Survey shows rapid growth in web hotel bookings

The number of hotel reservations made over the Internet has increased by 300% since this time last year, according to a survey by Active Hotels.

Active Hotels, the provider of confirmed online reservations for the UK hotel industry, surveyed over 800 of its independent hotels and 200 of its group hotels throughout England, Scotland and Wales. The company said the most significant growth has been in North East England, where online reservations are up more than 450%, indicating the return of tourists to this region following the foot and mouth crisis last year.

Commenting on the findings, Andrew Phillipps, CEO of Active Hotels said: “These huge growth rates reflect a number of underlying industry trends. Firstly, both independent and group hotels are realising the true value of the Internet as a distribution channel and understand the benefit to customers of providing instant reservation facilities over the Internet. As a reflection of this, hotels are now providing over twice as much stock to on-line channels compared with this time last year. Secondly and in parallel, consumers are beginning to trust the Internet both as a research tool and as a method of making reservations”.

Active Hotels is a member of TravelMole’s PressZone.