Direct hotel booking value almost double that of third parties

SiteMinder says its numbers show the booking value hotels are getting via their own websites is nearly double that of third party booking channels.

The hotel distribution specialist is chiming in on the direct versus indirect debate with its figures revealing that on average there is more money to be made from the direct channel and it doesn't seem to be just about commission.

The Australia-based company says it handled 43.5 million reservations in the past year to the end of June 2016 which meant $16 billion in revenue for its hotel customers.

It then crunched the data to find that the average reservation value made via its Channel Manager technology - which helps hotels distribute via third parties - was $340

However, it says that the average reservtion value via the internet booking engine it provides to hotels for their websites, was $600.

So, is this just a thing or is it really a trend?

Some numbers from Triptease released earlier this month shows that 53% of rates are cheaper on hotels' own websites than on those of intermediaries.

The study above looked at more than 200 million price comparisons beween hotel-direct and intermediaries for hotels to come up with the percentage.

For its part, SiteMinder says hotels need to ensure a balanced strategy making best use of the reach of third parties as well as the potential profit in direct bookings.

And, it would say that given it is a specialist in hotel distribution but the numbers show perhaps that hotels might be tipping the balance back in their favour or, at very least, gaining a little bargaining power.

Certainly recent moves by the big chains, including Hilton and Marriott, show a desire to redress that balance.