A Guide to choose Rate Shopper Tool · 15. Product mapping on any key word Hotel Revenue Manager...

11
A Guide to choose Rate Shopper Tool rategain.com [email protected] rategain.com

Transcript of A Guide to choose Rate Shopper Tool · 15. Product mapping on any key word Hotel Revenue Manager...

Page 1: A Guide to choose Rate Shopper Tool · 15. Product mapping on any key word Hotel Revenue Manager should correctly map components for an apple-to-apple comparison in terms of Room/Rate

A Guide to choose Rate Shopper Tool

rategaincommarketingrategaincom rategaincom

A Guide to choose Rate Shopper Tool

rategaincom

Who can benefit from this best practice guideRevenue ManagersDirectors Hotel General Managers amp Hotel Owners can benefit from this

guide along with all the other hospitality industry professionals who are responsible for

sourcing a range of rooms at competitive and comparable rates and have to monitor rates

from multiple sources like GDSs Meta search sites OTAs etc

Perishability and limited inventory are the two most important aspects of hotel business

So pricing of a room automatically becomes one of the most important KPIs for a Revenue

Manager There are multiple aspects that influence pricing viz- compset market supply

reviews and ratings etc As a result hotels cannot be living in silos Rather they have to

constantly monitor their competitorsrsquo prices and offers

It is no secret that hotels today offer multiple rates combined with multiple room options

Besides in order to track the competition they multiply this number to the total number of

competitor hotels which need to be tracked

The aforementioned activity cannot be achieved manually Here arises the need for an

automated price shopping tool After all collecting and analyzing this data is a time-

consuming costly and ineffectual process for those who take it on without proper

automation tools

01

Rate Shopping is a Crucial Part of a Successful

Revenue Management Strategy

A Guide to choose Rate Shopper Tool

rategaincom

02Price Pellucidity Prospective guests today consider their target hotelrsquos online

reputation as well as price on all the OTAs before determining the value of their

choice Hence price no longer equates to quality

Demand is a Function of Price Hotels need to understand that pricing

strategies are highly influenced by demand which has become a function of

price But they should not forget that demand is also a function of reputation

Reputation Pricing Hotels today are highly impacted by social media platforms

These platforms can be used to influence the consumer and their purchasing

decisions

Your real competition is just based on the distance or star category or there is

another set of online competition

Competing on price alone is it a winning strategy Let us find out

Challenges in Hotel Rate Shopping

$

A Guide to choose Rate Shopper Tool

rategaincom

Below are Key Features and Capabilities that Revenue Managers

need to evaluate while shortlisting a

Rate Shopping Solution

03

1 Freshness of hotel rates

How do you ensure that your pricing is relevant To ensure correct pricing changes it is

extremely critical that rates shopped are recent and also highly relevant

2 Rate Details

Hotels tend to have multiple rates with various amenities so that they can carry

out apple-to-apple comparison of their rates and all other add on features A rate

shopper needs to give rate details for all the rates shopped

3 Integration with RMS

As a Revenue Manager you do refer to the revenue management system or the RMS

which uses competition rates to benchmark and make rate suggestions Without a

seamless integration between RMS and Rate Shopper tools hotels wonrsquot have this

information

4 Ability to shop on Metasearch

Meta search sites are trying to grab the top space in the industry today Competitor price

listings from these sites need to be crucial to your hotelrsquos pricing strategy so a rate

shopper which canrsquot shop from these will be counter productive

5 Ability to pull rates from GDS

GDS is the second cheapest option for a hotel to get room nights after the brand

website Most hotels sell non-negotiated rates on GDSs too so without a rate shop from

GDS making a pricing plan for an on-negotiated GDS rate will be difficult Besides it is

crucial to ensure that GDS data is fresh as well

A Guide to choose Rate Shopper Tool

rategaincom

6 Capability to shop from Mobile Apps and Mobile Websites

New age channels also include Mobile options and with an increase in bookings made on

the go hotels are making offers exclusive to mobile users Hence a pricing strategy for

mobile needs to have competitor rates from mobile

7 Vacation Rentals ndash The New age channel shop

Channels like Airbnb or Rooms Tonight have created a new market to satisfy a niche group

of customers The impact of these websites is huge Therefore hotels need to track short-

term lodging including vacation rentals apartment rentals homestays hostel beds or hotel

rooms on such sites So a good question to ask the vendor your evaluating is ldquoDoes your

tool shops from Airbnb or Rooms Tonightrdquo

8 Shop brand sites

Many tools do not shop from brand sites from competitors this is a disadvantage because

we have observed that hotels have nearly 51 ratio in terms of rates that they offer on their

brand site vs leading OTA sites If your rate shopper is not shopping on competitor brand

sites then you are losing out

9 Shop different rate types and identify them

Hotel rates have 2 types of conditions

1 Cancellation specific scenario where hotels restrict buyers from cancelling to avail a

special rate

2 Booking condition where a specific discount is offered to meet a specific condition

which is met

It would not be possible for a hotel to make a relevant comparison if their shopper is not

able to shop these rates and is not highlighting them in a report either

04

A Guide to choose Rate Shopper Tool

rategaincom

10 Make a correct rate comparison by rate mapping

While we discuss different rate types in a hotel there are variations in rates based on their

inclusions policies as well as different room types have these rates Thus while a rate

shopper can shop for various rateroom combinations mapping them with keywords is

crucial to ensure an apple-to-apple comparison

11 On the go access

Just like the increase in on-the-go bookings being a hotel Revenue Manager you too need

mobile-optimize your rate shopper to tap on crucial alerts and reports Only then you can

make quick judgements and calls pertaining to pricing and eventually stay ahead of the

curve

12 On Demand rate shop

While hotels have their scheduled reports ready which give information about rates

from the entire distribution landscape there will be situations where a change in hotel

dynamics owing to a sudden pickupwash in a city event will arise Hotel rate shopper must

consider it to gauge its impact and accordingly pave way for on-Demand shops for greater

emphasis

13 Shopping for multiple LOS

A hotel guest has multiple days in their stay Keeping that in mind hotels should offer rates

based of their LOS Similarly their competitors need to make relevant rates and offerings

so that they can ensure that relevant propositions are made and one also gets to know what

their competitor is offering and what the rate shopper shows in the rate shopping report

05

A Guide to choose Rate Shopper Tool

rategaincom

14 Capacity to distinguish tax inclusive rates from tax exclusive rates

OTAs operate in different models While some present rates inclusive of tax to customers

there are others that keep the lsquotaxrsquo component completely out of price Thus to get the

correct idea about market offerings a hotel rate shopper should be able to separate the

tax component from inclusive price and then present it in a report along with tax exclusive

price

15 Product mapping on any key word

Hotel Revenue Manager should correctly map components for an apple-to-apple comparison

in terms of RoomRate combination Another aspect that a Hotel Revenue Manager should

do is map key words such as Wi-Fi or Airport Transfer so as to map similar rates which they

need to offer

16 Regional channels

Some regional OTAs have a massive impact on a particular regionrsquos OTA contribution This

includes Ctrip in China or Rakuten in Japan Having a rate shopper that does not shop from

such OTAs and these regions which happen to be source markets for the hotel means the

hotel is currently staying in the dark and the hotel will be unable to draw a comprehensive

pricing strategy

17 Rate Movement

While hotels tend to look at their occupancy PACE using RMSmanual methods they do

this exercise for their BAR By doing it they miss out on a critical trend which is how their

and the competitorrsquos pricing strategy is moving By doing this analysis they gauge their

competitorrsquos pricing strategy A rate shopper should be able to do that for the hotel

06

A Guide to choose Rate Shopper Tool

rategaincom

18 Know age of data

Freshness of data is extremely critical for a hotelrsquos pricing decision When a hotel Revenue

