The number of bookings for hotel stays in the UK, France and Canada all increased in Q1, but the US saw a “striking drop” in reservations, according to new data from HotelHub.
The corporate booking technology provider handled 1.95 million hotel bookings via travel management companies in the first three months of the year, reporting a stabilisation in both the overall number of Q1 bookings versus a year prior and in the average nightly rate, at $177 globally.
According to HotelHub’s Q1 report, booking volumes for hotels in Canada were up 9.94 per cent year-on-year, while reservations in the UK and France increased 7.15 per cent and 3.02 per cent respectively. Bookings for US hotel stays, however, dropped by 7.76 per cent compared to Q1 2024. The report did not provide details of booking volumes for any other countries.
While overall bookings for US travel dropped, the report highlighted a “particularly noteworthy” year-on-year decline of 7 per cent for bookings in Washington DC and an almost 13 per cent fall for stays in New York City.
“While the results of last year’s presidential election were always going to have an impact on the course of 2025, the changes we are already seeing in our HotelHub booking data are significant,” said Paul Raymond, the company’s director of business development. “Whether this is a blip or a developing trend isn’t clear, but, moving forwards, we will be keeping a close eye on US bookings in particular.”
The global average nightly rate reported by HotelHub was up a mere 0.2 per cent year-on-year in Q1, having risen almost 8 per cent in the same quarter last year.
Average hotel rates fell in all ten of the company’s most-booked countries, ranging from a 1.23 per cent drop in India ($134) and a
1.28 per cent decrease in Italy ($128), to a 14.62 decline in Mexico
($109) and 17.56 per cent fall in Canada ($144).
The average rate in HotelHub’s top three cities also dropped: the nightly average in London was down 3.92 per cent at $281 per night, Paris fell 3.38 per cent to $205, and the average rate in New York dropped 3.09% to $281.
The steepest declines were reported in Toronto and Los Angeles, where the average rate fell 15 per cent in both cities, to $219 and $242 respectively.
Moving in the opposite direction, the highest average rate increases were seen in Cape Town, up 21.26 per cent to $196, Rio de Janeiro, up 8.96 per cent to $143, and in Munich, up 5.22 per cent to $170.
The average length of stay for Q1 bookings was 2.5 days and the average booking lead time was 14.95 days, up nearly 6 per cent year-on-year.