Expedia Traveler Preference program boosts room nights
Hotels in the Caribbean that have enabled the Expedia Traveler Preference program have experienced an increase in their standalone (room only) year-over-year net room night production of 29 percentage points on average, according to analysis by the Expedia group released Monday.
ETP-enabled hotels offer travelers choice on how they would like to pay for their reservation, either at the time of the booking or at the time of stay. More than 30,000 hotels globally are now signed up to the program and close to 200 in the Caribbean are already ETP-enabled, the online travel site said.
The Expedia group analysis also found that for standalone room nights where customers were offered a choice of when to pay for their hotel in the Caribbean the preference was Expedia Collect for 49 percent of room nights and Hotel Collect for 51 percent. When compared to the total production that Expedia provides its hoteliers in the Caribbean, which includes bookings from package, non-refundable and other channels, the percentage of Hotel Collect bookings is roughly 25.
“Our partners in the Caribbean are benefiting from the ETP program,” said Marco Tagliatti, vice president of Lodging Supply for the Expedia group. “We are meeting a consumer need by offering a choice in how travelers prefer to pay and the result is more bookings and revenue for our hotel partners.”
The figures are based on analysis from Expedia and include 104 ETP-enabled hotels in the Caribbean as of June 18, 2013.
