<B> HEDNA Sets Standards</B>
By Maria P. Vallejo
<I>Pittsburgh, Pa.</I> - In an industry increasingly relying on global distribution systems and online services to get its product out, the Hotel Electronic Distribution Network Association this year is tackling two major issues: how to display European rates in the GDSs as the euro enters the currency scene, and how to set standards for online services selling hotel rooms over the Internet.
Just as HEDNA began to settle into a comfortable rapport with the various systems, alternative distribution systems jumped onto the scene, bringing new concerns about repackaging and posting room and rate information. The association in December created a new ADS work group of 20 to 30 members to address the issues being raised by such automated booking sites as Pegasus' Travel Web, Microsoft's Expedia, Sabre's Travelocity and WorldRes. The group will include representatives from the various systems, hoteliers, travel agents and GDSs.
"We have this new area that's entering the electronic playing field," said HEDNA president Michelle Woodley. "In the ADS arena a lot of this is still in its infancy, and we are hoping that we can help them by setting standards for how it would work best for us as customers and for them."
Like most work groups created by HEDNA, the ADS group will develop documents that outline a standard for interaction between users and providers. HEDNA said that while ADS companies inevitably will try to distinguish their products from those of competitors, it hopes they will use marketing and advertising differentiation rather than "functionality and the way reservations are handled."
Unlike its Global Distribution Systems work groups--five separate groups that meet behind closed doors from competing GDS companies--the alternative media groups will include all the vendors in a single forum designed to address the issues pertaining to all. While some ADSs are independent entities, others are Websites of the GDSs themselves, using their own information on the back end.
Despite the growing popularity of ADSs with consumers, they are not expected to eclipse GDS usage figures, but rather grow simultaneously. "We're going to see steady growth in ADS, but I don't think we'll see a decrease in GDS. Both are going to be growing," Woodley said.
While technology continues to capture the attention of most HEDNA members, international issues also are taking precedence this year. HEDNA officials fear that Europe's imminent conversion to one currency, the euro, has not received sufficient attention from the hospitality industry. "A lot of people have been avoiding it or they're not really realizing the implications it could have on our business," Woodley said.
The main concern of hoteliers is how their rates will be displayed on the GDSs, in local currency or the euro, especially regarding countries that do not participate in the unified monetary system. The stringent laws accompanying the change also can affect the industry; companies that do not participate in recognizing the new currency will be blacklisted from business interactions, Woodley said.
Together, HEDNA and the GDSs will establish a communal solution, such as implanting an automated currency converter within the GDSs. "We want to make sure rates for customers are displayed the way they're supposed to be," Woodley said. "We felt that if we just handled it once and for all we'd alleviate any problems. What we are really striving for is a common approach so the work doesn't have to be done quadruple times."
As the issues HEDNA covers grow, so does the necessity to expand its survey projects. This year, the association will begin to conduct and distribute its industry survey reports annually to help create a benchmarking tool. Previously, the survey, which includes data from GDSs and hotel companies, was conducted on alternate years. The 1997 survey report, distributed in December, recorded 1996 survey results. "In the past we've only been able to handle this every other year," Woodley said, "but that's almost too late. Almost a whole year has gone by."
Based on last year's high response of 76 companies, the annual survey now has enough support to demonstrate industry trends in such areas as the usage of alternative media, officials said. The revised survey now asks for the names of the specific ADSs hotel companies use to distribute their products and the amount of money they allocate for the new medium. This year's results will be posted in the 1999 survey report, available next March or April.