NEW YORK – In the first quarter (Q1) 2014, online channels – which include Online Travel Agents (OTAs), hotel websites (Brand.com) and global distribution systems (GDS) used by travel agents – continued to grow in popularity among individual business and leisure travelers, according to data from the TravelClick North American Distribution Review (NADR; Second Quarter 2014). The TravelClick NADR aggregates hotel bookings by channel for the transient segment (individual leisure and business travelers).

In Q1, 2014, the OTA channel (which includes Expedia, Hotels.com, Bookings.com, etc.) experienced the largest jump in bookings, with a 9.2 percent increase in the first quarter compared to last year. Brand.com room night bookings increased year-over-year by 6.1 percent. The GDS room nights grew 2.9 percent. Hotel Direct (calls directly to the property and walk-in customers) and calls to a hotel’s 800-number, the CRO channel, decreased slightly -0.4 percent and -0.9 percent, respectively.

Average daily rates (ADR) across all transient channels grew 3.3 percent in Q1, 2014 compared to the first quarter 2013. The OTA channel had the highest ADR growth with an increase of 7.9 percent. Additional channels that showed growth include: Hotel Direct, up 3.0% percent; GDS up 3.3% percent; CRO up by 1.7%percent and Brand.com up 2.7% percent.

In Q2, 2014, OTA ADR is tracking ahead by 8.5 percent, based on reservations currently on the books. ADR for the second quarter is also growing for the other channels, up 4.1 percent for the GDS channel, 4.0 percent for the hotel direct channel, 3.4 percent for Brand.com and 3.2 percent for the CRO channel.

“Once again TravelClick NADR data indicates that people are increasingly looking online to book hotel rooms and we expect this to continue into Q2 and Q3, based on reservations currently on the books,” said Tim Hart, Executive Vice President, Business Intelligence, TravelClick. “However, hoteliers should not be neglecting the CRO and Hotel Direct channels; while they haven’t seen dramatic growth, they still play an important role in a balanced reservation strategy and are responsible for 39.3 percent of all hotel room nights booked.”

About TravelClick, Inc.

TravelClick () provides innovative cloud-based solutions for hotels around the globe to grow their revenue reduce costs and improve performance. TravelClick offers hotels world-class reservation solutions, business intelligence products and comprehensive media and marketing solutions to help hotels grow their business. With local experts around the globe, we help more than 38,000 hotel clients in over 160 countries drive profitable room reservations through better revenue management decisions, proven reservation technology and innovative marketing. Since 1999, TravelClick has helped hotels leverage the web to effectively navigate the complex global distribution landscape. TravelClick has offices in New York, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Chicago, Barcelona, Dubai, Hong Kong, Houston, Melbourne, Orlando, Shanghai, Singapore and Tokyo.

Danielle DeVoren
KCSA Strategic Communications
212.896.1272
TravelClick, Inc.