At the recent NoVacancy accommodation industry exhibition in Sydney Duncan Waterman presented new research about the evolving hotel online distribution landscape. He shared:
Direct bookings are on the rise according to the findings from a 2018 White Paper on hotel distribution trends in Europe and from our new study that extends the analysis to September 2020, which includes the Asia Pacific region.
We have seen with our Hospitality Recovery Tracker strong growth from brand.com in many markets and particularly Australia and NZ in recent months.
During this crucial period, it is essential for hotel owners to continue to focus on their direct distribution channel.
In the simplest terms having the booking direct provides the hotel the guest’s email and mobile phone number which are essential for communications for pre-arrival, cancellation, and also the check-in process which is different today for many hotels as compared to pre-COVID times.
We hope our in-depth research provides hoteliers with useful information to optimise sales and yield all they can in the current times.
The research is based on a fixed pool of 3,400 hotels in Europe and 450 hotels in the Asia Pacific region using our channel manager for four consecutive years (2017 – 2020). It provides a detailed documented insight into hotel distribution’s long-term trends and the reshuffling of the digital landscape during the Covid pandemic.
Here are our key findings:
- Website direct revenues have seen consistent growth in both Europe and the Asia Pacific, gaining a total of 10 percentage points. Between June to September 2020, a shift of direct distribution to 45 percent in the Asia Pacific makes it the most important channel in the region.
- On average, OTAs have lost ten percentage points of market share in Europe and Asia Pacific regions from 2017 to 2020. The loss in OTA market share is due to the reduction of booking group’s market share between 2017 and 2019, and in 2020 Expedia experienced a 60 percent drop in market share to the benefit of direct bookings and booking group.
- The close similarities between Europe and the Asia Pacific regions indicate global hotel distribution tendencies.
The full report is available HERE
**The Hospitality Recovery Tracker is a web-based barometer built on data collected using D-EDGE Central Reservation platform from 10,000+ independent hotels (individuals and groups). Data available in the tracker includes daily bookings by hotel country or by main regions/cities, by channels (Direct channel, OTAs, ) and by booking origin (Domestic Market /International).
Bio: Duncan Waterman, Country Manager, Australia & New Zealand, D-EDGE Hospitality Solutions
Duncan is a digital marketer and a revenue management strategist with approximately 12 years of hospitality experience in Australia and the UK. Throughout that time, he has actively gained up to the minute knowledge in the hospitality world and continuously engages with new and existing clients to grow their business.
He now oversees the Australian & New Zealand markets for D-EDGE Hospitality Solutions.
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