Manager makes his pricing decisions and refers to a report it should properly mention

when the rate was shopped It should also outline the age of this data so that no errors are

made owing to ambiguity of data age

19 Enterprise capability

While a rate shopper is an extremely important tool for a hotel it is equally relevant for a

regional Revenue Manager or a cluster Revenue Manager The tool gives them the ability to

shop and get data from multiple hotels in a click

20 Rate Parity

Is your Parity in check Your tool should be smart enough to do rates and availability check

for you

21 Ability to shop multiple domains of the same site based on source market

Another key ability of a potent rate shopper is that it should provide rates from multiple

domains of the same brand site This will give you correct and relevant comparison from

the source market

22 Keep an Eye on Local Demand

Are you prepared to tap the upcoming business opportunities To capitalize on the future

events and holidays specify impact on your business your tool must be intelligent enough

to notify and report all the events amp holidays where the rate adjustments are most likely to

improve your RevPAR

23 Identify Online Hotel Competitors

OTA listings have become imperative revenue channel for Hotels consequently your OTA

rank is a key metrics that influence your booking from a given OTA A Hotel competitor

tool that can track your OTA rank along with hotels that are above and below you is great

information to identify new Compset hotels who otherwise would remain unknown

24 Global Support

You need a rate pricing tool which renders 247 global support

Rate Shopping Tool has to be a comprehensive Rate Intelligence solution It should cater to

multiple purposes In order to correctly select a Rate Shopping Solution you have to adopt

an effective and intelligent rate strategy

07

A Guide to choose Rate Shopper Tool

rategaincom

In order to leverage high-quality business intelligence data you have

to redefine your rate strategy Itrsquos no more about the RateShopping but

many components of Rate shopper that make a complete competitive

intelligence tool

Such a system captures hundreds of thousands of hotels worth of data

to engender rate and availability alerts in a few clicks It delivers granular

analysis to eventually help you monitor massive fluctuations in your

market on time as well as act immediately

Online Competiveness 101 for Hotels

08

Conclusion

A Guide to choose Rate Shopper Tool

rategaincom

Bangkok Thailand

Barcelona Spain

Jakarta Indonesia

London UK

Virginia USA

Durban South Africa

Kuala Lumpur Malaysia

Delhi NCR India

Brazil

Columbia

Cape Town

JapanChicago USA

More about RateGain

Founded in 2004 RateGain is a leading provider of cloud-based products and services

around the function of hotel Rate Intelligence Price Optimization Seamless Electronic

Distribution and Brand Engagement to the worldrsquos leading Hotels and Online Travel Agents

With continued innovation and excellence in customer focus we are proud to serve over

12000 clients and numerous industry partners

Our customers are global and so are we with offices in 10 countries across all major

continents supported by over 500 passionate professionals and seasoned industry experts

Through world-class solutions RateGain helps its industry leading customers beat their

competition and make more revenue every day

If you are looking for a latest solution for your channel management amp

online room distribution needs we invite you to

Request a Demo

Share It with

09

A Guide to choose Rate Shopper Tool

rategaincom

Single TechnologyPlatform to ManageRevenue Reputationamp Distribution

Competitor RateShopper

1

OnlineReputationManager

RevenueOptimizer

DistributionChannelManager

GuestFeedbackSurvey

IntegratedAnalytics

2

3

45

6

Manage Your Revenue Management Needs From One Single Dashboard

Learn More

wwwrategaincom | marketingrategaincom | US 8663184358 | UK 08082344540 |AUS 1800502529

Copyright copy 2017 RateGain LLC

10

Page 2: A Guide to choose Rate Shopper Tool · 15. Product mapping on any key word Hotel Revenue Manager should correctly map components for an apple-to-apple comparison in terms of Room/Rate

A Guide to choose Rate Shopper Tool

rategaincom

Who can benefit from this best practice guideRevenue ManagersDirectors Hotel General Managers amp Hotel Owners can benefit from this

guide along with all the other hospitality industry professionals who are responsible for

sourcing a range of rooms at competitive and comparable rates and have to monitor rates

from multiple sources like GDSs Meta search sites OTAs etc

Perishability and limited inventory are the two most important aspects of hotel business

So pricing of a room automatically becomes one of the most important KPIs for a Revenue

Manager There are multiple aspects that influence pricing viz- compset market supply

reviews and ratings etc As a result hotels cannot be living in silos Rather they have to

constantly monitor their competitorsrsquo prices and offers

It is no secret that hotels today offer multiple rates combined with multiple room options

Besides in order to track the competition they multiply this number to the total number of

competitor hotels which need to be tracked

The aforementioned activity cannot be achieved manually Here arises the need for an

automated price shopping tool After all collecting and analyzing this data is a time-

consuming costly and ineffectual process for those who take it on without proper

automation tools

01

Rate Shopping is a Crucial Part of a Successful

Revenue Management Strategy

A Guide to choose Rate Shopper Tool

rategaincom

02Price Pellucidity Prospective guests today consider their target hotelrsquos online

reputation as well as price on all the OTAs before determining the value of their

choice Hence price no longer equates to quality

Demand is a Function of Price Hotels need to understand that pricing

strategies are highly influenced by demand which has become a function of

price But they should not forget that demand is also a function of reputation

Reputation Pricing Hotels today are highly impacted by social media platforms

These platforms can be used to influence the consumer and their purchasing

decisions

Your real competition is just based on the distance or star category or there is

another set of online competition

Competing on price alone is it a winning strategy Let us find out

Challenges in Hotel Rate Shopping

$

A Guide to choose Rate Shopper Tool

rategaincom

Below are Key Features and Capabilities that Revenue Managers

need to evaluate while shortlisting a

Rate Shopping Solution

03

1 Freshness of hotel rates

How do you ensure that your pricing is relevant To ensure correct pricing changes it is

extremely critical that rates shopped are recent and also highly relevant

2 Rate Details

Hotels tend to have multiple rates with various amenities so that they can carry

out apple-to-apple comparison of their rates and all other add on features A rate

shopper needs to give rate details for all the rates shopped

3 Integration with RMS

As a Revenue Manager you do refer to the revenue management system or the RMS

which uses competition rates to benchmark and make rate suggestions Without a

seamless integration between RMS and Rate Shopper tools hotels wonrsquot have this

information

4 Ability to shop on Metasearch

Meta search sites are trying to grab the top space in the industry today Competitor price

listings from these sites need to be crucial to your hotelrsquos pricing strategy so a rate

shopper which canrsquot shop from these will be counter productive

5 Ability to pull rates from GDS

GDS is the second cheapest option for a hotel to get room nights after the brand

website Most hotels sell non-negotiated rates on GDSs too so without a rate shop from

GDS making a pricing plan for an on-negotiated GDS rate will be difficult Besides it is

crucial to ensure that GDS data is fresh as well

A Guide to choose Rate Shopper Tool

rategaincom

6 Capability to shop from Mobile Apps and Mobile Websites

New age channels also include Mobile options and with an increase in bookings made on

the go hotels are making offers exclusive to mobile users Hence a pricing strategy for

mobile needs to have competitor rates from mobile

7 Vacation Rentals ndash The New age channel shop

Channels like Airbnb or Rooms Tonight have created a new market to satisfy a niche group

of customers The impact of these websites is huge Therefore hotels need to track short-

term lodging including vacation rentals apartment rentals homestays hostel beds or hotel

rooms on such sites So a good question to ask the vendor your evaluating is ldquoDoes your

tool shops from Airbnb or Rooms Tonightrdquo

8 Shop brand sites

Many tools do not shop from brand sites from competitors this is a disadvantage because

we have observed that hotels have nearly 51 ratio in terms of rates that they offer on their

brand site vs leading OTA sites If your rate shopper is not shopping on competitor brand

sites then you are losing out

9 Shop different rate types and identify them

Hotel rates have 2 types of conditions

1 Cancellation specific scenario where hotels restrict buyers from cancelling to avail a

special rate

2 Booking condition where a specific discount is offered to meet a specific condition

which is met

It would not be possible for a hotel to make a relevant comparison if their shopper is not

able to shop these rates and is not highlighting them in a report either

04

A Guide to choose Rate Shopper Tool

rategaincom

10 Make a correct rate comparison by rate mapping

While we discuss different rate types in a hotel there are variations in rates based on their

inclusions policies as well as different room types have these rates Thus while a rate

shopper can shop for various rateroom combinations mapping them with keywords is

crucial to ensure an apple-to-apple comparison

11 On the go access

Just like the increase in on-the-go bookings being a hotel Revenue Manager you too need

mobile-optimize your rate shopper to tap on crucial alerts and reports Only then you can

make quick judgements and calls pertaining to pricing and eventually stay ahead of the

curve

12 On Demand rate shop

While hotels have their scheduled reports ready which give information about rates

from the entire distribution landscape there will be situations where a change in hotel

dynamics owing to a sudden pickupwash in a city event will arise Hotel rate shopper must

consider it to gauge its impact and accordingly pave way for on-Demand shops for greater

emphasis

13 Shopping for multiple LOS

A hotel guest has multiple days in their stay Keeping that in mind hotels should offer rates

based of their LOS Similarly their competitors need to make relevant rates and offerings

so that they can ensure that relevant propositions are made and one also gets to know what

their competitor is offering and what the rate shopper shows in the rate shopping report

