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Act Local

Hotels in most major cities market themselves to travelers from afar.  I’ve heard revenue managers speak proudly of the fact that 20% of the hotel’s visitors are from Europe and 10% are from Asia.  A good RM will understand travel patterns from out of town visitors and both market and cater to these guests.

Selling to distant customers is obviously important for every property, but hotels should also actively sell to their local market.  Below are some of the tools and techniques you should consider.

Become your Customers

One of the common cliches in business is that you must “listen to your customers”.  Listening is a good start, but to truly excel as a hotelier you must become your customers.

How do you become a customer?  Simple – go through the entire travel planning, booking, and experience cycle in the same way a customers would do it.

Have fun with this.  Pretend to be a “mystery shopper” which is a role that many big hotel chains employ.  These people travel from hotel to hotel rating each property on how it adheres to brand standards.  In your case, rate your hotel and your competitors on who does the best job servicing guests.

Here are some things you can do:

1.  Search for a hotel in your neighborhood using Google.  How often does your hotel appear on the first few screens?  Are you above or below your competitors?  If you are advertising on the search engine, is your ad current and is the advertised offer available?

2.  Look at each hotel’s web site.  Scrutinize your web site and those of your competitors.  How does each property look on the site vs in real life?  Which hotels do a better job of highlighting local events and attractions?  Which hotels make it easy to book a room?  Can you find a reservation phone number?

3.  Book a room both online and by phone for each hotel in your competitive set.  How long does it take?  Are you prompted to buy a larger room and add-ons?  Are the phone agents courteous and professional?  Can they answer detailed questions about the property and neighborhood?

4.  Stay overnight in each hotel at least once per year.  Show up for your reservation very early or very late.  How does the front desk react?  If you room is not ready, do they suggest a nearby activity or comfortable place to wait?  I once showed up exhausted at a hotel in London after an overnight flight, and although my room wasn’t ready the hotel had showers and a lounge open specifically for international travelers.

5. Sit in the lobby of each hotel for 2 hours.  What do you notice about the atmosphere and energy of the place?  I stayed in a small hotel recently where the bellhop was chatting with the front desk clerk every time I came into the lobby.  This was extremely off putting.

6.  Use each hotel’s services and rate their performance.  Note how comfortable and quiet each room is.  Are there any inconveniences at competitor hotels that you can use to your advantage?  I was at a luxury hotel recently where the bathroom faucets were so close to the wall I couldn’t turn them.  A small issue but annoying enough that I will remember it next time I’m in that city.

7.  Note any offers each hotel makes during your stay. A hotel I used in NY recently did not have its own fitness center – but the front desk clerk offered free access to a great neighborhood gym.  I took advantage of this and checked out with a great feeling about my stay.

8.  Look for post-stay follow ups.  Does the hotel send you a feedback form a couple of days after you leave?  Big travel web sites all do this now, but hotels should also solicit direct guest feedback themselves.  Submit some comments.  Does the hotel respond?  I’ve answered dozens of post-stay surveys but only a few times have hotels sent a specific response to my note.

After you do this I guarantee you will gain a new appreciation for how your customers feel about you.  It will be much harder to come up with excuses for ignoring customer feedback.  Become your customers and increase both guest loyalty and hotel profits!

What is your social media strategy?

By guest blogger Jon Pyle

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Much has been written lately about opportunities to generate new customer relationships and ultimately, incremental revenue through social media.  While most people agree that social media networks are indeed full of potential, little has been written about how hotel marketers can leverage this potential to their advantage.  This is likely because social media networks are by design a medium where individuals can exchange ideas and create new connections with like-minded people.  This does not necessarily include businesses wishing to influence members of these networks.

Don’t confuse editorial and advertising

Most social media sites have well-defined areas where advertisers can place their messages.  The remainder of the site is hallowed ground where corporate influence is not welcome.  Sites like TripAdvisor invite travelers to post reviews about their travel experiences, including hotel stays.  While this does become an invitation for a hotel representative to respond to comments posted about a specific guest experience, when it pertains to the editorial section of the site it does not extend to making promotional postings, posting booking links on the site or using advertorials to influence social network member behavior.  As is the case with television and radio, a line must be defined to separate advertising and editorial.  News editors in traditional media have always been mindful that any attempt to influence their content by the advertising department will have a long lasting negative impact on their editorial integrity.

