecessary polemic around that.

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China records growth in tourism income for 2009.

According to the China National Tourism Administration, China recorded a growth of 9% from 2008 while domestic tourism income grew from 15% from the previous year.

Moreover, both the inbound and outbound tourism markets are expected to continue their up-trends in the next few years.

It doesn't amaze me so much since China is the 4th touristic destination in the world!

Actually, I believe that the most of the inbound market comes from business segment and not from leisure or cultural ones (Even though the Great Wall is one of the most visited monuments all around the world).

In addition Shanghai is going to host the World Expo 2010 with its 70 million potential visitors. Of course all the biggest European groups, such as Accor, are trying to get a lot of advantages of this event.

I think that Europeans are not doing their best in attracting Chinese visitors. A lot of money should be invested in marketing from the European Union in order to attract the most of the new riches of China.

In my personal opinion Europeans should do the same the Chinese have done before, which means attracting foreign capitals from abroad. Chinese are getting richer and richer that’s why we should focus much more attention to them by enhancing the study of the Chinese language or adapting the offer to the Chinese market.

Ignazio SUTERA

MBA 2