Bookings of hotel rooms by travel agents account for 81.2 percent of total room nights sold according to TravelCLICK, a provider of e-marketing hotel solutions, and its quarterly eMonitor results. The data shows that worldwide electronic hotel revenue from GDSs and Internet sites increased 16.8 percent over the first quarter of last year. In 2007, Q1 bookings of luxury hotel rooms by travel agents increased 15 percent and surpassed $360 per night in average daily rate. "The luxury hotel market is benefiting greatly from travel-agent generated bookings to sustain high levels of average daily rate growth," said John Hatch, vice president of eMarketing products at TravelCLICK. In sum, GDS bookings by travel agents showed a 10.7 percent increase in average daily rate and 15.8 percent increase in revenue versus the first quarter in 2006. Travel agents continue to be an integral source of higher rate business for hotels, the report said. Visit [www.travelclick.net] to view the report in its entirety.
