Loyalty-related bookings accounted for more than half of total reservations in the United States last year, according to full-year 2019 booking data from Kalibri Labs. Throughout 2019, total U.S. loyalty contribution rose 7.6 percent to 56.2 percent, a jump of 8.3 percentage points or 17.3 percent since 2016.
Other highlights from Kalibri’s report included:
- Growth in hotel demand exceeded supply growth in December and full-year 2019, as seen in increases in both guest-paid revenue per available room and occupancy.
- Group demand in 2019 increased at a slower pace than growth in overall roomnights—1.4 percent versus 1.85 percent. Combined with contractions in both the average length of stay and booking window, Kalibri Labs said this suggested hotels could benefit from targeting group business earlier in the booking window.
- Growth in brand.com outpaced online-travel-agency roomnight growth by 80 basis points in 2019, increasing nearly 7.5 percent year-over-year.
- The upscale, upper-upscale and luxury segments experienced improved acquisition efficiencies with declines in booking costs in 2019, while the midscale and economy segments experienced increases.
- Properties with lower consumer review scores, as measured by the Global Review Index, experienced declines in guest-paid average daily rate while those with the highest ratings (90 to 100 percent) experienced the greatest increases. Guest-paid ADR at these higher-rated hotels outpaced overall industry growth nearly 2.75 to 1.
“Our December 2019 [Hotel Industry Performance Overview] report highlights a number of opportunities for hotels to drive additional revenue with a heightened focus on profitability in 2020," Cindy Estis Green, CEO/co-founder of Kalibri Labs, said in a statement. "The first step in that process is the realization that there are opportunities to drive revenue beyond simply raising room rates. Meaningful top-line and margin gains can be made by shifting to a business mix with higher rates and/or lower booking costs, taking advantage of the brand’s loyalty contribution, considering a broader range of competitors by segment, being more aware of longer length of stay business in the market, and making the best mix decisions related to booking curves."