TripFactory has joined the family of 250+ channels integrated with STAAH that will allow accommodation providers to amplify their reach to the leisure travel segment. 

The Leading Cloud-based hospitality solution specialist STAAH has partnered with TripFactory – a leading dot-com company for holiday travel, allowing properties to tap into the ever-growing segment of leisure travel. 

 Accommodation providers on the network of two companies can amplify their reach to local as well as global travelers. Properties will also have access to TripFactories 4Mn active leisure travelers, 110+ retail stores, 20k+ agent network across India. Distributing their real-time rates and availability to the tripfactory website and via the STAAH Channel Manager and have bookings automatically delivered back to their property management system.

Commenting on the partnership Mr. Amit Aggrawal co-founder and COO  of the TripFactory said, “We are extremely pleased to have Staah onboard and enable their hotel partners to join our network. This would empower them to reach leisure customers across various segments around the globe with a single connection.” 

The integration is valid globally and properties of all sizes, from around the world, can make use of the platform.

“Leisure travel is the next big thing and has been forecasted to rise rapidly. TripFactory is an amazing channel to harness this growth, allowing accommodation providers to expand their horizon into this ever-growing segment of leisure,” says Dhyey Sheth, Chief Business Development Officer, STAAH India Ltd.

TripFactory’s vision is to build the world’s largest leisure store. A store that is limitless in products, experiences, and reaches. To also provide consumers with the ultimate travel shopping machine, which has the ability to personalize and relate to consumers very deeply.

Embarking on this journey of making travel seamless for everyone, TripFactory has been the north star in guiding millions of customers with unique travel experiences across 6 continents. 

The connection links STAAH’s channel manager and booking engines to tripfactory.com website To find out how your property can benefit from this integration, contact your STAAH Account Manager.

Our passionate and diverse team is based across five locations [New Zealand, Australia, India, United Kingdom, and Thailand], providing 24/7/365 support and service to our network of more than 10,200 accommodation partners worldwide. Our quest for delivering high-quality solutions that deliver results is recognized by industry partners in the form of Airbnb Badge, and Booking.com, and Expedia Preferred Partner. We are a New Zealand FernMark Licensee.

About TripFactory :

TripFactory, founded in 2013, is a holiday business that enables users to discover, plan and book holiday trips. It is the largest online holiday store where consumers can buy their holidays the way they want, either by customizing them online or seeking the advice of experts who can plan for them. TripFactory was established to solve the problem of selling holidays. Holidays are a complex industry, with many possibilities and intricacies, and the holiday industry in India is booming. With everyone wanting a getaway, we believe consumers should have access to the largest choice and best prices with unparalleled find and discovery tools that make booking the perfect holiday magical. 

TripFactory is an official partner with Go First, and key partners with Indigo, Cathay, and other carriers to cash in on the customized holiday packages platform. TripFactory’s headquarters is located in Bengaluru, India, with offices in Russia, New Zealand, GCC countries, SEA, Europe, North America, Central & South America. For further information, please visit here

Expedia Group member travelers tend to spend more, stay longer, and book more often than non-members. You can target these high-value guests by using Members Only promotions.

Members-Only promotions offer exclusive deals to over 100 million members across all Expedia Group sites. 

Recent Expedia Group research tells us that discounts remain a compelling motivator for travelers looking to book, and they play an important role in fueling the return to travel.

• 65% of travelers said they use a pricing filter when searching on a travel booking website.*

• A room discount would make 50% of travelers more likely to book an extra night.*

• 30% of travelers considering their first trip after the global pandemic will consider promotions and discounts when choosing their lodging options.*

While travelers are searching for discounts, it is more important than ever to design a promotional strategy that delivers a strong return on your investment. Using a Members Only promotion is a great strategy to target your promotional offer to the best possible audience and improve your visibility in search.

Target high value guests

Expedia Group members, on average, book twice as many nights and spend twice as much as non-members. They are also more frequent travelers. Over 60% of travelers in Expedia Group loyalty programs stated that they expect to travel several times a year.  

Stand out in search results

Each Members Only promotion receives an exclusive badge that helps you stand out in traveler searches. The Members Only badge adds additional visibility to your listing among your competitors in traveler searches. 

It is easy to manage Expedia Group Members Only promotions directly through STAAH. 

How to Manage Expedia Members Only Deal Content?

STAAH MAX: Click here

STAAH Instant: Click here

Find out what Travelers value and new travel trends by Expedia here

With more than 2 decades of experience in the hospitality space, Meet Komang Ani, Business Development Manager – Indonesia, STAAH

Tell us a bit about your career in hospitality/ technology and the journey to STAAH

I have over 20 years of experience in the hospitality technology space. I started my journey as telesales for a hotel chain since then my career has been into sales and business development for Hospitality Industry.

My first connection with hospitality technology kicked off when I had bagged a job with an OTA and use to work from home. The work-from-home concept was exciting and not so common in those days. About 5 and half years later I joined a SAAS company with a front-ending role, managing their business development, it involved driving sales targets, customer relationship management, and time management. I enjoyed connecting to various industry professionals, and that’s when I developed some key relationships with properties and organizations across Indonesia.

