Distribución y Revenue Management

🏖 In just three days, the Imserso Travel Program sold 80% of its 886,269 spots for the current edition, with around 177,000 places still available. Sales opened for regions including Aragon, Cantabria, Castile and Leon, and others, with remaining regions following suit. Nationwide sales commence on September 28. Trips are set to start on October 6, over a month earlier than the previous season, and for the 2024/2025 season, there are 8,893 authorized sales points and 185 registered hotels in coastal and island areas.

✈️ Teruel Airport in Spain, along with Tarbes Airport in France, known as one of Europe's largest airplane graveyards, is witnessing the revival of Airbus A380 aircraft. Despite initial skepticism during the pandemic about the future demand for such large planes, this week two A380s took off from Teruel to rejoin normal operations. An Etihad A380 with registration A6APE, only nine years old, and a 14-year-old Lufthansa A380 have headed for checks and upgrades, with the latter already en route from Germany to Manila for the required overhauls.

🏖️ TUI born from a merger in Germany in 1968 and consolidated as TUI AG. Key mergers include TUI Travel and First Choice in the UK in 2007, and TUI Travel with TUI AG in September 2014, forming a €6.5 billion-valued TUI Group. Thomas Cook's liquidation in September 2019 involved a failed £900 million rescue plan. Jet2Holidays surpassed TUI UK with 5.8 million travelers in 2023. Tourism to Spain rose by 22% in 2023 but remained 9% below 2019 levels. TUI now focuses on selling train tickets and destination experiences through TUI Musement.

💸 Black Friday 2024 is set for November 29, with consumers expected to spend more on travel deals. Affilired's data shows an 8% year-on-year increase in average spend per booking, reaching €1,043 last year. The 2023 campaign sales surpassed pre-pandemic figures of 2019, with the average booking value up by 28%. Early bookings during Black Friday accounted for 35% of sales, doubling the 17% from the previous ten months. Cyber Monday and Cyber Week further extend travel sales, with average bookings costing €872 and €790, respectively.

🏠 Isabel Díaz Ayuso, President of the Madrid Regional Government, launched a new tourism campaign on World Tourism Day, aiming to promote Madrid's World Heritage brand. The campaign, with the slogan "How many days are you going to stay?", will run for three months, involving print articles, travel websites, billboards, and buses across Spain's main cities. Madrid hosted over 1.9 million tourists outside the capital in the first seven months of the year, a 2.7% increase from 2023, nearly 22% of the region's total visitors, with 25% being international. Madrid expects a record international tourism expenditure of over €16 billion, surpassing €20 billion when including domestic visitors.

💸 AskFlow, a new product by Asksuite, automates messaging and boosts hotel revenue allowing teams to focus on income-generating activities. It sends personalized messages across various channels like WhatsApp, with an easy-to-use drag-and-drop interface. Rodrigo Teixeira, CEO of Asksuite, states AskFlow integrates with any hotel software, including PMS, to create customized communication flows. Current users are seeing an average ROI of 71 times, with benefits like increased sales, time savings, and higher revenue through hotel service promotions. Vinícius Pavei, CTO of Asksuite, describes AskFlow as plug-and-play, offering preconfigured templates for easy implementation. Suitable for all hotel types, AskFlow is revolutionizing hotel communication and efficiency.

💸 Sun Bay Hotel, using Asksuite's product AskFlow, achieved an ROI of 87 times with automated follow-ups for abandoned carts. Implementation of AskFlow, which automates messages 24/7 across all communication channels including WhatsApp, resulted in a 47% response rate to automated messages from potential guests. Sun Bay, located in Pipa, Rio Grande do Norte, overcame the challenge of managing after-hours booking follow-ups, enhancing guest experience and operational efficiency.

🏦 Over 300 candidates worldwide vie for the role of hotel director at Hilton's soon-to-be-managed Palacio Godoy in Cáceres. Hiring for 50 positions, Hilton's website listed all job offers for the luxury hotel set to open in late 2024, currently in its final remodeling phase since early 2023. Financed with a €13 million investment by Scipion Perú, the 1563-built property will feature 72 rooms, a spa, and a public-access restaurant within a nearly 1,000-square-meter garden. Initial archaeological exploration concluded without significant historical findings, paving the way for new infrastructure.

🏖️ National tourists accounted for only 37% of arrivals and 26% of overnight stays on the Costa del Sol in the first eight months, with a 4.7% drop to 1.64 million Spanish tourists, losing ground to foreign visitors. In contrast, international tourists increased by 7.7%, with 2.77 million visitors and 11.41 million overnight stays. Overall, Spain's overnight stays in August reached 47.8 million, with 17.3 million by Spaniards (-1.3% vs 2023) and 30.6 million by foreigners (+4.9%). High prices may deter Spanish travel, with Marbella averaging €331.8 and Estepona €231.2 per night.

📅 Turismo Social (Ávoris) corrected previous issues in the Imserso tourism program for the 2024/2025 season, launching with the promised 886,269 spots. Sales began on September 23 for privileged clients in various Spanish regions and expanded on September 24. Asturias, Cataluña, and other regions follow on September 25-26. Reservations can be made online or at 8,893 authorized travel agencies. Four million accredited pensioners have access to three travel packages: 443,887 coastal spots, 230,039 insular, and 212,343 inland.