Business and leisure travelers are making hotel reservations further in advance, according to the September 2012 TravelClick North American Hospitality Review (NAHR). These travelers are “no longer holding out until the last minute,” notes Tim Hart, EVP, Research and Development at TravelClick. “For hoteliers, this means that it is important to account for this shift in the booking window in their forecasting, relying less on comparisons to last year’s booking pace and more on recent booking pace trends.”
The report also indicates that committed occupancy for August 2012 through July 2013 is up 3.9 percent, and average daily rate (ADR) is up 4.1 percent, compared to the same time frame last year. From August 2012 to July 2013, the group (blocks of rooms for events) and transient (individual business and leisure travelers) segments are showing increases in occupancy at 3.5 percent and 4.4 percent, respectively. Business demand is up 4.1 percent, and leisure demand is up 4.3 percent compared to the same period last year. With respect to ADR, the group segment is up 2.2 percent, and the transient segment is up 5 percent year-over-year.
In Q3 2012, the hotel industry experienced a 1.2 percent increase in occupancy and a 3.8 percent increase in ADR. Revenue per available room (RevPAR) is up 4.4 percent compared to last year.
