Leisure Online Bookings Jump in January 2014

After a bit of a down year in 2013, online bookings made by leisure travelers rebounded in January 2014, according to a report by electronic hotel transactions processor Pegasus Solutions.

Such bookings increased by 3.1 percent compared to January 2013 levels, and Pegasus expected the strong numbers to continue moving forward.

“Travelers are utilizing online channels to shop for hotels, which are also drawing interest from business travelers who have traditionally booked exclusively through the GDSs,” said David Millili, chief executive officer of Pegasus Solutions. “The challenge for hotels is how to be found and booked by travelers insistent on booking, but needing to be ‘sold’ to. Hotels that blend attractive presentation (through multiple points of sale), immediate access to information and a simple booking process will be more likely to pull their share of the bookings out there.”

Rates from online bookings also increased by 2.7 percent in January 2014 compared to the same period in 2013.

Corporate online bookings increased by 1 percent, while rates paid by business travelers grew by 2.9 percent. Corporate bookings are expected to outpace 2013 by an average of 4 percent through May, according to Pegasus, with the potential to rise by as much as 9 percent. The Easter holiday in April is expected to yield double-digit bookings growth.

Data reported by Pegasus Solutions spans billions of transactions processed monthly by the company, and The Pegasus View (produced quarterly) is the only industry report to reflect data drawn from both GDS and ADS transactions (representing the business and leisure markets, respectively).