The global hotel industry’s leading cloud platform, SiteMinder, today reveals the 15 booking channels that generated the greatest revenue for hotels in the Middle East and other key tourism destinations in 2017.
The lists are based on the 72 million hotel reservations that passed through SiteMinder’s channel management solution during the year to produce US$21.53 billion in gross revenue for the company’s 28,000 hotel customers around the world.
Reaffirming the value of having a diversified hotel distribution strategy, the lists of the top-performing booking channels once again feature a range of both B2B and household consumer channels – from OTAs to hotel websites, wholesalers and global distribution systems.
“These lists are testament to the incredible, material impact that a broad distribution strategy, which caters to a diverse business mix from various feeder markets, can have on a hotel’s bottom line,” says SiteMinder’s managing director, Mike Ford.
“They also prove the enormous – and growing – value of direct and corporate bookings, with hotel websites and global distribution systems featuring in almost every list this year. Additionally, we see that hotels continue to look to the wholesaler sector as an important provider of guests, with a number of the world’s leading bed banks featuring in every list globally.”
Speaking on the top performers in the Middle East, Ruairi Conroy, Managing Director – EMEA at SiteMinder, adds: “The appearances of channels such as Mr & Mrs Smith, Prestigia, Lastminute.com and Epoque Hotels on the list show the growing value of travellers from the UK and USA to the Middle Eastern hotel market. However, it’s clear hotels in the Middle East need not only attract international travellers, but also domestic travellers, with locally-based Lots of Hotels making the list.”
The Middle East’s top 15 booking channels collectively contributed 87 percent of all revenue that passed through SiteMinder’s channel manager for hotels in the country in 2017, proving their effectiveness in attracting, reaching and converting today’s consumer.
The top 15 revenue-generating booking channels for hotels in the Middle East were:
- Booking.com
- Expedia
- GTA
- Agoda
- Hotelbeds
- Hotel websites (direct bookings)
- Global distribution systems
- HotelsCombined
- HRS – Hotel Reservation Service
- Mr & Mrs Smith
- Prestigia
- Lots of Hotels
- Epoque Hotels
- Sunhotels
- Lastminute.com
