Breaking Travel News

Electronic hotel revenue up nine percent

TravelCLICK’s eMonitor results for the third quarter of 2005 show that worldwide electronic hotel revenue from the Global Distribution Systems (GDS) and key Internet sites combined was up 9.4 percent. Room nights from the electronic channels also increased 2.2 percent over the same period last year.

The Average Daily Rate (ADR) rose 7.1 percent over the third quarter of 2004 with an ADR of $132.01.

Electronic room nights year-to-date through the third quarter increased by 4.8% from the same time last year, revenue was up 11.5 percent and ADR increased by 6.3 percent.

The average length of stay for the 2005 year-to-date period was 2.19 nights, slightly higher than last year’s 2.12 nights.

“Third quarter electronic channel performance continues to trend positively, especially within the GDS segment,” said John R. Hach, Vice President of eMarketing Product Management for TravelCLICK. “Given the maturity of the GDS, the results are impressive and demonstrate the ongoing viability of the channel.”

ADVERTISEMENT

eMonitor results are compiled from TravelCLICK’s comprehensive database, which is the exclusive source of hotel industry electronic distribution data from the Amadeus, Galileo, Sabre and Worldspan GDS. TravelCLICK’s eMonitor also includes hotel bookings made through third-party travel Internet websites powered by Pegasus Solutions.

Travel Agent Component

Travel agent bookings remained the dominant source of GDS and Pegasus hotel e-business, representing 80.3% of total room nights.

The travel agent component of GDS bookings had a 6.5% increase in ADR versus the third quarter of 2004.

Travel agents continued to be a key source of higher rate business for hotels. The average rate for room nights booked through travel agents was 32.6% higher than the average rate for room nights booked via the Internet.

On a year-to-date basis, travel agent hotel room nights via the GDS were up 5.5% from the same period in 2004.

Internet Component

Internet (consumer online) room nights displayed a loss of 12.5% compared to the third quarter of 2004. ADR was up 4.7% for Internet bookings compared to the same period last year.

Year to date, the Internet component displayed a 2.2% growth in room nights compared to the first three quarters of 2004. ADR was down 0.6%, but revenue was up 1.6% over the same period last year.
——-