Hotel booking via online channels, including online travel agents (OTAs), hotel websites and global distribution systems (GDS), continued to gain popularity among both business and leisure travellers in the second quarter of 2014, according to data from the TravelClick North American Distribution Review (TravelClick NADR).
The biggest rise during the quarter, with a leap of 12.8% compared with last year, was seen by the OTA channel, which includes companies such as Expedia, Orbitz, Priceline and Booking.com. There was a marked increase of 6.9% in Brand.com’s room night bookings, and 2.9% growth for GDS.
The Hotel Direct channel, which includes calls directly to the hotel and walk-in customers, remained at 0.3% from last year, with the CRS channel down slightly to touch -1.7%.
Average daily rates (ADRs) rose 3.7% across all channels compared with the year ago quarter. The highest ADR was recorded by OTA, which rose by 10.7%. Other channels to record growth were: GDS (up by 4%), Brand.com (up 3.9%), Hotel Direct (up 2.7%) and CRO (up 2.1%).
TravelClick global product management senior vice-president John Hach said: "TravelClick’s NADR data continues to show the scope and magnitude that all channels have in generating increased bookings and revenue.
"This is an opportune time to be a hotelier, as hotels increased revenue per available room (RevPAR) by 6.8% for Q2 2014, compared to just a year ago."
