Turn an improvised strategy into an effective one

Starting with some general information (e.g. the typical guest at a small inn or hotel is a leisure tourist who has selected this type of lodging for its ambience and personalized service, and more often than not, these customers reserve by phone) and doing a little background work (defining the target audience, determine distinctive features, etc.), a business can begin the marketing process. Simply check off the appropriate boxes:

Table 1: Traditional Marketing

Although the internet is not currently the means by which most small inn and hotel guests make their reservations, it is still a primary source of information. More and more people are automatically turning to the Web when they need to find or recommend a place to stay.

While the internet offers a sea of opportunities, there is also the danger of drowning in it. For this reason it is not enough to have a Web presence; the site must also be searchable. However, understanding how search engines work is a complex task requiring time and expertise. At the same time, because these engines evolve and change along with the competition’s positioning, there must be a strategy for periodically reviewing the process.

Trying to compete with the major players on their own territory is a waste of time, so small inns and hotels are better off using other methods. Instead of associating the site with the most popular terms typed into search engines, focus on those used by the target audience. For example, many such people will refine a search by typing “Saguenay inn” rather than “Quebec hotel.” Another option is to sponsor a link on the search result page of a local festival. The wonderful world of the Web is at your service:

Table 2: “Online” Marketing

Improve and assess the effectiveness of methods used

Once again, to make a product stand out from competing major hotel chains, one must innovate and adopt original presentation methods (visuals, ways of communicating, etc.).

• Clearly define the target audience so reach it effectively
• Develop a specific niche (such as family parties, company activities, honeymoons, special events, etc.)
• Establish partnerships with companies – even those outside the industry – to develop an unusual product or innovative marketing strategy

To measure the validity of promotional efforts and retain only the most effective measures, ask guests where they found about the establishment and how they made their reservation.

Sources:
- Carroll, William J. et al. “A Comprehensive Guide to Merchandising Bed and Breakfast Inns,” Cornell University, School of Hotel Administration, The Center for Hospitality Research, CHR Tools, No. 8, August 2006.
- Hursh, Patricia. “Winning Big with a Small Search Marketing Budget,” [searchenginewatch.com], August 28, 2006.

What is RSS?

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds enable internet users to quickly pick up information of their choosing, on their computers, where they can consult it at their convenience. RSS technology is attractive to managers because now they have an efficient way to communicate directly with consumers who interested in receiving precisely their type of information (see illustration).

An XML-based format, RSS is used to distribute various types of web content, particularly sales promotions, news items, statistics, etc., and can only be picked up by a program known as a feed reader or aggregator. Many providers such as Netvibes, NewsGator and My Yahoo! offer this type of service free of charge.

To receive an RSS feed, all you have to do is click and drag the XML button (usually orange) to the aggregator. You can either download a piece of software to automatically pick up new RSS feeds or create a personalized homepage for this.

Once you have subscribed to the feed, you simply wait for the desired information to be sent directly to the reader, in the form of headlines. If something interests you, simply click on the link to open the page. Consumers can receive the information they want, without wasting time and without having to sort through an overloaded inbox.

RSS and the travel industry: A match made in heaven

For many consumers, the internet is the best way to find low-cost travel products and services. However, it takes time and effort to find good deals. RSS technology could well change browsing habits as users gain new control over the kind of the information they receive and its relevance. RSS is part of the Web 2.0 trend towards the intuitive use of simplified, interactive applications that enable consumers to tell businesses what they want. Many travel industry players have quickly adopted this new way of communicating with customers. For example, online agencies like Lastminute, Expedia and Orbitz now offer their clientele automatic updates of all new deals as soon as they are posted.

Expedia is going the next step by offering customers personalized web pages. After filling out their profile, consumers receive RSS feeds on flights and products that truly interest them. Alerts are also available on homepages like My Yahoo!, My AOL and Google Homepage. Even meta-search engines are getting into the act; for example, Mobissimo is now available as an RSS feed, enabling users to access its search tool from their Netvibes homepage.

For web users, RSS feeds are not simply useful for finding bargains. They can also provide information such as travel blog updates, travel-related news, destination reviews and weather reports from their upcoming holiday location.