05

A Guide to choose Rate Shopper Tool

rategaincom

14 Capacity to distinguish tax inclusive rates from tax exclusive rates

OTAs operate in different models While some present rates inclusive of tax to customers

there are others that keep the lsquotaxrsquo component completely out of price Thus to get the

correct idea about market offerings a hotel rate shopper should be able to separate the

tax component from inclusive price and then present it in a report along with tax exclusive

price

15 Product mapping on any key word

Hotel Revenue Manager should correctly map components for an apple-to-apple comparison

in terms of RoomRate combination Another aspect that a Hotel Revenue Manager should

do is map key words such as Wi-Fi or Airport Transfer so as to map similar rates which they

need to offer

16 Regional channels

Some regional OTAs have a massive impact on a particular regionrsquos OTA contribution This

includes Ctrip in China or Rakuten in Japan Having a rate shopper that does not shop from

such OTAs and these regions which happen to be source markets for the hotel means the

hotel is currently staying in the dark and the hotel will be unable to draw a comprehensive

pricing strategy

17 Rate Movement

While hotels tend to look at their occupancy PACE using RMSmanual methods they do

this exercise for their BAR By doing it they miss out on a critical trend which is how their

and the competitorrsquos pricing strategy is moving By doing this analysis they gauge their

competitorrsquos pricing strategy A rate shopper should be able to do that for the hotel

06

A Guide to choose Rate Shopper Tool

rategaincom

18 Know age of data

Freshness of data is extremely critical for a hotelrsquos pricing decision When a hotel Revenue

Manager makes his pricing decisions and refers to a report it should properly mention

when the rate was shopped It should also outline the age of this data so that no errors are

made owing to ambiguity of data age

19 Enterprise capability

While a rate shopper is an extremely important tool for a hotel it is equally relevant for a

regional Revenue Manager or a cluster Revenue Manager The tool gives them the ability to

shop and get data from multiple hotels in a click

20 Rate Parity

Is your Parity in check Your tool should be smart enough to do rates and availability check

for you

21 Ability to shop multiple domains of the same site based on source market

Another key ability of a potent rate shopper is that it should provide rates from multiple

domains of the same brand site This will give you correct and relevant comparison from

the source market

22 Keep an Eye on Local Demand

Are you prepared to tap the upcoming business opportunities To capitalize on the future

events and holidays specify impact on your business your tool must be intelligent enough

to notify and report all the events amp holidays where the rate adjustments are most likely to

improve your RevPAR

23 Identify Online Hotel Competitors

OTA listings have become imperative revenue channel for Hotels consequently your OTA

rank is a key metrics that influence your booking from a given OTA A Hotel competitor

tool that can track your OTA rank along with hotels that are above and below you is great

information to identify new Compset hotels who otherwise would remain unknown

24 Global Support

You need a rate pricing tool which renders 247 global support

Rate Shopping Tool has to be a comprehensive Rate Intelligence solution It should cater to

multiple purposes In order to correctly select a Rate Shopping Solution you have to adopt

an effective and intelligent rate strategy

07

A Guide to choose Rate Shopper Tool

rategaincom

In order to leverage high-quality business intelligence data you have

to redefine your rate strategy Itrsquos no more about the RateShopping but

many components of Rate shopper that make a complete competitive

intelligence tool

Such a system captures hundreds of thousands of hotels worth of data

to engender rate and availability alerts in a few clicks It delivers granular

analysis to eventually help you monitor massive fluctuations in your

market on time as well as act immediately

Online Competiveness 101 for Hotels

08

Conclusion

A Guide to choose Rate Shopper Tool

rategaincom

Bangkok Thailand

Barcelona Spain

Jakarta Indonesia

London UK

Virginia USA

Durban South Africa

Kuala Lumpur Malaysia

Delhi NCR India

Brazil

Columbia

Cape Town

JapanChicago USA

More about RateGain

Founded in 2004 RateGain is a leading provider of cloud-based products and services

around the function of hotel Rate Intelligence Price Optimization Seamless Electronic

Distribution and Brand Engagement to the worldrsquos leading Hotels and Online Travel Agents

With continued innovation and excellence in customer focus we are proud to serve over

12000 clients and numerous industry partners

Our customers are global and so are we with offices in 10 countries across all major

continents supported by over 500 passionate professionals and seasoned industry experts

Through world-class solutions RateGain helps its industry leading customers beat their

competition and make more revenue every day

If you are looking for a latest solution for your channel management amp

online room distribution needs we invite you to

Request a Demo

Share It with

09

A Guide to choose Rate Shopper Tool

rategaincom

Single TechnologyPlatform to ManageRevenue Reputationamp Distribution

Competitor RateShopper

1

OnlineReputationManager

RevenueOptimizer

DistributionChannelManager

GuestFeedbackSurvey

IntegratedAnalytics

2

3

45

6

Manage Your Revenue Management Needs From One Single Dashboard

Learn More

wwwrategaincom | marketingrategaincom | US 8663184358 | UK 08082344540 |AUS 1800502529

Copyright copy 2017 RateGain LLC

10

Page 3: A Guide to choose Rate Shopper Tool · 15. Product mapping on any key word Hotel Revenue Manager should correctly map components for an apple-to-apple comparison in terms of Room/Rate

A Guide to choose Rate Shopper Tool

rategaincom

02Price Pellucidity Prospective guests today consider their target hotelrsquos online

reputation as well as price on all the OTAs before determining the value of their

choice Hence price no longer equates to quality

Demand is a Function of Price Hotels need to understand that pricing

strategies are highly influenced by demand which has become a function of

price But they should not forget that demand is also a function of reputation

Reputation Pricing Hotels today are highly impacted by social media platforms

These platforms can be used to influence the consumer and their purchasing

decisions

Your real competition is just based on the distance or star category or there is

another set of online competition

Competing on price alone is it a winning strategy Let us find out

Challenges in Hotel Rate Shopping

$

A Guide to choose Rate Shopper Tool

rategaincom

Below are Key Features and Capabilities that Revenue Managers

need to evaluate while shortlisting a

Rate Shopping Solution

03

1 Freshness of hotel rates

How do you ensure that your pricing is relevant To ensure correct pricing changes it is

extremely critical that rates shopped are recent and also highly relevant

2 Rate Details

Hotels tend to have multiple rates with various amenities so that they can carry

out apple-to-apple comparison of their rates and all other add on features A rate

shopper needs to give rate details for all the rates shopped

3 Integration with RMS

As a Revenue Manager you do refer to the revenue management system or the RMS

which uses competition rates to benchmark and make rate suggestions Without a

seamless integration between RMS and Rate Shopper tools hotels wonrsquot have this

information

4 Ability to shop on Metasearch

Meta search sites are trying to grab the top space in the industry today Competitor price

listings from these sites need to be crucial to your hotelrsquos pricing strategy so a rate

shopper which canrsquot shop from these will be counter productive

5 Ability to pull rates from GDS

GDS is the second cheapest option for a hotel to get room nights after the brand

website Most hotels sell non-negotiated rates on GDSs too so without a rate shop from

GDS making a pricing plan for an on-negotiated GDS rate will be difficult Besides it is

crucial to ensure that GDS data is fresh as well

A Guide to choose Rate Shopper Tool

rategaincom

6 Capability to shop from Mobile Apps and Mobile Websites

New age channels also include Mobile options and with an increase in bookings made on

the go hotels are making offers exclusive to mobile users Hence a pricing strategy for

mobile needs to have competitor rates from mobile

7 Vacation Rentals ndash The New age channel shop

Channels like Airbnb or Rooms Tonight have created a new market to satisfy a niche group

of customers The impact of these websites is huge Therefore hotels need to track short-

term lodging including vacation rentals apartment rentals homestays hostel beds or hotel

rooms on such sites So a good question to ask the vendor your evaluating is ldquoDoes your

tool shops from Airbnb or Rooms Tonightrdquo

8 Shop brand sites

Many tools do not shop from brand sites from competitors this is a disadvantage because

we have observed that hotels have nearly 51 ratio in terms of rates that they offer on their

brand site vs leading OTA sites If your rate shopper is not shopping on competitor brand

sites then you are losing out

9 Shop different rate types and identify them

Hotel rates have 2 types of conditions

1 Cancellation specific scenario where hotels restrict buyers from cancelling to avail a

special rate

2 Booking condition where a specific discount is offered to meet a specific condition

which is met

It would not be possible for a hotel to make a relevant comparison if their shopper is not

able to shop these rates and is not highlighting them in a report either

04

A Guide to choose Rate Shopper Tool

rategaincom

10 Make a correct rate comparison by rate mapping

While we discuss different rate types in a hotel there are variations in rates based on their

inclusions policies as well as different room types have these rates Thus while a rate

shopper can shop for various rateroom combinations mapping them with keywords is

crucial to ensure an apple-to-apple comparison

11 On the go access

Just like the increase in on-the-go bookings being a hotel Revenue Manager you too need

mobile-optimize your rate shopper to tap on crucial alerts and reports Only then you can

make quick judgements and calls pertaining to pricing and eventually stay ahead of the

curve

12 On Demand rate shop

While hotels have their scheduled reports ready which give information about rates

from the entire distribution landscape there will be situations where a change in hotel

dynamics owing to a sudden pickupwash in a city event will arise Hotel rate shopper must

consider it to gauge its impact and accordingly pave way for on-Demand shops for greater

emphasis

13 Shopping for multiple LOS

A hotel guest has multiple days in their stay Keeping that in mind hotels should offer rates

based of their LOS Similarly their competitors need to make relevant rates and offerings

so that they can ensure that relevant propositions are made and one also gets to know what

their competitor is offering and what the rate shopper shows in the rate shopping report

