Yapta Launches RoomIQ Tool
by Michele McDonald /Yapta officially launched RoomIQ, a hotel rate-tracking tool, with Ultramar Travel Management serving as the launch customer.
Michel Botbol, president of Ultramar, said his company was already a user of FareIQ, an air fare tracking system.
“Yapta was able to deliver on the fare side, and we have been asking for the same thing on the hotel side,” he said.
Promising new technology
The company’s technology is “very promising,” Botbol said. “They have demonstrated the ability to crack the code.”
Botbol means that literally. One of the challenges of dealing with corporate customers’ negotiated rates is that the rate code is not captured and stored in the booking, and it’s not easy to track down after the fact.
But Yapta has figured out a way to search exactly the same room type with the same rate code, he said. “That way we make sure we’re not losing any amenities,” he said.
A side benefit is that Yapta can deliver reports to Ultramar by the type of rate.
A successful beta
During beta testing, Ultramar’s clients realized an average savings of $109 per booking, with an average stay of 2.4 room nights.
Botbol believes that Yapta is just scratching the surface.
In the future, RoomIQ also will provide the ability to broaden searches to hotels in the vicinity in the same category, offering more options.
For an Ultramar client that is using both RoomIQ and FareIQ, it has made $51,000 worth of sense in just the last few months. FareIQ delivered $39,000 in savings, and RoomIQ added another $12,000.
“Everyone who has enjoyed Yapta’s airline product wants to do same thing with hotels,” said Botbol. “It makes a lot of sense.”