Still in its infancy, yet promising

As fantastic as they sound, RSS feeds are only known and used by a small percentage of web users. According to a survey conducted by Media Buyer Planner in August 2006, just 11% of US workers were familiar with RSS feeds and a mere 2% used them. Adoption rates are climbing rapidly among “heavy users” (those who go online 11 times or more per week) and as of April 2006, 14% of such users said they used RSS feeds.

However, RSS use is expected to grow as more and more content providers of all kinds start offering the service. Mass usage will probably happen when RSS feed readers come standard with internet browsers and operating systems like Windows.

RSS can also benefit marketers

Now that RSS has become a “given” for a growing number of internet users, it is also a powerful marketing tool. However, unlike other web marketing strategies, RSS feeds put consumers in control. Here are some tips for using RSS feeds to market your product or service:

• Become familiar with how the various feed readers operate. They are not all the same. For example, some display only a headline for the RSS feed while others display a more complete version of the text. You have to know how content is being presented in the feed to assess its effectiveness.
• Provide a value-added message, don’t just sell a product. For example, hotels could inform interested consumers of room deals at hotels in their favourite destinations.
• Keep your content creative and new. Like a constantly running news wire, your information will cease to interest consumers if it is not updated regularly.
• Build a relationship with customers. RSS technology offers a golden opportunity to communicate effectively with potential customers because they have specifically asked to receive the information. In addition, you do not have to worry about spam filters or trust issues.
• Select and define your public carefully. Unlike email campaigns, the audience of RSS feeds is much smaller and narrowly targeted. It is essential to know the target segment well so you can properly adapt your message.

As they have done for other Web 2.0 developments, managers can take the time to analyze the situation and gradually discern the best avenues for their companies. However, things are evolving very quickly and it may be wise to understand the direction in which innovations affecting their sector of activity are heading so they are ready to climb on board when the time is right.

Sources:
- Belcher, James. “Really Seldom Syndication,” eMarketer [www.emarketer.com ], August 28, 2006.
- eMarketer. “What Do ‘Heavy Users’ Do Online?” [www.emarketer.com ], August 30, 2006.
- Flitter, Bill. “Tips for Marketing with RSS,” iMedia Connection [www.imediaconnection.com ], May 12, 2006. – Hodson, Mark. “Introducing the Travel Genie,” The Sunday Times [travel.timesonline.co.uk ], March 5, 2006.
- Hotelmarketing.com. “Expedia Introduces RSS Based Travel Services,” [www.hotelmarketing.com ], May 3, 2006.
- Hrastnik, Rok.”The 7-Step RSS Marketing Plan,” RSS Marketing [rssdiary.marketingstudies.net ], July 25, 2005.
- Lieb, Rebecca. “Real-Life RSS Marketing,” ClickZ [www.clickz.com], July 1, 2005.

The first generation has come and gone

Why is e-tourism evolving so rapidly? It’s important to first understand how e-tourism came about. Initially, it arose as an alternative to the traditional “off-line” reservation methods, and had just one motivation: find the best price. The consumer gained great transparency on prices and fares; this was the era that the firm PhoCusWright today calls “Travel 1.0.”

How Web 2.0 is taking shape will inevitably change the rules of the game for the travel industry. Consumers and businesses alike can now turn to ergonomic and useful solutions of all types that clearly alter the way people surf the web and change the travel-product sales approach. If the Web 2.0 phenomenon were to be described in one simple statement, it would be: “It is how internet users have taken control of the web.”

Now that we’re nearing the point where 50% of American internet users reserve their trips online, consumers’ increasingly intuitive use of innumerable applications enables them to play an active role. There are countless tools to assist tourists as they seek to find, or design, not just the cheapest trip, but the perfect trip.

Another aspect of Web 2.0 involves a rejection of traditional marketing channels as a source of persuasion. The internet user has become difficult to influence with classic advertising strategies, preferring to look for more neutral information sources, such as word-of-mouth recommendations or online forums.

As an example, Carnival added a section to its website called Carnival Connections that invites customers to use a discussion platform to plan a cruise (see photo). Carnival Connections offers forums (private or open to all) that let site visitors organize a cruise in detail, alone or through interacting with other visitors. It also features a journal of comments from past cruisers about their experiences.

What is social networking?

While Web 2.0 is still an incredibly abstract concept for most consumers and companies, 2006 is expected to be the turning point at which consumers and tourism organizations will begin to integrate social networking – a gathering place (virtual in this case, as it’s online) where relationships are formed among a great number of people with the aim of discussing a given subject.