05

A Guide to choose Rate Shopper Tool

rategaincom

14 Capacity to distinguish tax inclusive rates from tax exclusive rates

OTAs operate in different models While some present rates inclusive of tax to customers

there are others that keep the lsquotaxrsquo component completely out of price Thus to get the

correct idea about market offerings a hotel rate shopper should be able to separate the

tax component from inclusive price and then present it in a report along with tax exclusive

price

15 Product mapping on any key word

Hotel Revenue Manager should correctly map components for an apple-to-apple comparison

in terms of RoomRate combination Another aspect that a Hotel Revenue Manager should

do is map key words such as Wi-Fi or Airport Transfer so as to map similar rates which they

need to offer

16 Regional channels

Some regional OTAs have a massive impact on a particular regionrsquos OTA contribution This

includes Ctrip in China or Rakuten in Japan Having a rate shopper that does not shop from

such OTAs and these regions which happen to be source markets for the hotel means the

hotel is currently staying in the dark and the hotel will be unable to draw a comprehensive

pricing strategy

17 Rate Movement

While hotels tend to look at their occupancy PACE using RMSmanual methods they do

this exercise for their BAR By doing it they miss out on a critical trend which is how their

and the competitorrsquos pricing strategy is moving By doing this analysis they gauge their

competitorrsquos pricing strategy A rate shopper should be able to do that for the hotel

06

A Guide to choose Rate Shopper Tool

rategaincom

18 Know age of data

Freshness of data is extremely critical for a hotelrsquos pricing decision When a hotel Revenue

Manager makes his pricing decisions and refers to a report it should properly mention

when the rate was shopped It should also outline the age of this data so that no errors are

made owing to ambiguity of data age

19 Enterprise capability

While a rate shopper is an extremely important tool for a hotel it is equally relevant for a

regional Revenue Manager or a cluster Revenue Manager The tool gives them the ability to

shop and get data from multiple hotels in a click

20 Rate Parity

Is your Parity in check Your tool should be smart enough to do rates and availability check

for you

21 Ability to shop multiple domains of the same site based on source market

Another key ability of a potent rate shopper is that it should provide rates from multiple

domains of the same brand site This will give you correct and relevant comparison from

the source market

22 Keep an Eye on Local Demand

Are you prepared to tap the upcoming business opportunities To capitalize on the future

events and holidays specify impact on your business your tool must be intelligent enough

to notify and report all the events amp holidays where the rate adjustments are most likely to

improve your RevPAR

23 Identify Online Hotel Competitors

OTA listings have become imperative revenue channel for Hotels consequently your OTA

rank is a key metrics that influence your booking from a given OTA A Hotel competitor

tool that can track your OTA rank along with hotels that are above and below you is great

information to identify new Compset hotels who otherwise would remain unknown

24 Global Support

You need a rate pricing tool which renders 247 global support

Rate Shopping Tool has to be a comprehensive Rate Intelligence solution It should cater to

multiple purposes In order to correctly select a Rate Shopping Solution you have to adopt

an effective and intelligent rate strategy

07

A Guide to choose Rate Shopper Tool

rategaincom

In order to leverage high-quality business intelligence data you have

to redefine your rate strategy Itrsquos no more about the RateShopping but

many components of Rate shopper that make a complete competitive

intelligence tool

Such a system captures hundreds of thousands of hotels worth of data

to engender rate and availability alerts in a few clicks It delivers granular

analysis to eventually help you monitor massive fluctuations in your

market on time as well as act immediately

Online Competiveness 101 for Hotels

08

Conclusion

A Guide to choose Rate Shopper Tool

rategaincom

Bangkok Thailand

Barcelona Spain

Jakarta Indonesia

London UK

Virginia USA

Durban South Africa

Kuala Lumpur Malaysia

Delhi NCR India

Brazil

Columbia

Cape Town

JapanChicago USA

More about RateGain

Founded in 2004 RateGain is a leading provider of cloud-based products and services

around the function of hotel Rate Intelligence Price Optimization Seamless Electronic

Distribution and Brand Engagement to the worldrsquos leading Hotels and Online Travel Agents

With continued innovation and excellence in customer focus we are proud to serve over

12000 clients and numerous industry partners

Our customers are global and so are we with offices in 10 countries across all major

continents supported by over 500 passionate professionals and seasoned industry experts

Through world-class solutions RateGain helps its industry leading customers beat their

competition and make more revenue every day

If you are looking for a latest solution for your channel management amp

online room distribution needs we invite you to

Request a Demo

Share It with

09

A Guide to choose Rate Shopper Tool

rategaincom

Single TechnologyPlatform to ManageRevenue Reputationamp Distribution

Competitor RateShopper

1

OnlineReputationManager

RevenueOptimizer

DistributionChannelManager

GuestFeedbackSurvey

IntegratedAnalytics

2

3

45

6

Manage Your Revenue Management Needs From One Single Dashboard

Learn More

wwwrategaincom | marketingrategaincom | US 8663184358 | UK 08082344540 |AUS 1800502529

Copyright copy 2017 RateGain LLC

10

Page 4: A Guide to choose Rate Shopper Tool · 15. Product mapping on any key word Hotel Revenue Manager should correctly map components for an apple-to-apple comparison in terms of Room/Rate

A Guide to choose Rate Shopper Tool

rategaincom

Below are Key Features and Capabilities that Revenue Managers

need to evaluate while shortlisting a

Rate Shopping Solution

03

1 Freshness of hotel rates

How do you ensure that your pricing is relevant To ensure correct pricing changes it is

extremely critical that rates shopped are recent and also highly relevant

2 Rate Details

Hotels tend to have multiple rates with various amenities so that they can carry

out apple-to-apple comparison of their rates and all other add on features A rate

shopper needs to give rate details for all the rates shopped

3 Integration with RMS

As a Revenue Manager you do refer to the revenue management system or the RMS

which uses competition rates to benchmark and make rate suggestions Without a

seamless integration between RMS and Rate Shopper tools hotels wonrsquot have this

information

4 Ability to shop on Metasearch

Meta search sites are trying to grab the top space in the industry today Competitor price

listings from these sites need to be crucial to your hotelrsquos pricing strategy so a rate

shopper which canrsquot shop from these will be counter productive

5 Ability to pull rates from GDS

GDS is the second cheapest option for a hotel to get room nights after the brand

website Most hotels sell non-negotiated rates on GDSs too so without a rate shop from