Technology is my passion, and I believe it has been creating a huge difference in our lives over the years. Technology has evolved from time to time, and we need to upgrade ourselves to make the most of it. Hospitality technology has enabled accommodation providers to drive more revenues and deliver an immaculate guest experience.

What do you like most about STAAH and your job?

I recently joined STAAH, it’s a growing company and has an advanced product portfolio helping accommodation providers to manage their online distribution. STAAH has already been recognized as a market leader in many regions across the globe. The STAAH Distribution System is loaded with some advanced features like the ‘Reporting feature’, which provides in-depth reporting and insights.

I’m glad to be part of the STAAH team, all set to assist accommodation providers in Indonesia, making their life easier with the most advanced technology solutions to get optimum out of their online distribution, and driving a better ROI.

Your Success Mantra

Don’t be afraid to chase your dream.

I believe that anything is possible, life is all about chasing our dreams and turning them into reality. This has inspired me to work hard and make my dreams come true.

Your interests outside STAAH. Do they help you do your job better?

My new hobby is baking, it started last year during the lockdown. Being honest, I learnt baking from YouTube, it has been a great learning experience. It helps us in getting more organized, patient and focused. One has to be accurate, follow the recipe in detail, follow the recipe step-by-step to get the best results.

Apart from baking, I am fond of gardening. It’s good for relaxing while sunbathing for a healthy body in the morning. Even gardening makes us more patient as it takes time to grow the plant from a seed, then watering and maintaining it, until it blooms and starts bearing fruits. Gardening gets you closer to nature, love yourself, nature and the people around you.

I also like jogging, since I have been working from home, sitting at home all day. I allocate one Hr. in a day for my body, I enjoy jogging and brisk walking. Besides getting a fit body, jogging helps me to be more focused, happier and stay energetic all day long.

To connect with Komang email komang@staah.com

Here’s a list of top hotel booking revenue makers across the globe. Is your property connected to them?

STAAH, one of the leading cloud-based hotel distribution and guest booking platforms, has unveiled the lists of online channels that brought the greatest booking revenue to hotels and vacation rentals in 2021.

The lists, which vary across 10 of the world’s popular travel destinations, reveal a broader range of consumer choices, although common preferences stand-out.

Booking.com is the top online travel agent (OTA) globally and is among the top 3 channels across all key destinations measured, including New Zealand, Australia, Thailand, Indonesia, India, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Philippines, Malaysia and United Kingdom.

Expedia and Agoda make it to the top 5 spots across these destinations as well. GoMMT holds strong in the top spot for the Indian market, but there are a number of new entrants in the top 10 spots, including Happyeasygo, HRS, and EaseMyTrip. The increased popularity of Airbnb as a channel is also seen in Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Thailand and Australia. The new entrants to the top spots also reflect the strengthening of local and regional distribution channels as a result of restricted international travel.

The annual lists also highlight the importance of direct bookings for hotels, with hotel websites maintaining their top positioning in all destinations over the full 2021 year. In a pandemic year, these commission-free bookings have been a boon for cash-strapped property owners.

“The pandemic has levelled the playing field for many distribution channels,” says Tony Howlett, Chief Operating Officer at STAAH Ltd. “With international travel restricted, travellers are turning to regional channels and hotel websites (direct bookings). The staycation demand could be one driving up Airbnb preference as travellers seek authentic experiences at home.”

STAAH’s top 10 distribution channel list is a guide for property owners to connect with top-performing channels in their region via the STAAH channel manager. However, it is not just about connecting to all top channels; it is equally about ensuring the channel is right for you and more importantly, you optimise your listing on these channels to attract more bookings.

New Zealand

Australia

India

United Kingdom

Indonesia

Malaysia

Philippines

Thailand

Singapore

Sri Lanka

To know about all STAAH Integrations find out here

Convenient and easy to use,  STAAH MAX App is available for both iOS and Android devices.

STAAH’s leading channel management software – STAAH MAX provides you with a simple user interface to manage your daily operations at ease from a single source. The STAAH Mobile App enables you to manage a few crucial operations anytime, anywhere:

1: Manage distribution on the go

You can view and update availability, rates and restrictions at ease.

2: Access Stay View

The Stay View displays the calendar of existing bookings for your property for selected Room Type. The feature also enables you to view bookings for selected room type for the entire month.

3: Manage Reservations

This feature displays an advanced list of existing bookings (Bookings module), with an “Advanced Search” option. You can easily make changes to your Availability, Rates and Restrictions here.

4: Change/Update Pin

Want to change or update your 4-digit login PIN?
It can be managed using the STAAH Mobile App anytime anywhere

5: Change Password

Security is not an option, it’s mandatory. With our STAAH MAX Mobile App, you can change the password to both STAAH Max Mobile App and the STAAH Max extranet.

How to access MAX Mobile App?

Download the STAAH MAX app today for Free on your Google play/App store

Apple Store

Google Playstore

Things to note while logging in via the App: 

• Enter your STAAH MAX extranet login credentials.
• You will be prompted to “Create a 4-digit pin”.
• This pin will be used for future logins to the APP.

Find out more about STAAH MAX Channel Manager here

It is imperative for hoteliers to know what their guests are saying. STAAH ReviewMinder helps in managing your online reputation and engaging with guests to build long term relationships.

