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📣 Clients using Asksuite's guest follow-up strategy have achieved a 71x ROI by sending automated, personalized messages at the right time through the correct channels. The strategy is crucial for increasing revenue and guest satisfaction, allowing hotels to influence decision-making, generate trust, and improve the overall guest experience. Tactics include increasing conversion rates, improving guest experiences during their stay, reducing abandoned bookings, and boosting direct bookings. A notable feature is AskFlow, which automates customized workflows for guests and integrates with PMSs and Asksuite's omnichannel platform. Communication is key before, during, and after a guest's stay, with WhatsApp serving as an ideal instant messaging platform. Hotels can automate messages, learn the perfect timing for follow-ups, and rely on technological tools like third-party systems, WhatsApp API, and AI Booking Agents to personalize communication without overwhelming staff.

💰 Ávoris, under Barceló Group, achieved a turnover of €4.5 billion and an Ebitda of €45 million in a year, marking a 1% sales margin. Copresident Simón Pedro Barceló aims to double Ebitda by 2025, aspiring to approach €5 billion in turnover. Iberojet, linked to Ávoris, plans to be the go-to airline for its tour operators and is set to launch routes to Orlando and Bangkok in 2024, enhancing connectivity from Barcelona to Costa Rica and Honduras, with continued operations in Madrid.

🏢 Phocuswright Europe 2025 will take place from June 10-12, 2025, at Palau de Congressos de Catalunya, Barcelona. The conference will explore disruptive forces redefining travel, covering intermediaries' evolution, emerging technologies' impact, and travelers' new expectations. The 2024 event saw over 600 attendees, with expectations to exceed this number. Early registration is available at 1095 euros. For more details, visit www.phocuswrighteurope.com.

🏢 FITUR 2025, in its 45th edition, is the most significant national tourism fair and a key international event. Noray, with 45 years in the tech and hotel industry, highlights the fair as a golden networking opportunity and a showcase for the latest trends. The fair featured industry advancements, especially in hotel technology, with diverse expert discussions. Key trends for 2025 included advanced AI for hyper-personalization, autonomous management systems, IoT for total hotel automation, blockchain for security and payments, and sustainable, energy-efficient AI technologies. Noray values FITUR for knowledge sharing and looks forward to continuing to offer cutting-edge solutions.

🏖️ FITURTECHY hosted a debate on January 22 about empowering local tourism businesses, featuring industry executives like Francisco Quintero (Landmar Hotels), Gabriel Llobera Ramis (Garden Hoteles), Diego Fernández Pérez de Ponga (Port Hotels), Armando Rodríguez (HD Hotels), and Juan Carlos Sanjuán (Casual Hotels), moderated by Daniel Sánchez (Paraty Tech). Topics included customer loyalty through packaging, branding strategies, data optimization, destination-hotel strategy alignment, artificial intelligence, market-specific communication, and tackling Canarias' marketing issues. Facing 2025 with a positive outlook, the group underscored the importance of customer loyalty, market diversification, and efficient management in times of prosperity to withstand future crises.

🏨 Mexican hotels lead with 50,000 rooms in 125 properties, followed by the Dominican Republic and Cuba. Key European markets include Germany, Italy, and Portugal, with Minor Hotels Europe & Americas and Meliá as major operators. The United States ranks fourth, predominantly managed by Barceló, handling 82% of Spanish hotel rooms there. At the bottom are Jamaica and Morocco, with Haiti and Mozambique highlighting the diversification with a single Spanish hotel each. José Elías invests in a new 100-meter, 520-room hotel skyscraper in Esplugues de Llobregat, Barcelona, set for completion by late 2025. Silken Hoteles eyes a 2025 expansion with a 13% growth in 2024, reaching over €130 million in sales, focusing on Morocco and Portugal for internationalization.

📌 DeepSeek, a Chinese AI competitor to OpenAI's ChatGPT, aims to elevate the hotel and travel industry by understanding specific needs, integrating with existing systems, and directly impacting profitability and customer satisfaction. With capabilities like real-time data analysis, demand trend prediction, upselling opportunities, inventory management, guest experience personalization, operational efficiency enhancements, audience-targeted marketing, strict data security, system integration, and continuous innovation through machine learning, DeepSeek presents itself as a strategic partner, not just a tool, for the hotel sector. Embrace AI fearlessly to stay competitive in the swiftly evolving world.

💰 Steve Heapy, CEO of Jet2.com and Jet2holidays, warns that summer bookings for Spain are slower compared to other destinations like Greece, Turkey, Italy, Croatia, Bulgaria, and Portugal. He cites anti-tourism protests and some Spanish destinations preferring high-income tourists as reasons. Despite this, Jet2 plans to increase capacity by 9%, expecting to carry about 5.5 million passengers to Spain, with the highest growth on the peninsula at 12%, followed by the Balearic and Canary Islands at 9% and 8%, respectively.

💸 Finn Ackermann from Iberostar Hotels & Resorts defends hotel price increases, asserting that continuing price hikes are based on customer valuation and willingness to pay for the hotel experience. At Hotel Trends during Fitur, industry experts including Fernando Vives from Minor Hotels Europe & Americas, Íñigo Onieva from Barceló Hotel Group, and Beatriz Miguel from Ilunion Hotels discussed optimizing pricing through value propositions and operational promises. Vives emphasized diversifying market strategies, targeting international clients with higher spending patterns, and utilizing revenue management to improve profitability beyond just raising prices. Ackermann suggested Spanish hotels previously undercharged compared to international counterparts. Vives highlighted the 2024 recovery in price-quality ratio and RevPAR growth due to higher ADR from quality offerings.

🏖 During the International Tourism Trade Fair (Fitur), the Institute for Spanish Tourism Quality and Sustainability (ICTES) awarded the Q Awards, recognizing tourism sector entities supporting Quality Q and Sustainable Tourism S. This year marks ICTES's 25th anniversary. Awards went to Jerez City Council, Benidorm and Costa Blanca Hotel Business Association (HOSBEC), Axarquía Routes (Málaga), and journalist Carles Lamelo. Special 25th-anniversary awards were given to Spanish Confederation of Hotels and Tourist Apartments (CEHAT), Intelier Hotels, and Astún Ski Station (Huesca). The event, attended by over a thousand professionals, was held at Madrid City Hall's Crystal Gallery. ICTES President Miguel Mirones highlighted the importance of business associations, and the minister of Industry and Tourism, Jordi Hereu, emphasized Spain's leading tourism role. A new EU directive for 2024 mandates certified sustainability through independent audits; over 600 Spanish companies and destinations are now certified.