Corporate Travel Reservations Grew by Over 30% in March 2011

The global hotel market proved resilient in March 2011, according to data released by Pegasus Solutions.

Despite world events that had a significant impact on regional markets in Asia Pacific, the Middle East and North Africa, Pegasus is reporting near-record growth on a worldwide scale in bookings and revenue for both the business and leisure sectors.

Corporate travel reservations grew in March 2011 over 2010 by +30%, while revenue climbed +42.5%, aided by a +6.9% increase in average daily rate (ADR). Following a growth dip in February, March global leisure bookings achieved the second highest growth pace in the last year, climbing +10.8%, while revenue jumped +15.5%.

“We’re pleased to report that global travel as a whole continued its steady climb despite major world events that affected select regions,” said Mike Kistner, chief executive officer of Pegasus Solutions. “Last year, March was bolstered by the Easter holiday that fell in April this year, which makes the leisure climb last month that much more impressive. We expect the growth in leisure travel to continue, along with more impressive increases in business travel, through second quarter, translating to good news and higher revenues for hotels worldwide.”

Forward-looking data for bookings made through the global distribution systems (GDS) shows no slow-down for business travel. The data displays reservations will increase by more than +20% through the second quarter as ADR, length of stay (LOS) and booking lead times also rise. Business already booked through the mostly leisure alternative distribution systems (ADS) points to solid leisure travel growth through the spring and summer seasons as more vacations are booked this year than last. Leisure hotel reservations will continue to increase by approximately +10%, with a slight slowing of ADR in spring that will rally in summer.

Data reported in The Pegasus View comes from billions of transactions processed monthly by Pegasus Solutions, one of the world’s single largest global processors of hotel transactions. Data is drawn from both GDS and ADS transactions, representing the business and leisure markets respectively for approximately 90,000 hotels worldwide.

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