Findings from over 115 million reservations.
Generating over 215 hotel bookings every minute, and 115 million a year, SiteMinder’s platform contains the largest and deepest set of hotel booking data in the world. It’s with this that we bring you SiteMinder’s Hotel Booking Trends – the most authoritative analysis of the bookings made by travellers for hotels in 20 of the world’s most established destinations.
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Top Booking Sources
The Top 12 hotel booking revenue-makers of 2023.
Newcomer
A channel appearing in that country’s Top 12 for the first time.
One to Watch
A channel important to keep an eye on in 2024.
High Riser
The channel/s that jumped the most spots since last year.
Re-entrant
A channel back in that country’s Top 12, after being absent for at least a year.
What was new in booking sources?
What’s the trend?
SiteMinder’s Changing Traveller Report 2023 revealed that travellers within Asia had a stronger desire to travel ‘more’ in the next 12 months than any other group. As outbound Asian travel ramped in 2023, channels popular with local tourists rose the fastest. Asia Pacific’s Agoda moved up in 35% of lists globally, while China’s Trip.com either rose, re-entered or newly arrived in 40%.
What does it mean?
The global traveller mix is changing. Asia’s projected population and wealth growth, combined with its strong appetite to travel, will ensure a level of opportunity over the coming decade that many hoteliers aren’t yet prepared for. It’s vital that hoteliers are ready to connect with an evolving range of guests, from Asia and other less traditional source markets, as patterns shift.
What’s the trend?
Direct bookings as a source of revenue were higher in seven of the Top 12 lists, compared to 2019, and lower in none. Even as international traveller volumes grew, and travellers once again stayed in foreign locations, direct website bookings kept up the momentum built during the pandemic.
What does it mean?
Travellers have become more comfortable booking via a property’s website in the last four years, in search of personalised and hidden deals. The hoteliers driving website traffic effectively and making sure they’re easily bookable are being rewarded with a deeper connection to their guests.
What’s the trend?
Eleven booking sources made their Top 12 debut in 2023. The presence of Secret Escapes (Germany) and Hopper (USA) highlighted the need among travellers for cost-effective offers. Meanwhile, the new arrivals of G2 Travel (Austria), Travco (Canada), TBOHolidays (Canada), DidaTravel (Indonesia and Philippines) and WebBeds (USA) showed the success of hotels that tapped into B2B options for greater reach, especially within harder-to-reach travel markets.
What does it mean?
SiteMinder’s Changing Traveller Report 2023 uncovered that price increases would have ‘no impact’ on the accommodation choices of only 20% of travellers in the next 12 months. By listing rooms on channels where travellers are hunting unique gems, hoteliers can reach the price-conscious majority. Additionally, the emergence of more, smaller players in the travel distribution space, which depend on established distributors for inventory, means wholesalers have regained their attractiveness as channels to reach more niche travel segments and markets.
Global Snapshot
A rooftop view of the traveller behaviours behind the bookings in 2023.
The big trends
What’s the trend?
Compared with the year prior, check-ins from international travellers were higher in all markets but one. Malaysia, New Zealand and Taiwan saw the biggest jumps as a result of their borders reopening in 2022.
What does it mean?
In 2023, the switch back to international adventures among travellers became real. As their mix of guests diversifies, hoteliers would do well to understand who their guests are and where they are arriving from in order to be strategic about how they market and sell their rooms.
What’s the trend?
The average booking lead time stretched above 36 days globally in 2023, which was narrowly longer than in 2019. It was six days longer than in 2022 and almost two weeks longer than in 2021. The biggest jump was in Indonesia, where enthusiastic guests from the likes of Australia, the UK and US booked well in advance.
What does it mean?
Travellers have regained their confidence. The extended window between booking and check-in, compared to the recent years prior, highlights the need for hotels to price their rooms dynamically, based on local market conditions. It also provides a greater opportunity for hotels to bank more revenue if they can convince guests to buy upgrades and extras pre-stay.
What’s the trend?
Hotels raised prices and still boasted record check-ins in 2023. The average daily rate (ADR) globally grew to US$192 in 2023, which was an increase of 11% from the year prior, and a surge of 38% versus 2019. Italy saw the biggest raw increase, with its ADR growing by US$42 (20%), year-on-year.
What does it mean?
Hotels recognised that the ongoing pent-up demand in 2023 exceeded supply, and they priced their rooms accordingly. Today, as “value for money” becomes more important to a greater number of travellers, hoteliers should know how their pricing compares with other local businesses, as well as which channels, rate plans and room types are driving the most revenue. Pricing decisions should be based on real-time intel, not guesswork.
Daily Price Changes
How average daily rate (ADR) fluctuated by day of the week in 2023.
2022
2023
ADR was highest on Friday while Thursday pipped Saturday
What’s the trend?
Globally, ADR reached a high point on Friday in 90% of countries, while Thursday was higher or equal (on one occasion) to Saturday in 55% of locations. It was lowest or equal lowest on Sunday 60% of the time. At a country level, the greatest variance between the highest and lowest ADR during the week was in Ireland (US$84), while the smallest variance was in the Philippines (US$6).
What does it mean?
With such small variances between the highest and lowest ADR during the week, there is a clear opportunity for hoteliers to price their rooms more dynamically. This would help to prevent both too many rooms staying unoccupied and rooms being sold for less than their maximum value.
Length of Stay
A zoomed out look at travellers’ itineraries in 2023.
Travellers didn’t book extended stays at hotels
What’s the trend?
In 2023, 4-in-5 (81%) stays globally were for one or two nights only. In Ireland, it was as high as 9-in-10 stays. Only 13% of stays globally were for three or four nights, and just 3% were for a week or more. The longest stays overall were at Portuguese and Mexican properties where about 30% were for three nights or more.
What does it mean?
While there are many reasons that travellers book short stays, hoteliers that can encourage guests to stay longer have the opportunity to grow their revenue and enjoy more predictable occupancy. Ways to achieve this include creating minimum-stay rules, offering package deals, and sending automated communications that incentivise guests to extend their stay.
Seasonality Map
The percentage of total guest arrivals by month in 2023.
2022
2023
Travellers proved seasonality still exists but peak periods weren’t as critical for revenue
What’s the trend?
The normalisation of travel through the first quarter of 2023 meant a more consistent distribution of guest volumes, compared to the year prior. In spite of this, it was clear that strong seasonality was still very much a thing. July in Italy and the US, August in Canada and Spain, and December in Malaysia and Thailand were all obvious seasonal peaks, although hotels relied less on ‘peak periods’ for their revenue.
What does it mean?
Most countries continue to have high and low periods throughout the year, despite a smoothing of seasonality. To maximise revenue, hotels need to price their rooms based on real-time changes, leverage metasearch to drive more eyeballs to their direct website and be present on a broad range of channels to reach more nuanced traveller segments.
