Global traveller confidence to surge in 2023, study finds

Global traveller confidence is reaching new heights post-pandemic, with booking behaviour trends from 2022 showing decreasing cancellation rates and increasing booking lead times, according to SiteMinder’s new Hotel Booking Trends report. The analysis of more than 100 million reservations found that travellers booked their trips on average eight days earlier, and cancelled their bookings 17% less year-on-year in 2022, despite a 24% increase in the average daily hotel room rate. Travellers globally booked hotel stays considerably further in advance than in 2021, with hotels seeing a 38% increase in average booking lead time, year-on-year. The global average booking lead time was around 30 days in 2022, just 6 days shorter than the average booking lead time in 2019. Meanwhile it said travellers showed a continued openness to book directly with hotels in 2022, despite OTAs regaining ground. Globally, a hotel's website was more important as a source of revenue in 2022 than it was in 2019, despite hotel websites moving down SiteMinder's Top 12 lists in 42% of countries year-on-year. The ranking of hotel websites as a revenue generator remained on par with 2019’s lists in 72% of markets, and ahead in 28%. Travellers also incrementally increased their hotel stays, with the average length of stay growing only slightly in 2022 to 1.93 nights. Overall, guests booked with more commitment to travel than the year prior. Despite the average daily rate (ADR) of a hotel room rising 24% year-on-year to $177 (£144), booking momentum “remained robust”, with reservation volumes rising to 104% of 2019's levels globally by December 31. James Bishop, SiteMinder’s VP of Ecosystem and Strategic Partnerships, said: “The accommodation sector has remained a strong indicator of traveller confidence over the last three years, and we can see through SiteMinder’s new Hotel Booking Trends analysis that this confidence is certainly starting to embed across key travel markets globally. “With booking momentum increasing, the average length of stay edging longer, average daily rates rising and outbound reservations from China accelerating, global booking behaviours are displaying an increasing openness from travellers to book and spend more on accommodation and travel.”