The inaugural WIT Hospitality conference took place in Hong Kong’s state-of-the-art Hotel ICON on March 22, 2016 and the day brought forth far more than fresh insight, but it also acted as a platform for key players to fight their corner on key issues that riddle the travel and hospitality industry today.

The one-day event covered topics from how to address evolving customer needs, the love-hate relationship between OTAs and hoteliers, power shifts through consolidation and acquisition, to the rising importance of content marketing.

Drawing on both travel research and views shared by industry panellists ranging from hoteliers to airlines to start-ups, these nine critical learning points stood out in particular.

1) HOTEL AND DIGITAL PLAYERS MUST FIND A BALANCE IN THEIR CO-DEPENDENT RELATIONSHIP

Hoteliers look at OTAs like the world looks at Donald Trump and Ted Cruz, said Maria Taylor (Regional VP of Southeast Asia, TravelClick) �"  a mixture of awe, fear and bewilderment �" as digital players continue to disrupt hotels’ ability to drive direct bookings.

For example, Colman Ho (VP of Group Marketing, Century City Holdings) argues OTAs’ liberal cancellation policies mean customers often keep shopping for better deals after making a booking, which can create uncertainty for hotel companies. Nevertheless, OTAs and meta-searches are able to unveil new research trends, extend customer reach and ultimately bring in business for hotels.

The conflict lies in the power balance, says Jean-Luc Chretien (Co-CEO of FASTBOOKING), as “hoteliers and OTAs need each other”. Steps can be taken to make the relationship more mutually beneficial, e.g. through sharing of data analytics and insights to drive future strategy. Hoteliers would benefit greatly by integrating digital companies into their own infrastructure, like Accor’s acquisition of FASTBOOKING.

Adam Brownstein, General Manager of BookingSuite, APAC, whose company has signed up 8,000 hotel partners in the region, said, “Our responsibility [in tech] is to show hotels what they can do to embrace the changes… to help [hotels] win in the [digital] marketplace”.

2) HOTELS CANNOT BLAME DIGITAL ENTIRELY FOR LOSS OF CUSTOMER LOYALTY

Oliver Hua, Managing Director, APAC of Booking.com, said that there is less than 2% of repeat bookings on its platform, which raises the question of whether digital companies are weakening customer loyalty.

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