Hotels want more online bookings, won’t invest in tech

Cheerful young woman waking up in her hotel room, stretching her arms.

A report by the global hotel industry’s leading cloud platform, SiteMinder, has found that the ability to grow direct bookings and online presence is the top business focus for hotels this year.

The finding is based on the Global Hotel Business Index that included 2,100 survey responses from hoteliers at both independent properties and hotel groups around the world.

Increasing direct bookings and growing online presence is a higher business priority for hoteliers than mobile bookings or personalisation to enhance the guest experience.

There is a paradox to this. In spite of 95 per cent of respondents ranking ‘driving guests to book direct’ as a challenge, only 37 per cent nominated ‘exploring new hotel technology and systems’ as a high priority for their hotel business.

“Outdated technology and systems – and the high costs that typically come with those – are rampant in our industry,” said Siteminder’s Managing Director Mike Ford.

“We are clearly witnessing an unprecedented rise in online bookings – both direct and via third party channels.”

Research showed the dominance of OTAs and the rise and rise of Airbnb have also been keeping hoteliers up at night.

The perceived dominance of OTAs came out as the top challenge that hoteliers think the industry is facing – ranked at 54 per cent.

In a bid to help hoteliers get a headstart on their competitors, Siteminder created a handy infographic. Check it out:

 

Watching-Your-Competition_INFOGRAPHIC

 

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