Distribución y Revenue Management

🏨 Madrid welcomed a strategic partnership on February 27, 2025, between the Instituto Tecnológico Hotelero (ITH) and Maarlab, a tech developer and tourism operator aimed at creating smarter, sustainable destinations. Maarlab's innovative tech solutions, like Oceanflights, bolster direct sales for accommodations, tapping new market niches and reducing cancellations with a single-click booking system. Raúl Domínguez, CEO of Maarlab, and Álvaro Carrillo de Albornoz, director of ITH, emphasize the synergy and mutual benefits of the alliance, focusing on competitive, digitalized, and sustainable tourism.

💸 Mirai integrates with the Mews hotel management platform, enabling real-time synchronization of rates, availability, and bookings to minimize manual workload and prevent overbooking. Key features include automated data transfer, dynamic rate updates, real-time accuracy, a seamless user experience, and scalability for managing multiple properties and channels. No initial or monthly fees are charged by Mirai for the Mews integration. Mews is user-friendly, capable of unlocking new revenue streams, offers integrated payment processing, speeds up check-in by 80%, and has over 1000 free integrations. Interested hoteliers can contact their account manager or Mews directly for integration setup and support.

💰 In the upcoming season, hotels, travel agencies, and companies eyeing the management of Imserso's senior tourism program face uncertainty due to a potential funding freeze at €72 million for the third year. With no budget increase, hotels earn €25-26 per night versus the actual cost of €34, and agencies receive €14.50 per sold spot. Adjudicating companies struggle with hotel agreements, as the number of participating accommodations declines, impacting quality. The next tender for the program management is expected within one to two months.

📌 Spanish travelers rely on travel agencies for expert advice and time savings, often for services beyond hotel and flight bookings, like activities, insurance, and car rentals. A study with Wakefield Research emphasized good customer service and communication as key. For more complex trips such as international (50%) and specific destinations (41%), and 34% for themed vacations, agencies are preferred. Many find agencies online (49%) and consult multiple agencies (28%).

🛫 Omio ranked the best-connected airports based on transfer time, cost, and frequency. Nice, Sofia, and Warsaw have the fastest and cheapest public transport links, under 2 euros. Bilbao's airport is the best in Spain, 10th overall, with an 18-minute bus ride to the city at 3 euros. Valencia (25th) offers a 34-minute trip at 4.80 euros. Málaga (21st) provides a 32-minute ride at 1.80 euros, while Barcelona-El Prat (12th) and Madrid-Barajas (14th) have public transport costs of 4.90 euros and 2.60 euros, respectively. The average single trip on public transport costs 5.58 euros. Reykjavik's airport ranked worst, with a 70-minute taxi ride costing 135 euros.

✈ Level, an airline from IAG group, now offers additional tourism services such as hotel bookings and car rentals via Booking on its website. After separating from Iberia in December, services are available in cities like Barcelona, Boston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, San Francisco, Buenos Aires, Santiago de Chile, and destinations in connection with Vueling and Iberia. Ancillary Manager Jacobo Gómez-Ballesteros aims to enhance customer experience. From March 30, San Francisco will join Level's summer destination network.

🛫 Aena's president, Maurici Lucena, criticized Ryanair for disrespectful behavior towards Spanish Minister Pablo Bustinduy, calling for reflection on their conduct. Despite acknowledging Ryanair's sector contributions, he noted institutional discord and expressed readiness to mend ties if Ryanair adjusts its stance. Aena reported a profit of €1.934 billion and revenue of €5.828 billion, improving from the previous year's €1.630 billion profit and €5.540 billion revenue. Ramón Tremosa is set to join Aena as an independent advisor.

🏨 Beroni, specialized in travel agency technologies, and Quadrant Travel Technology by Pangea, announce a collaboration for Quadrant Travel Cloud bookings integration into Beroni's management software with over 2,700 national licenses. The partnership enables agencies funded by Next Gen European Funds to self-invoice through Beroni's Front Office system, streamlining operations and billing processes. Currently, over 80% of tourism services in reservations are loaded automatically, and most records are cloud-based. The agreement follows successful reservation capture processes, integration tests, and production testing in vacation and business travel. Quadrant Travel Cloud, a 100% digital marketplace for travel agency operations, centralizes an agency's ecosystem, including bookings, payments, data analytics, and marketing strategies. Beroni CEO Josep Bellés aims to integrate Front Office with multiple booking platforms, enhancing travel agents' efficiency. Quadrant CCO Juan Font Valle highlights the deal's alignment with their platform's modular approach, enabling agency-specific tool customization.

🏖 Imserso's social tourism program faced complaints from retirees about the lack of available spots since its start on September 23. A new digital tool on Turismosocial.com now allows real-time availability checks for its three modalities, using a color code system: green for available slots, blue for waitlist, and red for sold out. Highest availability is found in Catalonia and Valencia, with some spots in Andalusia or Murcia, while Baleares or Canarias only offer waitlist options.

📌 Jon Arriaga, president of Dit Gestión, affirms that despite Volotea's delicate economic situation, associated agencies continue to sell its flights, citing the airline's good performance in the low-cost segment. In 2024, Dit Gestión experienced growth in sales and consolidation, against economic challenges. Their number of associated agencies has increased moderately, with a significant boost in the Portuguese market. Pre-COVID levels of advance bookings have returned, even surpassing 2023, with many travel packages for Summer and Easter already closed. Spanish citizens are increasingly resorting to deferred payment systems and loans for travel. Despite a precarious economy, Dit Gestión anticipates another strong year of sales for agencies in 2025, although with concerns over low profit margins for travel agents.