By Gordon McClendon

SPI Software recently sent me to attend the ARDA New England meeting held in Providence, RI. This was a terrific day of listening to speakers, learning about new ways to help your resort stay competitive and your owners satisfied.  One especially inspiring session sought to pool the minds of more than 130 industry professionals to brainstorm ideas to address issues affecting older resorts. The ARDA staff later collated and organized those ideas, as follows:

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Over the last couple of months Google has hired the creative team behind the online travel guide, Ruba, plus they just acquired ITA Software, Inc., a travel search firm. According to Bloomberg News, PhoCusWright analyst Joe Buhler says Google has some interesting ways to utilize the data they have collected over the years in travel searches. Hmmm? What does it all mean? Read Google "travel" and let us know what you think.

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School is out, the days of the “staycation” are over and people are traveling! According to a recent study by U.S. Travel, the outlook for domestic travel within the U.S. is looking better than last year. Occupancies are expected to grow while rates decline slightly. After what has been a couple of years of cost-cutting, most families are ready to get away and enjoy themselves. With forward-looking data indicating sustained increases in GDS average daily rate (ADR) and length of stay (LOS), Pegasus Solutions reports show a remarkable +39.6% increase in net revenue on a date-of-booking basis for the GDS channel, according to Mike Kistner, chief executive officer of Pegasus Solutions.

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