The latest edition of Duetto’s Pulse Report, which assessed hotel metrics from July 27 to August 9, is showing a slight improvement in North American bookings. Latin America is continuing to struggle. However, when it comes to web traffic, the data showed a considerable amount of consumer interest in Latin America coming through Brand.com.
2021 Uptick for North America
North America saw an initial slowdown in new booking activity going into the month of August. However, the latest Pulse Report data shows a slight improvement in net new pick up activity. New bookings for stays in August, September, and October grew by 47 percent, 35 percent, and 39 percent, respectively.
Looking ahead to the first half of 2021, booking activity is showing improvement, with a noticeable increase for stays in April 2021. While this is a potentially promising development, it’s important to note the month of April 2021 as a whole remained 44 percent behind year-over-year (YOY) pace.
On the books (OTB) for North America remains 64 percent behind the same time last year for August, an increase in the deficit from the previous Pulse Report (July 13-26), which sat at 59 percent behind the same time last year.
The OTB deficit for September and October has also increased with this edition of the Pulse Report, from 56 percent to 68 percent and 49 percent to 66 percent, respectively.
Web traffic (bookings, regrets, and denials on Brand.com) slowed in August and September but are showing some improvement for October and November.
Slowdown Continues in Latin America
New bookings continue to prove a challenge for hotels in Latin America, the latest edition of the Pulse Report revealed.
The most recent two weeks of data show a further slowdown in new booking activity for the region, with August being the only exception. August saw a slight increase of 16 percent in net new bookings compared to the prior two week period. However, the remainder of the year is showing a further slowdown to varying degrees.
November 2020 is showing a 1 percent drop in new bookings compared to the prior weeks of data, while September and October are showing most significant slowdown at -47 percent and -49 percent, respectively.
As with all other markets tracked by the Pulse Report, Latin America also remained significantly behind in terms of OTB reservations as compared to the same time last year.
However, Latin America has been attracting increased interest over the internet with continued growth in website activity. Despite a slowdown in new bookings, web traffic showed a significant increase in visits for the short-term. Visits for stays in the month of August showed a 48 percent increase compared to the previous weeks. Both September and October also showed healthy increases in web traffic—90 percent and 69 percent respectively. What remains to be seen is if and when these visits begin to convert in a meaningful way.