Beware of heavy-handedness

Social network sites are comprised of individuals in the spirit of a cooperative, and commercial influence will likely be viewed by members as inappropriate meddling that will undermine the integrity of the network.  Case in point was the well-publicized exposé within the past year where it became known that certain hoteliers were posting favorable reviews about their own properties on TripAdvisor.  Not only did TripAdvisor members react with disdain, but other more ethical hoteliers did as well.  The credibility of the entire site was immediately put in jeopardy.

Presently, the opportunities to use social networks to influence purchasing behavior are limited.  Social media networks are happy to have advertising income and in most cases have allocated space for this purpose. Any effort to go beyond the use of advertising space on social media sites will require a well-planned strategy.  While there are no clearly defined rules about how businesses can participate in social media networks, members of those networks will be quick to point out any behavior that is perceived to be inappropriate influence.  As a result, what was intended by the hotel marketer to create a positive impact may result in doing exactly the opposite.

As with all marketing, target your audience

While sites like Facebook arguably include a wide range of interests and purchasing power, the marketer that figures out how to target sub-sections of these large databases will be more successful than those that attempt to appeal to all members.

Before plowing head first into social media marketing, it is a good idea to understand the psychographic and demographic profile of each site that you intend to target.  What is the goal for your marketing program?  Which social media sites best match your customer profile?  What is your budget and what type of return on investment do you expect?  At the end of day, basic direct marketing principles apply as much to social media as they do to other channels; offer, audience and timing all have to be well-planned in order to create an effective campaign.

Recommendations

As social media network continue to attract more members and more attention from businesses looking to capitalize on their purchasing power, it is inevitable that more opportunities will present themselves to savvy marketers.  For now, the best strategy is:

1. stay vigilant about who is using each social media site
2. monitor what if anything is being said about your hotel, and
3. selectively advertise on social networks when cost-effective

About the author

Jon Pyle is the Principal at roommarketer, a hospitality marketing firm specializing in electronic distribution based in Torrance, California.

A Massive Single-Point-of-Failure

The Three Global Distribution Systems (GDSs) are still important engines for travel commerce.  Sabre, Travelport, and Amadeus each transact massive amounts of reservations each day.  Most traditional or offline travel agencies access and book travel inventory via a GDS, and many web sites are also powered by GDS technology.  There used to be two industry switches(Pegasus and Wizcom) that connected travel providers such as hotels to the GDSs, but now there’s just one (Pegasus). Pegasus used to be a big, financially sound company with lots of very talented engineers. Now… well we’re not so sure anymore.

So what would happen if the Pegasus switch crashed?

Well for one, I’d show up for the 21-gun salute to a lost soldier.  Other than that, this is what I foresee:

The GDSs would lose tons of hotel bookings. GDSs would not be able to book hotels connected through the switch since they don’t have the rates and availability in their databases anymore. If they had they could make bookings and deliver them to the hotel by email, for example. (Oh, and Lanyon, who used to publish the rates and availability in GDS would make lots more money again suddenly!)

Some bookings would still be possible since some big hotel chains have direct connections with some of the GDS. Those hotels that remained bookable would get a lot more business – at the expense of the rest of the industry of course.

The rest of the lost GDS bookings would be made online… I suspect through the online travel agencies, primarily. But the cost to the hotel company of a $400 hotel reservation would go

• from somewhere just under $50 for a commissionable booking (10% commission to the travel agent plus $10 distribution fee – GDS fees included) or $10 for a net negotiated, non-commissionable booking (a very sizeable chunk of GDS reservations)
• to about $88 (about 22% commission to Expedia.)

The large travel agency consortia too would lose lots of money from lost commissions on hotel bookings no longer possible.

Pegasus would likely go out of business (I don’t think it has the financial strength to withstand a crash of its switch), its meager remaining assets distributed to the highest bidder.

The Pegasus switch is a massive single point of failure for the hotel industry.

Hoteliers, reservation system providers and GDS need to wake up.

It’s easy to interface now, unlike 20 years ago. XML, web services, HTNG, Open Travel Alliance a tried and tested booking process make it easy to connect industry reservation systems. We’re not in the late ‘80s, early ‘90s anymore.

The GDS need to open up their interfaces and publish them on the internet. Let reservation technology providers build to those specs. The GDS also need to get rid of archaic technical constraints like “session control” and “two-phase commit” – they’re not really needed and every online agency does just fine without them. They should automate the testing of new connections, speed up the deployment of direct-connects and move their hotel platforms  into the 21^st century.

