Hotel reviews and ratings are a popular topic of discussion, with many hoteliers relying on hotel rating sources to validate the quality of their hotel operation and promote it to a broad spectrum of travelers that would otherwise have been too difficult to reach. A key question asked by this survey is what source does a traveler trust most when it comes to hotel reviews and ratings.
Leading Hotels of the World – Marketing Conference Keynote
May 17, 2011 By
My presentation, “Deconstructing Distribution – It’s All About the Customer” for the Leading Hotels of the World Sales, Marketing & Distribution Conference in Bonn, Germany focused on the luxury hotel and resort customer, hospitality industry distribution channels and the future innovations that may be expected to impact the global hotel industry.
Snippets and Factoids from Henry Harteveldt’s OpenTravel Presentation
April 26, 2011 By 1 Comment
Henry Harteveldt’s keynote address to the OpenTravel Alliance North American Advisory Forum warned an audience of travel industry distribution executives that
Five Year US Hotel Occupancy – Average Rate – RevPAR Comparison
January 7, 2011 By Leave a Comment
The US hotel industry is recovering but still has considerable territory to cover before regaining the profitability seen in 2007 & 2008. To offer a more complete picture of the US hotel industry as a whole over the past five years, below are full year-over-year comparisons of the three bellwether metrics for the global hotel industry: Occupancy Percentage (Occ), Average Daily Rate (ADR) and Revenue Per Available Room (RevPAR.) Additionally, a linear presentation of the same data is provided to more clearly illustrate the trends over time. Finally, the peaks and valleys for each metric are provided. This information clearly depicts the US hotel industry as showing marginal improvement over the depths of the recession in 2009, but far from nearing the heady performance of 2007 & 2008.
What’s Wrong With the US Hotel Industry Recovery?
December 20, 2010 By Leave a Comment
While the US hotel industry recovery is being highlighted by occupancy growth relative to 2009, considerable ground remains to be covered to attain the occupancy, pricing and profitability levels of 2007 & 2008. At the present time, the hotel business is hovering around 2006 levels. The combined effect of the economic downturn, increased share of online travel agencies and the related merchant model, plus a reduction in US government per diem rates will continue to create challenges for industry rate increases moving into 2011.
Changing Global Travel Trends From 2010 to 2020
November 7, 2010 By 1 Comment
“The Travel Gold Rush 2020,” the Oxford Economics research study sponsored by Amadeus recently concluded that Asia would dominate travel spending in the future. Looking beyond the pretty infographic into the underlying statistics, it is important to recognize that Europe and North America will continue to be important components of the global travel puzzle. European travelers will continue to be the largest group, but North Americans will continue to spend the most per visitor.
Travel Industry Site Traffic Rebound – Not a Hotel Slam Dunk
December 15, 2009 By 5 Comments
Compete produced an analysis that indicates traffic to hotel brand and Online Travel Agency hotel specific web pages have increased faster than airline and car rental sectors, indicating a faster path to recovery. Unfortunately, the increase in site traffic has not translated to improved hotel performance as hotels continue to deeply discounting their product to shift market share from competitors. As the hotels fight to support occupancy and average rate, share of leisure travel bookings is shifting away from hotel brand sites to the OTAs.
With the steepest drop in US hotel net operating income on record and non-performing Commercial Backed Mortgage Securities hotel loans hovering close to 15%, the US hotel industry appears to be preparing for a difficult stretch that will continue to provide travelers with excellent hotel values, but test the patience and wallets of hotel owners.
US Hotel Performance – Time for a Baseline Reset?
November 12, 2009 By Leave a Comment
US hotel industry performance has not yet shown signs of recovery. Declines in all key industry metrics – occupancy percentage, average daily rate (ADR) and revenue per available room (RevPAR) continue to decline in 2009 when compared to comparable periods in 2008. Smith Travel Research (STR), PriceWaterhouseCoopers(PWC) and PKF International (PKF) all forecast that ADR and RevPAR will continue to decline in 2010. Reviewing peak period weekly performance statistics, it appears that the US hotel industry needs to prepare for “A New Normal” with lower corporate and group business and value oriented leisure travelers when supply and demand reach equilibrium.
Socialnomics Should Not Be Voodoo Economics
August 27, 2009 By 33 Comments
Socialnomics runs into some fact checking issues with its video heralding the incredible growth of social media. The video inadvertently highlights the key issues most frequently cited by social media critics: First, not referencing its obvious creative source – the Karl Fisch, Scott McLeod and Jeff Brenman “Did you Know” work. Additionally, the difficulty in measuring the impact of social media is amplified by several statistics turning out to be grossly inaccurate or based on unsubstantiated opinions.
