Amadeus: Hotel Market Insights for August 2022

Amadeus, a global GDS giant, recently released its August hotel market insight report. Data shows that in August this year, the global hotel occupancy rate was 68%, basically returning to the same period in 2019. As Europe and the South Pacific have been fully opened and traveler confidence has recovered, the booking window is relatively long.

Data as of July 14 showed that Europe and the South Pacific led other regions in terms of booking occupancy rates in August, at 37% and 38% respectively, while the United States was 30%. Greater China had the lowest booking occupancy rate, at only 10%. (Note: The booking occupancy rate here refers to the number of hotel nights booked by travelers for August as of July 14/the number of available rooms per day*31 days)

Globally, the proportion of bookings from various channels in August this year was basically the same as in the same period of 2019. Among them, "other direct booking channels" (Direct) other than the hotel's official website accounted for the highest proportion, reaching 37%; the hotel's official website (Brand) accounted for 32% of bookings; OTA accounted for 19%; GDS and CRS each accounted for 6%. It is worth noting that the proportion of hotel official website (Brand) bookings in August 2020 decreased by 10 percentage points year-on-year, while the hotel's "other direct booking channels" (Direct) increased by 16 percentage points year-on-year.

United States & Canada: Occupancy rates have returned to the same period in 2019

Hotel bookings in the United States in August have returned to the same level as in 2019 , and hotel bookings in Canada have increased by 6.1% compared to the same period in 2019. From the current perspective, the booking occupancy rates in the United States and Canada from September to December have reached the level before the epidemic.

The number of corporate contracted room nights in the United States in August fell 19% compared to the same period in 2019, but the share was only 2 percentage points lower. The number of contracted room nights in Canada during the same period was only 9% lower than the same period in 2019.

Greater China: Direct channel orders

The proportion is close to 60% , and the booking window is extended

As travel restrictions in Greater China have gradually been relaxed, the occupancy rate of hotels in Greater China has steadily increased since June, and the gap between July and the same period in 2019 has further narrowed.

From a regional perspective, as of July 14, Hainan had the highest booking occupancy rate for August at 11%, followed by Suzhou (9%). The booking occupancy rates for Beijing, Guangzhou, Shanghai and Shenzhen during the same period were only 4%-6%, lagging behind Hangzhou (7%) and Chengdu (8%).

According to the pricing mechanism, the proportion of room nights sold at discount prices in Greater China increased by 10 percentage points to 26% from 2019 to 2022. During the same period, the proportion of room nights sold at negotiated corporate prices decreased by 10 percentage points from 19% to 9%.

In terms of booking channels, in August this year, nearly 60% of hotel room nights were booked through "other direct booking channels", and another 28% were booked through the hotel's official website, while OTA's room nights accounted for only 6%. In contrast, OTA is the most popular booking channel in Europe, accounting for 33% of room nights; the "other direct booking channels" and official websites of American hotels accounted for the same, each accounting for 35%.

In August, 72% of individual travellers in Greater China still had a booking window of less than one week, but this was down 15 percentage points from the previous month. The proportion of booking windows exceeding 31 days increased by 9 percentage points, which to some extent reflects the recovery of traveller confidence.

Europe, Middle East & Latin America: Demand has declined, but is generally close to pre-pandemic levels

Data shows that flight and hotel bookings in Europe have fallen in recent weeks, but occupancy rates have remained high throughout the summer, down only a few percentage points from the same period in 2019 .

The occupancy rate in the Middle East in July was the same as in the same period of 2019, and in the previous months it even exceeded that of 2019. The proportion of bookings from hotel official websites and OTAs has increased, but "other direct booking channels" still account for the highest proportion, reaching 62%.

Airline tickets and hotel bookings in Latin America are also on a downward trend, but they are already quite close to pre-pandemic levels. From the perspective of booking channels, OTA and official website bookings accounted for a slight increase, accounting for more than 50% in total, but "other direct booking channels" is still the single channel with the highest share, reaching 36%.

From: Travel Weekly