Siteminder: Airbnb Among Top 2019 Hotel Booking Channels in Greece

Airbnb made an appearance for the first time among the top hotel booking channels in Greece in 2019, according to SiteMinder, a leading hotel industry guest acquisition platform.

The information is included in SiteMinder’s annual lists of the distribution channels that brought the highest booking revenue to hotels over the past year. Varying across 20 of the world’s top tourism destinations, the lists reveal the fast-growing successes of both direct booking strategies for hotels and the growth strategies of the travel industry’s consolidation-hungry giants.

Greece was among the markets where Airbnb made a debut on the lists of the distribution channels, less than two years after the homesharing platform launched its first global hotel technology partnership with SiteMinder to support traditional hospitality providers.

“It is important hoteliers are aware of how the booking landscape is changing and how their guests are choosing their accommodation,” says Tony Palmer, Country Manager – Greece at SiteMinder.

Airbnb ranked 7th on Greece’s list of top hotel booking channels in 2019.

“Of note in our list of the 12 most popular booking channels is Airbnb, which has made its first-time appearance and will be one to watch,” Palmer said.

Direct bookings

Within 14 of the 20 tourism destinations, direct bookings—gained via a hotel’s website—either climbed the list from the previous year or maintained their position among the top five spots.

In Greece, direct bookings made from hotel websites rose one place to fourth on the country’s list of top hotel booking channels.

“Encouragingly, direct online reservations continue to contribute strongly to hotel revenue globally, with hotel websites remaining among the top four channels in the majority of markets and, in many instances, jumping up the ranks,” said SiteMinder’s senior director of global demand partnerships, James Bishop.

According to Bishop, hoteliers are actively seeking to drive direct bookings, through greater knowledge and innovation, as well as investments in metasearch.

Top 12 hotel booking channels

In Greece, the top 12 hotel booking channels in 2019, based on total gross revenue made for SiteMinder’s customers, were:

1. Booking.com
2. Expedia Group
3. Hotelbeds
4. Hotel websites (direct bookings)
5. Global distribution systems
6. Agoda
7. Airbnb
8. Special Tours Wholesalers
9. Sunhotels by WebBeds
10. HRS – Hotel Reservation Service
11. Destinations of the World by WebBeds
12. Restel

“The swift rise of Airbnb in many markets is evidence of the hotel industry’s openness to adopting Airbnb as a partner and the benefits they are seeing from selling an experience, not simply a room. It is also evidence that Airbnb users no longer just look for homestays and spare spaces,” Bishop said.