The industry as a whole will benefit and rest a little easier.

Hoteliers wake up!

Excuses Abound

Hoteliers have become laggards in adopting new technology in their hotels.  Why aren’t hotels keeping up with the times?  Excuses I have heard include:

- We don’t have the money to invest in technology

- We would invest, but good technology is not available

- Guests don’t care about technology.  They want better mattresses and fluffier towels.

- Hospitality is a people business.   Guests don’t want to interact with a computer

- Technology is changing so fast we don’t want to invest in something that will be antiquated in 2 years

- Guests bring their technology with them

These reasons are all absurd.    Hotels that provide a better experience to their guests will retain and attract more customers.  And by using new technology hotels can increase both room and ancillary revenue.  By postponing or forgoing technology investments hotels are losing potential revenue, disappointing guests, and increasing their operating costs.

The good old days

Back in the day, people used to look forward to staying at hotels in part because hotels had better technology than people did in their homes.  For example, hotels had pay-per-view movies in guest rooms decades before on-demand TV was broadly available in the home.  On an even more basic level, hotels had color TV with remote controls before many consumers could afford their own.

Hotels should be embarrassed by how far they have fallen from technology leaders to laggards

Outmoded Hotel Rooms

- In 2010 it is impossible to buy an analog CRT TV in a store – yet most hotels still have them in their guest rooms.  Even 4 and 5 star hotels.

- Yes it is true that hotels have started to install HD LCD TVs, but in most cases the properties are connecting the TV via an analog coaxial cable.  This is just dumb.  Not only are hotels wasting the money they spent on HDTVs, the picture quality is actually worse than on Standard Def CRTs that were replaced.

- Internet access at hotels is still spotty.  This is bizarre when wireless access is available in every diner and bookstore in the US.  Hotels:  stick a few more 802.11N routers on each floor (they cost all of $75 each these days) and eliminate those dead spots.

- I have encountered two different versions of  in-room entertainment systems, both of which haven’t changed noticeably in 5 years.  At home I can choose from thousands of movies to watch, at any time, on my computer or TV.  Some of these are free and others come at a cost.  Why haven’t hotels upgraded their in room entertainment systems?  As everyone knows, pay per view is extremely profitable for hotels.  The better options they have, the more people will spend.

- At this year’s HITEC show, many vendors were showcasing IP phones that integrate with a room’s entertainment system as well as other on-property systems (housekeeping, room service, spa, etc).  I have never seen one of these phones in a hotel.  I’m not convinced that a high powered phone is a good investment for an average hotel, but I would think for some high end properties this investment would make sense.

- Does any property enable guests to order room service online?  I’ve never seen one that does.  Many restaurants support online ordering; hotels should be able to do the same.  How many times have you called room service only to either wait forever for an answer or worse yet have the kitchen mess up your order?  Online ordering is better for the guest and the property.

Technology Free Public Spaces

- You can check in for an airline flight via a computer, mobile device, or kiosk  but to check into a hotel you still need to wait in a long line and speak to a human being.  Hoteliers say “we are a face to face business, and guests don’t want to check in with a machine”  In my opinion this is complete hogwash.  Every business traveler I know wants to get into his or her room without delay.  There is no reason to wait for an agent to stumble through a check in process for 15 minutes before handing over a key.

- If hotels insist on greeting guests with a human being, for goodness sakes arm these agents with a wireless check in device.  We can make video calls on our cell phones now, but hotel check in must be done from a desktop computer hard wired to a PMS?

- Why don’t hotel rooms have bar code scanners on room doors that open using a unique bar code the hotels sends to our cell phone?  Airlines are using bar code technology to replace paper boarding passes.  Wouldn’t hotels save money if they didn’t have all those plastic room keys around (not to mention the fact that it would be better for the environment)?

Wake Up Hoteliers!

Hotels rethinking the need for brands

Many travel industry pundits have pontificated that hotels need the support of a brand during tough times.  These “experts” argue that brands provide a safety blanket of marketing and sales support to generate at least a trickle of business when a hotel is desperate to fill rooms.  Brands have become creative in gaining business from independent hotels without requiring the properties to fly a flag.  Starwood has its  Luxury Collection, for example, which is a group of boutique hotels that pay Starwood for purchasing and distribution support.

