South Africa is the only market where the direct hotel bookings, as a booking method, have seem no growth over the past three years.
This is according to Lisa Horne, general manager of SiteMinder South Africa.
“There is a pressing need for the country’s hoteliers to start taking control of their supply. They need to be aware of how the booking landscape is changing and how their customers are choosing their accommodation,” says Lisa.
SiteMinder is a global hotel industry acquisition platform. It compiles annual lists of the distribution channels that bring the highest booking revenue to hotels.
Its data found that, globally, direct online reservations continue to contribute strongly to hotel revenue. Hotel websites remain among the top four channels in the majority of markets, but not in South Africa where they come fifth.
GDS bookings were listed as seventh and the Flight Centre Travel Group (FCTG) came in at twelfth. FCTG is now in the country's top 12, making it on to the South African list for the first time in four years.
In South Africa, the top 12 hotel booking channels in 2019, based on total gross revenue made for SiteMinder’s customers, were:
1. Booking.com
2. Expedia Group
3. Hotelbeds
4. Agoda
5. Hotel websites (direct bookings)
6. followme2AFRICA
7. Global distribution systems
8. Tourplan
9. HRS - Hotel Reservation Service
10. Thompsons Africa
11. Airbnb
12. Flight Centre Travel Group