GDS making a pricing plan for an on-negotiated GDS rate will be difficult Besides it is

crucial to ensure that GDS data is fresh as well

A Guide to choose Rate Shopper Tool

rategaincom

6 Capability to shop from Mobile Apps and Mobile Websites

New age channels also include Mobile options and with an increase in bookings made on

the go hotels are making offers exclusive to mobile users Hence a pricing strategy for

mobile needs to have competitor rates from mobile

7 Vacation Rentals ndash The New age channel shop

Channels like Airbnb or Rooms Tonight have created a new market to satisfy a niche group

of customers The impact of these websites is huge Therefore hotels need to track short-

term lodging including vacation rentals apartment rentals homestays hostel beds or hotel

rooms on such sites So a good question to ask the vendor your evaluating is ldquoDoes your

tool shops from Airbnb or Rooms Tonightrdquo

8 Shop brand sites

Many tools do not shop from brand sites from competitors this is a disadvantage because

we have observed that hotels have nearly 51 ratio in terms of rates that they offer on their

brand site vs leading OTA sites If your rate shopper is not shopping on competitor brand

sites then you are losing out

9 Shop different rate types and identify them

Hotel rates have 2 types of conditions

1 Cancellation specific scenario where hotels restrict buyers from cancelling to avail a

special rate

2 Booking condition where a specific discount is offered to meet a specific condition

which is met

It would not be possible for a hotel to make a relevant comparison if their shopper is not

able to shop these rates and is not highlighting them in a report either

04

A Guide to choose Rate Shopper Tool

rategaincom

10 Make a correct rate comparison by rate mapping

While we discuss different rate types in a hotel there are variations in rates based on their

inclusions policies as well as different room types have these rates Thus while a rate

shopper can shop for various rateroom combinations mapping them with keywords is

crucial to ensure an apple-to-apple comparison

11 On the go access

Just like the increase in on-the-go bookings being a hotel Revenue Manager you too need

mobile-optimize your rate shopper to tap on crucial alerts and reports Only then you can

make quick judgements and calls pertaining to pricing and eventually stay ahead of the

curve

12 On Demand rate shop

While hotels have their scheduled reports ready which give information about rates

from the entire distribution landscape there will be situations where a change in hotel

dynamics owing to a sudden pickupwash in a city event will arise Hotel rate shopper must

consider it to gauge its impact and accordingly pave way for on-Demand shops for greater

emphasis

13 Shopping for multiple LOS

A hotel guest has multiple days in their stay Keeping that in mind hotels should offer rates

based of their LOS Similarly their competitors need to make relevant rates and offerings

so that they can ensure that relevant propositions are made and one also gets to know what

their competitor is offering and what the rate shopper shows in the rate shopping report

05

A Guide to choose Rate Shopper Tool

rategaincom

14 Capacity to distinguish tax inclusive rates from tax exclusive rates

OTAs operate in different models While some present rates inclusive of tax to customers

there are others that keep the lsquotaxrsquo component completely out of price Thus to get the

correct idea about market offerings a hotel rate shopper should be able to separate the

tax component from inclusive price and then present it in a report along with tax exclusive

price

15 Product mapping on any key word

Hotel Revenue Manager should correctly map components for an apple-to-apple comparison

in terms of RoomRate combination Another aspect that a Hotel Revenue Manager should

do is map key words such as Wi-Fi or Airport Transfer so as to map similar rates which they

need to offer

16 Regional channels

Some regional OTAs have a massive impact on a particular regionrsquos OTA contribution This

includes Ctrip in China or Rakuten in Japan Having a rate shopper that does not shop from

such OTAs and these regions which happen to be source markets for the hotel means the

hotel is currently staying in the dark and the hotel will be unable to draw a comprehensive

pricing strategy

17 Rate Movement

While hotels tend to look at their occupancy PACE using RMSmanual methods they do

this exercise for their BAR By doing it they miss out on a critical trend which is how their

and the competitorrsquos pricing strategy is moving By doing this analysis they gauge their

competitorrsquos pricing strategy A rate shopper should be able to do that for the hotel

06

A Guide to choose Rate Shopper Tool

rategaincom

18 Know age of data

Freshness of data is extremely critical for a hotelrsquos pricing decision When a hotel Revenue

Manager makes his pricing decisions and refers to a report it should properly mention

when the rate was shopped It should also outline the age of this data so that no errors are

made owing to ambiguity of data age

19 Enterprise capability

While a rate shopper is an extremely important tool for a hotel it is equally relevant for a

regional Revenue Manager or a cluster Revenue Manager The tool gives them the ability to

shop and get data from multiple hotels in a click

20 Rate Parity

Is your Parity in check Your tool should be smart enough to do rates and availability check

for you

21 Ability to shop multiple domains of the same site based on source market

Another key ability of a potent rate shopper is that it should provide rates from multiple

domains of the same brand site This will give you correct and relevant comparison from

the source market

22 Keep an Eye on Local Demand

Are you prepared to tap the upcoming business opportunities To capitalize on the future

events and holidays specify impact on your business your tool must be intelligent enough

to notify and report all the events amp holidays where the rate adjustments are most likely to

improve your RevPAR

23 Identify Online Hotel Competitors

OTA listings have become imperative revenue channel for Hotels consequently your OTA

rank is a key metrics that influence your booking from a given OTA A Hotel competitor

tool that can track your OTA rank along with hotels that are above and below you is great

information to identify new Compset hotels who otherwise would remain unknown

24 Global Support

You need a rate pricing tool which renders 247 global support

Rate Shopping Tool has to be a comprehensive Rate Intelligence solution It should cater to

multiple purposes In order to correctly select a Rate Shopping Solution you have to adopt

an effective and intelligent rate strategy

07

A Guide to choose Rate Shopper Tool

rategaincom

In order to leverage high-quality business intelligence data you have

to redefine your rate strategy Itrsquos no more about the RateShopping but

many components of Rate shopper that make a complete competitive

intelligence tool

Such a system captures hundreds of thousands of hotels worth of data

to engender rate and availability alerts in a few clicks It delivers granular

analysis to eventually help you monitor massive fluctuations in your

market on time as well as act immediately

Online Competiveness 101 for Hotels

08

Conclusion

A Guide to choose Rate Shopper Tool

rategaincom

Bangkok Thailand

Barcelona Spain

Jakarta Indonesia

London UK

Virginia USA

Durban South Africa

Kuala Lumpur Malaysia

Delhi NCR India

Brazil

Columbia

Cape Town

JapanChicago USA

More about RateGain

Founded in 2004 RateGain is a leading provider of cloud-based products and services

around the function of hotel Rate Intelligence Price Optimization Seamless Electronic

Distribution and Brand Engagement to the worldrsquos leading Hotels and Online Travel Agents

With continued innovation and excellence in customer focus we are proud to serve over

12000 clients and numerous industry partners

Our customers are global and so are we with offices in 10 countries across all major

continents supported by over 500 passionate professionals and seasoned industry experts

Through world-class solutions RateGain helps its industry leading customers beat their

competition and make more revenue every day

If you are looking for a latest solution for your channel management amp

online room distribution needs we invite you to

Request a Demo

Share It with

09

A Guide to choose Rate Shopper Tool

rategaincom

Single TechnologyPlatform to ManageRevenue Reputationamp Distribution

Competitor RateShopper

1

OnlineReputationManager

RevenueOptimizer

DistributionChannelManager

GuestFeedbackSurvey

IntegratedAnalytics

2

3

45

6

Manage Your Revenue Management Needs From One Single Dashboard

Learn More

wwwrategaincom | marketingrategaincom | US 8663184358 | UK 08082344540 |AUS 1800502529

Copyright copy 2017 RateGain LLC

10

Page 5: A Guide to choose Rate Shopper Tool · 15. Product mapping on any key word Hotel Revenue Manager should correctly map components for an apple-to-apple comparison in terms of Room/Rate

A Guide to choose Rate Shopper Tool

rategaincom

6 Capability to shop from Mobile Apps and Mobile Websites

New age channels also include Mobile options and with an increase in bookings made on

the go hotels are making offers exclusive to mobile users Hence a pricing strategy for

mobile needs to have competitor rates from mobile

7 Vacation Rentals ndash The New age channel shop

Channels like Airbnb or Rooms Tonight have created a new market to satisfy a niche group

of customers The impact of these websites is huge Therefore hotels need to track short-

term lodging including vacation rentals apartment rentals homestays hostel beds or hotel

rooms on such sites So a good question to ask the vendor your evaluating is ldquoDoes your

tool shops from Airbnb or Rooms Tonightrdquo

8 Shop brand sites

Many tools do not shop from brand sites from competitors this is a disadvantage because

we have observed that hotels have nearly 51 ratio in terms of rates that they offer on their

brand site vs leading OTA sites If your rate shopper is not shopping on competitor brand

sites then you are losing out

9 Shop different rate types and identify them

Hotel rates have 2 types of conditions

1 Cancellation specific scenario where hotels restrict buyers from cancelling to avail a

special rate

2 Booking condition where a specific discount is offered to meet a specific condition

which is met

It would not be possible for a hotel to make a relevant comparison if their shopper is not

able to shop these rates and is not highlighting them in a report either

04

A Guide to choose Rate Shopper Tool

rategaincom

10 Make a correct rate comparison by rate mapping

While we discuss different rate types in a hotel there are variations in rates based on their

inclusions policies as well as different room types have these rates Thus while a rate

shopper can shop for various rateroom combinations mapping them with keywords is

crucial to ensure an apple-to-apple comparison

11 On the go access

Just like the increase in on-the-go bookings being a hotel Revenue Manager you too need

mobile-optimize your rate shopper to tap on crucial alerts and reports Only then you can

make quick judgements and calls pertaining to pricing and eventually stay ahead of the

curve

12 On Demand rate shop

While hotels have their scheduled reports ready which give information about rates

from the entire distribution landscape there will be situations where a change in hotel

dynamics owing to a sudden pickupwash in a city event will arise Hotel rate shopper must

consider it to gauge its impact and accordingly pave way for on-Demand shops for greater

emphasis

13 Shopping for multiple LOS

A hotel guest has multiple days in their stay Keeping that in mind hotels should offer rates

based of their LOS Similarly their competitors need to make relevant rates and offerings

so that they can ensure that relevant propositions are made and one also gets to know what

their competitor is offering and what the rate shopper shows in the rate shopping report

