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.

Amsterdam, 2015-10-16: Busy Rooms and Xotels today announced a strategic partnership that has developed a state of the art revenue management dashboard for the hotel industry.

The solution will provide hoteliers with unique management information and serves as a revenue management tool to optimize hotel performance.

It was merely a matter of time before we would also enter into the African hospitality industry. We have been getting a lot of request over the last few years to bring our revenue management outsourcing services to this continent.

As always we have been waiting for the right opportunity. And with the Dhow Inn at Paje Beach in Zanzibar we are now embarking on an exciting journey.

The review score of your hotel is a key driver of your financial success. Guests score you of course on the level of service and product you provide. It is in essence a grade of the experience at your hotel.

There are some easy hotel marketing steps you can take though to improve the guest review score of your hotel. It is a game of putting the %s in your favor. Basically, in general, the more reviews you get, the better you rank.