MONTH IN REVIEW
MONTH IN REVIEW
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ONLINE
Aito ‘applauds’
CMA’s hotel
booking site
investigation
The Association of Independent Tour
Operators (Aito) has said it ‘applauds’
the Competition and Markets Authority
(CMA) for looking into the trading
practices of hotel booking sites.
The CMA launched an investigation
last week (27 October), following
concerns over the alleged use of
‘pressure tactics’ to encourage
consumers to book hotel rooms faster.
Derek Moore, chairman of Aito, said:
“This investigation should, of course,
have been instigated several years ago,
before these online reservation sites
had gained such a high level of control
over the market. There seemingly isn’t
a shack in the hotel world that is not
featured by them.
“It is Aito’s strong belief that,
with power and market dominance,
should come a commensurate level
of responsibility. Such responsibility
is notably absent here, which is very
disappointing.”
He added: “We at Aito urge the CMA
to ensure that these super-large brands
take stock of what they are doing and
rethink their modus operandi, taking on
board the importance of shouldering
responsibility for their actions.
STAT OF THE MONTH
£2.8bn
That how much
visitor spend in
the UK was for the
month of August
6
www.hotelowner.co.uk
STATISTICS
UK hotels enjoy
‘encouraging’
growth from
domestic
‘staycationers’
1
2
3
4
5
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UK hoteliers have
benefitted from an
ongoing and strong
marketing campaign
from VisitBritain
highlighting events and
activities across the
nation
Julie Cheneau, Expedia’s director of market
management for the UK & Ireland
The latest data from the Expedia group
has revealed UK hoteliers enjoyed
‘encouraging’ growth this summer
helped by a significant rise in hotel
demand from domestic travellers
choosing to take a staycation.
The findings drawn from Q3 2017 data
covering July, August and September,
show that demand for trips made by
domestic travellers increased by just
over 20% when compared to the same
period last year, with several UK holiday
regions and cities seeing strong year-
on-year growth.
International and domestic demand
for the counties of Kent, Surrey, Essex
and Yorkshire, alongside the popular
tourism destinations of the Cotswolds
and the Lake District and Cumbria,
all showed double digit increases in
demand of over 20%.
In Scotland, Edinburgh came out as
the second most popular destination
in the UK overall after London, a 5%
year-on-year growth in demand, with
Glasgow reaching the number five spot.
Celebrating its year as the UK’s ‘City
of Culture’, Hull also enjoyed strong
growth from domestic travellers in Q3.
Summer events in the city helped boost
demand by almost 80% year-on-year.
This follows a year-on-year increase of
over 60% the previous quarter.
For the UK as a whole, hoteliers
enjoyed positive growth from overseas
travellers, with demand from Spain up
almost 185%; Ireland up almost 95%;
Brazil up by 115% and the US increasing
by 40%.
INNOVATION
EasyHotel arrives
in Liverpool with
£9.99 rooms
EasyHotel, the owner, developer and
operator of “super budget” branded
hotels, opened its new 78-room hotel at
47 Castle Street in Liverpool.
The upper floors of the existing
building were converted into the
EasyHotel, with the reception on the
first floor and a restaurant operated by
a third party on the ground floor.
The price of the hotel rooms start
from £9.99 a night.
EasyHotel’s rooms aim to offer
comfort by featuring essential fittings,
integrated bathrooms and integrated
USB ports in bedside tables for easy
charging of mobile devices.
The brand new hotel is situated
within a three-minute walk of the
Liverpool One shopping area and a
10-minute walk of the main rail station.
Jorge Rodriguez, EasyHotel’s
marketing manager, said: “We are
absolutely delighted to be opening our
doors in Liverpool and we look forward
to providing our trademark welcoming,
affordable foothold for visitors to this
amazing city.”
December 2017