Jennifer Axness
2023 has taken our world and our industry to places we’ve never been before. Taylor Swift demonstrated the impact that cultural experiences can have on driving air and hotel bookings as she smashed records in the music industry. Large-scale sporting events such as France’s Rugby World Cup substantially impacted hotel occupancies. And today’s travelers have higher expectations than ever for more sustainable, personalized and flexible journeys.
Throughout it all, we’ve kept pace with the evolutions of an industry where hotel occupancies outperformed 2022, group business in the top 25 U.S. markets has already recovered by 99.1% over the same time in 2019, and worldwide, on-the-books occupancy data showed us that there were around 11% more reservations at the start of Q4 2023 than at the same time in 2022. It’s been a very good year.
Thought Leadership in Times of Change
Following a survey of over 10,000 global travelers, we shared our vision of the traveler of the future in our Traveler Tribes 2023 report, tackling the question, how can our industry best prepare to provide travelers with the best possible experiences?
We also provided our take on how travelers’ expectations have changed, and explored how hoteliers, travel agencies, insurance and mobility providers will be able to satisfy these evolving behaviors in Amadeus’ Catalysts for Change: Building the Hospitality Ecosystem of the Future report.
Ahead of the Curve: How Technology is Driving the Future of the Rental Car Industry, the joint Amadeus-Microsoft report, brought to light several key challenges for the industry, including the disruption of supply chains and a growing demand for seamless customer experiences, while also presenting opportunities for car rental companies to adapt to the future of travel.
And our report, Hospitality Data Trends 2023: The Opportunities Ahead revealed that as the year draws to a close, hoteliers are optimistic about what the future holds.
Helping Travelers Throughout Their Journeys
We evolved as a company, too, as we considered the question, “How can we make travel better?” and committed ourselves to making the experience of travel better for everyone, everywhere by inspiring innovation, partnerships and responsibility to people, places and planet. As a technology leader, we are focused on putting people first by providing better travel experiences; supporting a better-connected ecosystem; working to make travel a force for social and environmental good; and using real challenges to innovate by taking an ecosystem approach.
Part of our evolution has stemmed from actions taken in response to our 2023 “Voice of Customer” survey results. Our customers have spoken, and we are paying attention. While we are gratified to learn that we are providing an even better customer experience overall, we recognize, based on customer feedback, some clear areas in which we can do better. Not only have we refreshed the look and feel of several of our solutions, but we’ve also added in-product notifications, documentation, and tooltips within the CMS platform; provided greater options on dashboard customization within Business Intelligence while expanding source market and corporate performance data; and enhanced our customer facing support areas for our Booking Engine and Call Center customers. We know we have more to do, and greatly appreciate our customers’ partnership in shaping our progress.
Celebrating the Milestones
BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE
In 2023, Amadeus continued to connect various data points along the traveler journey by better informing anyone seeking insights into traveler trends. At the same time, we continue to invest in ensuring our business intelligence solutions provide unparalleled competitor insights.
- Demand360+® now allows users to better understand the points of origins of travelers through source markets intelligence, make strategic decisions based on a unique Revenue per Available Room (RevPAR) rank, refine views by segment and channel, and easily build custom dashboards from various metrics based on data from more than 41,000 data providers.
- The enhanced Agency360+® corporate performance dashboard delivers greater insight into corporations that are being booked via the Global Distribution System (GDS) in individual markets, providing users with more clarity as to which corporations and associated travel agencies are bringing the most value to their business.
- Subscribers of both RevenueStrategy360™ and Demand360+ can now view competitive set demand data directly in RevenueStrategy360 to make more informed pricing decisions based on competitive demand and occupancy, all in one view. The RevenueStrategy360 solution now also offers mobile rates for select sources & Ctrip.com.
- Hilton has strengthened its collaboration with Amadeus by extending its partnership agreement for comprehensive hospitality industry data. This will provide Hilton with direct access to the valuable insights of Demand360+ through the hotel chain’s GRO revenue management system. Amadeus also partnered with Key Data, a leader in short-term rental data, to create blended data sets for air, hotels, vacation rentals, and other alternative accommodations.
MEDIA
Digital Media & Metasearch
The integration between iHotelier® and Amadeus’ Metasearch continued with the introduction of Google Connectivity Enhancements and the successful implementation of Member Rate Merchandising (MRM) – a strategic approach used by hotels to drive direct bookings by ensuring rate parity across metasearch, offers and content optimization. Also in 2023, as traditional cookie-based advertising was impacted by privacy regulations and browser changes, we evolved our media solutions by adopting new features from our partners and investing in data partnerships to amplify our targeting and machine learning capabilities.
