Europe leads world in electronic sales
The number of hotel room bookings made electronically in Europe is growing at a much faster rate than across the rest of the world, according to the latest figures from electronic marketing firm Travelclick.
The total number of European room nights booked this way was up by 4.7% in the 12 months to the end of December 2003, to almost 16 million nights, compared with the same period last year. This outperformed the worldwide average increase of 3.3%.
Average daily room rate increased by 10% to $161.81 (£85.82) across Europe, again smashing the 0.9% increase to $117.86 (£62.51) worldwide.
The most popular European destination in terms of hotel room nights was London, which registered a 3.5% increase in electronic bookings to almost 2.5 million room nights. The biggest increase in bookings was seen in Spain, where Madrid and Barcelona both recorded double-digit increases, aided by an economic rebound and an increase in the number of low-cost flights into the country.
Another European report out last week ranked French hotel group Accor as the biggest hotel group on the Continent by number of rooms. With 205,914 bedrooms, the group has nearly three times as many rooms as its nearest competitor, hotel consortium Best Western.
UK-based InterContinental Hotels Group is in third position, with 445 European hotels and 68,704 bedrooms. The only other UK hotel group in the top ten list is Hilton International, which ranks fifth with 239 hotels and 41,127 bedrooms.