Table of Contents

• Introduction to ReviewMinder – How it works and why you should not miss it?
• Say goodbye to Manually managing reviews
• Manage Anytime Anywhere with the App
• Benefits of ReviewMinder Infographic
• 6 Reasons to Manage Your Online Reputation with STAAH ReviewMinder
• ReviewMinder Explainer Video

ReviewMinder Explainer Video

Get in touch today at sales@staah.com or Book a FREE Demo today here

hoo has joined the STAAH family of 250+ integrated channels giving Hotel providers access to truly dynamic pricing and world-beating commission rates.

STAAH has partnered with hoo – an innovative new dot-com that is putting hotels first. hoo are disrupting the online booking market with a proposition that delivers better rates for guests, whilst increasing profit and occupancy for hotels. This unique win-win proposition is made possible through their automated negotiation system that allows hotels to implement dynamic pricing and unique booking incentives without breaching rate parity agreements. Importantly, hoo only charge a flat commission on bookings of 5% to ensure hotel operators have the opportunity to provide compelling rates and experiences whilst still receiving more revenue per booking compared to a traditional OTA.

With a mission to “change the way Hotels are booked online for the better”, hoo is focused on creating an experience, rather than a transaction led platform that puts the guest and hotels back in control with its fair and fun approach, that bakes in loyalty from the first booking.

Although a new player in the market, hoo has already secured an integrated connected partnership with Google Hotels and is currently building out global inventory. Their ambitious team has raised significant investment to power their growth and they are here to disrupt the online booking sector for the better.

With consumers wanting variety, hoo believe a fairer platform needs to exist to enable the two parties to come together in order to broker this experience. With world-leading technology and dynamic pricing technology, hoo have built a platform that looks to positively disrupt the OTA space and be a friendly face to accommodation suppliers around the world.

Through this integration, hotels can distribute their real-time rates and availability to the justhooit.com platform via the STAAH channel manager, and enjoy all the benefits hoo has to offer. The platform is a powerful and equitable alternative for hotels to sell their rooms in the manner they want to, without the overheads usually associated with online booking platforms.

Commenting on the partnership, Mr Adrian Murdock, co-founder of hoo said,

“We are delighted to have STAAH connected as a channel partner. We welcome their Hotels from across the world to join us on our mission to change booking hotels online for the better. We built this platform with the aim of making online bookings fair and equitable. We want to bring our toolset to more and more hotel operators, and integrating with STAAH is an important step in expanding our reach further.”

The integration is valid globally and properties of all sizes from around the world can make use of the platform completely free of charge – there are no listing fees or contracts. The only cost to the property is a small 5% commission fee which is paid on each booking enabling fair rates and hotels the ability to flex room prices whilst increasing profit.

“We are glad to partner with hoo, providing our partner properties a new channel with innovative features to market their rates & availability and maximising their profits. hoo’s automated negotiation system and STAAH’s distribution technology is going to help accommodation providers drive more bookings and increase revenue,” says Tarun Joukani, Commercial Director – STAAH. “

To connect to this channel sign up here

If you are already connected to hoo reach out to the STAAH Partner Service team to get your rooms mapped to this channel.

About hoo

hoo is a UK based travel tech company with headquarters in London, England. They have built a platform to make booking a hotel better, fairer and cheaper, without either the hotel or the traveller having to do the legwork. Their unique booking platform brings hotels and travellers together to reach a deal that works for both sides, and allows customers to make an online offer direct to a hotel.

Find out all STAAH integrations here

ReviewMinder users can now manage, view and respond to Airbnb reviews

STAAH customers subscribed to ReviewMinder (Online reputation management system), who have Airbnb connected as a channel via STAAH will now be able to the following for Airbnb reviews:

• View their Airbnb reviews on ReviewMinder
• Reply to their Airbnb reviews from ReviewMinder
• Airbnb hosts can initiate and post a guest review 

How to reply to a guest on from ReviewMinder?

1. Click on ‘Reply Via Channel’
2. Enter reply on the popup text box

Airbnb has a restriction allowing hosts to respond to reviews within 30 days of receiving reviews.  

Post 30 days, it is not possible to respond.

A record of a response from the host is stored and is visible in ReviewMinder.

How can hosts initiate reviews from ReviewMinder?

1. Click on ‘Host Reviews’
2. When a reservation ends, Airbnb will provide a popup box to review the guest
3. Click on ‘Review the guest’ to post a review
4. Host will see a list of valid review objects.

The review window is only for 14 days. Reviews cannot be submitted after the review window has ended.

Where is this feature available on ReviewMinder?

It is in the Feedback module.

Among the growing list of websites monitored by ReviewMinder are Google, TripAdvisor, Expedia, Booking.com, Airbnb Hotels.com, CTrip, Agoda, MakeMyTrip, etc.

Find out more about ReviewMinder here or Schedule a Free Demo today at sales@staah.com

The Expedia Group Connectivity Partner Program recognizes and rewards top connectivity providers for maintaining high-quality software connections and helping lodging partners grow their business on Expedia Group’s travel platform

STAAH has earned Elite Connectivity Partner status with Expedia Group, the highest designation available in their Connectivity Partner Program. The Expedia Group Connectivity Partner Program recognizes and rewards top connectivity providers – including channel managers, property management systems, central reservation systems, and other vendors – for maintaining high-quality connections and helping connected lodging properties grow their business on Expedia Group websites and better serve travelers.

