Infographic: Big Data Insights – Companies Are Attacking Big Data In A Big Way
Big Data, a term that has become a ‘yes-we-are-aware-of-it’ term among travel industry decision makers is going to become increasingly important in the years forward. The magic lies in data. Using data (in the right way) that a travel business collects and stores in database they can create magic. We will be writing a very detailed article in Travopia about “Big Data and Travel Industry” very soon.
Hotel Star Rating: The Varying Degrees of Confusion
Hotel star ratings are systems that rank hotels according to quality. Star rating systems are intended to serve as guidelines for guests who are making hotel reservations. While star ratings can be helpful when booking hotels rooms, there is no standardized star rating system. In Europe, hotels are usually ranked on a scale from one to four stars, with four stars being the highest rating possible. In the United States, hotels are generally ranked on a scale from one to five stars, sometimes using half star increments.
What is flying ‘Standby’?
On most modern airlines, flying standby occurs when a passenger travels on a flight without a ticket for that specific flight.
Why fly Standby?
There are two circumstances in which passengers typically fly standby.
First, a missed flight may require a passenger to fly standby on the next flight to the same destination, since they now lack a ticket.
What is No Show, Go Show, Gate No Show?
No Show: A passenger who has booked ticket for a flight, but didn’t turn up for boarding (due to any reason).
Go Show: Airline terminology for the passenger without a reservation who takes a chance on getting on board at the last minute in place of a ‘No-show’.
Gate No Show: A passenger has checked-in the hand baggage, but not boarded the flight. In this case, baggage will be removed from the flight.
Author: Karthick Prabu
Types of Ports
Aircraft "Ground Handling"
Average Daily Rate (ADR)
ADR is one of the commonly used financial indicators in hotel industry to measure how well a hotel performs compared to its competitors and itself (year over year). It is common in the hotel industry for the ADR to gradually increase year over year bringing in more revenue. However, ADR itself is not enough to measure the performance of the hotel. One should combine ADR, occupancy and RevPar( revenue per available room) to make a sound judgment on hotel performance. Recently, some hotels have adopted a new concept called BAR [best available rate] in addition to ADR.
"Homestay" – Term Defined
Homestay – A home that accommodates guests on their tour. Its estimated that the number of homestays in Kerala is increased by 70%. One can easily find a homestay in Kerala. They offer accomodation, home cooked local food. They also offer different packages (sight seeing etc.,). Number of rooms should not be more than 5, according to the Homestay rule in Kerala.
Homestay sites to refer:
- www.homestaykerala.com
- www.keralahomestaysonline.com
- www.exploreruralindia.com
- www.heritagestay.com
Timeshare Property
Timeshare is a type of hotel. A timeshare is a form of ownership or right to the use of a property, or the term used to describe such properties. Typically, multiple parties hold rights to use the timeshare property, and each sharer is allotted a period of time (typically one week) in which they may use the property. In this case, no sharer holds claims ownership of the property.
Though reportedly fewer than six percent of U.S. households own one, the prevalence of vacation ownership continues to expand. Worldwide exists 5,425 timeshare resorts, of which around 31% are situated in North America, 25% in Europe, 16% in Latin America. Emerging resorts in Asia offers 14%, led by Japan, but with Thailand and India increasingly prominent.
Prominent hoteliers, such as Starwood, Wyndham, Accor, Hyatt, Hilton, Marriott, and Disney own timeshare resorts.
What owners can do with Timeshare?
- Use their usage time
- Rent out their owned usage
- Give it as a gift
- Exchange internally within the same resort or resort group
- Exchange externally into thousands of other resorts
- Sell it either through traditional advertising, online advertising or by using a licensed broker
Much lauded is the idea of owners exchanging their week, either independently or through several exchange agencies, to stay at one of the thousands of other resorts worldwide. There are many exchange agencies, of which the two largest are Resort Condominiums International (RCI) and Interval International (II). They have resort affiliate programs and members can only exchange to affiliate resorts. Together they have over 7,000 resorts. RCI and II charge a yearly membership fee and fees for when they find an exchange. They also bar members from renting weeks for which they already have exchanged.
Fixed week ownership
The most basic unit is a fixed week; roughly starting with the first calendar week of the year. An owner may own a deed to use a unit for a single specified week. For example, week of Christmas, Diwali, New year etc. If an owner owned Week 26 at a resort he or she could use that week every year
Floating
Sometimes units are sold as floating weeks. The ownership will be specific on how many weeks the owner owns and from which weeks the owner may select for the owner’s stay. Example: Owner may select any week between weeks 22 through 36. Some floating contracts exclude major holidays so they may be sold as fixed weeks.
Vacation club
Vacation clubs are organizations that may own units in multiple timeshare resorts in different locations. Club members may reserve vacation time at any of the owned resort units based on availability.
