• The IV Dingus&Hotels meeting held in Malaga allowed us to explain the strategy for interacting with clients in a more active and decisive way
• Representatives of more than 60 hotel establishments in Andalusia accompanied us to learn the details of our proposal as a technology partner in commercial distribution
• Our partners of Hotelbeds and AddonPayments collaborated and participated

Dingus’ activity in Andalusia began in 2011 with 35 hotels, and by the end of 2018 the figure had reached 167. That same year, in the area, our technology made it possible to manage over 838,000 bookings, which translated into Revenue managed exceeded 341 M€.

To date, and in line with Dingus’ growth in all destinations, 18% more bookings have already been managed. The projection for 2019 allows us to forecast that we will reach the end of the year with one million managed bookings and a Revenue (also managed) of 470 M€ in all the Andalusian provinces.

These are some of the indicators that we have shared with almost 70 clients and business opportunities in Malaga, during the IV Dingus&Hoteles meeting, an event held at the Holiday World Polynesia (Benalmádena), in which we present our commitment Customer Service. This restructuring implies that the Projects&Deployment area becomes a unit of ‘proactive listening’ to the needs of the client to increase their satisfaction, identify points of improvement, detect market trends and optimize the use of Dingus technological tools, among other objectives. The functions of the Customer Service team now include telephone management of the customer portfolio, as well as account monitoring and evolution, training and certification of external users, or training of company users.

The evolution of the department, which will continue to depend organically on Dingus’ Business Development area, responds to our strategy in the face of new market scenarios, such as the irruption of investment funds in the hotel sector and their intentions to analyse even the smallest detail of the business they acquire or enter (even defining the type of supplier they will need in their future viability). But also, and in a much more direct way, it has to do with the vocation of service to a client “to whom we have listened and we are going to give answers in time and form, increasing our capacity of intercommunication”. This is how our Customer Service Specialist in Gran Canaria, Abigail Hernandorena, explained it.

Consolidated products and development of new proposals

At the IV Dingus&Hotels meeting we also had the opportunity to explain the technological moment and the impact among the users in which our catalogue of tools for the commercialization of tourist properties can be found.

The first intervention by the CEO and co-founder of the company, Jaume Monserrat, focused on the positioning of Dingus in Andalusia, which today is the third autonomous community where we have more presence. In this way, “the Andalusian provinces have become a preferred scenario to work hotel marketing and continue to be the technology partner of reference for the sector”.

Paula Servera (Business Development Manager) had the opportunity to present Dingus’ analysis of the market and trends in the area, identifying as the main opportunities for hotels the diversification of markets, adaptation to regulations that are already conferring a plus of security to the client (and above all, the protection of their data and payments), social and demographic changes, as well as trends: more people traveling, new concerns (environmental, cultural, social …) and customization of the trip.

For its part, Dingus’ commercial team (Isabel Robledo, Serena Caporro and Narek Davtyan) with sales manager Rodrigo Hernáez in charge, presented the improvements in Bookincenter, Roomonline and Mychannel, and the new functionalities of the solution for the integral management of collections that we have developed: the Book&Payment platform. Precisely one of the essential characteristics already for the hotel sector guaranteed by the Dingus collection manager is the compliance with the PCI-DSS standard addressed at the meeting from AddonPayments.

Pancho Pérez, Business Developer Manager / Hotels&Tourism Innovation (CaixaBank) explained that “the objective of connecting our payment gateway with partners of hotel technology solutions such as Dingus, is to create a solution that mitigates security and operational risks, improving the traceability of transactions”. On the future, Perez explained the collection trends optimized for reserves as a new way to act with the client that will mean PSD2, the future directive with which Europe wants to extend the PSD 2007. Among other things, it aims to standardise new electronic payment methods which are increasingly being implemented like online payments or via smartphones. The ultimate aim is to strengthen and protect against fraud in Internet banking and to improve security.

Alianza Dingus and Hotelbeds: 99M€ turnover in the last six months

Sonia San Emeterio (Senior Contract Manager) and David Moreno (Regional Manaer/Channel Manager Partnerships) of Hotelbeds, as representatives of one of the reference channels in Andalusia, accompanied us in the meeting with hotels recalling that, although they are integrated with more than 150 different channel managers “since the connection with Dingus in 2009 the relationship has become long-lasting and prosperous, maintaining active connectivity with more than 700 hotels that use Dingus in Spain”. Some data that support this alliance are the “almost 17,600 bookings confirmed in the last period of 30 days and more than € 99 M billing in the last six months. Hotelbeds recalled that their reservations “are fully integrated with Dingus with bilateral connection, so they go directly to the PMS reducing the possibility of errors and facilitating the task of the hotel with updates in real time”.

Hotelbeds reminded attendees that, in global terms, it works with more than 60,000 travel operators, that 40% of its bookings are for a minimum of 6 days, that 60% of its customers are from international markets, and that these have a higher level of planning (forecasts in advance of 55 days in the medium term), in addition to doubling the average spending on hotels.

With all this information, we are convinced that the Dingus&Hotels meeting served to certify the commitment of the company and our preferred partners with the hotel sector, the response to their current and future needs, and the constant work in the development and innovation of opportunities for distribution and tourism sales. Once the fourth edition of these events is over, Dingus is already working on an upcoming appointment with the hotels of the Canary Islands during the coming autumn.