10:22 | 07.10.2008
DGAP-News: hotel.de: 9-month booking volumes already ahead of figure for entire previous year
hotel.de AG / Miscellaneous
07.10.2008
Release of a Corporate News, transmitted by DGAP – a company of EquityStory AG.
The issuer / publisher is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
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hotel.de: 9-month booking volumes already ahead of figure for entire
previous year
Nürnberg, 07 October 2008* – hotel.de AG, one of the leading worldwide
online hotel reservation services, generated booking volumes of Euro 317.6
million in the first 9 months of 2008. The company has thus already
exceeded the equivalent figure for the previous year as a whole – an
indication of its continuing strong growth momentum. At 45%, the
international share of sales remained at a high level.
France beats expectations
Total booking volumes rose year-on-year by 43.9% from Euro 220.8 million to
Euro 317.6 million between January and September. International
reservations grew by 54.9% from Euro 94.1 million to Euro 145.7 million.
The French market in particular outperformed expectations once again. ‘We
boosted our booking volumes in France by almost 70%, both in the quarter
under report and in the first nine months. We have acquired a large number
of new booking customers in this market in recent weeks. Not only that, the
other core European markets where we have outlets, the UK and Spain, also
reported high rates of growth in new booking customers, especially in the
business customers segment’, comments Dr. Heinz Raufer, CEO of hotel.de AG.
The development in booking volumes also reflects the great success of the
company’s strategy of focusing on high-volume business customers. With
booking volumes of Euro 110.4 million, the third quarter was still the
strongest this year (Q3 2007: Euro 81.9 million). Raufer, however, is also
confident with regard to the quarter just started. ‘We already saw a slight
shift in high booking volumes towards the fourth quarter in 2007. Following
a strong performance in September, we therefore expect to see strong
growth, especially in the months of October and November’.
hotel.de achieved further signifcant growth in commissionable net checkout
volumes, a key figure that, unlike booking volumes, which provide an
indication of future commission revenue, reflects commission income during
the period under report. In the first nine months, commissionable net
checkout volumes grew by 35.0% to Euro 259.4 million (Q1-Q3 2007: Euro
192.3 million). The international business, where this figure rose by 51.1%
to Euro 120.7 million, also proved to be a key growth driver.
hotel.de acquires its one millionth corporate booking customer
The number of booking customers registered at hotel.de from among small,
medium-sized and large companies rose to more than one million at the end
of September. ‘By crossing the magic threshold of one million corporate
booking customers, we have been able to increase the total number of our
booking customers, including private customers, to around three million’,
remarks Raufer enthusiastically. hotel.de has witnessed a sharp rise in the
pace of growth in new corporate customer acquisition in recent months,
especially in other countries, where the company acquired around 30,000 new
corporate booking customers in the last quarter alone. ‘Our success abroad
affirms our internationalisation strategy. We will therefore continue to
focus on our expansion’, Raufer adds. The company plans to open an office
in Italy before the end of the current quarter.
* The booking figures quoted here correspond to the data query status on
10.01.2008.
hotel.de AG
hotel.de AG with its international brand hotel.info runs a free of charge
hotel reservation service for companies and private users on www.hotel.de
and www.hotel.info. The company offers 210,000 hotels worldwide to be
booked online. Since January 2007, hotel.de has also been offering
conferences. Compared to other booking channels, customers benefit from
considerable cost savings (on average 40% for business customers).
Additionally, all available rates for every single hotel are always
displayed, so that the customer can choose the lowest or best-fitting rate.
Further, all bookings via hotel.de are sent right into the hotel’s computer
- making a reservation fast, safe and reliable. This is enabled by
hotel.de/TravelRes’ unique integration of the hotels’ central reservation
systems (so-called CRS) under one consistent user surface. Well-known
companies, such as Procter & Gamble, SAP AG, Texas Instruments Inc. And
Ernst & Young AG already use the hotel.de/TravelRes corporate application.
hotel.info
hotel.info is the international brand of hotel.de AG. This brand was
established for pushing ahead its expansion into the European countries. In
order to acquire customers and hotels abroad, offices in London, Paris and
Barcelona have been set up, to be followed by other important countries.
The strong customer loyalty and the high ratio of business customers
facilitate hotel.info’s entry into the new markets as many foreign-based
subsidiaries or parent enterprises of German companies contracted by
hotel.de already have been using hotel.info. The aim is to establish
hotel.info as the leading online hotel reservation service for business as
well as private customers in the foreign markets mentioned and – step by
step – in Europe as a whole.
Contact:
hotel.de AG
Michael Kleindienst
Hugo-Junkers-Str. 15-17
Tel.: +49(0)911-59832-0
Fax: +49(0)911-59832-11
E-Mail: presse@hotel.de
www.hotel.de
Haubrok Investor Relations GmbH
Thomas Vormann
40221 Düsseldorf
Tel.: +49(0)211-30126-0
Fax: +49(0)211-30126-172
E-Mail: t.vormann@haubrok.de
www.haubrok.de
07.10.2008 Financial News transmitted by DGAP
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Language: English
Issuer: hotel.de AG
Hugo-Junkers-Str. 9
90411 Nürnberg
Deutschland
Phone: +49 (0)911 5983 2270
Fax: +49 (0)911 5983 211
E-mail: garbarukow@hotel.de
Internet: www.hotel.de
ISIN: DE0006910938
WKN: 691093
Listed: Regulierter Markt in Frankfurt (General Standard);
Freiverkehr in Düsseldorf, München, Stuttgart
End of News DGAP News-Service
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