Metro Engines Inc. Releases "metro engine," a New Revenue Management Tool for Hotels/Ryokans

TOKYO, Japan, April 25, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Metro Engines Inc. (HQ office: Tokyo, Minato-ku, CEO: Ryosuke Tanaka, http://info.metroengines.jp revealed "metro engine" (patent applied), a whole new revenue management tool for hotels/ryokans that utilizes artificial intelligence and neural network for machine learning. (Official launch of the service is expected in mid-May.) 

Forward-looking Revenue Management

Traditional revenue management relies on analysis of past data. However, there are numerous factors that fluctuate every year and day, such as the timing of Chinese New Year, Cherry Blossoms, various events, weather, etc., as well as changing industry dynamics such as the rise of vacation rental services. Thus, it is difficult to set an optimal room rate and maximize revenue based on past trends. Furthermore, there is no way to verify whether the room rate was indeed optimal or not.

The new tool "metro engine" released today gathers big data related to guest's "booking behaviors" (room rates of competing facilities, reviews, in-room pictures, vacation rental property information) every day, and conducts thorough analysis as well as calculation of optimal room rate based on real-time data using artificial intelligence. Furthermore, it helps realize revenue maximization through repeated verification of the optimality of the calculated room rates by machine learning (patent applied).

Top-notch AI / machine learning technology

"metro engine" does not rely solely on algorithms but also uses IBM's cognitive computing technology such as machine learning AI, deep learning, natural language processing and visual recognition AI. The more it is used, the more accurate the tool will become.

As an example of the application of such technology, the company plans to provide the following functions:

• Optimization an verification of room rates using machine learning
• Analysis of review contents posted on accommodation booking websites all over the world in any language using natural language processing
• Analysis of in-room pictures using visual recognition AI  

Metro Engines Inc. gathers and accumulates an enormous amount of appropriate big data, which is arguably the most important component of AI/machine learning — for example, more than 30,000 accommodation facilities in Japan, every single vacation rental property since 2014, more than 17 million reviews, seasonality/events, demographic statistics, tourism-related statistics, etc.

Leveraging these data, the company plans to provide various analysis, extraction of reports and other useful functions to assist revenue management:

• Review notification: Every day, we will send the reviews posted in different languages all over the world. Users will be able to set the frequency of notification and have the reviews automatically translated.
• Inventory analysis: Display the number of inventories all over Japan by area or by prefecture. It will allow people to grasp the supply/demand in an instant.
• Earnings simulation report
• Wide range of data analysis/data provision by prefecture or by city

Connection with hotel/ryokan's own system and customization

In order for the hotels/ryokans to use the functionality of "metro engine" while continuing to use their existing systems, the company plans to provide services such as connecting to site controller / PMS and other systems, or customizing to the need of the individual facility. The tool's accuracy will be enhanced by reflecting the internal data.

Other services planned for the future

• Consulting service for hotels/ryokans: We will utilize our big data and artificial intelligence to propose solutions for hotels/ryokans that directly contribute to attracting more guests and raising ADR, including competitor analysis as well as improvement plans for interiors/amenities/meals/service based on review analysis and in-room photo analysis.
• Data distribution: From our enormous pool of big data, which includes our proprietary time-series data related to vacation rentals, we will sell the required data in an easy-to-use format.
• Globalization: We aim to set optimal room rates for every accommodation facility in the world by the end of 2017, applying the tool's algorithm and AI/ML technologies.

For further details, please refer to the following website:
https://metroengines.jp/index_en

Media Contact: 
Jiro Suzuki 
Phone: +81-03-44056703 
Contact form: https://metroengines.jp/contact_en/

Related Links

Corporate site

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SOURCE Metro Engines Inc.

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