As a part of its designation, STAAH may receive early access to new Expedia Group tools and features that it can pilot and integrate into its software. STAAH will also work directly with Expedia Group’s leadership team, providing feedback and helping shape future products and technology solutions.

The Expedia Group Connectivity Partner Program is in its second year in 2022, and Elite status is awarded annually to an exclusive group of top-performing lodging connectivity software providers who offer excellent quality software connections and advanced tools and capabilities. To be eligible for Elite status, Expedia Group connectivity providers are rated on several technical and business criteria. STAAH earned Elite status for its commitment to:

• Improving traveler experiences on Expedia Group websites
• Enabling a wide range of tools and capabilities integrated with the Expedia Group travel platform
• Providing a quality connection with a reliable user experience
• Ensuring a streamlined onboarding experience and high-quality support for properties
• Empowering business growth for our clients on Expedia Group websites

“STAAH plays a crucial role in the travel ecosystem by building innovative solutions that empower global lodging properties to grow their businesses and deliver amazing experiences to guests,” said Lisa Chen, vice president, Global Lodging Connectivity & Solutions. “We are excited and energized to deepen our relationship with STAAH in 2022 as a key stakeholder in our collective mission to power global travel for everyone, everywhere.”

About Expedia Group
Expedia Group, Inc. companies power travel for everyone, everywhere through our global platform. Driven by the core belief that travel is a force for good, we help people experience the world in new ways and build lasting connections. We provide industry-leading technology solutions to fuel partner growth and success, while facilitating memorable experiences for travelers. Our organization is made up of four pillars: Expedia Services, focused on the group’s platform and technical strategy; Expedia Marketplace, centered on product and technology offerings across the organization; Expedia Brands, housing all our consumer brands; and Expedia for Business, consisting of business-to-business solutions and relationships throughout the travel ecosystem. The Expedia Group family of brands includes: Expedia®, Hotels.com®, Expedia® Partner Solutions, Vrbo®, trivago®, Orbitz®, Travelocity®, Hotwire®, Wotif®, ebookers®, CheapTickets®, Expedia Group Media Solutions, CarRentals.com, and Expedia Cruises.

Accommodation providers can view insightful reports on their booking trends, visitors, room rate performance and more using the STAAH Max Channel Manager

The STAAH Max Channel Manager comes with powerful reporting and insights for data-driven decision-making. The Reporting tool helps accommodation providers in their pricing strategy, forecasting the demand, targeting the right audience, conversion matrix and even guide them on the top-performing channels.

Properties using the STAAH Max Channel Manager or Booking Engine can access reports at ease anytime anywhere from their dashboard and save time.

Insights

Business Overview Report

The Business Overview is an outline of performance within the last two weeks, where you can get an insight of the total arrivals, room bookings, channel reports and room revenue earned for the selected date range.

Channel Insights 

The channel insights provides you with an in-depth report on the channel performance. The Availability and Rate Report shows your availability and rates you have set for particular dates. Similarly, Properties can view detailed reports on room nights, total revenue, average rate, bookings, average lead, average stay, room type, geo reports, etc.

• Room Nights – Get Insights displayed as per the No. of nights booked per room for the selected period
• Revenue – Insights on the revenue generated for the selected date range
• Average Rate– Reports on Average rate for the selected date range
• Bookings – Reports based on No. of bookings for the selected date range
• Average Lead – Reports on Average lead time spent on your property website
• Average stay – Reports on Average stay length booked by the guests
• Room Type – Reports on Bookings received for Room types for the period selected
• Geo report – Reports based on bookings for particular location for the selected date range.
• Promo code – Reports based on the Bookings received through promo codes for all the bookings
• Point of sale – each channel has a point of sale like – a booking may come from Expedia but the point of sale could be hotels.com – so this report shows the exact point of sale (OTA Channels or your website).

Booking Engine Analytics

The Booking Engine Analytics provides an overview of the visitors on your Booking platform and the booking journey. It also captures other insightful data and information such as; browser details, device, country statistics, etc. that helps the accommodation owners understand their booking trends.

The Booking Engine Funnel shows a detailed tier wise analytics on the booking journey: Visitors, Active or Engaged visitors and Conversions – basically how many of them actually did the booking.

The funnel displays:

• Total Number visitors and conversion rate by percentage.
• Total Number of visitors who visited the Booking Engine and if they clicked Book Now
• Total Number of Active Visitors. These are the people who actually clicked on a room or checked availability for multiple dates.
• Total Number of people who were engaged on the guest details page, and shared their personal details; name, address, contact details etc.
• The last tier shows the number of visitors who have been converted those who confirmed

Example of Total Visitors

Other Reports

Booking Engine Production Report

The Booking Engine Production Report gives you an overview of your productivity, basically the number of bookings generated, and the bookings received from a particular package on your website. The report shows you what packages are driving results for you.

Promo Code Production Report

This shows you the number of bookings driven, and total revenue generated from a specific Promo Code.

Room Type Wise Booking Report

This report shows you productivity for individual room type or number of bookings received per room type, total/average revenue earned– e.g. all standard room types.

