Issue link: https://read.uberflip.com/i/462634
www.travelweekly-asia.com | 7 TECHNOLOGY for Smartling, said, "With a surge in global tourism fuelled by the emerging middle-class in markets such as Asia, combined with the fact that more apps than ever are being localised into 10 or more languages, now app developers and mobile marketers will be challenged to support international currencies for people who might be travelling abroad." • Travellers will increasingly switch to brands' apps for bookings, with companies such as TripAdvisor, Hipmunk, Skyscanner, trivago and Dohop making it easier to book fl ights and hotels right within the apps, according to Dennis Schaal, Skift's news editor. • The battle for the wearables market is about to begin. • Brands will push to engage many times via mobile (rather than sell just once). • Vehicles will edge toward next- gen mobile integration with heads-up displays on some premium vehicles displaying status, guidance, and augmented virtual overlays on the windshield. At CES in Las Vegas, Ceasars Entertainment partnered up with WeChat to give tours of new smart hotel rooms at The LINQ, a local hotel and casino. Visitors could use an app inside WeChat to control lighting, thermostats, and curtains. The connected suites will be the fi rst of many such hotel rooms from Ceasars catering to overseas Chinese. After arriving at the room, they just need to scan a QR code to get the app. The app, which operates WECHAT PROVIDES SMART IN-ROOM EXPERIENCE as a WeChat offi cial account, was developed by Silicon Valley-based Ayla Networks. "For the LINQ suite the devices are controlled through WeChat exclusively, but Ayla-powered devices can basically be controlled by any app via any home hub that runs on Zigbee, Z-wave or Wi-Fi," said Sharon Chan, a public relations representative speaking on behalf of the project. In 2013, 300,000 visitors from Hong Kong and China travelled to Las Vegas, nearly doubling in the last two years. Ceasars said in a statement: "Collaborating with leading companies like Ayla and WeChat helps make our customers feel even more at home when they can interact in our resorts using technology and apps like WeChat that they use daily." Ceasars operates 50 casinos across the US and four other countries. The collaboration with Ceasars is one of many projects WeChat is using to study foreign markets outside of China for new opportunities. "We aim to build up an ecosystem for merchants to leverage on WeChat to implement O2O strategies and projects." BROUGHT TO YOU BY: Text and photos credit: Tech in Asia. Buyers in the travel segment are required to perform a fi ne balancing act. In addition to providing cost- effective solutions, a travel manager must provide duty of care to the traveller. They have to ensure that business trips are a pleasant experience and not a tedious process for employees. It could – after all – end up botching a business deal and cost the organisation a signifi cant dent to their revenue. But the hotel market is strongly fragmented and owing to the variety of service providers, it is rather diffi cult to capture the hotel accommodation costs. This way, saving potentials frequently remain unnoticed and hotel procurement becomes a complex and time-consuming process. It is becoming increasingly diffi cult to check all the boxes and continue to maintain employee satisfaction. As such, more companies are looking for effi cient solutions in order to optimise the procurement process and relieve the Travel Management team. As a consequence, they outsource hotel procurement to specialists such as HRS. At the start of the year, HRS arranged for fi xed rates including breakfast with selected hotels in the 100 most important business destinations for the fi rst time. These are available to all registered corporate customers of HRS as "business rates". Taking it a step further, HRS has introduced the "intelligent sourcing" service that makes travel management easier for organisations. Based on an organisation's travel requirements and commitment, HRS handles the entire hotel procurement process for corporate customers. Hotel experts at HRS fi rst analyse the booking habits of the employees, the volume at the individual destinations and the quality of the hotel portfolio. They then use this information to develop optimisation recommendations. With decades of hotel market expertise, a worldwide portfolio of over 250,000 independent and chain hotels, and more than 40,000 corporate customers, HRS features comprehensive benchmark data. This depth of data facilitates a high market transparency from which the Travel Management team benefi ts in three areas: • PROCESS OPTIMISATION: HRS takes over the complete transaction – from the data analysis to the hotel procurement, up to the reporting – keeping the Travel Manager ahead of the game, and enabling him or her to make informed decisions, always. The rate negotiations are supported by local Procurement Specialists in more than 50 markets and conducted via a regularly- maintained online eRFP platform. • CUSTOMISED SOLUTIONS: The hotel programme is individually adjusted to the origination's needs, keeping the compliance requirements in mind. Easier, customised processes equates to happy travellers – encouraging a healthy increase in overall employee satisfaction. • COST SAVINGS: Higher volume commitments facilitate effi cient price negotiations for HRS. This way, corporate customers benefi t from an additional 9% of savings on average (in addition to already- discounted prices via HRS). This service is free of charge for companies of all sizes, enabling them manage their procurement process more effectively, and even monitor the bidding processes in real time. To fi nd out more about HRS' intelligent sourcing services, please contact: salesapac@hrs.com. Getting Worldwide Hotel Procurement Right