hospitality growth forecast to slow


12 months. We still all get spammed by offers after visiting Spain or somewhere.” Part of the difficulty, he said, is that


“you interact with a hotel chain a few times each stay. Compare that with how much you interact with major online retailers or streaming providers”. The industry must also balance its


thirst for data with “how much guests want to share their data”. Scriven said: “We’ve seen some highly publicised cyber leaks in the last 12 months, and what you give a hotel is more personal than the data you give your supermarket. The attractiveness of the data – card details, dates of birth – means hospitality companies will remain targets. There needs to be constant investment. Yet a lot of times the weakest link is human.”


RESERVATIONS SYSTEMS Hospitality companies are at different stages of trying to evolve their systems, he said. Some “are struggling with legacy systems. They know what they want to do but can’t do it. Costs can be prohibitive. “Systems can be 30 years old and


companies are competing with platforms that have hugely bigger IT budgets. Then there are start-ups that can buy and bolt on systems with open architecture that did not exist five years ago. “The heavy hitters face this giant


FIGURE 53: ‘P2P’ ACCOMMODATION PLATFORM USE


%


10 15 20 25


0 5


Highest rate in EU/ UK: Ireland (26%)


24% 21% 21% 19% 19% 16% 19% 17% 18% 15% 25%


Highest rate in EU/UK: UK


24%


EU France Germany Italy Spain UK


Ireland


FIGURE 51: EUROPEAN HOTEL SUPPLY GROWTH


Annual % increase in room supply %


0.3 0.6 0.9 1.2 1.5


0 1.4% 1.2% 0.8% 0.6% 0.9% 0.7% 0.6%0.6%


20 40 60 80


0 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019* *Year to August Source: STR


SECTOR CONSOLIDATION Independent v chain hotels, 2018


FIGURE 52: HOTEL % point increase in chain hotels, 2008-18


60% +5 +5


40% 33% 67% 57%


+8 +11 +7 61%


43%47% 53% 39%


Independent Chain


Robotics on a check-in desk does the industry the biggest disservice. Interaction with a bot does not add value


challenge. There is a levelling of the playing field, but people are competing with very different budgets.” He suggested: “Companies need


to recognise they are not technology companies and decide where to compete. That might mean embracing online travel agents (OTAs) and saying, ‘We’re OK with the cost of booking through the OTA.’” At the same time, he said: “Players will


try different things to get direct bookings – through targeting or incentives. There is a huge incentive to do that because the 15%-20% [OTA] commission falls away, although hotels do need to comply with their rate-parity agreements with OTAs. I expect most hoteliers to keep on fighting for direct bookings.” Scriven sees less conflict in the


HOTEL supply growth in Europe hit a record high in 2019 (Figure 51).


Despite continuing consolidation in the sector, the majority of hotels in Europe remain independently owned (Figure 52). Use of


‘peer-to-peer’ accommodation platforms in the UK is among


Used any site or app % all adults


Used dedicated site or app


Source: Eurostat


the highest in Europe (Figure 53) despite the preference for hotels on holiday (Figure 50)


34 Travel Weekly Insight Report 2019-20


competition between traditional hospitality and the rising homestay sector. “Home-sharing platforms are eating into the hospitality market, but not to the degree people sometimes think,” he said. “It varies by market and by [the H[WHQW Rf@ UHJXODWLRQ 7KHUH DUH ILYH WR six million listings on the major home- share platforms, available 20-30 days a year on average, whereas hotel rooms are available 365 days a year. The number of directly relevant products is much smaller. There is competition, but it is not as great as people dress it up.”


Europe


North America


MiddleEast/ Africa


Asia Pacific


Central & S America


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