What has always been reserved for OTAs and tour operators can now be achieved by hotels: marketing in different currencies.
In many Caribbean and Latin American destinations, especially Mexico, the preponderance of U.S. tourism has traditionally meant that hotel negotiations and sales have been conducted almost exclusively in U.S. dollars.
As the domestic market gained importance, OTAs and tour operators adapted and began to sell the hotel product in local currency. This has allowed them to capture the domestic market more effectively and avoid negative exchange rate variations.
Thanks to Roiback’s multi-currency technology, our clients can now define, charge and sell in local currency, or in any other currency in addition to the US dollar. This allows them to exercise much more control over their own distribution – at a time when profitability is particularly important – and to compete on an equal footing in markets that were previously almost inaccessible to them, such as the domestic market.
Some context…
Many times the particularity of the destinations has caused them to evolve in a different way. This is the case of most of the Caribbean and the Mexican Pacific, where tourism began to emerge on a massive scale in the 80s and 90s, with North American tour operators taking over the scarce vacancies that existed at the time, which made these destinations become personalized in a very special way, almost considering them exclusive to those markets. It was not until the mid-1990s that other markets began to consolidate, such as the European market, especially the British, and the Argentine market. All of them were now customarily managed in U.S. dollars.
In addition, the local currency was less consistent or robust, which made it convenient to continue negotiating, invoicing and paying in U.S. dollars. This was not a problem, since practically all the tourists were American or Canadian and, in many cases, so were the businessmen settled in these destinations of great opportunity.
Over time and as has happened in the process of maturity of any tourist destination that has evolved in parallel to the development of the country and, in many cases, also happily to local economic development, the domestic tourist was gaining weight and adopting some relevance as a tourist market of origin to compensate the foreign proportion. In some cases, even surpassing it or sweeping it away, as has happened in emblematic destinations such as Acapulco. This evolutionary disjunctive forced hotels and tourist suppliers to offer different currency options that could coexist in the commercialization of the foreign and domestic markets.
What is still an operational complication now comes together with the great development of online marketing in recent years. This makes it necessary to have a technology capable of calculating in different currencies from a single inventory, and propose the most appropriate and competitive option according to the market and commercial agreement.
The importance of marketing your hotel in the local currency of each issuing market
It is therefore necessary to have strategies, formulas and platforms that allow the approach to any market that represents an opportunity. This implies the need to be able to design rates for different origins and their corresponding currencies. Especially for the domestic market which, in all cases, will represent the first or second market of influence.
In the current circumstances it makes even more sense, since only the local client guarantees us occupancy in the decisive short and medium term, which will be essential for everyone in the evolution and exit of this Covid-19 crisis.
How does it work?
From a single, simple technology platform, Roiback allows you to set unlimited rate, inventory and currency options by market of origin, identifying the traffic to which it should apply.
Our technological solution means that the exchange rate does not affect the prices established by market and allows the direct channel to compete with the prices in the different currencies already available to the OTAs and Bedbanks.
The direct channel must be the first to be optimally managed for perfect competitiveness and commercial consistency.
At Roiback, we have a long history and experience providing service to a large number of hotels and chains in the Caribbean and the Mexican Pacific. In fact, by 2021, 50% of the beds in Cancun and Isla Mujeres will be using Roiback solutions for direct distribution.
Our innovative technology, long experience and deep knowledge of the Caribbean market, allow us to offer the best and most adapted solutions to our partners.
If you are interested in learning more about how we can help you improve the sales and profitability of your direct channel, please contact commercial@roiback.com.