As +5.5% Increase in GDS Reservations Sets Stage for Promising Autumn, Leisure Bookings Lag Behind Significant 2012 Jump
Global corporate bookings grew +5.5% over 2012's level in July, according to Pegasus Solutions, the world's largest processor of electronic hotel transactions. The promising uptick in business travel was accompanied by substantial leisure demand that paled in comparison to strong gains achieved last year.
The mid-season growth spurt in business reservations came after the corporate channel leveled out at prior year volumes at the end of the second quarter. Rates paid through the global distribution systems (GDS) also pushed past second quarter levels that had ebbed slightly in June. By month-end, average daily rates (ADR) for corporate bookings surpassed prior year by +0.3%, setting a year-to-date growth pace of +0.7% over 2012.
"The corporate channel has the tendency to set the overall mood about how the hotel industry is performing," said David Millili, chief executive officer of Pegasus Solutions. "This summer's solid leisure travel season, which has been healthy, has now been complemented by an unusual but welcome boost in corporate travel bookings. Even better, the demand and rates are expected to continue through the end of summer and into autumn, and length of stay may even grow by almost +2% this month."
Globally, the leisure channel came shy of 2012 levels by -3.0%. However, last year's levels were +10.4% over 2011, which suggests July 2013 still enjoyed a strong and steady holiday volume. ADR increased by +4.9% over prior year, exceeding the year-to-date pace of +2.5%, and nearly repeating June's record +5.1% growth. Ultimately, the channel will conclude summer with consumers having driven more revenue to hotels overall than last year. September will bring less reservation growth before the channel rallies one more time in October to nearly +7% beyond last year's levels.
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. The Pegasus View, produced quarterly, is the only industry report to reflect data drawn from both GDS and ADS transactions, representing the business and leisure markets respectively. Pegasus' PegasusView Market Performance business intelligence is a monthly reporting product augmenting the global data provided quarterly in The Pegasus View.
About Pegasus Solutions
Pegasus Solutions is the single largest processor of electronic hotel transactions, delivering advanced and affordable connectivity and distribution solutions to nearly 100,000 hotels worldwide. Pegasus connects hotels to crucial sources of business, facilitating almost $16 billion for its clients annually. In additional to foundational global distribution system (GDS) access and online connectivity, Pegasus delivers online, social marketing and booking solutions through its Open Hospitality division, industry-preferred global commission processing, and powerful reservation tools to convert and capture bookings. As a trusted partner in generating guest room demand and sales, Pegasus also offers hotels actionable business intelligence through its Pegasus View Market Performance reports to help hotels understand and respond to changing market conditions.
Pegasus has 18 offices in 10 countries, including regional hubs in Dallas, Frankfurt, London, Madrid, New York, Sao Paulo, Singapore and Scottsdale. For more information, visitwww.pegs.com or www.openhospitality.com.