First and foremost, social networking sites let internet users communicate with each other in an extremely efficient way, thanks to applications that enable them to locate specific interest groups. For instance, a birdwatcher can now easily share his passion with other birdwatchers through exchanging information, sharing photos, forming travel groups, etc. – in short, anything related to the interest they have in common.

Catching on

The “Social internet” is spreading, with specialty sites like YouTube, MSN Spaces, Classmates.com, Myyearbook.com and so on mushrooming. The New York Times even went so far as to attribute the rebirth of Silicon Valley to the phenomenon. The most popular of these sites is MySpace, which has some 80 million members and is clearly a leader. It had more than 51 million unique visitors this past May (30% of the total number of American internet users) and is poised to become, by autumn, the single most-visited website of all. People go to Myspace mainly to swap info about destinations, talk about their latest trip, post their photos, plan a journey with friends, meet like-minded people, etc. According to PhoCusWright, about 10% of e-tourists who buy travel online have already joined such virtual communities in order to get guidance while planning trips.

Multiple Web 2.0 developments

RSS Content Feeds
One word kept coming up at recent conferences on e-tourism: “involvement.” Simplified applications and intuitive user interface allow consumers to play an active role and let businesses know what they want. The best example are the RSS (Really Simple Syndication) content feeds that allow internet users to receive streaming information right in their computers, instead of having to do internet searches. The user employs these applications (feeds) to select particular topics of interest or websites from which he/she wants to obtain the latest information. Once the parameters are defined via a personal profile, the feeds become an alert tool and web content transmission mechanism tailored to the internet user’s needs.

As an example, online agencies like Expedia and Orbitz offer customers the opportunity to automatically receive all new promotions as soon as they’re posted on the site. Another example of the application would be a sports-news fan who receives from Cyberpresse all articles published in the sports section of the site.

Corporate Blogs
Meanwhile, more and more companies are offering feedback forums for customers. Many corporate blogs are set up with the aim of getting more direct feedback from customers, of soliciting their participation and getting their comments. Designated as a community space for the consumer, the revamped Sheraton website is a good example. Visitors are encouraged to share stories, advice and photos relating to their top travel discoveries, favourite destinations, etc. Sheraton management says the portal is a reflection of how people now research and buy their trips. In a context where businesses seek to show as much transparency as possible, such discussion areas help achieve this goal.

Wikis
Among many other concrete examples of what Web 2.0 has given rise to, the travel “Wikis” are worth mentioning. These are collaborative websites where any internet user can easily participate in authoring the content. The pioneering and most popular of these sites, TripAdvisor, has positioned itself as an encyclopaedia of travel destinations built upon the reviews of real travellers. The collection of all these personal tourist experiences is a powerful tool of influence on traveller decision-making and is enormously popular because of its completely neutral and transparent nature.

Implications for businesses

Now the big question is: what should we do to prepare for the coming Web 2.0 era?

Personalization of online content and community spaces provide whole new marketing opportunities for businesses wanting to target a very precise customer profile. These “involved” internet users, if properly approached, if solicited in the right place with offers pertinent to their profile, are liable to react very positively to product offers.

As most community sites include search applications in the form of a search engine or tags (key words related to content), it is easy to buy advertising space associated with categories that are innately compatible. For instance, many different groups gather and discuss travel-related topics at Myspace.com. In the illustrated example, you can see to the right of the page an advertising banner containing sponsored links related to this theme.

MySpace.com

Note that Myspace.com offers participants the option of identifying the information and products that interest them; for tourism companies, this is a crucial component of social networking. Every traveller who uploads a holiday itinerary identified with a keyword (tag) or a personal photo from a trip, or designates a favourite page, is giving managers very pertinent information about his/her personal interests and tourist behaviour.

You may not be familiar with these new players, but some of them are already among the most-visited sites on the web. Experiments on how to best utilize Web 2.0 from a marketing standpoint are only at the embryonic stage. Managers still have much to learn in terms of optimizing the use of these new technologies and the potential interactions with customers. It is perhaps too soon to overhaul your marketing strategies, but you would certainly be well-advised to adopt an open mind in order to properly anticipate the way Web 2.0 will influence how you do business and how to get the most out of it.

