The COVID-19 pandemic has shifted the way consumers research and
book travel, and hotels are responding by being more strategic about how they
market and sell their rooms, making use of direct - and multiple indirect -
revenue streams.
That’s one of the key findings from the latest analysis by SiteMinder about
the top 12 hotel distribution channels in 21 of the world’s most popular
tourism destinations globally during 2021.
Notably the data, outlined in a SiteMinder e-book publishing today, includes 29
channels that are new to the lists, such as ezTravel in Asia, Hero Travel in
Australia, Off Peak Luxury in the United Kingdom and HotelsCombined in
the United States.
“Where hotels were once able to depend on a few proven channels to distribute
their rooms, the last two years have forced them to approach online commerce
more holistically and to consider all possible ways to open up their revenue
streams to reach the new traveler – one that is incredibly dynamic in
preferences, behavior and expectations,” says James Bishop, senior director of
global ecosystem at SiteMinder.
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“We as an industry have
long promoted the benefits of a diversified online strategy for hotels; our
data is testament that hotels now understand this very seriously, perhaps for
the first time.”
Global leaders
The major global distribution channels continue to top the
lists. Booking.com was
the leading channel in 17 of the 21 markets, with Expedia
Group the top revenue generator for hotels in the U.S. and
Canada, Traveloka leading
in Indonesia and Agoda in the
Philippines.
And furthering a trend seen in the 2020 report, Airbnb continued
to increase the share of bookings it drives for hotels in several markets.
In 2021, the platform moved up the ranks in 12 markets and debuted in three –
Indonesia, the Middle East and Spain, where it came in at eighth place.
“What our data shows is that [Airbnb] has become a very viable way for
traditional accommodation providers to market, sell and grow their business,”
Bishop says.
Direct bookings also continued to grow in 2021.
According to SiteMinder, direct bookings are now one of the top two revenue
drivers in 12 of the 21 markets analyzed, up from five in 2020 and two in
2019.
“It is clear that we are now living in a new era of hotel guest - the era of
the ‘dynamic traveler’ - and online commerce technology is enabling hotels to
respond accordingly,” Bishop says.
“The appetite for direct bookings, for example, is only as good as the
investment that hotels put into it and our data highlights that hotels are,
indeed, growing their investments in this space - whether it be through their
website designs, booking engines and payment options, and the specialist
conversion tools they connect with, or their metasearch strategies and the
support they gain through local hotel consultants.”
Additional channels
The analysis also finds some wholesalers continue to perform
well, with Hotelbeds among
the top 12 in each of the 21 destinations, and one of two WebBeds’ brands -
Sunhotels and Destinations of the World - included in nine markets.
Global distribution systems also showed strength, rising two or more positions
in seven markets, such as Asia, Canada, Mexico and the Netherlands, which
SiteMinder attributes in part to the increased relevance of travel agents “due
to constantly changing rules and restrictions.”
So what can hotels learn from the analysis? SiteMinder advises hotels to
broaden their reach by using regional channels that can attract the growing
domestic travel audience and to drive more direct bookings by creating
incentives that draw viewers from online travel agencies to the brand.com site,
and then creating a simple reservation process.