DALLAS—Global hotel bookings for business travel increased by 4.4 percent over last year in September, according to data released by Pegasus Solutions. Following a late summer stall that had bookings for the channel below prior year by 1.5 percent in August, September’s booking values sustained the year-to-date pace of 3.0 percent growth over 2012.
Average daily rates (ADR) remained a key contributing factor for business travel revenue driven to hotels from the global distribution systems (GDSs). Globally, they edged past prior year by 0.3 percent in September, inching to 0.6 percent year-to-date. The net result was revenue growth of 4.5 percent over 2012.
“Given the economic uncertainties many regions faced in September, like the looming government shutdown in the US, this data is even more convincing of the travel market’s resiliency,” said David Millili, chief executive officer of Pegasus Solutions. “There will always be a compelling need for business to be done through in-person connections with prospects, clients and vendors. It’s a question not just of efficiency, but of effectiveness.”
Leisure demand drove greater global revenue during the summer and through third quarter. July bookings competed against a robust 2012 performance, but rose to meet the challenge in August, inching to growth of 0.6 percent growth in September. Rates continued to outperform prior year, growing by an average of 4.7 percent over the summer, and leading to a 2.1 percent increase in September. The effect on revenue was a 3.0 percent increase over September 2012, and year-to-date growth of 4.6 percent.
Looking forward, both the corporate and leisure channels are expected to see booking and rate increases through the end of the year. Bookings as of September 2013 for arrivals from October 2013 to January 2014 show business travel peaking for the fourth quarter in December with 3.5 percent reservation growth over 2012 thus far. The leisure market will potentially see reservation gains of 5.4 percent by end of year over prior year, with even more volume leading into 2014.
Data reported by Pegasus Solutions comes from billions of transactions processed monthly for nearly 100,000 hotel clients, facilitating more than $16 billion a year.
