Hotel Bookings Spike on Positive Vaccine News
There’s an end in sight for the pandemic, and with that, the promise of a much-needed vacation.
The Bellagio Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.
Photographer: AaronP/Bauer-Griffin/GC ImagesIn the last week, a window seems to have opened for the hard-hit hotel industry. On Dec. 11, the same day that Pfizer’s vaccine was approved for use by the FDA, the number of bookings made across Marriott, Intercontinental Hotel Group, Kayak, and Priceline’s websites—among those of many other boldface industry names—took a sudden and sharp turn upwards.
According to RateGain, the travel technology company that powers bookings for the aforementioned brands as well as Hotwire, Trivago, Hyatt, and Accor, last Friday represented the largest number of daily bookings since the pandemic began in March, with 9,512 transactions processed in the U.S., across all its partner sites. That number is even comparable to a typical day’s sales in Nov. and Dec. 2019, which generally saw between 8,500 to 10,000 bookings; the busiest day in Dec. saw 12,117 bookings.