Why corporate travel buyers are finding non-GDS hotels attractive?
January 30th 2012 11:51
In view of the turbulent ups and downs in the US & European economy, business travel buyers are increasingly looking at newer opportunities to cut travel costs. Our own internal bookings report for HotelHub shows almost flat growth in GDS hotel bookings in 2011, while non-GDS bookings grew at a much faster pace. We first noticed this growing share of non-GDS hotel bookings in mid-2011 and the full year data confirms this trend. While this is strictly based on bookings passing through HotelHub, we believe that this represents a wider, emerging trend.
What is driving this trend for increased bookings through non-GDS hotels? Looking at what is happening in the market, we have identified the following factors:
Business travel slowdown imminent
Last week GBTA forecast that business travel spend would increase 4.6 percent in 2012, but that growth is expected to be slower than past year – with a 0.8 percent decline in person-trips.
Rate negotiation process is getting increasingly tougher
As hotels try hard to remain profitable in a slow economy and with declining market demand, they have toughened the rate negotiations with buyers. Initial reports indicate rate increases in most markets. This is forcing corporate travel buyers to look at alternative strategies to generate savings from their travel programs.
They are finding a better value proposition in using hotel aggregators. The real-time availability of rates and inventory from GDS and non-GDS channels helps corporates access to wider rate options, without compromising on amenities.
Read the full post on HotelHub: Non-GDS hotels for business travel buyers
What is driving this trend for increased bookings through non-GDS hotels? Looking at what is happening in the market, we have identified the following factors:
Business travel slowdown imminent
Last week GBTA forecast that business travel spend would increase 4.6 percent in 2012, but that growth is expected to be slower than past year – with a 0.8 percent decline in person-trips.
Rate negotiation process is getting increasingly tougher
As hotels try hard to remain profitable in a slow economy and with declining market demand, they have toughened the rate negotiations with buyers. Initial reports indicate rate increases in most markets. This is forcing corporate travel buyers to look at alternative strategies to generate savings from their travel programs.
They are finding a better value proposition in using hotel aggregators. The real-time availability of rates and inventory from GDS and non-GDS channels helps corporates access to wider rate options, without compromising on amenities.
Read the full post on HotelHub: Non-GDS hotels for business travel buyers
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