The U.S. hotel industry has suffered greatly amid the U.S. recession. Total hotel room revenue has been in freefall with double-digit declines for 2009. According to PhoCusWright's U.S. Online Travel Overview Ninth Edition: Hotels, soon to be released by travel industry research authority, PhoCusWright Inc., this will bring online hotel sales down for the first time since PhoCusWright began tracking the market in 1998. But online leisure/unmanaged business hotel bookings-with a projected 2009 decline of just 4% to under US$27 billion-will still markedly outperform the broader hotel market. Online travel agencies (OTAs)-once hotels' online nemeses-will actually see their aggregate hotel sales climb in 2009.

"After years of notable market share gains by hotel Web sites over online travel agencies, the severity of the U.S. recession has turned those competitive dynamics entirely upside-down. Considered adversaries just a few years ago, OTAs have been essential distribution partners, able to generate bookings amid a significant overall slump in demand," says Lorraine Sileo, PhoCusWright’s vice president, research. "The question now is: will OTAs be able to maintain that recessionary resilience as the economy begins its gradual recovery?"

PhoCusWright's U.S. Online Travel Overview Ninth Edition: Hotels provides an in-depth look at the current state of hotel distribution and projects future performance through 2011. This new report presents market sizing and projections for online travel agencies, hotel Web sites, travel agencies and hotel offline channels through 2011. The study also examines trends in key hotel metrics, a rigorous assessment of industry prospects for the next two years, and the impact of emerging technologies such as mobile and social media. This report is a subset of PhoCusWright's U.S. Online Travel Overview Ninth Edition which provides market sizing and forecasting for key online and offline channels across all major travel segments (airlines, hotels, car rental, vacation packaging, cruise and rail) through 2011.