Lead Time Production Report

This shows you how far in advance are the people booking your property. This helps you in planning your promotions well in advance – setting special rates, offers and promotions for a specific time frame.

Additional Reports

To read about the additional reports click here

If you have any questions feel free to contact support@staah.com

Find all the latest Tips and Benefits of STAAH features on our Thoughtful Thursday product blogs.

Continuing the trend of bringing you the best, here is a quick list of latest product updates, enhancements and features, that you should take note of, for the near future.

Booking engine customers will now be able to export the analytics and will also be able to take a print out of the visitors’ activity log.

Where is the export option?
• MAX extranet > Reports > BE Analytics
• Click on funnel
• Click on Export.

Benefits:

• In-depth reporting 
• Helps in understanding your visitors/potential bookers.

Find out more here

An enhancement on the bedding mandate on the booking engine has been added.

Benefit:

• Properties that have one-bed type assigned, the system will auto-apply, no need for booker to select.
• Room types that have multiple bedding options, the booker will need to choose a bed type to proceed. An alert is returned to prompt the user to select bed type.
• Property needs to manage availability based on bedding configuration themselves.

STAAH customers can now view modifications made to a booking by guests.

What does that mean?

• This will record the date and time of last update received for booking (i.e modification/cancellation).
• Modify date added to booking export.
• Property can view full booking history is in the ‘View History’ feature.

An option to add a flag to add PDF to customer email.

How to add a PDF to the email confirmation?

• It is disabled for all, if required property can enable independently
• Default, PDF included in email sent to property

Benefit:

• Properties that want PDF attached to the guest email,  can enable flag.

An option for the property to add existing seasons (Master seasons).

• When adding a season property will see option – New or Master
• Master selected, user will see a drop down box with all existing/Master season.

Find out more here

An option has been added to set validity. This allows properties to set dates where bookers will receive the WatchMyRate discount.

How to set up validity?

• WatcMyRate setup > scroll down to ‘Apply validity’
• Once flag selected, property can set validity dates.

Benefits:

• Validity based on Stay date and booking date supported.
• Multiple date range supported.

The newsletter subscription feature is now available.

Reviewminder Enhancement

STAAH customers subscribed to ReviewMinder (Online reputation management system), who have Airbnb connected as a channel via STAAH will now be able to the following for Airbnb reviews:

Benefits:

• View their Airbnb reviews on ReviewMinder
• Reply to their Airbnb reviews from ReviewMinder
• Airbnb hosts can initiate and post a guest review

To find out more, read here

We will keep you updated on new enhancements, features and releases, as we continue striving towards building great experiences for our partners.

Feel free to browse our blog for the latest tips and trends in Hospitality Industry. Do connect with us at support@staah.com in case you need any support around our products.

STAAH Ltd, the cloud-based technology for accommodation providers is thrilled to announce that, it has bagged the Premier Connectivity Partner badge for 2022 from Booking.com again.

STAAH has been the premier connectivity partner with Booking.com for a few years now and it’s only exciting that the high-level partnership continues in the year 2022 as well.

“We have a persistently growing strategic business partnership with Booking.com, and as a result of this collaboration and hard work, we are thrilled that STAAH’s innovative distribution technology has established its strength and stand to gain the Booking.com Premier Connectivity Badge yet again. says Tarun Joukani, Commercial Director – STAAH. ”

About the Premier Connectivity Partner badge

This is the highest tier in the Connectivity Partner Programme by Booking.com. Achieving this is a reflection of excellent performance, the quality of service and the hard work dedicated by STAAH for its properties’ success by making their connection as seamless as possible.

STAAH is the preferred cloud-based technology platform trusted by more than 12,000 properties in 90+ countries worldwide. Price and user accessibility with extremely intuitive solutions have been at the forefront of STAAH’s success.

STAAH Ltd, the cloud-based technology for accommodation providers has integrated with HalalBooking, the world’s number one metasearch website for halal-friendly travel.

STAAH has partnered with HalalBooking – a global leader in online bookings for halal-conscious travellers, a niche market estimated at $230 bln.

Established in 2014 in London, HalalBooking is a  platform that currently generates bookings for 300,000+ properties across 110 countries, operating in partnership with other global OTAs and 3,300+ international affiliates.

“The halal-friendly travel market is one of the fastest-growing worldwide and the integration with STAAH is a part of our strategy to match the expanding demand in Europe, North Africa and Asia Pac. The integration has broadened the room inventory available to us, and is certain to increase booking conversion and revenue substantially” says Enver Cebi, COO of HalalBooking.

“We are delighted to complete our integration with HalalBooking, a global leader in the hospitality industry for halal-conscious travellers. The connection will certainly mobilise this key sector across the globe allowing accommodation providers to expand their horizon” says Tarun Joukani, Commercial Director for STAAH.

To integrate your property and raise your visibility on HalalBooking: Request here

About HalalBooking

HalalBooking.com is the leading international search and booking website for halal-friendly hotel and villa accommodation. It features over 300,000 properties in over 65 countries worldwide, which can be filtered according to halal needs such as availability of halal food, alcohol-free arrangements and swimming pools, spas and beaches accommodating for seclusion and modesty needs for families and ladies. HalalBooking has over 400,000 loyalty club members from more than 110 countries and more than 3,300 affiliate agency partners providing a unique service to halal-conscious travellers throughout the world.

