The latest edition of Duetto’s Pulse Report, which tracked data for March 2021, shows some real reason for optimism in the United States heading into the summer months. The latest data shows significant increases in pick up, web traffic, and pace, and Latin America shows early signs that June and July 2021 may outperform June and July 2019.
North America
In this month’s Pulse Report, Duetto noted that the industry is finally starting to see some real signs of recovery for the North American market. Compared to February 2021, net new bookings made in March 2021 were up. For stay dates in April 2021, there was a healthy rise of 275 percent, with stay dates in May 2021 up by 187 percent, up by 183 percent for June, and 200 percent for both July and August.
Pace is increasing considerably alongside the strong boost in new bookings. Throughout the pandemic, pace has lagged behind bookings by as much as 50 percent. In March 2021, that decreased to a 40 percent lag indicating booking pace is rising and gaining momentum.
Latin America
Latin America showed an encouragingly positive increase of 110 percent in net new bookings made in March 2021 compared to last month. These bookings are for June and July 2021 stays, with double-digit increases for these two months compared to June and July 2019. This data indicates that travelers are unwilling to travel to Latin America in the short-term but are eager to look at summer travel.
Although the pace is still behind for Latin America for April 2021 compared to April 2019 by 31 percent and May 2021 to May 2019 by 11 percent, the biggest reason for optimism is that June and July 2021 are ahead of pace when compared to June and July 2019, by 7 percent and 4 percent, respectively, for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic, suggesting summer 2021 for Latin America could outperform summer of 2019.
“The hotel industry moves in a cycle, similar to the broader economy, which can feel like a roller coaster at times with a slow, steady climb up, followed by a rapid descent,” said Lloyd Biddle, director of enterprise solutions, Duetto. “The hotel industry experienced a disruption during this past cycle, not a traditional downturn. So, this recovery is shaping up to be more like a bounce-back or rebound than a traditional recovery. For example, Duetto Pulse data shows domestic leisure demand is driving revenue growth around the world in the months ahead. This is a divergent trend from the past because leisure was among the last segments to recover in past downturns. It’s important to keep your head, hands, arms, and legs inside the roller coaster whenever it’s moving. You can put your hands in the air initially, but you should safely return them inside of your car for the remainder of the ride.”
