Let's cut to the chase - have you heard about the buzz around the beautiful Lakshadweep islands lately? The recent political turmoil after PM Modi's visit has spotlighted this picturesque archipelago in the Laccadive Sea off the coast of Kerala. Last week, Lakshadweep emerged as the most searched island in India on Google.
What's more, leading OTAs have reported a significant surge in accommodation bookings as everyone from celebrities to central ministers to everyday travellers is raving about the pristine beauty of Lakshadweep. It's no wonder that this tropical paradise has become the talk of the town, and it's high time that hotels make the most of it.
The Lakshadweep hospitality industry
Investors are increasingly focusing on the island, with a Gujarat-based company reportedly planning to establish 50 high-end tents. Additionally, a leading Indian hotel chain plans two new resorts by 2026. Israel has also expressed interest in investing in Lakshadweep. And we are sure that with the government's support, hospitality and tourism will witness new heights on the island in the coming days.
What's in for hotels?
Competition. Yes. With increasing tourists thronging, hotels operating on the island will have to deal with intense competition. See this - MakeMyTrip reported a 3,400% search for Lakshadweep on its platform. Other online travel agencies (OTAs) have experienced the same scenario recently.
What must hotels do?
They must leverage technology. Imagine a situation where hotels cannot distribute or sell efficiently on OTAs, via which travellers want to book their accommodations in Lakshadweep. Without the right technology, they can't work with multiple OTAs to sell more rooms to a broader range of audience. They will also have to face the perils of overbookings, leading to unhappy guests. Not good for business, right?
They need a channel manager
It will enable them to instantly distribute their rates and inventory to all connected OTAs, ensuring rate and availability parity. This will also help them eliminate overbookings and guest satisfaction.
Additionally, they can easily configure and set up multiple promotions/discounts in the channel manager, which will directly reflect on all the OTAs. Promotions/discounts are excellent ways to attract more guests, leading to more sales, occupancy, and revenue. A channel manager will also help hotels allocate a certain percentage of their rooms to the OTA, which gets them more bookings.
They will need a booking engine
Besides a channel manager, hotels need to leverage the power of a booking engine to drive direct bookings via their websites and social media pages. This will empower them to sell more add-ons to increase booking value while saving big on commission costs.
They will also need a Cloud-based Hotel PMS System
On top of everything, hotels also need a cloud-based Hotel PMS to automate daily operations. A Hotel PMS is a crucial piece of technology solution that helps hotels manage reservations, assign rooms to guests, mark housekeeping tasks to staff, check-ins, billing, check-outs, etc. With automation, they can save a significant amount of time that they can invest in attending to guests' needs. Most importantly, they can access guest data captured by the Hotel PMS to understand their preferences and serve them efficiently to boost their experience.
As part of the Indian hospitality industry, we are responsible for promoting everything that is Indian, regardless of the current political turmoil in the India-Maldives relationship. As a leading distribution/channel manager partner to over 4000 hotels, we are committed to helping hotels in pristine Lakshadweep increase their online sales, occupancy, and revenue.