There were more signs of a corporate travel and hotel industry rebound in February.
Hotel bookings processed by Pegasus Solutions increased across the board in February in both the global distribution system and online travel agency channels, but while average daily rates were up almost 1% in the largely corporate global distribution system segment, hotel rates still lagged in the leisure, online travel agency sector.
In the GDS channel in February 2010, Pegasus says the channel's largely corporate bookings increased 3.59% globally, net revenue climbed 2.96% and ADRs inched upwards 0.95% compared with the same month a year earlier.
GDS hotel bookings in North America rose 8.58% in February 2010, Pegasus says.
Without providing specifics in its monthly data report, The Pegasus View, the company says ADRs outside North America in the GDS channel have “trended 15% to 21% higher than North America for the last 14 months.”
Meanwhile, online travel agency bookings processed through Pegasus are humming in terms of volumes.Pegasus says online travel agency bookings -- what Pegasus characterizes as alternate distribution systems -- increased 15.26% globally in February 2010.However, Pegasus says ADRs for the OTA sector in February were still "running at 80% of 2008 and 2007 levels."
So, discounting -- great for consumers and less great for online travel agencies -- was still very much in play.