Sources:
- Aho Williamson, Debra. “The Social Net Catches More and More,” eMarketer [www.emarketer.com], June 26, 2006.
- Bray, John. “Web 2.0 Begins to Sprout in Travel,” PhoCusWright, April 19, 2006.
- Bray, John, Cathy Schetzina and Susan Steinbrink. “Six Travel Technology Trends for 2006,” PhoCusWright, February 2006.
- ehotelier. “‘Social Computing’ and Enhanced Rich Content to Shape Future of Hotel Electronic Distribution,” 2006 HEDNA Conference [www.hedna.org], June 5, 2006.
- eyefortravel. “Online Branding Has Proven To Enhance Brand Awareness and Search Performance,” TDS Europe 2006 Special [www.eyefortravel.com], June 6, 2006.
- Lamarche, Simon. “Influencez en utilisant les communautés,” Adviso Consulting [www.adviso.ca], June 14, 2006.
- Poudrier, Sophie. “Le Web 2.0, les entreprises emboîtent le pas,” Bulletin SISTECH, CEFRIO (Centre francophone d’informatisation des organisations) [www.cefrio.qc.ca], June 2006.
- Ri, F. “internet 2.0, un nouvel eldorado?” Libération [www.liberation.fr], March 24, 2006.
- Schetzina, Cathy and Bob Offutt. “Social Technology Ushers in New Era of web,” PhoCusWright, April 2006.
- Wolf, Philip C. “Travel 2.0 Confronts the Establishment,” PhoCusWright, June 2006.

Warning, you’re being tracked!

Thanks to browser technology, businesses now have the ability to store profiles of their customers’ buying habits, preferences, financial resources, and so on. Some companies judiciously use this type of strategic information to adjust their pricing according to a user’s profile.

According to Charles Leocha, a journalist for MSNBC.com, online travel agencies like Expedia use sophisticated software and browser cookies to analyze customers’ previous transactions. This means a consumer’s search results can vary according to the profile recorded. For example, if a particular consumer is shown more higher-priced fares – or fewer discounted fares – it could be because the system has identified him or her as a “good customer” who is more likely to purchase higher-priced items. In fact, this is a subtle way of preventing certain types of consumers from purchasing lower-priced items. It’s a little like banning well-heeled shoppers from dollar stores!

A concrete example

Although this type of marketing practice may seem like a paranoid example of Big Brother at work, it is nonetheless closer to the truth than to fiction. Online travel agencies may insist that such biases don’t exist, but our experience shows otherwise.

To test the truth of this hypothesis, we conducted a test with members of the Tourism Intelligence Network team. We ran a simple search on the Canadian Expedia site for a plane ticket from Montreal’s Dorval Airport to Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport, departing January 8, 2006, and returning a week later on the 15. However, our three searches, conducted simultaneously on three different workstations, produced three different results (see illustrations).

Profile 1

In the case of Profile 1, the lowest price offered was $800 for a connecting flight or one with 2 stops or more, with no direct flight option. As for Profile 2, the lowest price displayed was once again $800, but this time, we were offered a non-stop flight for $978. Finally, Profile 3 was offered a flight for the somewhat surprising price of $699, in other words, $101 less than the other two! And yet, it was the very same US Airways itinerary, with exactly the same departure times.

Profile 2

Profile 3

Read the fine print

Expedia’s policy with regard to using information collected from customers is as follows:

«Expedia.com collects certain technical information from your computer each time you request a page during a visit to Expedia.com. This information is collected from your computer’s Web browser to enhance your experience on our site…»

Few consumers are aware that retailers are able to manipulate online shoppers’ personal information to conduct what some experts call “psychological marketing.” The Annenberg Center at the University of Pennsylvania examined this phenomenon in a study entitled Open for Exploitation, released in June 2005.

The study’s results demonstrated the naiveté of US online consumers, 68% of whom believe price comparison sites like Expedia and Orbitz are required by law to display the lowest available price. Furthermore, 87% of the people surveyed said they strongly object to online retailers offering different prices for the same product, depending on the information gathered on customers’ shopping habits.

Somewhat questionable, but still legal. Use with care.

Price customization is therefore a very real practice and, contrary to popular opinion, it is entirely legal. As long as discrimination is not based on factors like race, religion, nationality or gender, there is no problem. Such approaches have been around for a long time, like discounts for students and seniors, for example.

This type of strategy is a legitimate business tool because it follows the trend of yield management and companies must satisfy the needs of shareholders. Although businesses that offer a flat price at all times may satisfy their clientele, they will definitely deprive themselves of a higher profit potential.

