Expedia connects into Micros Fidelio

The Micros Fidelio and Expedia announcement today regarding a new direct connection capability is a significant development for the hospitality industry. A challenge for all hoteliers has always been the distributed nature of property based systems (PMS). Hotel general managers control inventory and pricing through their PMS where they evaluate room occupancy and rates in effort to maximize RevPAR (the revenue generating effectiveness of a hotel property that is calculated by multiplying the average daily room rate (ADR) by the occupancy rate). This connection opens the door for more dynamic hotel pricing online where the general manager can go to their internal system adjust pricing and deliver it electronically to the OTA. This property level connectivity was the original approach of Newtrade Technologies, a Canadian company purchased by Expedia way back in 2002. After the acquisition the focus shifted from property based connectivity to central reservation (CRS) connectivity. This has worked well for large chains such as Hilton, but did not help smaller European chains such Sunstar Hotels. The majority of hotels outside the US are small chains or boutique properties. Micros Fidelio is the leading provider of property based technology and thus this new connectivity promises to provide more control over price and inventory for smaller property as they work to distribute their inventory through Expedia.