SiteMinder, the world’s leading open hotel commerce platform, has unveiled the next generation of its platform, with a simpler, more intuitive experience for hotels to sell, market, manage and grow business. The platform—unveiled at SiteMinder’s global conference,Sync—has been designed to take hotels into the new era of hotel commerce that puts business success and commercial outcomes first.
In an evolution from the traditional model of putting hotel technology at the centre of travel, SiteMinder’s next generation platform puts hotels at the centre of their own purpose-built ecosystem. The platform will make simple, modern technology readily available to the world’s one million hotels – and, in doing so, transition them from being in one of the least digitised and most fragmented industries, that consume product-by-product, into leaders in holistic commerce.
This launch addresses a shift that SiteMinder identifies as the macro effort to “omnify hotel technology”.
“Today, many hotels are challenged by talent shortages, rising costs and guest demands that are higher than ever before. Additionally, they are held back by decision paralysis, which stems from the overwhelming number of technologies in the market; friction in their adoption of technology, due to the lack of recognition that hoteliers are omnichannel consumers and expect a customer-centric experience; and accessibility, from not having the means to scale commerce solutions. Consequently, business and revenue maximisation are taking a back seat,” says SiteMinder’s CEO and managing director, Sankar Narayan.
“The launch of SiteMinder’s next generation platform is the omnifying of hotel technology, which is all about democratising hotelier-centric technology and making it universal. More than bringing disparate products together, it’s about enabling the global hotel industry to reap the benefits of entire platforms and ecosystems coming together, and SiteMinder is proud to be the first to make that happen.
“We’ve long seen the omnifying of technology in other sectors such as retail and banking. Brands within those sectors have set the expectations of hotel guests – of 24/7 responsiveness, convenience and personalisation. And, it’s for this reason that we need to embrace this same shift in the global hotel industry, making simple, modern technology that puts customers at the heart of platforms rather than features, accessible to every hotel in the world, large or small, resource-rich or otherwise. With SiteMinder’s platform, hoteliers can be active participants in an era that doesn’t shy away from change, but welcomes and embraces it.”
Bringing together SiteMinder’s complete suite of commerce products, with an ecosystem of booking channels, property management systems, hotel applications and hotel consultants, SiteMinder’s next generation platform includes:
- To sell business: Integrations to direct and indirect channels, with real-time insights into customer and market behaviours and a hotel’s business performance, to support balanced distribution strategies
- To market business: Hotel website solutions and demand services with integrations to hotel applications that together build hotel brands, increase conversions and enhance guest experiences
- To manage business: A new user interface with deeper, centralised reporting that collectively provide a holistic view of a hotel’s commerce toolkit and allow hotels to make choices about the solutions they need without any significant friction
- To grow business: Integrations to the 1500 highest-ranked hotel software and experts globally, as well as payments, including automated payments, which allows hotels to validate and pre-schedule payments from guests.
The launch of SiteMinder’s next generation platform continues SiteMinder’s purpose of opening up every hotel’s access to the world of online commerce. It follows years of SiteMinder standardising the user experiences of its products, upgrading the security built into its technology, simplifying logins and enhancing the built-in help function for users.
Commenting on the evolution of SiteMinder’s platform, Sharon Radon, Owner of Boat Harbour Jetty B&B in Port Albert, Victoria, says, “SiteMinder has provided me with a total solution. I have control of my own website, bookings from multiple channels are all integrated, and payments are processed quickly and easily. The time-saving is immeasurable. Without SiteMinder’s platform, I wouldn’t be free to focus on the physical running of my business, my time would be spent doing admin. It has enabled me to focus on building my business and given me the confidence to know that my tech needs are covered.”
Adds Rudy Kalele, Director of Revenue, Distribution and Central Reservations at Iconic Hotels by Geocon in Canberra, ACT: “SiteMinder’s platform is one of the best I have seen and used. The fast connection, the simplicity and the intuitiveness offered by its third-party distribution capability are unparalleled, while its direct bookings capability provides our rates and packages to guests in a neat, clear, concise and attractive format. Our direct bookings have only increased with the addition of the Demand Plus offering within SiteMinder’s platform, which gives us greater visibility of all our rates online.”
