TravelClick: Rate Growth Remains Steady Despite Booking Declines

NEW YORK—TravelClick has released new data from its “February 2019 North American Hospitality Review (NAHR).” According to this data, ADR is up 2.7% across all travel segments during the first quarter of the year, led by group travel, up 3.8%. Similarly, the transient business and transient leisure travel segments are also up 2.1% and 2.2%, respectively. However, bookings have taken a dip this quarter, down 4.5% overall. RevPAR is down as well, except for group travel, which is slightly up 0.5%. Transient reservations are slowing.

“Despite ongoing efforts to generate RevPAR growth through ADR increases, sharpening declines in advance reservation pace have created a negative RevPAR environment this quarter, the first in ten years,” said John Hach, TravelClick’s senior industry analyst. “Since the beginning of this year, forward-looking booking pace continues to weaken, especially within the transient reservation segment in many North American markets.”

For the next 12 months (February 2019 – January 2020), transient bookings are down 6.2% year-over-year, but ADR for this segment is up 3.6%. When broken down further, the transient leisure (discount, qualified and wholesale) segment is down 8.6% in bookings, but ADR is up 3.2%. Additionally, the transient business (negotiated and retail) segment is down 2.1% in bookings and up 2.6% in ADR. Lastly, group bookings are slightly down 0.9% in committed room nights over the same time last year, and ADR is up 3.6%.

The February NAHR looks at group sales commitments and individual reservations in the 25 major North American markets for hotel stays that are booked by February 1, 2019, for the period of February 2019 – January 2020.