STEADY AS SHE GOES

Pegasus Solutions reports that global business and leisure hotel bookings remained steady in October. And as bookings continued a steady year-to-date climb for both channels, rates paid improved slightly over prior year. The number of global corporate bookings, those made through the global distribution systems (GDS), in October 2013 matched that of October 2012. Rates increased a slight 0.5% over prior year, despite global political issues and the US government shutdown. Year-to-date, rates inched up 0.6% over 2012, which is not to be overlooked, according to David Millili, chief executive officer of Pegasus Solutions.
Said Millili: \”Five years ago, our industry had just been hit with the effects of the economic downturn. Hotels across every region and segment experienced a dip in occupancy and rates. Bookings have been recovered for a couple of years now, but we continue to struggle to return rates to 2007 levels. For the corporate channel, October rates actually set a year-to-date pace of 1.1% over October 2007, though they were still off that month\’s performance by 3.5%. Every bit of growth we see in those rates brings us closer to being fully recovered, which is still a ways off for the leisure market.\”
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