Global hotel rates continue to rise

Global hotel rates for August business travel came within 1% of 2007 and 2008 levels, according to figures released by Pegasus Solutions. The new data shows that average hotel daily rates paid for corporate travel in August were within 1% of those paid pre-recession in August 2007 and 2008 globally. The corporate market continued to rebound in August, narrowing a drop of 10% from last year for bookings in June to just 0.7%. Rates were down just 0.6% from August 2008, and up 0.3% compared to August 2007. As for the leisure market, rates sustained an ascent over 2011, but still remained off 2007 and 2008 levels by approximately 15%. Bookings for leisure travel, however, have increased more than 30% against both pre-recession years, according to David Millili, chief executive officer of Pegasus Solutions. Millili noted that: “The hoteliers I talk to are happy to see demand and rates generally making progress over last year, but they’re also hoping for a return to the levels we experienced five and six years ago.” He continued: “The leisure market has seen demand gain ground as rates slowly creep back, and the corporate market coming the farthest from 2007 and 2008. Rates narrowed to within 1% of both years in August, as bookings against them grew by more than 20%.” Go to http://www.pegs.com for more.