By
John Hach,
Senior Industry Analyst,
TravelClick
TravelClick, an Amadeus company, offers innovative, cloud-based and data-driven solutions for hotels around the globe to maximize revenue. Recently it released new data from the Company’s March 2019 North American Hospitality Review (NAHR).
North American hoteliers entered the spring season, round out Q1 2019 with continued average daily rate (ADR) growth, up by 2.3 percent across all the travel segments. Group travel ADR is particularly strong, up by 4.0 percent in Q1.
Additionally, for the first time in several months, there are signs that bookings are stabilizing across many North American markets, which may continue through rest of the year, according to TravelClick’s current data.
Driving the rate growth in the first quarter, group travel is also experiencing a slight uptick of 1.0 percent in revenue per available room (RevPAR). As hoteliers head into the second quarter of the year, however, it will be more important than ever to monitor ADR closely to track whether or not growth is able to persist in the coming months.
For the next 12 months (March 2019 – February 2020), transient bookings are down -6.0 percent year-over-year, but ADR for this segment is up 2.9 percent.
While occupancy stability is a step in the right direction, hoteliers must always be prepared and continue to take proactive measures to compete in the current environment.
These actions should include a heightened focus on offering compelling added-value inclusions within Best Available Rate pricing options. Doing so is extremely important to uphold the current level of ADR growth while consumers are looking to finalize their annual vacation plans over the upcoming peak travel season.