Hotel Reservations Click on Brand Sites

In the world of online hotel bookings, actual brand Web sites are where the majority of online reservations occur.

A new report finds that 21.8% of central reservation office (CRO) bookings made at the 30 major hotel brands were made through the brands’ Web sites during the first three quarters of 2004, a total which compares to just 3.9% made at retail Web sites and 2.3% made at opaque sites like Priceline.com. Specifically, online bookings at brand sites represented over 71% of centrally booked Internet reservations.

In total, the report finds that during the first three quarters of 2004, just under 66% of CRO hotel bookings were made electronically, while the remainder were made over the phone.

Interestingly, Harris Interactive surveyed over 2,400 US adults ages 18 and older (over 1,600 of whom had stayed in a hotel in the past year) in August 2004 to find that 49% thought online travel sites offered the best deals for hotel rooms, whereas just 22% said the same for hotel Web sites. However, it should be noted that the study was conducted on behalf of Orbitz.

Brand sites should increasingly contribute to the hotel industry's bottom line, as PhoCusWright estimates the percentage of revenue coming from branded Web sites should rise from 16% in 2004 to 21% by 2006.