In 2019, HalalBooking was ranked #33 in the UK in the prestigious “Sunday Times Virgin Atlantic Fast Track 100” and #237 overall in Europe in The Financial Times “FT 1000” league tables, making it the #1 fastest-growing travel company in the UK and #8 in Europe. In 2020, HalalBooking won Phocuswright’s Innovation Launch award, Travolution’s Rising Brand of the Year award, and a number of other awards.

If you are a smart hotelier or any type of accommodation provider, you would not want to miss the chance of converting your website visitors from an OTA (or any other source) and bag the commission-free direct bookings. Have a robust online booking system like the STAAH Booking engine to help you with it.

The STAAH booking engine system has some wonderful list of features you might be missing out on that can help you drive more direct bookings. The most common ones used by our Booking engine users are

1) Packages

Are you offering package deals?
Inclusive Packages are one of the most common deals that can attract customers to book directly from your property website. You can create a variety of packages on your Max Booking engine for your customers. Some common package deals are Room Only, Non-refundable, bed and breakfast, stay 2 and save, etc.

2) Extras/Add-Ons

You don’t always have to lower your rates to attract audience. In fact, during the low season when there is a drop in occupancy, you may not be able to sell enough to compensate for the decrease in revenue. Hence offer package deals with add-ons, providing more value. Add-ons are a great way to attract customers, especially towards the end of the booking journey.

For example: Don’t have a restaurant on site? not a problem, you could tie up with a local eatery and sell a meal. This allows you and them both to flourish and generate some revenue. Do you offer onsite Breakfast or meals? airport transfers/ spa treatments/ activities around town etc, all of this can be sold via extras/add – ons.

3) Promo Codes

Promotions and Discounts are undoubtedly one of the most powerful marketing tools for the hoteliers, helping them in filling their rooms faster. Promo codes when marketed using the right channels, strategy and amplified to the right audience through social media platforms results in attracting more visitors to your hotel website, increase direct bookings, and save on OTA commissions.
Read an in-depth article about How to market Promo codes here.

The common type of promo codes are Partnerships / Tie-ups with Corporates & SMEs, Special Discounts for frequent Guests or repeated guests & Referral Discounts, Event Discounts, Weekday/ Weekend Discount, Season Discounts, Travel Agent Discounts etc.

4) Smart Pricing

Whether you want to target a set of guests from a specific region and offer them discounted deals or create deals for advance purchase. Smart pricing is the perfect tool that would help you in setting up discounted rates at ease and attract visitors to book directly from your property website.

Read an in-depth guide on what is Smart Pricing and why you should seriously start using it. Read here

5) WatchMyRate

Sometimes the Hoteliers fail to capture direct bookings simply because OTA sites give the feel of offering the best rates. And it is a fact that room rate still remains the top driver in the booking decision. The WatchMyRate widget displays live rates from five different channels of your choice, which can be seen by all visitors, driving direct bookings and maximizing revenue for your property.
Find out more about this superb tool here.

6) Get Google

STAAH is a Google partner and the Get Google feature is available with STAAH booking engine, that helps you maximizing visibility with a free Google listing.

The Get Google feature, once enabled, allows property owners and managers to sync their rates and availability feed to Google, providing more visibility on google and helps in driving direct bookings through your website.

Get started by enabling the feature in your STAAH extranet or emailing the STAAH team at sales@staah.com with the subject line Get Google, providing your property details.

New properties/Non-STAAH Customers can signup for STAAH Get Google feature here

Here are some Benefits of using STAAH Booking Engine:

1) Simple Booking process –

Set up your booking steps simply with a 3-step process and reduce booking abandonment.

2) Easy rate compare options for users-

With conversion boosters such as the WatchMyRate widget, which displays the lowest direct booking rate for your rooms vs OTA rates. Result – increased retention and bookings.

3) Sell an experience with easy-to-use features – 

Features like Packages, add-ons, Viator, etc (yes, we connect with this activity sales platform) to provide value-adds to your guests.

4) Flexible Cancellation policy –

The booking engine gives you an option to set up a flexible cancellation policy, that helps guests to book with confidence.

5) Track reports & analytics with a booking funnel-

The Booking engine funnel shows at a glance the data of visitors to the booking journey on your website. It also helps in understanding your bookers.

6) Designed to sell –

The STAAH Booking Engine is intuitive and can be tailored to fit your website design so we deliver an experience that is seamless – and highly bookable. The Booking engine widget helps you customize according to your website colour etc.

7) Price smartly –

Features such as Smart Pricing enable you to target and apply specific discounts per region/ device/ advance purchase or multi-options type. Setting up deals doesn’t get easier!

8) Sell on all devices –

The STAAH Booking Engine is responsive to whichever gadget your guest comes from – mobile, tablet or desktop.

9) A single, intuitive dashboard to manage your distribution needs & reviews –

Manage online reviews using ReviewMinder, another feature that provides you with the ability to manage and respond to online reviews, and also push them to your website as needed.

STAAH Ltd, the cloud-based technology for accommodation providers has integrated with Situ, a leading serviced accommodation and extended stay specialist.

