Hotels and tour operators could make the hotel booking process for travel agents considerably easier if they join forces to implement the Destination Accommodation Exchange (Daex).
That was the message from Simon Lewis, manager e-Ventures Group, Emirates, who recently led a forum at the Fairmont Hotel, Dubai, to discuss the advantages of using Daex, the world’s first real-time internet hotel inventory consolidator for hotels, giving instant booking confirmation for tour operators and travel agents.
Lewis said hotels and operators often use outmoded fax machines as a means of communication, which resulted in time lags and service issues.
“Tour operators are fast realising that unless they have the capabilities to communicate efficiently and effectively with their suppliers, and service their clients at the same level, they are not going to survive,” he said.
“[With Daex], here is an opportunity to leap ahead in terms of correcting those deficiencies.”
Some 22 hotels in the UAE have been trying out the new technology during the course of the last six months, many of which were represented at the forum.
Lewis said the response to the new technology had been positive from both hotels and operators.
“It’s the first time I have worked on a project where both sides see a win-win situation,” he said.
“The challenges have come from presenting what is a quantum leap forward, and getting hotels to actually pick up the baton and run with it.
Everybody is waiting for someone to take the next step,” he added.
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