ASIAN accommodations ranked third in being optimistic about their business prospects in 2013, with 42 per cent of providers indicating they plan to increase room rates.
These findings were reported in TripAdvisor’s TripBarometer survey, conducted with input from 35,000 travellers and accommodations.
Regionally, properties in North America were the most upbeat about 2013, with 82 per cent of participants saying they felt optimistic about business profitability this year. South America took second spot with 77 per cent, while Asia weighed in at third place with 72 per cent.
However, when it came to adding new jobs, Asia (32 per cent) was almost three times as likely to do so than Europe (12 per cent). The global average stands at 19 per cent.
The survey also stated that optimism on the part of accommodations was not unfounded as 50 per cent of travellers worldwide expect to increase their travel spend in 2013. By region, 76 per cent of African travellers and 75 per cent of the Middle Eastern travellers predicted doing so, while 49 per cent of Asians said they would spend more.
Meanwhile, travellers worldwide are going online to reserve a room – 27 per cent book through OTAs and 23 per cent, the accommodations’ own websites.
In Asia, 28 per cent of accommodations said their own websites garner them the most reservations, followed by 24 per cent for OTAs and 13 per cent for their own mobile apps.
TripAdvisor noted that accommodations were not meeting the expectations of travellers, with 79 per cent of Asian travellers wanting properties to allow them to book via a mobile device. However, just 29 per cent of Asian properties currently engage with guests via mobile devices. Of those that do, 67 per cent allow guests to book rooms on mobile devices, 39 per cent have a mobile-friendly website and 25 per cent have special offers for mobile device users.
