Expedia Group, the world’s travel platform, today announces the launch of two new features on its partner-facing portal. The features are designed to help new hotel partners, who are unfamiliar with online distribution ease their transition into the digital world. As part of Expedia Group’s commitment following the recent signing of an MoU with Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), the company will also be conducting a series of educational workshops to accelerate digital skills transfer to the hospitality industry in secondary cities. Such digital know-how will not only empower hoteliers and boost international arrivals to secondary cities but also support the Royal Thai Government’s “Thailand 4.0” initiative.
According to a recent study[1], more than half of travellers use Online Travel Agents (OTAs) in their trip planning process and OTAs convert the most travellers when compared with other booking sources. Ms. Pimpawee Nopakitgumjorn, Director of Market Management at Expedia Group, added that business opportunities are missed because the majority of accommodation in Thailand’s secondary cities are still offline. “Hoteliers who are still operating offline will ultimately lose the opportunity to capitalize on Thailand’s growing inbound tourism”, said Pim.
To bridge the digital skillset gap and ease hotel owners’ concerns over the complexity of using digital tools, Expedia Group is introducing two new features that are designed to deliver an easy and hassle-free experience for less tech-savvy hoteliers. Both features are now available on Expedia Group Partner Central, thecompany’s partner-facing portal which provides free tools and data insights to help hotels manage their business, attract travellers and maximise revenue potential.
- Co–Browse is a trouble-shooting tool designed to solve hotel partners’ pain points when they have navigation problems on Expedia Group’s Partner Central platform. It provides hotel partner the capability to share their Partner Central webpage via a connection with Expedia Group consultant in real-time.Once a connection is established, the consultant can view, point to, and highlight areas of the screen to better assist hotel partners in navigating and performing operational tasks on Partner Central.
- Adaptive Landing Page is designed to provide customized content and recommendations on the Partner Central homepage for hotel partners based on their current needs and familiarity with the different tools within Partner Central. The Adaptive Landing Page provides a simplified and more personalized experience for newly onboarded hotel partners so they can understand the most essential tools and time-sensitive tasks on Partner Central quickly, enabling them to optimize content, maximize visibility and accelerate booking potential on Expedia Group’s marketplace.
Co-browse and Adaptive Landing Page are the first of many features in Partner Central that Expedia Group is working on to create more relevant experiences to helphotel partners achieve their goals. In addition to these online enhancements, Expedia Group will also be collaborating with TAT to organise a series of educational workshops to provide consultancy and digital expertise to hoteliers in secondary cities. These workshops will be conducted by a team of experts from Expedia Group Lodging Partner Services. This specialised team works closely with hotel partners to educate them on the value of the online distribution, implement strategies to help hotel partners achieve their business goals and provide support to hotel partners so they can take advantage of the growing demand generated by the Expedia Group.
“Together with TAT, Expedia Group is committed to playing a pivotal role in improving the digital literacy across Thailand’s hospitality sector and ultimately, help generate more income for local economies.” Pim concluded.
