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Focus on numbers, not news

December 02, 2011 | Hotel Marketing

With several data firms projecting hotel occupancy to remain flat throughout most of the world in the near future, executives at TravelClick reminded hoteliers to continue exercising pricing power by “focusing on numbers, not news.”

So far, hoteliers in most regions have done a good job of not overreacting to headlines telling stories of economic and financial disaster, said Kristi White, director of demand and distribution marketing at TravelClick, during a webinar Tuesday.

“If you look at the news, our industry should not be where it is,” she said. “But hoteliers are paying attention to their own industry and not the overall economy. They’re raising rates. Even going into the next quarter these trends will continue.”

For example, hoteliers in the Asia/Pacific region are facing challenges after natural disasters such as earthquakes (Tokyo) and terrorist attacks (New Delhi). Not the mention, the Shanghai region is up against incomparable numbers from last year, when the city hosted the World Expo, which White called “the largest house party in the world.” Still, average daily rate in those regions has not declined as much as occupancy, which means hoteliers are not slashing rate in response to falling occupancy.

“In the Asia/Pacific, they can’t control flat occupancy, but they can control rate,” White said. “Next year, we’re going to have flat occupancy, but rates will continue to grow and that’s good news for everyone.”

Get the full story at HotelNewsNow.com

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