Revenue through Hilton’s branded websites rose by 62% in the first half of the year over the same period in 2004.
Revealing half year financial results, the group said that a focus on eletronic distribution had led to online revenues represented 5.8% of the total.
Hilton said: “We will continue to develop our websites in order to imrpove upon both content and functionality.”
Bookings from Global Distribution Systems grew by 12% in the half year.
Hilton’s profits for hotels in the UK and Ireland fell by more than 26% to 30.1 million in the first half but the company said forward bookings for 2006 “already look more positive”.
Overall operating profits for the group’s hotels worldwide rose by 10.7% to £72.6 million with revenue per available room (revpar) up by 8.4%, driven by a higher occupancy of 68.3%.
The group’s total half-year pre-tax profit of £192.1 million was only marginally up on the £191.3 million achieved in the same period last year.
Hilton is continuing with a programme of UK hotel disposals, with seven sold and the sale of a further 18 “progressing well”. The company is maintaining management contracts on most of those being offloaded.
Report by Phil Davies
