August 2009 Newsletter

12-Aug-2009 In this edition of InTouch Download:

• Changing Property Management System
• Congratulations Mr and Mrs Smith
• The GFC and the Industry
• Recession Busting with dataArc
• Our Top 5 Favourite Wedding Songs

Changing Property Management System
Please inform the ITD Team prior to your property upgrading or changing Property Management System (PMS), so that we can guarantee you seamless data extraction.We also need to be informed when your Privacy Settings (Do Not Contact for marketing puposes) change within your PMS.

Contact your ITD Account Manager - Melissa Kennedy (QLD/VIC/SA/WA/TAS/NT/NZ) or Kimberley Smelt  (NSW/ACT)- with any questions or to pass on any changes.

Congratulations to Mr and Mrs Smith

Congratulations to ITD Data Services GM, Trent Smith on his marriage to the very lovely Renee Gladman on Saturday July 25th in Brisbane.  The ceremony was held in beautiful sunshine at the Broadway Chapel followed by a reception by the river at the Rugby Club Downtown. Trent and Renee will be honeymooning in New Zealand for three weeks during August.

Wishing all the very best to the happy couple.

 The GFC and the Industry

 There are some interesting stats emerging for the first half of 2009. While all markets have been impacted by world events, there seems to be a mixed message in the regional statistics.

Of all markets, Australia/New Zealand and The Pacific region had the lowest drop in occupancy rates YTD June 2009 with a -5% growth. Compare that with parts of Asia and Europe down 17% and the US down 10.5%. That said, ANZSP had a huge 30% drop in RevPar which was at the high end of all regions.

Sydney, for example, had a circa 5% drop in occupancy however RevPar was down almost 35%. These are interesting statistics and may be interpretted in a number of ways. For instance:

Did rate-discounting stimulate to such an extent as to reduce the impact of potential loss of occupancy during this period?, or
Did the industry drive rates too low, too quickly? This last 6-9 months may prove to be an ideal case-study for the age old industry problem of how to manage shifts in supply and demand.

Recession Busting with dataArc

Now is the time to be squeezing every dollar out of the tools that you have on hand. Your dataArc guest history database provides innumerable opportunities- big and small- to entice past guests back to your property and attract new guests; through analysis of the historical database, identification of specific user groups within the database and targeted communication efforts.

Read more about the reports and initiatives you can run with dataArc. No idea is too wild…contact us to assist with your next campaign.

Our Top Five

Our Top 5 Wedding Songs:

• You Make Me Feel Like Dancing by Leo Sayer (Trent and Renee's ??)
• Everything I Do by Bryan Adams
• Truly, Madly, Deeply by Savage Garden
• At Last by Etta Jones
• It had to be You by Harry Connick Jr.

InTouch Download has been created to communicate information, tips and hints based on our clients' most frequently asked questions. I hope that you have enjoyed this month's edition and learned something new. If you have any suggestions regarding future content, feedback or requests for information please let me know.

With warm regards,

Rebecca Reilly
Director
Intouch Data