The last main event of 2024

2024 has proven an event-full year and new data from SiteMinder, the only platform that powers over 120 million hotel reservations each year, shows hotels globally are set to end the year strong.

As at 3 December, bookings for the days leading up to Christmas were up significantly from last year – as much as 43% in Germany.

Why? It’s mainly due to growth in international arrivals over the month of December, which have risen as much as 26% in Indonesia and 15% in the US.

The average booking lead time for the period, too, is set to increase by 10% in Thailand – to 93.19 days. Plus, hotels in most markets are enjoying a jump in their average daily rate for the Christmas week, including those in Spain where it’s risen from €186.01 to €200.11.

And, it looks like the celebrations won’t stop there. Hotel arrivals on the last day of 2024 are set to jump at least 25% from last year in some of the world's hottest New Year's Eve destinations: New York, Sydney, London and Paris. Although, ironically, it looks like most of us in the industry would prefer a quiet night at home.

The phenomenon that travel can’t shake, shake, shake off

Events definitely had their moment this year, and all signs point to that moment continuing well into 2025 and beyond. But how did we get here and, obvious dollar opportunities aside, what does the live events phenomenon mean for hotels wanting to respond to what Fabian Bartnick calls “a game where we don’t really know who’s playing or what the rules are”?

It’s all broken down in the latest edition of “Revenue Management: A Deeper Conversation”. Read about the forces that have led to this shift, the top 3 strategies for revenue managers, and the lines between dynamic pricing and surge pricing that shouldn’t be crossed.

Thanks to Fabian, Pablo Torres, Klaus Kohlmayr and Shannon Knapp for sharing their wisdom.

Hotel guests in 2025 will demand… everything

The world’s largest consumer research on accommodation, SiteMinder's Changing Traveller Report 2025, is out and it lifts the lid on the motivations and pivotal movements shaping next year's hotel guest.

Spoiler alert: the 2025 hotel guest is a new, multifaceted traveller who has plans that blend trending and traditional. As examples:

• 78% want to use AI at some point during their accommodation journey, but only 12% want machines to manage all hotel functions

• 72% plan to venture abroad – an increase from 65% this year – but fewer plan to travel exclusively internationally

• 65% are more likely to travel for an event. Yet, once at their accommodation, more than half anticipate spending ‘most of the time’ (19%) or ‘considerable time’ (32%) there.

Hoteliers would do well to take note of this newfound complexity and be prepared to fundamentally change how they operate.

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