In a recent post on this blog, I argued against this conventional view – stating that given today’s marketing opportunities (especially online) hotels can be quite successful without a brand. Apple Core hotels for one is dropping flags at its Manhattan properties:

http://travel.usatoday.com/hotels/post/2010/06/nyc-hotel-owner-dropping-big-chain-names-from-budget-hotels-to-boost-rates/96794/1?loc=interstitialskip

What do you think?  Are hotels smart or crazy to drop their flag?

A short video showing the features and benefits of RezTrip 2.0

It runs just 3 minutes and 17 seconds.

RezTrip 2.0

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Tell us what you think!

[The video has been produced by Michael Clarke, owner and creative director at Suburb Studio. Michael's work can be seen on his website and his LinkedIn profile is available here. Michael is responsible for most of Travel Tripper's creative work. We think he's awesome!]

Be Direct. Be Yourself. Be Independent!

There has never been a better time to be an independent hotel.  People expect a personalized experience from the products and services they use, and they want no less from their chosen hotel.  Branded hotels tend to be somewhat cookie cutter, as hotel chains drive “brand standards” that range from room decor, to guest services, to bathroom amenities.  Independent hotels, on the other hand, can paint their rooms any color and put any brand of soap in the bath.  And the Internet is fostering a myriad of marketing channels – many of which even the playing field between chain and independent hotels.

Hotels have used chains and marketing/representation companies as a security blanket – afraid to fight for customers without this protection.  I believe that the time is right to take down that chain flag, rip up your representation agreement, and Be Independent!

Big boxes are BORING

Many years ago, each hotel was different from the rest.  Over time, hotel chains emerged and started to swallow up and replace independent hotels in cities and roadsides.  Chains were successful for several reasons:

1. Consistency:  Chains conveyed the benefit of brand consistency at a time when consumers craved the security of knowing in advance what the product would entail.  Hotel guests were happy that a Holiday Inn hotel in one city was exactly the same as one in another city
2. Sales Aggregation:  Chains brought hotels business by aggregating business from travel agencies, business groups, and call centers.  Independent hotels quickly signed on with chains because the brand would deliver guests the hotel could not otherwise reach
3. Purchasing Power:  Chains could set lower prices than individually run independent hotels, because the chain used cost economies in construction as well as supply sourcing.   In other words, if the hotel saved $1 per room in lower bedding cost it would pass $.50 of the savings on to guests in the form of lower room rates

The Tables have turned

1. Uniqueness is good: At the beginning of the 21^st century, consumer desires began to change.  People got bored with sameness and wanted their choice of lodging to better fit their individual needs.  Chains realized this and reacted by building “boutique chains” within themselves.  They did this with limited success, however, as the mini-chains turned out to be just as boring as their older brothers – on a smaller scale.
2. Sales channels have fragmented: Hotels can now reach customers through a huge number of sales channels both online and off.  Furthermore, independent hotels can hire a reservation center and sell via the GDS themselves without cowering under a brand umbrella.  And of course the Internet offers a huge direct sales channel that did not exist at all 15 years ago.  On average, hotels now receive 62% of their business directly.
3. Purchasing agents have emerged: Hotels can join group buying organizations to gain purchasing power that rivals that of the chains.  Independent hotels can keep all of the money they save on pillows and tissues

Be Unique

As an independent hotel, you can choose whatever identity you like for your property.  Want to try catering to swinging urban singles?  Go for it.  Want to become a family oriented property?  You can try that too.  Brands have difficulty changing their marketing approach for an individual property.  Once the brand or rep company has pegged you as a “city center business hotel” they will market you like all other hotels in that category.

Brand fees are high

Like many franchisors, hotel chains make a healthy profit on the back of their franchisees.  Don’t believe it?  Many hotel chains remained profitable during the recent economic downturn while independent hotels and other businesses struggled to survive.  That’s because hotel owners (franchisees) assume financing risk while franchisors collect royalties and incur very little capital risk.

Brand fees vary, but a typical fee structure includes:

1. Franchise application fee:  $45,000 for a property of 150 rooms or less
2. Franchise royalty:  5% of all hotel revenue
3. Reservation fee:  Can average 4% of revenue delivered from chain’s reservation system
4. Marketing contribution:  2.5% of all hotel revenue
5. Loyalty program fees:  Another 1% of hotel revenue
6. Miscellaneous fees: Varies

The average brand fee for a mid scale hotel totals 10% of room revenue.  At least once a year you should carefully calculate whether your brand brings you enough value to justify this expense.