There’s nothing new about dynamic pricing. The major difference stems from the fact that the internet offers businesses a number of new ways to efficiently adjust their pricing. Since consumers are still not very aware of the incidence of price customization, businesses employing this strategy must be very careful not to cause dissatisfaction and erode customer loyalty.

The internet unquestionably offers businesses an opportunity to acquire highly relevant and strategic information about their customers and thereby target different market segments with different prices for the same product. Technical tools enable retailers to study not only the purchasing behaviour of online shoppers, but also their non-purchasing behaviour, in other words, their information searches.

In today’s context where the internet plays an increasingly important distribution role in relation to global distribution systems (GDS), more and more travel agencies are going online to find prices. This raises another question: what happens when travel agents consult the internet on behalf of their clientele? Could such agents be penalized due to their frequent use of sites that employ dynamic pricing?

Tourism-based businesses with the technological ability to do so must ask themselves a key question: is it profitable to take advantage of our clientele’s electronic profiles to implement dynamic pricing?

A double-edged sword

Retailers trying to determine their web strategies in relation to dynamic pricing must define these strategies with great care. For example, is it better to offer lower prices to customers who visit the site frequently, but rarely buy, or to those who are loyal and rarely shop elsewhere? It is a difficult question because, in fact, a business could decide to offer higher prices to loyal return customers, gambling that their loyalty will blind them somewhat and make them unlikely to shop elsewhere. Or the same business could just as easily adopt the opposite strategy, in other words, reward loyal customers by offering them the lowest prices possible.

The stakes are high because bad decisions could cause a business to lose many customers. On the other hand, automatically rejecting any type of dynamic pricing is also a way to miss out on some lucrative profits that would be difficult to make in other ways. To make an informed choice, retailers must look at all the parameters that could help guide them. In particular, they should not only consider the frequency of a customer’s site visits, but also the time of year, the type of products purchased, the profit margin on previous transactions, etc.

Possible backlash

Since the practice of dynamic pricing is in its infancy, businesses can still take advantage of the fact most consumers know nothing about it. However, in the longer term, organizations that rely too heavily on this approach could well pay the price.

One possible risk is an increase in the number of intermediaries created to fight back against businesses “guilty”of too much greed. Although the goal of such initiatives would be to denounce abusive practices, they could also, for example, rank travel websites according to their level of “honesty” and try to protect customers – or even steer them away – from businesses seen as too manipulative.

Although it is difficult to accurately assess the extent to which dynamic pricing is used in Quebec, we can safely assume that few organizations have adopted it as yet. Although companies are technically capable of amassing a ton of information about their online customers, very few do so in order to analyze it, while others simply do not have the resources needed to efficiently collect this type of information.

Managers will definitely have to weigh the pros and cons before blindly adopting dynamic pricing. However, there is an amazing wealth of strategic information that can be gleaned by analyzing online clicking behaviour. Without going so far as to customize pricing, businesses could benefit – at the very least – from learning more about their site visitors, whether they buy anything or not.

Sources:
- Elliott, Christopher. “A Low-Fare Browser?”, National Geographic Traveler, July-August 2005.
- Feldman, Lauren, Joseph Turow and Kimberly Meltzer. “Open to Exploitation: American Shoppers Online and Offline”, Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania, June 2005.
- Knowledge@Wharton. “What Consumers – and Retailers Should Know about Dynamic Pricing”, Hotel News Resource [www.hotelnewsresource.com], December 2, 2005.
- Kontzer, Tony. “Online Shoppers Growing Wary Of Sharing Data”, InformationWeek, August 15, 2005.
- Ramasastry, Anita. “Web Sites Change Prices Based on Customers’ Habits”, CNN [www.cnn.com], June 24, 2005.
- Ramasastry, Anita. “Websites That Charge Different Customers Different Prices: Is Their ‘Price Customization’ Illegal? Should It Be?”, FinLaw, June 20, 2005.

Blame it on the GDS

In the travel industry, the arrival of the GDS (global distribution systems) led to the first dynamic pricing strategies, also known as yield management, by enabling travel agencies to easily compare prices among competing companies. The advent of the internet has simply encouraged this comparison phenomenon. In an environment of virtually transparent pricing windows, dynamic pricing is even more important. Certain experts make a distinction between dynamic pricing and yield management; the former is a pricing strategy defined over the medium or long-term, while yield management uses this approach in the short-term.

