Corporate travel dips in April

Business travel experienced a temporary slow-down in April 2011, according to data released this week from Pegasus Solutions.

Following the Easter Holiday and events such as the turmoil in certain parts of the Middle East as well as different earthquakes, the corporate travel market eased off its March double-digit growth in bookings and revenue to only rise +0.3% and +7.7% respectively in April.

The dip, however, appears to be temporary as booking growth is expected to again reach double-digit increases over 2010 as early as May, with stronger growth potential in the second half of the year. Additionally, average daily rates (ADR) rose, along with length of stay (LOS) and booking lead times for the business travel segment.

“Many factors around the world affected travel markets in April, which translated into a dip for corporate travel and a boon for the leisure sector,” said Mike Kistner, Chief Executive Officer of Pegasus Solutions.

“On the horizon, though, both segments look to experience increases over 2010 for the next several months. The fundamentals driving corporate travel recovery – overall economies, corporate earnings, business trips and meetings/conference travel – are improving and increasing, while pent-up consumer demand and slow room supply growth portend a better summer travel season than last year’s.”

Assisted by the timing of Easter, leisure bookings grew by +9.8% over 2010 while revenue rose +13.2%. Globally, ADR increased +2.5% above 2010, faster than its year-to-date rate. This rate is expected to continue into the summer, suggesting bookings growth in 2011 will not come at the cost of hotel rates as in the prior few years. The data shows more trips will be taken in 2011 than in 2010, however LOS suggests trips will be kept short to trim costs.

Data reported in The Pegasus View comes from billions of transactions processed monthly by Pegasus Solutions, one of the world’s largest global processors of hotel transactions. It reflects data drawn from both GDS and ADS transactions, representing the business and leisure markets respectively for approximately 90,000 hotels worldwide.