Guest post by Duncan Waterman, Country Manager, Australia & New Zealand from D-EDGE Hospitality Solutions.
In 2018, D-EDGE circulated a white paper on hotel distribution trends in Europe. They have recently published a new study that extends the analysis to September 2020 and includes the Asia Pacific* region.
This report is based on a fixed pool of 3,400 hotels in Europe and 450 hotels in the Asia Pacific region using D-EDGE Channel Manager for four consecutive years (2017–2020). It provides a detailed documented insight into hotel distribution’s long-term trends and the reshuffling of the digital landscape during the COVID pandemic.
Key findings
- Website direct revenues have seen consistent growth in both Europe and the Asia Pacific, gaining a total of 10 percentage points. Between June to September 2020, a shift of direct distribution to 45% in the Asia Pacific* makes it the most important channel in the region.
- On average, OTAs have lost ten percentage points of market share in Europe and Asia Pacific regions from 2017 to 2020. The loss in OTA market share is due to the reduction of Booking.com group’s market share between 2017 and 2019, and Expedia’s 60% drop in market share in 2020 to the benefit of direct bookings and Booking.com group.
- The close similarities between Europe and the Asia Pacific regions indicate global hotel distribution tendencies.
"With our Hospitality Recovery Tracker**, we have seen strong growth from brand.com in many markets, particularly Australia and New Zealand in recent months,” said Duncan Waterman, Country Manager, Australia & New Zealand, D-EDGE Hospitality Solutions.
“It is essential for hotel owners to continue focusing on their direct distribution channel during this crucial period. Having the booking direct provides you with the guest’s email and mobile phone number, which are essential for communications for pre-arrival, cancellation and also the check-in process, which is different today for many hotels compared to pre-COVID times.
“We hope that this in-depth research provides hoteliers with useful information to optimise sales and yield all they can in the current times.”
The report is available on the D-EDGE website in English, Chinese, Czech, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese and Spanish.
Watch our guest behaviour webinar where Duncan joined us on the panel to discuss how guests are evolving in Asia Pacific.
* Excluding China Mainland
**The Hospitality Recovery Tracker is a web-based barometer built on data collected using the D-EDGE Central Reservation platform from 10,000+ independent hotels (individuals and groups). The tracker’s data includes daily bookings by hotel country or main regions/cities, by channels (direct channel, OTAs, etc.) and by booking origin (domestic market/international).
Click here to watch a webinar on the white paper on D-isplay, D-EDGE's free VOD platform.
