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TravelCLICK Reports Recovery for Hotel Bookings on Internet
and GDS since Onset of Iraq War -
Company Issues Tips to Hotels:
"Don't Stay Quiet"
CHICAGO (April 9, 2003) - TravelCLICK, the leading provider of solutions
that maximize net revenue for hotels, reported today that hotel bookings
on the Internet have fully recovered since the onset of the Iraq war.
In addition, travel agent inquiries for hotel availability made through
the GDS are trending upward. The company also issued a series of tips to
help hotels increase their occupancy and rate performance going forward.
"Transactions and site visits for both the GDS and Internet dropped
in the third week of March," said Bruce W. Mainzer, senior vice president
of marketing for TravelCLICK. "We are keeping a constant watch and
are now seeing healthy improvement for the first week of April. Consumer
online site visits and hotel bookings on the Internet are now slightly
above pre-war volumes in early March."
Based on a review of selected travel Web sites, TravelCLICK analyzed
trends in consumer online activity throughout March and the first week
of April. At the onset of the Iraq war during the third week of March,
total site visits were down nine to 15 percent, and hotel booking transactions
were down five to 10 percent, when compared to the first week in March.
For the first week of April, site visits to travel Internet sites actually
increased two to four percent compared to early March. While total
travel (Car, Hotel, and Air) transactions are down slightly, hotel booking
transactions have fully recovered, and in some cases, are showing increases
over the first week of March.
TravelCLICK also reviewed trends related to travel agent usage of the
GDS, including inquiries regarding hotel, air and car rental availability.
The third and fourth weeks of March showed that travel agent inquiries
(availability calls) for hotels declined 12% to 16% on GDS systems.
The first week of April has shown slight improvement, with hotel availability
calls down 11% to 14% compared to the first week of March.
"Hotels are more concerned with the appropriateness of their advertising
messaging and with developing smart strategies for generating business,"
Mainzer said.
"Hotels can't stay quiet. Generally speaking, they need to ramp up their
communications ability to be able to broadcast all their changes in rates,
cancellation policies and security strategies."
According to TravelCLICK hotels should review the following tips to
maximize performance during these challenging times...
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Adjust Your Marketing Strategies. Domestic travel, especially
road travel, is on the rise due to pent-up demand and need for leisure
time. Hoteliers need to have offers that appeal to their local and drive
markets.
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Communicate Quickly. Travelers and their families will be
looking for reassurance of service and security as well as rates and cancellation
policies. The GDS and Internet platforms are the most effective channels
for reaching potential customers with the latest information. Allocate
resources to provide daily updates to your Web site, as well as utilize
the updating features for your hotel's information on the GDS and third
party internet sites. "A hotel's individual Web site and every one
of its distribution channels should have up-to-date information addressing
these areas," said Mainzer.
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Maintain Focus on Customer Service. Cutbacks in staff results
in many hotel management carrying expanded responsibilities. Smart
hoteliers will rededicate their focus on ensuring excellent service. "Despite
these difficult times, impeccable customer service will still be a differentiating
factor for success," said Mainzer.
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Measure Results Constantly. In the current economy, hotels
and all businesses struggle with the idea of further reducing costs.
On the sales and marketing side, with the growing size of the electronic
channels there is more information available than ever before to not only
quickly assess results of marketing initiatives, but also benchmark performance
against competitors. TravelCLICK advises hoteliers to demand and
expect measurement and feedback on marketing initiatives. Fine tune
or change marketing and sales strategies quickly as results are monitored.
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Don't Go All Distressed. Allocating large portions of room
inventory to opaque, or auction sites at low rates often diminishes higher
priced demand from other sources. Smart hoteliers use the online
and other performance reporting tools to track booking trends versus their
competitive set. "The best performers have systems in place to monitor
electronic channels frequently and gain an understanding of how much to
discount and when," said Mainzer.
More information on these tips, including case studies and examples of
how these strategies have worked in local markets, is available on request
by calling (800) 416-9753 or via email at [email protected]
About TravelCLICK
TravelCLICK (www.travelclick.net)
is the leading provider of solutions that help hotels and other travel
industry suppliers maximize net revenue from electronic distribution channels.
TravelCLICK's competitive benchmarking reports provide hotels with price
and booking performance information unavailable through any other source.
The company's exclusive electronic marketing networks allow hotels and
other travel related suppliers to target promotional messages to specific
travel agents, consumers, and group meeting planners when they are booking
travel. Established in 1996 and headquartered in the Chicago area,
TravelCLICK operates in more than 140 countries around the world.
The company has over 6,000 clients, including national and international
companies such as Accor, Air France, Avis, Best Western International,
British Airways, Carlson Hotels Worldwide, Choice Hotels, Fairmont Hotels
& Resorts, Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts, Grupo Posadas, Hilton
Hotels Corporation, Hyatt Hotels & Resorts, Kempinski Hotels &
Resorts, Leading Hotels of the World, Loews Hotels, Lufthansa, Marriott
International, Orient Express Hotels, The Peninsula Group, The Ritz-Carlton
Hotel Company, SAS, The Savoy Group, Shangri-La Hotels, Sol Melia, Starwood
Hotels & Resorts, Thistle Hotels, USAirways, Virgin Atlantic and Wyndham
Hotels & Resorts. |