Chicago (August 13, 2001) - TravelCLICK released results today showing that hotel room nights and revenue booked electronically during the second quarter of 2001 by travel agents and consumers increased versus the same period last year.  Room nights were up 3% over the second quarter of 2000 while revenue was up 2%, as average rate declined by 0.9%.  This growth in Global Distribution System (GDS) business occurred despite worldwide markets that witnessed a significant decline in total occupancy and RevPAR during the second quarter.

Combining the first and second quarter results for hotel electronic bookings results in a year-to-date increase of 4.4% in room nights and 5.8% in revenue.  Length of stay has been relatively stable, only growing from 2.12 to 2.14 nights on a year-to-date basis.

The results were compiled from TravelCLICK's comprehensive database, which is the exclusive source of hotel industry electronic distribution data from Galileo, Sabre, and Worldspan GDS's.  For the first time, E-Monitor now includes data from Amadeus as well. TravelCLICK's data also includes consumer online hotel bookings made through retail online (internet) travel agencies, which include Travelocity and Expedia.

Travel Agent Component

Travel agent bookings remain far and away the dominant source of hotel e-business, representing approximately 96% of total GDS room nights.  This travel agent component of GDS grew 1.6% in room nights and 1.1% in revenue over the second quarter of 2000.

Internet Component

Additionally, TravelCLICK statistics showed a very significant increase in the Internet component of the GDS.  Internet room nights, excluding bookings from auction sites, grew 61% in the second quarter of 2001.  Average rate was down for Internet related bookings by 4% from the second quarter of 2000.   

"Electronic hotel bookings made by travel agents are continuing to grow, despite the recent downturn in overall lodging industry bookings and the growth of direct consumer bookings via the Internet.  This means that for almost every individual hotel property, travel agent e-commerce is becoming more important and a higher proportion of the overall distribution of room nights. Hotels must ensure that they are capturing their fair share of this revenue," said Bruce W. Mainzer, senior vice president of marketing for TravelCLICK.

Top Destination Markets

The top five worldwide destination markets for total hotel e-distribution in terms of room nights during the second quarter were in order:  

Market              Rm Nghts    % Growth      ADR           %Growth
New York          1,407,597      1.0%       $208.93         -5.3%
Los Angeles     1,002,335        0.6%      $128.54          0.9%
D.C./Balt          983,447         3.2%        $146.38          0.9%
Chicago           863,416         -7.6%        $142.27         -0.9%
San Francisco  701,201        -18.8%       $174.67         2.2%

The five top worldwide destination markets for the consumer Internet portion of total e-distribution room nights in order were:  

Market          Rm Nghts           ADR
Los Angeles      43,619      $  96.72
D.C./Baltimore   43,604      $110.76
New York          37,612      $154.77
Las Vegas         34,914      $108.69
Chicago             27,102      $114.58

Mainzer added,  "Consumer online spending for travel continues to increase, and therefore it is not surprising to see that hotel bookings made by consumers through the internet continues to have very strong growth, almost doubling in the first six months over the previous year."

To receive a free listing of second quarter results by top 50 cities worldwide in electronic bookings, please e-mail [email protected].

TravelCLICK  is the world's leading provider of digital media and data solutions to the worldwide travel industry. The company's products help hotels and other travel industry suppliers improve profits through electronic distribution channels.