Travel Seller Media
Helping hoteliers and Destination Management Organizations (DMOs) reach travel sellers remained a priority for Amadeus in 2023, as we continued to be the only technology provider in the market offering a multi-GDS approach for GDS Media. The result? – In October 2023, an impressive 94.6% of the room nights booked in 2019 were booked across the three major GDSs: Amadeus, Sabre, and Travelport.
DMO Media
Amadeus for Destinations expanded their client portfolio by adding over 10 DMOs in the Americas alone, and over 60 DMOs overall. Los Cabos partnered with Amadeus, for instance, to reach U.S. and Canadian travelers through a compelling display and video campaign – with plans to enter the APAC region in 2024. Recognizing the importance of sustainability to our clients, Amadeus for Destinations also partnered with leading companies in the digital media world to offer media solutions that can be measured and optimized for carbon footprint.
HOSPITALITY DISTRIBUTION, TRAVEL PROTECTION, MOBILITY
Hospitality Distribution
2023 saw substantial growth for Amadeus Hospitality Distribution, including several new partnerships and the expansion of Amadeus Value Hotels with the addition of several Hesperia Hotels & Resorts properties. In addition, Hostaway, a vacation rental management company, entered into a partnership with Amadeus to distribute its short-term rental properties globally, providing an increasingly popular alternative accommodation option.
Travel Protection
Today, Amadeus offers the world’s leading Travel Protection platform in the airline segment, servicing over 50 airlines worldwide. In 2023, we expanded our partnership with Pattern Insurance to offer travelers enhanced peace of mind. Travelers can now choose from a variety of travel protection options, such as medical, weather, and delay coverage, directly from Amadeus.
Mobility
Amadeus’ global mobility portfolio expanded over the last year to include several new providers including MABI, Carwiz, Centauro, Elife, and LeCab. Today, Amadeus is the world’s leading global B2B mobility platform, serving all channels and segments including 70+ mobility providers in 3,575 cities across 191 countries.
HOTEL TECHNOLOGY
Sales & Catering
In 2023, business intelligence provider Knowland collaborated with Amadeus to create the quarterly Group & Business Performance Index. This report combines Amadeus’ business intelligence data with Knowland’s data to provide hotels with a comprehensive overview of industry performance in the U.S.
Additionally, Delphi customers will now have access to improved e-signature and payment processes through a new partnership agreement with Canary Technologies and enhanced group business proposals through an agreement with Upmail Solutions. Amadeus and MeetingPackage also partnered to offer meeting room sales management software in addition to Amadeus’ own sales & catering software suite.
Service Optimization
Amadeus and Singapore-based Vouch expanded the existing relationship to better support Amadeus’ HotSOS solution in Asia in 2023. Vouch solutions such as a new room request feature and information on surrounding attractions are now directly routed through HotSOS.
Reservations, Web, Guest Management System (GMS)
In 2023, Amadeus introduced iHotelier® StayPlus, an integrated set of solutions allowing hoteliers to manage promotions, curate guest experiences, and improve RevPar in one easy-to-use platform, while guests enjoy an overall improved shopping experience.
CUSTOMER SUCCESSES
Some of our most inspiring success stories from the past year highlight how our customers are unlocking new opportunities to grow their business with the help of Amadeus solutions.
- The Canary Islands ran a multi-channel digital ad campaign that generated over 10,000 conversions and reiterated to tourists that the Islands are open to tourists year-round.
- Following a 4-year closure due to hurricane damage, a global pandemic, and the adjustment of leaving the umbrella of one of the world’s largest hospitality brands, El Conquistador Resort grew direct bookings and brought their ADR back to 2019 levels by utilizing a full suite of Amadeus solutions.
- One King West Hotel & Residence partnered with Amadeus’ Digital Media team to launch an online advertising campaign, capturing demand with higher average daily rates (ADR) and increasing revenue per booking for the brand.com channel by over 50%.
- Family-run Dinah’s Garden Hotel doubled revenue in 2022 over the prior year despite a string of severe weather events, primarily due to the addition of Amadeus’ iHotelier Booking Engine to the hotel’s full suite of solutions.
View our Festive Season Checklist and webinar to learn how to maximize direct bookings with tailored offers, enhance visibility, leverage metasearch platforms for greater reach, and end the year on a high note.
To learn more about how Amadeus is helping improve the travel experience for everyone, everywhere by inspiring innovation, partnerships and responsibility to people, places and planet, visit our homepage.
