Bellevue, Washington – Expedia Inc., the world’s largest online travel company, released data from the first nine months of 2012 indicating that the company has partnered with a larger number of small hotel partners, defined as hotels with 50 rooms or less, and an increase in net transactions from this sector by nearly 30 percent year on year for that period. Small hotels represent about half of the hotels in Expedia’s direct global inventory.
By working with Expedia, small and independent hotels gain exposure to the more than 50 million travelers that visit Expedia group travel sites each month, which includes more than 140 branded sites in 70 countries; Egencia®, serving business travelers in 54 countries; leading discount travel site Hotwire®; as well as Expedia® Affiliate Network, which powers travel bookings for more than ten thousand affiliate websites.
Moreover, Expedia exposes hotel partners on more than 135 mobile booking sites around the world, through its mobile apps, which have been downloaded more than 20 million times by consumers in more than 220 countries and territories at a rate of 40 downloads per minute. Hotel partners also benefit from exposure resulting from Expedia Inc.’s sizeable strategic marketing investment, which totaled $1.5 billion in 2011. These investments reap big rewards for small hotels.
In the Caribbean, for example, small hotels make up more than half of Expedia’s Caribbean portfolio and 74 percent of all 2012 Caribbean acquisitions.
“Expedia changed the landscape of the travel business. They pay as much attention to smaller properties like ours as they do to the bigger hotels. Expedia understands our market, their platform support us and other boutique hotels in reaching our target audience,” said Sabrina Absera, general manager of Samsara & Legends Resorts, located in Negril, Jamaica. “The most innovative tool from Expedia is the extranet, which allows us to control the parameters of our product in real time.”
“Expedia is proud to have a long-standing relationship with hotel partners of all sizes around the world. By working with the Expedia group, small hotels are benefit from unmatched access to a world-wide market, expert advice at local level and a large marketing investment aimed to drive traffic and visibility to their brands,” said Demetrius Canton, director, market management for the Caribbean. “We strongly believe that our growing relationships with such a large number of properties are a testament to our trusted capabilities.”
“Expedia has allowed Graycliff Hotel to go to the next level due to the exposure and rate strategy that we have secured via the relationship with the company,” said Roberta Garzaroli, director of public relations for Graycliff Hotel & Restaurant. “We appreciate their partnership and what the brand represents for us.”
