The Hotel Electronic Distribution Network Association (HEDNA), a not-for-profit trade association, has reported that hotel bookings made through Amadeus
, Galileo
, Sabre
, Sahara
and Worldspan
grew 11.4% in 2000.
These results are part of HEDNA`s 7th annual poll conducted to determine the net hotel reservations generated by GDSs.
Net hotel reservations delivered by GDSs totaled 48,787,000 bookings in 2000, an increase of over 5,000,000 bookings in comparison with the 1999 total of 43,781,000 net reservations.
Based on an average daily rate of US $130 and an average length of stay of 2.2 days, 2000 GDS hotel bookings produced over US $13.95 billion in revenue for hotels worldwide.
Hotel bookings have grown every year since HEDNA began its survey in 1994. Since 1993 (when 16,331,600 reservations were delivered), annual GDS hotel reservation production has increased 199%.
HEDNA President Caryl Helsel, who is also Vice President of Reservations & Distribution for San Francisco-based Kimpton Hotel and Restaurant Group said, HEDNA is excited to see the continued growth of electronic distribution. This illustrates that GDSs are still powerful tools, whose usage continues to grow at an enormously rapid pace. HEDNA is heavily involved in working with hotels, GDSs and travel agents to push as many reservations as possible through electronic channels. We look forward to continuing to advance electronic reservations through all distribution channels in the future.
John Burns, president of Scottsdale-based Hospitality Technology Consulting, which conducts the survey annually for HEDNA said, The interest on the part of both travel agents and the general public in booking hotel accommodation through electronic channels is indisputable. Our challenge now, as an industry, is to facilitate the process, using this channel to appealingly present our lodging product.
——-