STAAH has partnered with Situ – a company that specialises in offering serviced accommodation and extended stay options across the globe.

Founded 2008, Situ has a platform that currently generates bookings for 300,000+ properties across 110 countries, operating in partnership with other global OTAs and 3,300+ international affiliates.

250 000 + Units across 116 countries and 2000 cities worldwide

“The extended stay accommodation sector is rapidly growing as the benefits of having a home away from home to stay in are increasingly realised by both corporate and leisure travellers”, says Phil Stapleton, Founder and MD of Situ.  “We are also seeing a strong demand for accommodation across APAC, with many companies wanting the ability to instantly book online.  Integrating operators from across APAC via the STAAH integration technology will enable us to significantly increase the range and volume of serviced accommodation, vacation rental and corporate housing options we can offer across this region”.

“We are delighted to complete our integration with Situ, a global leader in the hospitality industry for those travellers and companies looking for accommodation option that are more suitable for longer stays than a traditional hotel room.  The connection will certainly mobilise this key sector across the globe allowing accommodation providers to expand their horizon” says Tarun Joukani, Commercial Director for STAAH.

To integrate your property and raise your visibility on Situ: Request here

 About Situ

Since 2008, Situ have been helping companies and organisations find the perfect accommodation for their people when they’re on the move. Project team, corporate traveller, relocation assignee, global nomad – the title doesn’t matter.  They’re all individuals who need somewhere to call home – when they aren’t at home. And that’s what Situ do all day every day working to make finding and booking serviced accommodation effortless.

Situ is the single point of contact for booking quality serviced accommodation in over 120 countries across the world. Only the most trusted professional hospitality providers and operators can join the network and every

Situ also offer the full reassurance that their core platforms, processes and data are secure, robust and accredited by external bodies such as ISO, IIP and ISAAP.  And, their tech makes finding the accommodation effortless. The platforms are intuitive, flexible, secure and easily integrated to support automation and third-party partnerships.

Find out more on www.staysitu.com

STAAH recently hosted two mega networking events. The Big Travel Rebound in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia & Bali, Indonesia along with key partners OTA Insight, WebBeds, IDeaS & Oaky.

Both events were extremely successful with over 250 participants and leading industry names gathered for a day of learning and networking.
The agenda of the event was to establish new connections and share knowledge to embrace future growth. All of this was accomplished over Key partner sessions, panel discussions & guest speakers.

“The last few years have been difficult to say the least, but the reason I love our industry is it’s resilience. “The Big Travel Rebound” events we hosted with our partners and speakers have proven that the desire to learn new things and participate in live events are alive and well. The excitement amongst the participants was palpable and the positive responses and feedback we are getting is amazing! It only goes to prove the importance of industry collaboration and partnership with the common aim of business success post covid. It was great to see so many happy faces and I loved being a part of this and look forward to many more. Our industry rocks!”, Kevin Tatem, Managing Director for STAAH Southeast Asia”

Both the events witnessed a perfect mix of Hoteliers, OTA’s, PMS companies all coming together to bond over conversations, and identify future growth opportunities with technology.
With the hospitality industry developing at such a fast pace, industry events such as The Big Travel Rebound are an important part of keeping up to date with current and future trends.

Here’s what our client attendees have to say about the Event

Continuing the trend of bringing you the best, here is a quick list of the latest product updates, enhancements, and features, that you should take note of.

Secure Payment Options

You can offer your guests to make secure payments from either of these two options Property Form or Guest Form.

This is only available for properties that use payment gateways.

Property form

1. Property completes form within the STAAH extranet first
2. The payment link is auto-generated and sent directly to the booker
3. The guest receives the payment link, and all payment information (amount, reference etc) is pre-populated.

Guest form

1. The guest form link is manually sent to the payer by the property
2. The guest is required to complete the payment form
3. This option provides the payer with more flexibility and is not restricted to a set time frame. Some properties have created a link/page on their website so guests can make payments.

Find out more about Secure Payment here

MAX Booking Engine Group Widget

The booking engine widget allows you to redirect a booker from your website to the booking engine. The booker will select the check-in/check-out dates from the website, once diverted the booking engine will display available rooms/packages for the selected dates.

Groups can now view all properties in one page and customise the colours of their Booking engine via MAX extranet.

Things to know:

• The group widget will display all properties linked to the group.

• All property options are available in the widget.
• If a user selects ‘All properties’ the booker is diverted to a page that will display all properties within the group in a tile display
• Properties are displayed in alphabetical order
• Individual property widgets create at the property level only
• Adult/child search option available at property level only
• Properties that have adult/child search option enabled, this is included in widget (Group and property level)
• All property option includes check-in/check-out dates and promo code in widget
• The Booking engine script has in-built widget. The website developer adds the script, the buttons are auto populated.
• Existing customers have a custom-built design and will not see option to customise. Please contact your local Partner services team.

1. Booking engine widget script: generates the booking engine widget for your website. Use this tab to provide the widget and booking engine for your website development.
2. Edit: Customise the setup of your booking engine
3. Preview: A preview of your widget and booking engine, allows you to view any changes you have made to customization.