05

A Guide to choose Rate Shopper Tool

rategaincom

14 Capacity to distinguish tax inclusive rates from tax exclusive rates

OTAs operate in different models While some present rates inclusive of tax to customers

there are others that keep the lsquotaxrsquo component completely out of price Thus to get the

correct idea about market offerings a hotel rate shopper should be able to separate the

tax component from inclusive price and then present it in a report along with tax exclusive

price

15 Product mapping on any key word

Hotel Revenue Manager should correctly map components for an apple-to-apple comparison

in terms of RoomRate combination Another aspect that a Hotel Revenue Manager should

do is map key words such as Wi-Fi or Airport Transfer so as to map similar rates which they

need to offer

16 Regional channels

Some regional OTAs have a massive impact on a particular regionrsquos OTA contribution This

includes Ctrip in China or Rakuten in Japan Having a rate shopper that does not shop from

such OTAs and these regions which happen to be source markets for the hotel means the

hotel is currently staying in the dark and the hotel will be unable to draw a comprehensive

pricing strategy

17 Rate Movement

While hotels tend to look at their occupancy PACE using RMSmanual methods they do

this exercise for their BAR By doing it they miss out on a critical trend which is how their

and the competitorrsquos pricing strategy is moving By doing this analysis they gauge their

competitorrsquos pricing strategy A rate shopper should be able to do that for the hotel

06

A Guide to choose Rate Shopper Tool

rategaincom

18 Know age of data

Freshness of data is extremely critical for a hotelrsquos pricing decision When a hotel Revenue

Manager makes his pricing decisions and refers to a report it should properly mention

when the rate was shopped It should also outline the age of this data so that no errors are

made owing to ambiguity of data age

19 Enterprise capability

While a rate shopper is an extremely important tool for a hotel it is equally relevant for a

regional Revenue Manager or a cluster Revenue Manager The tool gives them the ability to

shop and get data from multiple hotels in a click

20 Rate Parity

Is your Parity in check Your tool should be smart enough to do rates and availability check

for you

21 Ability to shop multiple domains of the same site based on source market

Another key ability of a potent rate shopper is that it should provide rates from multiple

domains of the same brand site This will give you correct and relevant comparison from

the source market

22 Keep an Eye on Local Demand

Are you prepared to tap the upcoming business opportunities To capitalize on the future

events and holidays specify impact on your business your tool must be intelligent enough

to notify and report all the events amp holidays where the rate adjustments are most likely to

improve your RevPAR

23 Identify Online Hotel Competitors

OTA listings have become imperative revenue channel for Hotels consequently your OTA

rank is a key metrics that influence your booking from a given OTA A Hotel competitor

tool that can track your OTA rank along with hotels that are above and below you is great

information to identify new Compset hotels who otherwise would remain unknown

24 Global Support

You need a rate pricing tool which renders 247 global support

Rate Shopping Tool has to be a comprehensive Rate Intelligence solution It should cater to

multiple purposes In order to correctly select a Rate Shopping Solution you have to adopt

an effective and intelligent rate strategy

07

A Guide to choose Rate Shopper Tool

rategaincom

In order to leverage high-quality business intelligence data you have

to redefine your rate strategy Itrsquos no more about the RateShopping but

many components of Rate shopper that make a complete competitive

intelligence tool

Such a system captures hundreds of thousands of hotels worth of data

to engender rate and availability alerts in a few clicks It delivers granular

analysis to eventually help you monitor massive fluctuations in your

market on time as well as act immediately

Online Competiveness 101 for Hotels

08

Conclusion

A Guide to choose Rate Shopper Tool

rategaincom

Bangkok Thailand

Barcelona Spain

Jakarta Indonesia

London UK

Virginia USA

Durban South Africa

Kuala Lumpur Malaysia

Delhi NCR India

Brazil

Columbia

Cape Town

JapanChicago USA

More about RateGain

Founded in 2004 RateGain is a leading provider of cloud-based products and services

around the function of hotel Rate Intelligence Price Optimization Seamless Electronic

Distribution and Brand Engagement to the worldrsquos leading Hotels and Online Travel Agents

With continued innovation and excellence in customer focus we are proud to serve over

12000 clients and numerous industry partners

Our customers are global and so are we with offices in 10 countries across all major

continents supported by over 500 passionate professionals and seasoned industry experts

Through world-class solutions RateGain helps its industry leading customers beat their

competition and make more revenue every day

If you are looking for a latest solution for your channel management amp

online room distribution needs we invite you to

Request a Demo

Share It with

09

A Guide to choose Rate Shopper Tool

rategaincom

Single TechnologyPlatform to ManageRevenue Reputationamp Distribution

Competitor RateShopper

1

OnlineReputationManager

RevenueOptimizer

DistributionChannelManager

GuestFeedbackSurvey

IntegratedAnalytics

2

3

45

6

Manage Your Revenue Management Needs From One Single Dashboard

Learn More

wwwrategaincom | marketingrategaincom | US 8663184358 | UK 08082344540 |AUS 1800502529

Copyright copy 2017 RateGain LLC

10

Page 6: A Guide to choose Rate Shopper Tool · 15. Product mapping on any key word Hotel Revenue Manager should correctly map components for an apple-to-apple comparison in terms of Room/Rate

A Guide to choose Rate Shopper Tool

rategaincom

10 Make a correct rate comparison by rate mapping

While we discuss different rate types in a hotel there are variations in rates based on their

inclusions policies as well as different room types have these rates Thus while a rate

shopper can shop for various rateroom combinations mapping them with keywords is

crucial to ensure an apple-to-apple comparison

11 On the go access

Just like the increase in on-the-go bookings being a hotel Revenue Manager you too need

mobile-optimize your rate shopper to tap on crucial alerts and reports Only then you can

make quick judgements and calls pertaining to pricing and eventually stay ahead of the

curve

12 On Demand rate shop

While hotels have their scheduled reports ready which give information about rates

from the entire distribution landscape there will be situations where a change in hotel

dynamics owing to a sudden pickupwash in a city event will arise Hotel rate shopper must

consider it to gauge its impact and accordingly pave way for on-Demand shops for greater

emphasis

13 Shopping for multiple LOS

A hotel guest has multiple days in their stay Keeping that in mind hotels should offer rates

based of their LOS Similarly their competitors need to make relevant rates and offerings

so that they can ensure that relevant propositions are made and one also gets to know what

their competitor is offering and what the rate shopper shows in the rate shopping report

05

A Guide to choose Rate Shopper Tool

rategaincom

14 Capacity to distinguish tax inclusive rates from tax exclusive rates

OTAs operate in different models While some present rates inclusive of tax to customers

there are others that keep the lsquotaxrsquo component completely out of price Thus to get the

correct idea about market offerings a hotel rate shopper should be able to separate the

tax component from inclusive price and then present it in a report along with tax exclusive

price

15 Product mapping on any key word

Hotel Revenue Manager should correctly map components for an apple-to-apple comparison

in terms of RoomRate combination Another aspect that a Hotel Revenue Manager should

do is map key words such as Wi-Fi or Airport Transfer so as to map similar rates which they

need to offer

16 Regional channels

Some regional OTAs have a massive impact on a particular regionrsquos OTA contribution This

includes Ctrip in China or Rakuten in Japan Having a rate shopper that does not shop from

such OTAs and these regions which happen to be source markets for the hotel means the

hotel is currently staying in the dark and the hotel will be unable to draw a comprehensive

pricing strategy

17 Rate Movement

While hotels tend to look at their occupancy PACE using RMSmanual methods they do

this exercise for their BAR By doing it they miss out on a critical trend which is how their

and the competitorrsquos pricing strategy is moving By doing this analysis they gauge their

competitorrsquos pricing strategy A rate shopper should be able to do that for the hotel

06

A Guide to choose Rate Shopper Tool

rategaincom

18 Know age of data

Freshness of data is extremely critical for a hotelrsquos pricing decision When a hotel Revenue

