Data from hotel technology provider Avvio shows cancellation rates have increased from as low as 4% earlier this year, as people choose to cancel last minute and opt for a break overseas instead.
The majority of cancellations are coming from couples, who are up to six times more likely to cancel as families.
8.6% of cancellations are by families and 57.4% by couples in city centre hotels, which are feeling the impact again after a short stint of slow recovery.
In resort hotels, 32% of cancellations are by families and 44% by couples.
Cancellation rates are far lower with guests who book directly through the hotel’s website however, and through a booking engine, such as Avvio.
Avvio’s chief commercial officer, Michael De Jongh, says: “Guests are cancelling their bookings at the last minute and going abroad instead. Some hotels are seeing cancellation rates of 50% or more.
“If these cancellations are in resort hotels the rooms are often quickly filled again, as there’s a queue of families desperate to have a resort staycation.
“But cancellations are hitting the city centre hotels hard. Many were at just 30% occupancy before foreign travel opened up again.”
De Jongh fears the situation may well worsen in the autumn.
“Come September there’ll be no families to fill the resort hotel bookings. If cancellation rates remain the same, it will be a disastrous autumn for both resort and city centre hotels.
Avvio provides technology to over 500 hotels around the world. It has powered £3bn in transactions and created Allora.ai, the world’s first AI-powered hotel booking engine.
by Zoe Monk
