What is the meaning/definition of Booking Window in the hospitality industry?
Booking window is similar to Lead Time. It’s the period of time between the reservation is made by the guests or a group and the actual arrival date to the hotel.
Different market segments can have different booking windows. It is important to consider the booking window to properly evaluate the financial performance of the hotel and make proper pricing decisions. If for example your hotel have a booking window of 30 days there might be no need to pull down your price for a certain day with 50 days of advance although you have low occupancy for that specific date. Higher lead-time bookings tend to come from long-haul markets with flights involved. They also tend to have a higher average length of stay, meaning if your offers are designed to appeal to this segment and are sufficiently differentiated, you will gain business. Understanding the booking window today is significant considering that the number of channels have exploded and all have vastly different characteristics. Indeed, wholesale, corporate, direct, online travel agents and MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions) all act differently and if you want to optimize your revenue. It is essential to be aware of lead times, volumes, average revenue and total revenue generated from all of these…
See Also:
Synonyms
