OTA's like Hotels.com have a wealth of data that can be padded into interesting press releases that most journalists can easily cut and paste into newsworthy items after adding some localised observations and comments.
Using this dynamic stream of data is a great publicity branding exercise by Hotels.com that are sought for comment and are able to freely place their website address across worldwide television, newspapers, websites and social media networks (including this one!).
The annual Hotels.com - Hotel Price Survey that was released earlier this year recorded hotel rates around the world plunging by 14 per cent in the 2009 year. Tariff levels were reduced to levels last seen in 2004.
Interestingly, Auckland was the only New Zealand city of the 77 destinations surveyed by Hotels.com. In the race for the world's cheapest hotel location, Auckland sadly took 75th place with only Manila and Warsaw achieving lower average tariff. Embarrassingly, the average room rate in Auckland in 2009 averaged $130, down from $172 in 2008, a 24 per cent decrease.
We see that David Roche, President of Hotels.com appeared on CNN last week and has commented on current indicators that may suggest that accommodation tariff could be on the way up?
Tomahawk
