Travelsmart
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AMSTERDAM – Traditionally associated with US retail sales, the reach and impact of Black Friday is increasingly permeating new industries and territories. But a potentially unexpected winner appears to be hotels outside the United States.
Data compiled by Hotelchamp, the online marketing platform for hotels, shows that Black Friday is becoming one of the biggest days of the year for hotel bookings. With some offering discounts as high as 55% off, Hotelchamp hotels participating in Black Friday and Cyber Monday offers on average saw direct bookings increase week on week by 103%.
The data, which comes from a range of hotels across Europe and Asia, shows that Black Friday and Cyber Monday has extended far beyond its North American origins. The culture of ‘deal hunting’ that goes on around Black Friday and Cyber Monday has gone global, with some of the biggest results coming from hotels based in the UK, Spain and Singapore.
“Whilst many hoteliers may assume that the weekend is only relevant to US-based hotels, we’re seeing huge lifts in both searches and bookings from all over the world” says Kristian Valk, CEO of Hotelchamp. “A number of hotels in Ireland and Germany, for example, saw 3x or 4x increases in direct bookings compared with the weekend prior”
These results are specific to bookings processed direct via the hotel’s own website, often through flash sales that were only valid from Black Friday to Cyber Monday.
“With so many people browsing multiple websites looking for bargains, it provides hotels with the chance to offer the best deal when booking direct via the hotel.”
The largely discounted weekend also proved to be a boon for hoteliers – not just their guests. Given the historic low occupancy periods that typically fall around January, Black Friday and Cyber Monday have given hotels the chance to offer guests a great deal, whilst filling rooms that would otherwise be empty.
“Each year, more guests from all over the world are expecting Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals – and from a number of different industries too” Valk says. “It’s the perfect time for hotels to remind guests that Black Friday or not, the best deals often come direct from the hotel’s own website.”
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