Despite the third quarter results, GDS room nights for the first nine months of 2001 remained ahead of last year by 0.5%. This slight growth in GDS e-commerce contrasts with year-to-date declines in total hospitality industry room nights of 2.5% and more reported for the U.S. and many other markets. On a year-to-date basis, GDS e-commerce revenue declined 0.2%, as ADR fell 0.7%. Length of stay has been stable at 2.14 nights both in 2001 and 2000 year-to-date.

The eMonitor results were compiled from TravelCLICK�s comprehensive database, which is the exclusive source of hotel industry electronic distribution data from the Amadeus, Galileo, Sabre, and Worldspan GDSs. TravelCLICK�s data also includes consumer online GDS hotel bookings made through many of the major Internet travel sites, such as Travelocity and Expedia.

Travel Agent Component

Travel agent bookings still remain the dominant source of hotel e-business, representing over 95% of total GDS room nights. The travel agent component of GDS declined 8.4% in room nights and 12.8% in revenue compared to the third quarter of 2000.

Internet Component

Despite the impact of September 11 and the soft third quarter in general, the Internet (consumer online) component of the GDS continued to display growth. Internet room nights, excluding bookings from auction sites, grew 36.1% in the third quarter of 2001. Average rate was down for GDS Internet related bookings by 5.7% from the third quarter of 2000.

Total GDS Hotel e-commerce    24,905,145    -7.0%    $119.61    -5.2% 
Travel Agent Component           23,771,029    -8.4%    $120.84    -4.9% 
Consumer Internet Component    1,134,116    36.1%    $ 93.85    -5.7% 

Total GDS Hotel e-commerce    78,752,260     0.5%    $125.16    -0.7% 
Travel Agent Component           75,814,132    -0.9%    $126.27    -0.3% 
Consumer Internet Component    2,938,128    61.0%    $ 96.55    -4.6% 

�Electronic hotel bookings made by travel agents continued to grow through August, despite the recent downturn in total lodging industry bookings. September was a different story, as the immediate impact of the terrorist attacks resulted in a 40% slide in bookings for the week following September 11th. However, GDS room nights recovered quickly so that, for the entire month of September, GDS room nights were down 21.8% from last year,� said Bruce W. Mainzer, senior vice president of marketing for TravelCLICK. �Going forward, while we expect room nights to be adversely affected by the slowing economy, GDS e-commerce room nights should outperform the general industry recovery trend.�

Top Destination Markets

The top five worldwide destination markets for total GDS room nights during the third quarter were in order:

Market                       Rm Nghts     % Growth      ADR      %Growth 

New York                    1,172,181      -14.3%     $191.56     -11.4% 
Los Angeles                   917,586       -6.2%     $123.01      -4.4% 
Wash., D.C./Baltimore    836,979       -8.5%     $132.00      -4.3% 
Chicago                        794,480      -15.2%     $133.48      -8.6% 
San Francisco               617,878      -28.9%     $160.41      -9.7% 

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

Market                           Rm Nghts     ADR 

Los Angeles                     32,197    $ 93.97 
Wash., D.C./Baltimore      28,360    $101.91 
New York                         25,892    $141.07 
Las Vegas                       23,570    $ 96.36 
Chicago                           21,398    $110.21 

Mainzer added, �Even with the impact of September, consumer online spending for travel again posted an increase. Consumer online bookings made through GDS powered web sites like Travelocity and Expedia represent approximately 15% of all hotel bookings made over the Internet. Assuming the same healthy growth rates that we are seeing on the GDS, year-to-date consumer online hotel revenues on the entire Internet have grown by over $700 million.�

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

TravelCLICK  is the 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.