The Top 15 hotel booking channels revealed

Global cloud platform, SiteMinder, has revealed the top 15 booking channels that generated the greatest revenue for hotels in the UK and other key tourism destinations in 2017.

Booking.com was found to be the number one revenue generating booking channel for UK hotels, with expedia and the hotel’s website themselves rounding out the top three.  

The list is based on the 72 million hotel reservations that passed through SiteMinder’s channel management solution during the year to produce US$21.53bn (€15.42bn) in gross revenue for the company’s 28,000 hotel customers around the world.

The lists of the top-performing booking channels features a range of both B2B and household consumer channels – from OTAs to hotel websites, wholesalers and global distribution systems.

“These lists are testament to the incredible, material impact that a broad distribution strategy, which caters to a diverse business mix from various feeder markets, can have on a hotel’s bottom line,” says SiteMinder’s managing director, Mike Ford.

“They also prove the enormous – and growing – value of direct and corporate bookings, with hotel websites and global distribution systems featuring in almost every list this year. Additionally, we see that hotels continue to look to the wholesaler sector as an important provider of guests, with a number of the world’s leading bed banks featuring in every list globally.”

Speaking on the top performers in the UK, Ruairi Conroy, managing director EMEA at SiteMinder, added: “The appearances of LateRooms.com and Lastminute.com show an ongoing trend among consumers to book their accommodation with little planning time involved, as well as the value of listing on a dedicated last-minute booking site rather than discounting rooms across the board.

“This marks the first time Hotusa appears on the list, proving the growing value of Spanish travellers to the UK’s hotel market. Indeed, Spain is now the country’s fifth-largest source of inbound tourist arrivals. However, it’s clear the UK’s hotels need not only attract international travellers, but also domestic travellers, with locally-based channels such as Super Break and JacTravel making the list.”

The UK’s top 15 booking channels collectively contributed 87% of all revenue that passed through SiteMinder’s channel manager for hotels in the country in 2017.

The top 15 revenue-generating booking channels for hotels in the UK were:

1. Booking.com
2. Expedia
3. Hotel websites (direct bookings)
4. Global distribution systems
5. LateRooms.com
6. Agoda
7. GTA
8. Hotelbeds
9. Hostelworld Group
10. HRS – Hotel Reservation Service
11. Lastminute.com
12. Mr & Mrs Smith
13. Hotusa
14. Super Break
15. JacTravel