Worldhotels, the independent hotels affiliate group, has reported first quarter bookings up 20% year on year. The figure also represents an increase of 33% on the pre-recession first quarter of 2008.
The company said the increase in the room night production in the January to March period was “not only related to the strong growth of our portfolio in the past year, but also to a general upward trend within the individual hotels”.
Worldhotels’ UK portfolio includes London’s Royal Garden Hotel and Washington Mayfair Hotel. Worldhotels now has a portfolio of 450 properties in 250 destinations covering 65 countries. It is planned to add 80 affiliate properties in 2011 and it has already signed 30 since the beginning of the year.
Worldhotels said bookings on its Resmaster system saw the biggest increase during the quarter, up 26%; with Global Distribution System reservations up 20% and those via Worldhotels’ own website up 11%.
Worldhotels managing director Robert Hornman said two new sales strategies, Spider and OTA360, introduced in the spring, had already begun to reap dividends. OTA360 brings links to 40 online travel agencies, while Spider is a customised desktop website and booking application.