MADRID, 31 Mar. (EUROPA PRESS) -
The reactivation of tourism worldwide after the pandemic is causing a significant increase in the number of travel reservations planned for this year, which represents a unique opportunity for hotel accommodations that must now focus on increasing their profitability through the implementation of strategies that help them reduce costs.
One of the paths chosen could be to increase direct bookings, which would allow them to improve the operational efficiency of their establishments, according to the results of the report on the state of independent accommodation prepared by the Cloudbeds platform, which shows how the international tourism industry managed to overcome 2022. with great success, a path that they hope to maintain throughout this year.
According to the data that Cloudbeds has, after the pandemic travelers are more willing to live unique experiences, which could be a unique opportunity for independent hotels that can offer travelers options beyond what a standard accommodation can offer. .
"In general terms, it is expected that this year the focus of hoteliers will focus on increasing occupancy and RevPAR, after a year in which room rates increased significantly, due to the boom in demand and the Rising costs. Hoteliers are also looking to reduce costs by betting on direct bookings and improving operational efficiencies," said Adam Harris, CEO and Co-Founder of Cloudbeds.
The report that evaluates the reservation data of thousands of establishments and independent hotels in 80 countries around the world strongly points out the importance of increasing direct booking for independent hotels.
In Europe, more than half of hoteliers (52%) consider that increasing direct bookings would be the main goal they intend to address in 2023 independent hotels.
According to data from Cloudbeds, almost 70% of the average income in 2022 in Spanish accommodations came from OTAs, compared to the remaining 32%. For 39% of hoteliers, the objective will be to maintain occupancy and for 33% to increase revenue per available room (RevPAR).
Regarding the days reserved in independent hotels in Europe in 2022, 44% of the reservations made were for trips of between one and two nights (compared to 46% in 2019), although the most notable difference is observed in that 3 % of room nights booked in 2022 were longer than 30 nights.
In the case of Spain, stays of 1-2 nights were 3% lower in 2022 than in 2019 (40% vs. 43%), while long-term stays are more in line with those of 2019, despite having increased in 2020 and 2021. As for the advance reservation period in Spain, it is 44 days, one day more than in 2019.
According to Cloudbeds data, improving operational efficiency is another of their business goals for 34% of hoteliers worldwide, a figure that drops to 30% in the case of European hotels.
Regarding the challenges, half of the hoteliers indicate the increase in costs due to inflation as the main challenge they will have to face in the short term. After them, 20% say that digital marketing would be another of the future challenges, compared to 18% who indicate compliance with the legislation and another 15% for whom it would be essential to improve the customer experience.
In the next two years, 30% of hoteliers plan to invest in the implementation or improvement of initiatives such as digital pre-check-in or digital keys for mobile phones; 28% believe they will invest to improve price management while 25% say they are planning to invest in guest messaging systems.
