Distribución y Revenue Management

💸 Eddie Wilson, CEO of Ryanair, confirmed alliances with Viajes El Corte Inglés (including Logitravel) and Destinia, making them the first authorized Spanish travel agencies to distribute Ryanair tickets. Viajes El Corte Inglés led the initiative after Ryanair's January 2024 blackout of sales through intermediaries. By March 2024, they were the first in Spain to partner with Ryanair. Destinia followed in October 2024 via Travelfusion, an OTA aggregator. Other leading Spanish travel agencies are seeking similar agreements with Europe's top airline.

📆 Sextaplanta, an agency specializing in hotel revenue management, has released a guide to help hotels decide between hiring an in-house revenue manager or outsourcing the service. The guide addresses market vision, costs, availability, data knowledge, and negotiation power, offering insights into the pros and cons of each option to improve hotel profitability in a competitive market. Download the guide to elevate your hotel's revenue and market position.

🏖️ Travelers today seek personalized experiences, with 70% researching and comparing travel options online. Agencies can capitalize on this by leveraging advanced technology like AI, automated systems, chatbots, predictive analytics, and integrated booking platforms. Traveltool e-services supports agencies in adapting to these changes with digital marketing strategies, technological tools, and continuous training, aiming to foster growth through innovation and excellence. For more information, visit Traveltool e-services' website.

📍 Amadeus, a travel technology company, reported at Fitur 2025 that long-distance flight bookings to Asia and the Middle East have surged by 290.37% from 2021 to 2024. In the past year alone, searches for flights to these regions increased by 20%. The most favored destinations among Spanish travelers included China, Japan, Thailand, Turkey, and Indonesia. Christian Boutin, Amadeus Spain and Portugal's General Manager, highlighted the personalized travel experiences enabled by AI, high-speed Wi-Fi, and 5G advancements. Popular destinations within Asia and the Middle East are attracting visitors through cultural, technological, and natural offerings, with improved accessibility and tourism-friendly policies contributing to this rise in 2025.

📖 Thinktur launched the 10th edition of its ebook at Fiturtechy, titled “Digital Transformation of the Destination: Digital Twins in the Tourism Sector,” featuring contributions from eight Tourism Technology Centers: ADA, Invattur, ITH, Eurecat, Tecnalia, Turistec, Vicomtech, and Segittur. ADA's Living Lab Cultural at the Alhambra in Granada uses big data for the digitalization of the site, allowing predictive analyses of tourist flows and improved conservation. Eurecat's 3D digital twin for Hotel Alimara and Chök stores in Barcelona visualizes water, energy, and mobility consumption data. Invattur and ITH showcased the ITH TechYroom 1.0 at RH Corona del Mar Hotel in Benidorm, involving over 25 companies. Tecnalia, with Inkolan, created Bilbao's digital twin infrastructure, capturing real-time data on water, gas, electricity, telecoms, and municipal networks, currently implemented in a district of Bilbao. Special collaborations included Libelium's Iris360 for sharing scenarios and Smart City Cluster's digital twin tourism projects in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, SUSTTWIN, Immersia Data Visualization, and an AI-powered digital guide of Salvador Dalí for Barcelona.

🏨 Port Hotels launches "Port Shapers," a loyalty club offering exclusive benefits to direct booking customers. The program stems from their "Shaped by you" philosophy and aims to provide a more personalized experience reflecting the desires of their clients. Three membership levels are available, determined by the number of accumulated nights. Benefits include guaranteed best prices, booking history access, early offers and discounts, welcome gifts, and stay giveaways. This initiative is part of Port Hotels' strategy to enhance direct sales and strengthen customer relationships, following a business model restructuring a year prior. Locations include Benidorm, Elche, Alicante, Calpe, Denia, and Valencia.

🐎 Javier Blanco, executive of Globalia and son-in-law of Juan José Hidalgo, will participate in a bullfighting event on April 5 at Plaza de Toros de Moralzarzal, with José María Manzanares as godfather and Alejandro Talavante as witness. He returns to bullfighting after a hiatus taken for family responsibilities, determined to seize the experience now or never, aiming to culminate his bullfighting career and share it with his family and friends. His decision is personal, despite his father-in-law Juan José Hidalgo's business-minded concerns.

🏖️ Marian Rojas, psychiatrist and writer, along with her mother, economist and notary Isabel Estapé, discussed the connection between tourism and emotional well-being to over 200 professionals during Grupo Hotusa's "La industria de la felicidad" event. The talk, moderated by journalist and writer Màrius Carol, was held at the Eurostars Madrid Tower hotel under the title "La felicidad como destino: una charla sobre turismo y bienestar". Both speakers agreed that traveling is therapeutic, enhancing cultural and intellectual development, and argued that the preparation and memories from travel are significant sources of happiness.

🏨 In the U.S. and U.K., hotel franchising accounts for 80% of the market, while in Spain it stands around 6%, up from less than 1% in 2010. Hotel Trends hosted a roundtable discussion titled "Franquicias en España: claves para entender un mercado en evolución" featuring representatives from Meliá, Sercotel, and Panoram. Challenges identified include communicating value to property owners and adapting to a highly fragmented market. Opportunities lie in domestic destinations, market size, and creating appealing brands for customers and owners.

🏨 A Statista survey of 245 people found 86.1% consult reviews before booking accommodation, with Millennials (37.9%), Generation X (31.3%), and Baby Boomers (30.8%) comprising the majority. Reviews' usefulness, volume, and recency are key to consumers, with detailed numeric ratings being highly valued. Hotels use reviews for reputation management, responding within 24-48 hours, and leverage positive feedback for marketing, also deploying monitoring strategies through active listening tools to manage large volumes of reviews effectively.