In Q3 2011, 25 percent of travelers booked rooms directly through a hotel’s website, up 6.1 percent from 2010, according to the TravelClick North American Distribution Review (NADR). In that same quarter, online travel agencies like Expedia, Priceline, and Travelocity represented 12 percent of all hotel rooms booked; global distribution system (GDS) bookings used by travel agents accounted for 18 percent; and direct bookings-calling, emailing, or walking into a hotel-accounted for 27 percent. “With more customers chasing fewer rooms, it is important to recognize the significant opportunities to optimize channel mix and ensure that maximum revenue is achieved at the lowest distribution cost,” says Tim Hart, executive vice president, business intelligence solutions for TravelClick.
According to the NADR, OTA average daily rates (ADR) grew faster, relative to the prior year, than any other means of booking during the third quarter of 2011. The ADR of rooms booked through an OTA increased by 11 percent year-over-year, compared to a 3.4 percent gain for hotel websites. However, the percentage of bookings on the OTA channel declined.
