Hotel Management Network

Daily Newsletter

10 August 2023

Daily Newsletter

RateGain Travel Technologies, an India-based SaaS solutions provider for hospitality and travel industry, has announced the appointment of Peter Strebel as its new president to lead the Americas region.

Strebel is replacing the outgoing president Chinmai Sharma, who in his five years with RateGain helped in scaling the Americas business.

Serving as chairman of Omni Hotels & Resorts, Strebel provided strategic counsel. Prior to this role, he served as president, senior vice president of sales, chief marketing officer at the hotel company.

Guiding Omni Hotels during the Covid-19 pandemic crisis, Strebel is claimed to have helped position it well to capitalise on the changes in the industry.

He also played a key role in implementing branding, marketing, communications, and business development strategies to boost awareness, market share, and revenue for the luxury hotel brand.

Strebel also served as Wyndham Hotel Group’s president, executive vice president and chief marketing officer.

Currently, he is on the board of trustees for the Dallas, Texas-based Incarnation House and the board of directors for the American Hotel and Lodging Association (AHLA).

RateGain Travel Technologies intends to leverage Strebel's understanding of the hotel industry in the region to double its revenue in the next three years.

RateGain Travel Technologies founder and managing director Bhanu Chopra said: "The next phase of RateGain's growth requires a leadership team that can help us outsize the impact we are making on our industry, and I am quite certain that Peter will help in bringing that to RateGain.

“His experience in leading operations, sales, and marketing will be critical for us to drive more well-rounded growth as we aim for our next big goal."

RateGain Travel Technologies works with more than 2,800 customers and over 700 partners in more than 100 countries across the world, helping them to speed up revenue generation via acquisition, retention, and wallet share expansion.

Demand for upscale and luxurious products has been rising steadily in the travel and tourism sector

The theme of premiumization, and the upscale and luxury markets, now have the opportunity to thrive in an industry that has had to rapidly change to meet new changes in traveler demands. The increased need for privacy, a greater focus on health and wellbeing, a desire to tick off ‘bucket list’ experiences, unintentional saving of money, the tendency to take longer trips, the focus on eco-tourism, and an increase in millionaires means the theme of premiumization will continue to grow in importance. The travel industry will experience a surge in demand for higher-end and customized offerings as experiential consumption keeps growing. For many, ‘premium’ means a variety of things. However, it refers to first-rate service, extreme comfort, and one-of-a-kind experiences in travel and tourism. Premiumization is closely linked to luxury travel. While premiumization attracts only a small number of global travelers, it is important for companies as it is a valuable revenue stream that is unlikely to be impacted by external factors like economic downturns. Personalization is key in premium offerings, the shift from focusing solely on premium products to an emphasis on delivering exclusive and personalized offerings is apparent. Therefore, smart destinations can help to create hyper-personalized services and products. Leveraging the Internet of Things, destinations can curate offerings based on gathering real-time data on guest preferences and behaviors. This enables the industry to transcend typical offerings and remain competitive.