EXPEDIA, the world’s largest online travel company has doubled its offering of hotels in the Middle East.
The company announced 60 per cent growth in hotels in the Middle East and Africa regions over 2009. In addition, travellers booking trips to the region, through Expedia and hotels.com booking sites increased by 30 per cent year on year.
According to Murad Hajeebhoy, vice president of lodging for EMEA emerging markets at Expedia, there is a definite variance in online travel penetration in different markets, but in general consumers are shifting online with more hotels available.
For markets such as Dubai and Abu Dhabi online business has been robust mainly due to the marketing efforts of their tourism bodies. Following on these successes, more destinations and hotels are coming online but their pricing models and the way they operate needs to adapt. “These hotels may be online but they haven’t maximised the channel,” said Hajeebhoy.
The trend has also picked up from a consumer point of view.
“We know this through the booking windows. A lot of short-term bookings happen in this region which have increased dramatically over the last year,” he said.
“In places like Qatar, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, the short-term booking windows are more than 50 per cent and in the UAE 30 to 35 per cent, which means people in the region are booking online intra-regionally.”
For international travellers, while the region continues to be viewed as a high-end luxury destination, Expedia also does business in the two and three-star hotel segments. Demand for three-star accommodation in Dubai surged 70 per cent in the first quarter of this year.
But he added that guests were also trading up due to the higher end properties making value addition offers.
Looking ahead, Hajeebhoy believes the region will definitely witness an increase in online bookings. While the traditional European traveller will still look for a package holiday the new internet-savvy traveller will want to hand pick his trip from airlines to hotels to experience.
“We started as a content website with less focus on transaction, went on then to be very transaction-driven and now content has once again become key. However, it’s no longer Expedia-content but user generated reviews and images. Hotels have realised the power of content and are providing up-to-date content and images,” said Hajeebhoy.
Expedia has also launched the AgentRez programme in the region, where agents can offer travellers the same great negotiated rates that are on Expedia.com or hotels.com. This is available worldwide and means agents can match the online price for their customers while earning commission.