BRIDGE Travel has reported a surge in hotel-only bookings due to the increasing number of routes from low-cost airlines.
Accommodation-only bookings now account for more than a fifth of the operator’s total city-break business compared with just 10% 18 months ago.
Brand manager Gary Grieve said it was important to embrace the changing booking habits of customers and not turn the business away.
“Some operators are reluctant to take hotel-only bookings but we are happy to,” he said. “The margins are relatively small – and of course we would prefer flight-inclusive bookings – but I believe it is important to respond to the changing market, not fight it.”
Although Grieve said the trend will continue, he predicted the demise of Debonair, which called in the receivers 10 days ago, could slow the growth of self-packaged city-break holidays.
“There may be mistrust for a while in low-cost airlines which could see more people buy inclusive breaks,” he said.
The operator has added 11 cities to its 2000 programme, Monaco, Lyon, Toulouse, Cordoba, Bilbao, San Sebastian, Bologna, Zurich, Warsaw, Chicago and Vancouver. It brings the number of inclusive cities in the brochure to 55 while a further 70 destinations have hotel options.
Bridge has increased the number of hotels in its best-selling 1999 destinations – Barcelona and Dublin. The Spanish city now features 11 hotels, four more than this year, while the same number have been added in the Irish capital bringing the number to 16.
Grieve predicted it would carry 45,000 passengers in 2000, compared to 34,000 this year.
Meanwhile, a survey of 1,000 customers revealed Venice as the top choice for a short break during 2000. Rome came in second with Florence third. “It was a surprising result as the Italian cities have dropped a little in our league tables,” said Grieve.