SCRAMBLE ON HOTEL BOOKINGS MARKS END OF FINANCIAL YEAR

The close of the financial year has seen a rush of travel budget spending with one of the world’s leading online agents, HotelClub, reporting a 27 percent increase in bookings for the last week of June, and a 30 percent increase over the month compared to the same periods last year.

Tim Hughes, an online travel expert and Vice President Commercial of online accommodation specialist HotelClub, attributes the spike to last minute business spending, “Many companies are trimming future travel budgets which accounts for this scramble to get travel spending into the ‘07-’08 ledger and for us that’s translated into a substantial 30 percent increase in bookings made in June.”

Hughes says that although confidence indexes have revealed that consumers plan to trim travel spending, HotelClub was well placed to meet changing business and holidaymaker budgets because it presents immense variety locally and globally. A ‘shop-around’ mentality has already become evident from visitor behaviour on Hotelclub.com.au where lengthier and deeper searches are increasing, supporting Hughes’ assertion that Australians’ desire to travel will not be quashed by the economic pinch, merely altered.

“Australian people travel no matter what. We’ve seen the travel industry bounce back from 9/11, SARS and explosions in Bali, Madrid and London.

“The state of the economy changes the type of travel. We can look at America, which is experiencing a stronger form of slowdown, and see a decline in average room rates and average occupancy and, although it’s just a matter of time before we see that reflected here, Australians will still travel.

“They’ll look at travelling closer to home and research lots of choices and options.

“Australians have an unstoppable desire to go overseas and we’ll see families electing to travel more domestically but singles and couples maintain a lust for international travel and it will take lot more than fuel costs to deter them. “

Despite this changing travel market Hughes says that savvy hoteliers can retain or gain on their share of visitors through shrewd alliances.

“We can’t know what the future will hold over the next six, 12 or 18 months to two years but right now the industry is still enjoying good times.

“However, the smart hotelier will be saying to themselves the good times can’t last forever and with inbound tourism declining they’ll be looking to capitalise on more domestic trips. And, they’ll look to strong distribution channels for international and domestic business rather than being handcuffed to the whims of their own marketing department. They’ll need partners who can help them ride through this changeable 08-09 period.”

Hughes concluded that HotelClub, which generates business from more travellers from more countries than any other organisation selling online into Australia, was in pole position to maximise hotel revenue.