REPORT FROM THE U.S.—Sixteen months into their dismissal from the Web sites of online travel agencies, hotels in Columbus, Georgia, appear to be holding up relatively well.
It was August 2008 when hotels in Columbus disappeared from the OTA sites, and customers wanting to book a room in the city began to be rerouted to Phenix City, Alabama—a city about a mile and a half away from Columbus. But Columbus’ absence hasn’t been the drag on performance that might have been expected.
According to the most recent Smith Travel Research data for October, occupancy was 58.6 percent, unchanged from a year ago; revenue per available room was US$44.33, down 4.9 percent; and average daily rate, meanwhile, was US$75.69, also down 4.9 percent.
The U.S., however, saw larger year-over-year percentage decreases in all three metrics than did Columbus, which had higher occupancy to boot. Total U.S. occupancy was 58.1 percent, down 6.2 percent; RevPAR declined 13.8 percent to US$66.82; and ADR fell to US$99.08, a decrease of 8.2 percent.
| |
Occupancy |
ADR |
RevPAR |
| Columbus, Georgia |
58.6% |
US$75.69 |
US$44.33 |
| Phenix City, Alabama |
56.5% |
US$62.53 |
US$35.33 |
| Total U.S. |
58.1% |
US$99.08 |
US$66.82 |
Source: STR
So what’s the secret to the hoteliers’ ability to mitigate the decreases in these key measures of hotel performance? Apparently, it’s something they want to keep secret.
Hotel reaction
“We’re probably not going to share our strategy,” said Teresa Ferguson, director of communications and public relations for La Quinta Inns and Suites. “It’s working, so why would we share?” Attempts to reach executives at several other hotels doing business in Columbus were not successful.
There are, however, hotels that have gone without the OTAs for longer than 16 months and also claim to have had success.
Scott Snyder, GM of the 63-room Colony Inn, bristled at the idea of using the OTAs to generate business. He said his hotel is usually about two-thirds full most nights.
“We don’t do anything with any of those people,” he said, referring to the OTAs. “We don’t and won’t.” He added he refuses to pay a commission to an outside firm to generate business he can generate on his own.
He attributed the Colony Inn’s success in part to its proximity to a U.S. military base in Fort Benning, Georgia, which is located about 12 miles from Columbus. “We get people coming to visit soldiers,” he said.
Generating business also hasn’t been a problem for the Efficiency Lodge in Columbus, which has never been listed on an OTA. Manager Alexandra Henry credited her hotel’s billboarding strategy as playing a part in keeping more than 100 of the hotel’s 120 rooms filled on an average day.
Henry, though, wasn’t referring to the “billboard effect” used in a recent Cornell University study that found hotels generally get more reservations when listed on an OTA.
Read “How OTAs boost bookings on your own Web site.”
No, she was referring to the actual billboard facing the highway outside the hotel.
Source of the dispute
Like multiple other municipalities across the U.S., Columbus filed suit against the OTAs alleging the companies have not remitted the full amount of taxes that are owed. Where this case differs from the rest, said Expedia’s VP for government affairs Brent Thompson, is that the city enjoined the OTAs from selling rooms in the city. The city has since filed another suit in an attempt to force the city to be relisted online.
“They kind of chased us out of town, and now they’re suing us to bring us back in town,” Thompson said. “They filed suit last month (October) asking us to relist. Sorry, I can’t help but chuckle.”
Neal Pope, lead attorney for the city of Columbus, said the OTAs have only been remitting taxes based on the reduced rate at which the room is sold, and not the full room rate, which he says is required. Thompson said Expedia has remitted all the taxes it owes.
Because of the amount of money and business that is at stake, Pope said the courtroom battles have been intense.
