SiteMinder’s World Hotel Index compares year-on-year 2020 daily hotel booking volumes as a percentage of 2019 bookings to highlight momentum. Used by 35,000 hotels and connected to more than 400 hotel booking channels globally, SiteMinder found that the volume of hotel bookings for the US was 66.5% at 5th September 2020 compared to the previous year. This compares with global bookings that reached almost 54.8% of 2019 bookings in early September.

Comparison of Hotels Booking for US & the World 1 January – 5th September 2020

Source: SiteMinder.com

Miami’s hotels have benefited from an uplift in hotel bookings over the past four months rising from 13.9% to 57% as a percentage of 2019 bookings. Los Angeles has also experienced significant improvements in hotel bookings, growing from 12.1% to 42.6% since early May.

The clear laggard is New York where there has been only a small uplift in bookings from 6.1% in early May to 14.4% in early September.

Comparison of Hotel Booking Momentum for Major US Cities 1st January – 5th September 2020

Source: SiteMinder.com

The following graph displays the makeup of domestic and international bookings made over the past year. It has ranged from 30.8% international to 69.2% domestic in September 2019 to 6% international and 94% domestic in September 2020.

Booking Momentum by Domestic and International Mix in the US September 2019 – September 2020

Source: SiteMinder.com

The following graph displays the arrival dates of all bookings made within the last two weeks, illustrating the extremely short booking window.

Guest Horizon by Monthly Arrivals for Recent Bookings in the US September 2020 – August 2021

Source: SiteMinder.com

The following graph displays weekly arrivals over the coming months as a percentage of all bookings.

Guest Horizon by Weekly Arrivals in the US September 2020 – September 2021

Source: SiteMinder.com

The following graph displays the makeup of domestic and international arrivals over the coming months and illustrates the expectation that the international visitor market to the US will return in early 2021.

Guest Horizon by Domestic and International Mix in the US September 2020 – April 2021

Source: SiteMinder.com

SiteMinder’s World Hotel Index provides a useful tool to examine the momentum of hotel bookings. With a range of other factors we propose to evaluate how it can be combined to more accurately forecast projected hotel demand in the future, especially over a 12 to 18 month period.