Data suggests that, despite fears from the UK domestic hotel market that the reopening of international travel would see a rise in cancellations for UK based bookings, many hotels are instead seeing cancellations far below the industry standard.
With the industry standard for hotel cancellations sitting at 40%*, there were concerns that this could increase significantly as guests abandoned UK ‘staycation’ bookings to head abroad for their summer holidays now that international travel is becoming more feasible.
Combined with the ‘pingdemic’ causing prospective guests to isolate, some reports suggested cancellation rates were as high as 50% – a figure that would put the hotel industry’s post-Covid recovery process at serious risk if prolonged.
However, data booking platform Profitroom, , has seen leisure hotels and resorts reporting an average cancellation rate of just 12%, with some reporting even lower figures – allaying fears that the hotel summer season was at risk.
Commenting on the data, Samantha Williams, Director of Business Development at Profitroom, said: “Having experienced a turbulent 18 months, it’s understandable that hotels are concerned about the impact of wider events – with international travel and the so called ‘pingdemic’ taking effect and causing havoc amongst hotel bookings. Our latest data though suggests that these fears aren’t being realised – something that’s a welcome relief for hoteliers who have been banking on a profitable and extended summer season to help them kick on.”
She continued: “Whilst this is certainly a positive sign, hotels should always be mindful to do what they can to try and avoid cancellations in the first place. There are plenty of things that hotels can do to reduce the chances of guests cancelling, and a lot of that stems from offering guests packages and experiences that they don’t want to miss.”
Samantha added: “Our analysis indicates the optimum number of package types to offer is between five and seven options. Whilst this encourages guests to make an initial booking, emphasising that they’re set to enjoy an ‘experience’ as opposed to simply a ‘stay’ makes them less inclined to cancel and therefore miss out on what your hotel offers.”