Manager makes his pricing decisions and refers to a report it should properly mention

when the rate was shopped It should also outline the age of this data so that no errors are

made owing to ambiguity of data age

19 Enterprise capability

While a rate shopper is an extremely important tool for a hotel it is equally relevant for a

regional Revenue Manager or a cluster Revenue Manager The tool gives them the ability to

shop and get data from multiple hotels in a click

20 Rate Parity

Is your Parity in check Your tool should be smart enough to do rates and availability check

for you

21 Ability to shop multiple domains of the same site based on source market

Another key ability of a potent rate shopper is that it should provide rates from multiple

domains of the same brand site This will give you correct and relevant comparison from

the source market

22 Keep an Eye on Local Demand

Are you prepared to tap the upcoming business opportunities To capitalize on the future

events and holidays specify impact on your business your tool must be intelligent enough

to notify and report all the events amp holidays where the rate adjustments are most likely to

improve your RevPAR

23 Identify Online Hotel Competitors

OTA listings have become imperative revenue channel for Hotels consequently your OTA

rank is a key metrics that influence your booking from a given OTA A Hotel competitor

tool that can track your OTA rank along with hotels that are above and below you is great

information to identify new Compset hotels who otherwise would remain unknown

24 Global Support

You need a rate pricing tool which renders 247 global support

Rate Shopping Tool has to be a comprehensive Rate Intelligence solution It should cater to

multiple purposes In order to correctly select a Rate Shopping Solution you have to adopt

an effective and intelligent rate strategy

07

A Guide to choose Rate Shopper Tool

rategaincom

In order to leverage high-quality business intelligence data you have

to redefine your rate strategy Itrsquos no more about the RateShopping but

many components of Rate shopper that make a complete competitive

intelligence tool

Such a system captures hundreds of thousands of hotels worth of data

to engender rate and availability alerts in a few clicks It delivers granular

analysis to eventually help you monitor massive fluctuations in your

market on time as well as act immediately

Online Competiveness 101 for Hotels

08

Conclusion

A Guide to choose Rate Shopper Tool

rategaincom

Bangkok Thailand

Barcelona Spain

Jakarta Indonesia

London UK

Virginia USA

Durban South Africa

Kuala Lumpur Malaysia

Delhi NCR India

Brazil

Columbia

Cape Town

JapanChicago USA

More about RateGain

Founded in 2004 RateGain is a leading provider of cloud-based products and services

around the function of hotel Rate Intelligence Price Optimization Seamless Electronic

Distribution and Brand Engagement to the worldrsquos leading Hotels and Online Travel Agents

With continued innovation and excellence in customer focus we are proud to serve over

12000 clients and numerous industry partners

Our customers are global and so are we with offices in 10 countries across all major

continents supported by over 500 passionate professionals and seasoned industry experts

Through world-class solutions RateGain helps its industry leading customers beat their

competition and make more revenue every day

If you are looking for a latest solution for your channel management amp

online room distribution needs we invite you to

Request a Demo

Share It with

09

A Guide to choose Rate Shopper Tool

rategaincom

Single TechnologyPlatform to ManageRevenue Reputationamp Distribution

Competitor RateShopper

1

OnlineReputationManager

RevenueOptimizer

DistributionChannelManager

GuestFeedbackSurvey

IntegratedAnalytics

2

3

45

6

Manage Your Revenue Management Needs From One Single Dashboard

Learn More

wwwrategaincom | marketingrategaincom | US 8663184358 | UK 08082344540 |AUS 1800502529

Copyright copy 2017 RateGain LLC

10

Page 7: A Guide to choose Rate Shopper Tool · 15. Product mapping on any key word Hotel Revenue Manager should correctly map components for an apple-to-apple comparison in terms of Room/Rate

A Guide to choose Rate Shopper Tool

rategaincom

14 Capacity to distinguish tax inclusive rates from tax exclusive rates

OTAs operate in different models While some present rates inclusive of tax to customers

there are others that keep the lsquotaxrsquo component completely out of price Thus to get the

correct idea about market offerings a hotel rate shopper should be able to separate the

tax component from inclusive price and then present it in a report along with tax exclusive

price

15 Product mapping on any key word

Hotel Revenue Manager should correctly map components for an apple-to-apple comparison

in terms of RoomRate combination Another aspect that a Hotel Revenue Manager should

do is map key words such as Wi-Fi or Airport Transfer so as to map similar rates which they

need to offer

16 Regional channels

Some regional OTAs have a massive impact on a particular regionrsquos OTA contribution This

includes Ctrip in China or Rakuten in Japan Having a rate shopper that does not shop from

such OTAs and these regions which happen to be source markets for the hotel means the

hotel is currently staying in the dark and the hotel will be unable to draw a comprehensive

pricing strategy

17 Rate Movement

While hotels tend to look at their occupancy PACE using RMSmanual methods they do

this exercise for their BAR By doing it they miss out on a critical trend which is how their

and the competitorrsquos pricing strategy is moving By doing this analysis they gauge their

competitorrsquos pricing strategy A rate shopper should be able to do that for the hotel

06

A Guide to choose Rate Shopper Tool

rategaincom

18 Know age of data

Freshness of data is extremely critical for a hotelrsquos pricing decision When a hotel Revenue

Manager makes his pricing decisions and refers to a report it should properly mention

when the rate was shopped It should also outline the age of this data so that no errors are

made owing to ambiguity of data age

19 Enterprise capability

While a rate shopper is an extremely important tool for a hotel it is equally relevant for a

regional Revenue Manager or a cluster Revenue Manager The tool gives them the ability to

shop and get data from multiple hotels in a click

20 Rate Parity

Is your Parity in check Your tool should be smart enough to do rates and availability check

for you

21 Ability to shop multiple domains of the same site based on source market

Another key ability of a potent rate shopper is that it should provide rates from multiple

domains of the same brand site This will give you correct and relevant comparison from

the source market

22 Keep an Eye on Local Demand

Are you prepared to tap the upcoming business opportunities To capitalize on the future

events and holidays specify impact on your business your tool must be intelligent enough

to notify and report all the events amp holidays where the rate adjustments are most likely to

improve your RevPAR

23 Identify Online Hotel Competitors

OTA listings have become imperative revenue channel for Hotels consequently your OTA

rank is a key metrics that influence your booking from a given OTA A Hotel competitor

tool that can track your OTA rank along with hotels that are above and below you is great

information to identify new Compset hotels who otherwise would remain unknown

24 Global Support

You need a rate pricing tool which renders 247 global support

Rate Shopping Tool has to be a comprehensive Rate Intelligence solution It should cater to

multiple purposes In order to correctly select a Rate Shopping Solution you have to adopt

an effective and intelligent rate strategy

07

A Guide to choose Rate Shopper Tool

rategaincom

In order to leverage high-quality business intelligence data you have

to redefine your rate strategy Itrsquos no more about the RateShopping but

many components of Rate shopper that make a complete competitive

intelligence tool

Such a system captures hundreds of thousands of hotels worth of data

to engender rate and availability alerts in a few clicks It delivers granular

analysis to eventually help you monitor massive fluctuations in your

market on time as well as act immediately

Online Competiveness 101 for Hotels

08

Conclusion

A Guide to choose Rate Shopper Tool

rategaincom

Bangkok Thailand

Barcelona Spain

Jakarta Indonesia

London UK

Virginia USA

Durban South Africa

Kuala Lumpur Malaysia

Delhi NCR India

Brazil

Columbia

Cape Town

JapanChicago USA

More about RateGain

Founded in 2004 RateGain is a leading provider of cloud-based products and services

around the function of hotel Rate Intelligence Price Optimization Seamless Electronic

Distribution and Brand Engagement to the worldrsquos leading Hotels and Online Travel Agents

With continued innovation and excellence in customer focus we are proud to serve over

12000 clients and numerous industry partners

Our customers are global and so are we with offices in 10 countries across all major

continents supported by over 500 passionate professionals and seasoned industry experts

Through world-class solutions RateGain helps its industry leading customers beat their

competition and make more revenue every day

If you are looking for a latest solution for your channel management amp

online room distribution needs we invite you to

Request a Demo

Share It with

09

A Guide to choose Rate Shopper Tool

rategaincom

Single TechnologyPlatform to ManageRevenue Reputationamp Distribution

Competitor RateShopper

1

OnlineReputationManager

RevenueOptimizer

DistributionChannelManager

GuestFeedbackSurvey

IntegratedAnalytics

2

3

45

6

Manage Your Revenue Management Needs From One Single Dashboard

Learn More

wwwrategaincom | marketingrategaincom | US 8663184358 | UK 08082344540 |AUS 1800502529