For more information read here

If a property wants to manage via STAAH, kindly contact support@staah.com

 MG Group new channel on OTA Promotion

OTA promotion feature now allows a property to setup promotions on MG Jarvis via MAX extranet.

You can set up promotions such as

• Basic
• Early Booker
• Last Minute
• Free Night

This feature supports creating NEW promotions created in MAX extranet.

Find out more about OTA Promotions in STAAH here

Promo Code Discount

A change to extra guest charge for Promo Code and WMR (Watch My Rate) on MAX Booking Engine has been made.

All discounts on Promo Codes and WMR (Watch My Rate) will take extra guest charges into consideration. This means, if there is an applicable extra guest charge, a discount will apply to the Room Rate and the applicable extra guest charge.

Pending Bookings

STAAH properties using Booking.com as a channel can now manage, create and modify all their Booking.com listing directly from STAAH channel manager.

What does this mean?

With the new Booking.com content update, you can now

1. Create a brand-new legal entity on Booking.com
2. Map to an existing Booking.com listing (not mapped in STAAH)
3. Map to an existing room type or rate plan setup on Booking.com
4. Create a new room type on Booking.com
5. Create a new rate plan and link to an existing Booking.com room type

Benefits of Managing Booking.com content from STAAH are:

• Gives you direct access from the extranet which means managing directly from STAAH
• No more separate logging into your channel for any updates.
• Saves time
• Real-time updates
• Create listings & self map from STAAH

How to enable Booking.com from your STAAH Channel Manager

• Go to Setup in your STAAH Extranet > click on Channels
• Select Booking.Com from the drop-down box

• If you have an account >select “Yes I do” > need to add Legal entity ID (optional) and Channel Hotel ID

• Select currency
• Select taxes (if applicable)
• Select rate pricing type
• Next > to divert to the channel mapping page

• If you don’t have a Booking.com account, then click “No I don’t ” – To create a brand new listing and generate a legal entity on Booking.com

On the Channel Mapping page

• You will see the below (this indicates no mapping in place )
• Click – Link to location ID > Select Booking.com ID
• Begin mapping steps from there

For a detailed step-to-step guide click here

1) Map to a room/rate set in Booking.com –

this option is to map room type in Channel manager to a room/rate plan listed on Booking.Com. This applies to channel manager room types that are currently not mapped on Booking.com.

For detailed steps click here 

2) Create a new rate plan or link to the existing rate plan to room –

this option allows you to map an existing Booking.com rate plan or create a new rate plan in Booking.com

For detailed steps click here

3) Add a new room on Booking.com –  

this option allows you to create a new room type on Booking.com

Read the detailed steps here

Content Management via STAAH

1. Listings created through MAX – access to manage full content
2. Listings created directly on Booking.com – access to manage cancellation policy and meal plan at the rate plan level. Full content, continue to manage via Booking.com extranet.

If you have any questions relating to this new feature, feel free to contact your local support team who can assist you.

Smart, organised, well accomplished and loves to travel, with more than 15 years in the hospitality space meet Wiparat Janya-Anurak, Business Development Manager, STAAH Thailand.

Tell us a bit about your career in hospitality/ technology and the journey to STAAH

I have over 15 years of experience in the hospitality industry. I started my career in hotel reception reservations and ended up in E-Commerce and Revenue management.

Along the way, I also have 5 years of experience in SAAS company as a Key Account Manager, have been working for an online travel agency and B2C company as well. 

What do you like most about STAAH and your job?

I really like the technology that STAAH brings to the table that is actually capable of making a hotelier’s life easy, helping them generate more bookings & increasing their revenue! Another reason why I love my job is, I just love to help accommodation providers find the best solution to sell more rooms and maximize their profits. I am delighted to be part of the hotelier’s journey as their trusted consultant.

Your success mantra?

I believe in reality, and I think that we can fulfil our dreams, and achieve whatever we want if we work hard towards our goal, as destiny gives us the opportunity to do that.

Your interests outside STAAH. Do they help you do your job better?

I like to do interesting stuff during my free time, I am a big time foodie, love to travel, and fond of artsy things such as handicrafts! It sure does help me find mental peace, happiness and indirectly impacts positively on my work.

Connect with Wiparat to learn more about STAAH Solutions for managing your online distribution in Thailand or Book a FREE DEMO at wiparat@staah.com

Continuing the trend of bringing you the best, here is a quick list of the latest Voucher Engine updates.

1) View Packages New Layout

Old Layout: Earlier to Edit a voucher package it was under Vouchers > Edit A Voucher Package > Package

New Layout:  Now in the new layout, you can Edit and view packages under Vouchers > View Packages

2) Sell Packages New Layout

Old layout: Under Vouchers > Sell Packages > There were three options One time Monetary, One Time FOC & Custom Package

New Layout: We have merged One time Monetary, One Time FOC screens all to the Custom Package option and have named it as Sell Package

3) New Profile Screen

We have removed properties (In case of single account) & Company profile screens & kept only the user profile now.

4) Renamed Issued Vouchers and Add a New Package

We have renamed the names for Vouchers and Add a New Package.

New Layout: The new names have been renamed, Issued Vouchers is now Sold Vouchers and Add a New Package is now Add Package

Read more tips and trends on how to sell vouchers here

Find the latest STAAH Product updates here