Reflecting upon 2015, we can say it has been a very dynamic year, with some amazing results. We have expanded our portfolio of independent hotels with 11 new hotels of which 4 were new openings. Our hotel management group is now 40 properties strong, and we have some new properties already lined up to join in 2016.5.

2015 was a record year for our blog. We had 40% more traffic and readers. And if you look at the amount social likes and shares, you can see our articles are really hitting a good note with hoteliers. In this post we are reviewing the most popular revenue management and hotel markeitng articles of 2015.

One of the fun things of our job is that we get to work on many new hotel openings. Moreover we are attracting cool and funky kind of hotel concepts to join our independent hotel group. The owners we are working with have great vision when it comes to differentiating their product, delivering true quality service and an original experience. We are fortunate to be working on the revenue management strategies for the opening of the Urban Lodge Hotel in Amsterdam.

Reading an online hotel industry news publication this month, I came across a statement that kind of threw me off. An industry veteran I greatly admire was suggesting hotels should consult with OTA for revenue management advice. Of course I probed as to what he really meant by this, as it seemed to me a tip that may lead hoteliers down the wrong path.

Almost 10 years into our adventure with Xotels, it still gives me a kick when we get a new hotel on board. We have are now almost hitting 40 properties with our portfolio, and it is still as exciting as when we got our first revenue management client. This time it is a new market for us, Switzerland. Yes, we are now moving into the territory of traditional Swiss hospitality.

Both my business partner Remko West and I started of our careers via internships during our studies at Hotelschool Maastricht in the Netherlands. It is the perfect stepping stone from the college environment into the real live working place. Hence at Xotels we have kept the tradition of trainees joining our ranks, to gain hands on knowledge and experience. We would like to share some of their personal experiences and success stories with you.