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HEDNA event in Brussels shines light on future of hotel industry
Mattia Torta
Senior Global Hotel Account Manager, Global Hotel Group
I work with leading hotel chains to develop their business through Amadeus channels and in order to do this, it's important for me to keep up with the trends and the landscape of the industry. As this is my first time at The Hotel Electronic Distribution Network Association (HEDNA) in Brussels, it was a great opportunity to meet with customers and colleagues, discuss consumer behaviours, and explore the future of hotel distribution.
The event brought together hotel distribution players from all sectors of the industry and was the ideal occasion for us to provide insight on industry trends and developments. I was also happy to discuss the key findings from our recent reportShaping the Future of Travel: Macro trends driving industry growth over the next decade and how they will influence hotel distribution.
During the event a number of industry professionals presented, including Christophe Jouan, CEO Future Foundation, who discussed the importance of a customer centric focus and how emerging technological trends will enable travellers to select the perfect destination. Worldhotel CEO Kristin Intress stress the importance of learning how to be found, be relevant and be bookable in today’s business landscape.
Attendees also had an opportunity to participate in an open discussion ofmetasearch opportunities – with “how far we can go?” being the big question on everyone’s mind. Audience members also probed Tripadvisor representatives on how they will offer the right place to book.
Social Media was a hot topic at the event as well – with heated discussion on how hotels can convert their social audience into customers through available tools and techniques and the key strategies to accomplish this. One thing attendees all agreed upon; hotels need to proactively create content such as sharing emotions and customer experiences about the hotel, while remember that ‘technologies should be designed to serve human ideas’.
As a sponsor of HEDNA, Amadeus also shared our vision of the future of the hotel industry during an Amadeus presentation on the evolving world of the GDS and through discussions on an industry panel about driving conversion through better content.
Overall, the event was a great medium for facilitating interactions between industry experts and key actors. It is fascinating to see all players in one room discussing the future of the hotel industry and there were many conversations to learn from – ultimately giving me a greater ability to advise my customers and give even better and more detailed consultancy to help them grow their businesses.
Were you at the event? What were your takeaways?
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