Representation Companies do what exactly?

Years ago, hotel representation companies offered a great value to their member properties.  Groups such as Leading Hotels of the World, and Preferred Hotel Group gave independent hotels marketing and sales support for both direct and intermediated business.  Every year the rep companies delivered thick, printed hotel guides to thousands of travel agencies all over the world.  This book was the bible of independent hotels, and properties would pay exorbitant fees to ensure they were in it.  Believe it or not, in the year 2010 rep companies are still distributing those printed books!  When was the last time you reserved a hotel room out of a book?

Rep companies occupy the nether region between consistency (the hotel chain’s primary proposition) and uniqueness (independent, non-flagged hotels).  Rep companies claim to offer travel agents and consumers a qualified offering while permitting hotels to maintain their distinctive nature.  Unfortunately this qualification is very inconsistent, and guests would have a very difficult time explaining what a rep company brand offers exactly.

While not as expensive as chains, rep company fees are not insignificant for a hotel:  8% of revenue is quite common.

Even Chains are going independent

Big chains are recognizing that consumers want what independent hotels can offer.  Marriott is launching Edition – a boutique hotel collection – with Ian Schrager (certainly no hotel traditionalist).  Starwood has the Luxury Collection of individual boutique hotels, and lifestyle brands like Kimpton and Design hotels are portfolios of loosely similar properties.

Stand on your own

So how can you fill your rooms if you don’t use a brand or representation company?

1. Build and maintain a great web site.  For less than $25,000 you can get a unique, search engine friendly site.  Don’t forget to budget for maintenance and updates since you’ll want to keep your site fresh.
2. Promote yourself extensively via Online Marketing.  Either hire an online marketing specialist for your staff or hire a company (such as Travel Tripper) to manage online marketing for you.  Online marketing includes pay-per-click advertising on search engines, social networking on sites like Facebook, using promotional tools such as TravelZoo, and
3. License a powerful booking engine – like Travel Tripper’s RezTrip 2.0.  Convert as many visitors to customers as possible by integrating a great booking engine on your web site.  RezTrip 2.0 with its dynamic pricing capabilities and merchandising features is an excellent choice.
4. Control your intermediaries – don’t let them control you. Use online travel agencies (OTA) as a limited source of business only.  Like a dangerous drug, if you become too addicted to the OTAs you will find it nearly impossible to break away. Encourage travel agents to book on your web site so you can save some GDS costs as well
5. Don’t forget about offline marketing. Word of mouth is still a very powerful way to expose your hotel.  Partner with local businesses and commercial organizations to create promotions and drive business.  Walk into nearby offices and offer them a special rate for their visitors to stay in your property.  If you are in a residential area, put up flyers in apartment buildings to advertise your hotel.  The options are limitless.

So, before you automatically renew your chain or representation agreement – remember you have another, great option.  Be Independent!

Accor’s Reservation System has Decent Pricing Capability

In a previous  post I demonstrated the shortcomings in the pricing capabilities of hotel reservation systems. But after posting I thought that someone must be doing something correctly. But who? Could I find any res system that enabled more sensible pricing?

After poking around, I found that the Accor Reservation System (TARS) is better able than most systems to:

• Simplify hotel pricing
• Provide the ability for revenue managers to implement a coherent pricing strategy.

Like my previous entry, the purpose of this post is not to evaluate revenue strategies as much as it is to evaluate the ability of a reservation system to support a coherent revenue strategy. Note also that all conclusions in this post are based on analysis and inference. I have no direct insight into how things work in TARS and neither have I spoken with anyone at Accor.

So, I take responsibility for any and all factual errors in this post.

My Findings

I tested using two availability searches:

1. Sofitel in New York, 11^th Aug for 2 nights, 1 room, 2 adults
2. Sofitel in New York, 11^th Aug for 7 nights, 1 room, 2 adults

As you can see the the only difference in the two searches is the length of stay.

I found the following:

For the 2 night stay: 5 rooms and 4 rate plans were returned, summarized in the following table I created myself.

And for the 7 night stay, 5 rooms, 6 rate plans for the 7 night stay were returned as follows.

(Note: I’ve trimmed the prices to remove the decimals as they are not relevant to the analysis.)

