The Great Hotels Organisation, consisting of the two brands Great Hotels of the World and Special Hotels of the World, has announced that internet bookings have doubled from 2003 to 2004…
The Great Hotels Organisation, consisting of the two brands Great Hotels of the World and Special Hotels of the World, has announced that internet bookings have doubled from 2003 to 2004, with revenue reaching up to US$20 million.
The average transaction from the two websites, has a value of US$1,200, with the average length of stay being 3.4 nights. The average daily rate is UD$353.
On the back of these figures, the organisation predicts that 2005 will see more luxury leisure travel being booked on-line, as consumers feel more comfortable and safer using on-line technology.
Peter Gould, CEO Great Hotels organisation comments: “Luxury leisure hotels will use new channel management tools to allow them to distribute room inventory direct to major internet channels more efficiently and with greater control, bypassing the traditional GDS booking systems. This will drive the development of direct to consumer distribution which we forecast will represent half of all hotel room sales by 2010.”
“In order to stay ahead of the game the luxury resort sector needs to introduce this technology that has until recently been utilised mainly by city centre and business hotels”
2005 will see the Great Hotels Organisation combine its two main websites www.ghotw.com and www.shotw.com. The aim is to build on the success of the existing web presence already generated by the two brands over the past year. 2004 saw over six million visitors to The Great Hotels of the World website, more visitors than any other site in its competitor set.
Great Hotels Organisation’s two brands will continue to retain their own identity, with consumers accessing the new website by using either of the existing URLs: www.ghotw.com or www.shotw.com. However, the merge will mean that consumers will be able to search availability in both collections, giving a wider range of choice and in turn increasing bookings.
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