Hotel News Now’s Tech Impact Report each month features a news roundup from the hotel technology sector. Subscribe to the free monthly report here.
Starwood confirms malware intrusion
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide at the end of November reported that point-of-sale systems at a limited number of its North American hotels were infected with malware, enabling unauthorized parties to access payment card data from some customers.
The locations and potential dates of exposure for each affected Starwood property are available at www.starwoodhotels.com/paymentcardsecuritynotice.
Noble House identifies security incident
Likewise, Noble House Hotels and Resorts was alerted to an issue after receiving calls from guests who saw unauthorized charges on their payment cards used at some Noble House properties. Through an investigation, the hotel company learned that malware might have been installed on payment processing systems that affected cards swiped at specific properties.
The information potentially compromised by the malware involves data found in the magnetic stripe on payment cards, which includes the cardholder name, card number, expiration date and CVV number.
Study: Path to purchase hotel rooms lengthens
A new report from Sojern shows that U.S. travelers spend nearly 25% more time on their path to purchase hotel rooms than when booking flights.
However, as the path to purchase lengthens, last-minute bookings are multiplying, according to a news release announcing the report.
Though 5% of all hotel searches by Europeans and Americans are initiated seven or fewer days prior to the stay date, these last-minute shoppers represented 11% and 13%, respectively, of all hotel bookings in the two regions. Flight search sees a similar phenomenon, with larger proportions of people booking last-minute travel than searching, for both Europeans and Americans.
The study also found that guests of luxury hotels are most likely to book the same day they search, but they make more searches before booking. More than half of all hotel searches are conducted in the two weeks before the booking, according to the report. The number of searches conducted prior to a booking is directly proportional with the price of the room being booked: The higher the hotel segment eventually booked, the more searches were made. For travelers who start to research hotel options three days before making the booking, the luxury segment hotel guests make on average 20 searches, while upper-midscale guests make an average of 12 searches.
Tech-savvy hotels named
Mashable and Lenovo outlined what they see as the “five of the most tech-savvy hotels in the world.” Hotels recognized for their technology focus included the Pengheng Space Capsules Hotel in Shenzhen, China; the Eccleston Square Hotel in London; the Hotel 1000 in Seattle; Yotel in New York City; and Alma Barcelona.
Each of the properties was lauded for their unique approached to tech. The Pengheng Space Capsules Hotel, for example, is staffed by robots. The Hotel 1000 has heat sensors that inform staff when guests are in their rooms.
Digital, mobile drive bookings
Digital and mobile channels continue to drive hotel bookings as North American hotels experience strong revenue growth heading into the New Year, according to TravelClick’s most recent “North American distribution review” report.
Hotel industry performance is continuing to strengthen, with Q3 2015 revenue per available room increasing 3.1% year over year – and this growth is being driven through online and mobile bookings, according to a news release.
“While consumers are still utilizing the more traditional hotel direct channel to book rooms, it’s clear from the continuous quarterly growth across the Brand.com and OTA channels that customers of all ages are predominantly using digital and mobile methods to make their reservations,” said John Hach, TravelClick’s senior industry analyst.
In Q3 2015, the OTA (which includes Expedia.com, Priceline.com, etc.), Brand.com and GDS channels all experienced steady healthy growth in the transient segment, up 6.9%, 4.2% and 3.1%, respectively. Hotel direct (calls made directly to the property and walk-in customers) and calls to a hotel’s 800-number (the CRO channel) decreased 7.8% and 3.4%, respectively. Based on reservations that are currently on the books for Q4, TravelClick expects to see additional positive growth for the OTA, Brand.com and GDS channels when the quarter is complete.
Compiled by Alicia Hoisington.