Side Note:  The Early Rate (a full non-refundable pre-paid rate for advance purchases) is not offered for a 2 night stay. The absence of the advance purchase doesn’t make sense to me. Why put a length of stay restriction on an advance purchase offer. But fair enough – that was Accor’s revenue management strategy and we’re not here to question a strategy but to analyze TARS’ ability to allow its revenue manager to implement a chosen strategy.

So what do I think TARS is doing well?

Length of Stay price changes enabled without adding rate plans

Typically when a hotel wants to offer a lower average price for a longer length of stay, the reservation system requires the revenue manager to create a new rate plan, which is returned in addition to the base rate plan (often called Best Available Rate or BAR).

In Accor’s case however, for the room only offer there was no need to create new rate plans to handle different price points for the longer length of stay. The average rates or the base rate plans decrease based on the length of stay. A 7-night stay costs 29 dollars less per night than a 2-night stay regardless of room type.

Sensible package pricing

In my previous post I pointed out how package pricing is often out of whack when presented alongside room only promotional rate plans. This is because the room component of the package does not discount in synch with the room only promotional rate, and the result is that the package rate is too high given the value of the extras included in the package offer.

With TARS, however we can see that not only does average daily rate decrease in the room only rate plans as the length of stay increases, but the average rate also decreases in the package rate plans. And to ensure consistency, only the room component is discounted in the package rates. The Business and Haute Cuisine rate plans for a 7-night stay cost $29 and $38 less, respectively, than same rate plan for a 2-night stay regardless of the room type.

Differential pricing between room types

The price difference between room only and package rate plans is consistent across room types – this makes sense because the extras that are part of the package (non-room items) should not cost more based on which room type is reserved.

Pricing package components by length of stay

The price difference between room only and package rates is also consistent across length of stay. This makes sense because the hotel is only discounting the room component for longer lengths of stay.

However it would also make sense if the extras were also discounted for longer lengths of stay, if the reservations system had the capability to price extras based on lengths of stay. And it turns out that it can! The per day combined price of daily breakfast, daily three course dinner and a Zagat restaurant guide book falls from $50 for a two night stay to $41 for a 7 night stay.

Number of price points

Lastly, the 19 and 26 price points returned for the two different lengths of stay are far fewer and more manageable than most other systems would return in order to handle a similar strategy.

But yet, there is room for improvement

Up-selling reservation policies

Accor has three clearly distinguished rate plans which differ by their cancellation policies:

Early Rate (Non-refundable), Smart Rate (must cancel within 72 hours), and Premium Rate (must cancel within 24 hours).  Accor has done a job of creating clear and consistent guarantee policies.

Accor’s mistake, however, is in returning each combination of these guarantee policies with each rate plan.  This complexity adds 5 and 10 of the price points respectively in the 2 night and 7 night stay searches above. A better approach would be to offer a standard guarantee policy on each rate plan and offer alternative policies once the guest has selected a room-rate.  This would result in a reduction to 5 price points (one for each different room type) for both the 7 and 2 night stays

By simplifying per above Accor could reduce the price points to 14 and 16 for the 2 and 7 night stays respectively.

Handling multiple bed types within a room type

Accor creates multiple room types to account for each bed type at the hotel.  This is a needless complexity for its revenue managers and guests.  Accor should prompt guests to select a bed type at a later stage – after the rate plan and room type has been chosen.  Accor could therefore merge the Superior room with two twin beds with the Superior room with 1 queen bed, leaving us with just a Superior Room.

This would further reduce the price points to 12 and 14 respectively.

Clarifying the Extended Stay Rate

Lastly, let’s look at the Extended Stay Rate. This is pitched as an upgrade offer available for the 7-night stay. “Extended Stay Rate” is not a good name for the offer since it does not change price based on extending the stay. Secondly it is not available on the Luxury Room, whereas it easily could be since reserving the offer would not impact the inventory of the Luxury Room as the guest is given the Junior Suite. Lastly, the Junior Suite should be priced at $386 per night for the 7-night stay (the price it can be reserved at by availing of the Extended Stay Rate available for the Classic and Superior Rooms.

This would bring the number of price points to 12 for both the 2 and the 7 night stay and would look something like this:

11^th Aug for 2 nights, 1 room, 2 adults

11^th Aug for 7 nights, 1 room, 2 adults

Note that the policy options available for any rate plan and bed type options available for any room type can be offered after the initial room-rate has been chosen. This would be much easier for consumers to understand leading to higher conversions.

So while Accor is doing things better than most, I have still not found a booking product that comes close to RezTrip 2.0!