Copyright copy 2017 RateGain LLC

10

Page 8: A Guide to choose Rate Shopper Tool · 15. Product mapping on any key word Hotel Revenue Manager should correctly map components for an apple-to-apple comparison in terms of Room/Rate

A Guide to choose Rate Shopper Tool

rategaincom

18 Know age of data

Freshness of data is extremely critical for a hotelrsquos pricing decision When a hotel Revenue

Manager makes his pricing decisions and refers to a report it should properly mention

when the rate was shopped It should also outline the age of this data so that no errors are

made owing to ambiguity of data age

19 Enterprise capability

While a rate shopper is an extremely important tool for a hotel it is equally relevant for a

regional Revenue Manager or a cluster Revenue Manager The tool gives them the ability to

shop and get data from multiple hotels in a click

20 Rate Parity

Is your Parity in check Your tool should be smart enough to do rates and availability check

for you

21 Ability to shop multiple domains of the same site based on source market

Another key ability of a potent rate shopper is that it should provide rates from multiple

domains of the same brand site This will give you correct and relevant comparison from

the source market

22 Keep an Eye on Local Demand

Are you prepared to tap the upcoming business opportunities To capitalize on the future

events and holidays specify impact on your business your tool must be intelligent enough

to notify and report all the events amp holidays where the rate adjustments are most likely to

improve your RevPAR

23 Identify Online Hotel Competitors

OTA listings have become imperative revenue channel for Hotels consequently your OTA

rank is a key metrics that influence your booking from a given OTA A Hotel competitor

tool that can track your OTA rank along with hotels that are above and below you is great

information to identify new Compset hotels who otherwise would remain unknown

24 Global Support

You need a rate pricing tool which renders 247 global support

Rate Shopping Tool has to be a comprehensive Rate Intelligence solution It should cater to

multiple purposes In order to correctly select a Rate Shopping Solution you have to adopt

an effective and intelligent rate strategy

07

A Guide to choose Rate Shopper Tool

rategaincom

In order to leverage high-quality business intelligence data you have

to redefine your rate strategy Itrsquos no more about the RateShopping but

many components of Rate shopper that make a complete competitive

intelligence tool

Such a system captures hundreds of thousands of hotels worth of data

to engender rate and availability alerts in a few clicks It delivers granular

analysis to eventually help you monitor massive fluctuations in your

market on time as well as act immediately

Online Competiveness 101 for Hotels

08

Conclusion

A Guide to choose Rate Shopper Tool

rategaincom

Bangkok Thailand

Barcelona Spain

Jakarta Indonesia

London UK

Virginia USA

Durban South Africa

Kuala Lumpur Malaysia

Delhi NCR India

Brazil

Columbia

Cape Town

JapanChicago USA

More about RateGain

Founded in 2004 RateGain is a leading provider of cloud-based products and services

around the function of hotel Rate Intelligence Price Optimization Seamless Electronic

Distribution and Brand Engagement to the worldrsquos leading Hotels and Online Travel Agents

With continued innovation and excellence in customer focus we are proud to serve over

12000 clients and numerous industry partners

Our customers are global and so are we with offices in 10 countries across all major

continents supported by over 500 passionate professionals and seasoned industry experts

Through world-class solutions RateGain helps its industry leading customers beat their

competition and make more revenue every day

If you are looking for a latest solution for your channel management amp

online room distribution needs we invite you to

Request a Demo

Share It with

09

A Guide to choose Rate Shopper Tool

rategaincom

Single TechnologyPlatform to ManageRevenue Reputationamp Distribution

Competitor RateShopper

1

OnlineReputationManager

RevenueOptimizer

DistributionChannelManager

GuestFeedbackSurvey

IntegratedAnalytics

2

3

45

6

Manage Your Revenue Management Needs From One Single Dashboard

Learn More

wwwrategaincom | marketingrategaincom | US 8663184358 | UK 08082344540 |AUS 1800502529

Copyright copy 2017 RateGain LLC

10

Page 9: A Guide to choose Rate Shopper Tool · 15. Product mapping on any key word Hotel Revenue Manager should correctly map components for an apple-to-apple comparison in terms of Room/Rate

A Guide to choose Rate Shopper Tool

rategaincom

In order to leverage high-quality business intelligence data you have

to redefine your rate strategy Itrsquos no more about the RateShopping but

many components of Rate shopper that make a complete competitive

intelligence tool

Such a system captures hundreds of thousands of hotels worth of data

to engender rate and availability alerts in a few clicks It delivers granular

analysis to eventually help you monitor massive fluctuations in your

market on time as well as act immediately

Online Competiveness 101 for Hotels

08

Conclusion

A Guide to choose Rate Shopper Tool

rategaincom

Bangkok Thailand

Barcelona Spain

Jakarta Indonesia

London UK

Virginia USA

Durban South Africa

Kuala Lumpur Malaysia

Delhi NCR India

Brazil

Columbia

Cape Town

JapanChicago USA

More about RateGain

Founded in 2004 RateGain is a leading provider of cloud-based products and services

around the function of hotel Rate Intelligence Price Optimization Seamless Electronic

Distribution and Brand Engagement to the worldrsquos leading Hotels and Online Travel Agents

With continued innovation and excellence in customer focus we are proud to serve over

12000 clients and numerous industry partners

Our customers are global and so are we with offices in 10 countries across all major

continents supported by over 500 passionate professionals and seasoned industry experts

Through world-class solutions RateGain helps its industry leading customers beat their

competition and make more revenue every day

If you are looking for a latest solution for your channel management amp

online room distribution needs we invite you to

Request a Demo

Share It with

09

A Guide to choose Rate Shopper Tool

rategaincom

Single TechnologyPlatform to ManageRevenue Reputationamp Distribution

Competitor RateShopper

1

OnlineReputationManager

RevenueOptimizer

DistributionChannelManager

GuestFeedbackSurvey

IntegratedAnalytics

2

3

45

6

Manage Your Revenue Management Needs From One Single Dashboard

Learn More

wwwrategaincom | marketingrategaincom | US 8663184358 | UK 08082344540 |AUS 1800502529

Copyright copy 2017 RateGain LLC

10

Page 10: A Guide to choose Rate Shopper Tool · 15. Product mapping on any key word Hotel Revenue Manager should correctly map components for an apple-to-apple comparison in terms of Room/Rate

A Guide to choose Rate Shopper Tool

rategaincom

Bangkok Thailand

Barcelona Spain

Jakarta Indonesia

London UK

Virginia USA

Durban South Africa

Kuala Lumpur Malaysia

Delhi NCR India

Brazil

Columbia

Cape Town

JapanChicago USA

More about RateGain

Founded in 2004 RateGain is a leading provider of cloud-based products and services

around the function of hotel Rate Intelligence Price Optimization Seamless Electronic

Distribution and Brand Engagement to the worldrsquos leading Hotels and Online Travel Agents

With continued innovation and excellence in customer focus we are proud to serve over

12000 clients and numerous industry partners

Our customers are global and so are we with offices in 10 countries across all major

continents supported by over 500 passionate professionals and seasoned industry experts

Through world-class solutions RateGain helps its industry leading customers beat their

competition and make more revenue every day

If you are looking for a latest solution for your channel management amp

online room distribution needs we invite you to

Request a Demo

Share It with

09

A Guide to choose Rate Shopper Tool

rategaincom

Single TechnologyPlatform to ManageRevenue Reputationamp Distribution

Competitor RateShopper

1

OnlineReputationManager

RevenueOptimizer

DistributionChannelManager

GuestFeedbackSurvey

IntegratedAnalytics

2

3

45

6

Manage Your Revenue Management Needs From One Single Dashboard

Learn More

wwwrategaincom | marketingrategaincom | US 8663184358 | UK 08082344540 |AUS 1800502529

Copyright copy 2017 RateGain LLC

10

Page 11: A Guide to choose Rate Shopper Tool · 15. Product mapping on any key word Hotel Revenue Manager should correctly map components for an apple-to-apple comparison in terms of Room/Rate

A Guide to choose Rate Shopper Tool

rategaincom

Single TechnologyPlatform to ManageRevenue Reputationamp Distribution

Competitor RateShopper

1

OnlineReputationManager

RevenueOptimizer

DistributionChannelManager

GuestFeedbackSurvey

IntegratedAnalytics

2

3

45

6

Manage Your Revenue Management Needs From One Single Dashboard

Learn More

wwwrategaincom | marketingrategaincom | US 8663184358 | UK 08082344540 |AUS 1800502529

Copyright copy 2017 RateGain LLC

10