~Updated on 19th February 2024~

In response to the recent announcement in Malaysia's Budget 2024 presented in Parliament, a significant development is on the horizon that may cast a substantial impact on the hotel industry. There is an increase in the Sales & Services Tax (SST) from the current 6% to 8% which will take effect from 1st March 2024. 

In many countries, including the Philippines, hotels often collect various taxes and fees from their guests. These taxes are typically imposed by the government and are meant to generate revenue for local or national purposes. The specific taxes and fees can vary, but one of the common taxes collected by Hotels in the Philippines is Value Added Tax (VAT). 

Below are the Frequestionly Asked Questions (FAQs) related to VAT: 

If you are tired of sifting through a mountain of emails every morning, this simple technique will help you stay organized and ensure that important messages don't go unnoticed. 

Many guests, especially the regulars, call the host to make a booking. This is good for the business. However, the host will end up answering tons of phone inquiries regardless of the time. Having the option to book online gives many advantages that are not only beneficial to you as the host, but to your customers as well.

After Airbnb went public listed, they are on a drive to increase their revenue. That is why the removal of guest service charges and moves to a 15% host commission model - up from 3% commission. Rising commission to the property is nothing new since most of the OTAs do so to the hotels over the years. Airbnb might follow the path to success set forth by other OTAs. The more hotel relies on OTAs, the harder for them to say "No" to the hike in commission. That's why many hotels focus on "direct booking" now to reduce their reliance on OTAs. On the other hand, the hike in commission is inevitable. After all, it's getting more costly for OTAs to distribute your Airbnb (or your room) because most of them are competing to sell to the same group of customers (fixed demand).

There are three ways to keep your Airbnb calendar in sync with the Booking.com calendar. In this article, we will talk about the pros and cons of each. The vacation rental industry has become more popular, and it's now even more competitive. If you are the property owner or operator that wanted to grow your Airbnb business, you need to consider getting your property listed on more than one platform other than the Airbnb app. By advertising the property through multiple channels, there is a high possibility to reach more audiences around the world. It gives more opportunities to generate more bookings.

You love how OTA’s brings your hotel in with more exposure, but you wish you don’t have to pay them a very high commission. Here are a few tips to implement that will help you increase direct bookings in your website without needing to share your revenue with others.

If you haven't read our article about Hotel PMS, I highly recommend you do so. From there, I believe you will be able to understand what PMS is all about and what are the essential features that Hotel PMS should have. 

As of 15th March, there are 5.5M individuals in Malaysia who have registered for the Covid-19 vaccine through the MySejahtera app. As we all know, Malaysia launched the very first batch of Covid-19 vaccine on 24th February 2021, and at that time, The Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin was among the Malaysian that received the first shot. By 29th March 2021, Malaysia will complete the vaccine delivery for the first quarter of this year.

The hospitality industry is one of the biggest sectors that was hit hardest by the Covid-19 pandemic. The government is forced to impose lockdown and travel restrictions, putting the hotel industry in the toughest situation. 

Nevertheless, many hotel businesses are now trying to fight and find solutions so that they can operate the business as usual with the new safety measures and adapt to the new normal so that the guests feel comfortable and safe during their stay.

The limitations to human contact and social distancing are now changing the way hotels check in their guests. Many hotels started to stop the traditional check-in and implement a contactless check-in service instead. 

-Updated on 23rd May 2023-

The recent pandemic has taught us about the norm, especially on social distancing. Many businesses are now looking for technology that allows them to reduce human contact in order to avoid the spread of coronavirus diseases. Demand for safety and convenience by customers is also increasing. Hence,  self-service kiosks now are on the rise in the business industry.