Adopting dynamic pricing

An effective dynamic pricing strategy can help improve the profitability of a business. The traditional approach of many managers was to prioritize cost-cutting to increase profit margin. In today’s more open business environment, the idea of adopting a well-defined pricing strategy for one’s product has become a very interesting alternative. According to the firm of Simon Kucher & Partners, a pricing specialist, dynamic pricing can increase net profitability by anywhere from one to four percent.

With the help of technology, many hoteliers like Hilton and Intercontinental have recently adopted a much more dynamic approach to pricing. Jim Kilroy, vice-president of Starwood Hotels, feels traditional pricing models based on ceiling rates are a thing of the past and hotels should be more responsive to the market.

Before testing the waters of dynamic pricing, Xavier Marcé of XMO Consultants suggests that businesses follow the guidelines below to increase their chances of success:

• Find out how your clients react to fluctuations in price. It’s also important to realize that demand is composed of several blocks and that it can fluctuate according to market segment, originating market, dates, etc. During certain high seasons, it is much less flexible.
• Be familiar with what your competitors are offering. You must know who your prime competitor is before you can develop an effective price strategy. For example, the Montréal Science Centre recognizes that the Biodome offers more direct competition than an ordinary museum does.
• Adapt your products and services to your customers’ expectations. When you are knowledgeable about your customers, you can adapt your products to specific segments. Ski areas, for example, attract retirees by offering special season passes that can only be used outside peak periods.
• Identify demand for each period of the year. The travel industry is subject to major seasonal fluctuations in demand. Since this problem will always exist, detailed knowledge of the phenomenon’s extent, combined with dynamic pricing, can attenuate the effects.
• Select the ideal distribution channels. While the internet has definitely encouraged an increase in direct sales to consumers, it has also created a greater number of sales channels. Online sales are a particularly flexible and responsive method of marketing one’s wares. Selecting your distribution channels also means selecting the partners who will act as intermediaries. For example, many hoteliers have regretted their decision to join forces with online agencies like Expedia that use the merchant model, because this has translated into a loss of control over the online sale of their rooms.
• Set price barriers. By making certain prices conditional on specific situations, you can avoid losing some of your traditional customers who might be attracted to discounts. For example, offering an “early-bird” special can help counteract the effects of “last-minute” deals while maintaining less price-sensitive customers who will simply reserve later. You can also restrict the availability of products at certain prices. Finally, a method commonly used in the airline industry is to limit the options of changing or cancelling in the case of certain discount products.

Many advantages

Improving one’s pricing process is clearly more advantageous than trying to cut costs. First, it does not require a large financial outlay. Second, a new pricing strategy generates immediate results and can quickly enhance cash flow. Third, dynamic pricing usually creates a more substantial impact than simple cost-cutting.

It is also important to remember that one must never compromise product integrity. After all, for potential buyers, price is still closely related to quality and – above all – to perceived value. Consumers can be annoyed if prices are constantly being cut or products put on sale. Studies have shown that, even during a crisis, it is not profitable to drop one’s prices.

Although it may not be a science, dynamic pricing requires thought and deliberation on the part of managers so their organizations can adopt consistent strategies that reflect their corporate philosophies.

Sources:
- Boehmer, Jay. “Hotels Float Rate Change: Chains Attempt to Expand Dynamic Pricing to Corporate Travel,” Professional Pricing Society [www.pricingsociety.com], August 2, 2005.
- Brault, Franck and Sabrina Brouzes. “Le pricing dynamique, une formidable opportunité pour les tour-opérateurs,” Revue Espaces, No. 226, May 2005.
- Cornu, Yves. “Un produit n’a pas un coût, mais un prix!” Revue Espaces, No. 226, May 2005.
- Marcé, Xavier. “Les entreprises touristiques découvrent l’art du pricing,” Revue Espaces, No. 226, May 2005.
- Serlen, Bruce. “Hotel Rates Go Dynamic: Hilton, Intercontinental End Fixed Pricing,” Business Travel News [www.btnmag.com], October 18, 2004.
- Simon, Hermann and Kai Bandilla. “Maîtriser la chaîne des prix pour accroître ses profits,” Revue Espaces, No. 226, May 2005.