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I want to know how often hotel rooms change their rates, by what % on average do they change when they do change (ie. do they go from $200/night to $196 or $200/night to $180), how often those rates are lower on the day of check in compared to when booked, if they are lower, by what % or $ amount on average, how far in advance most consumers book their reservations, what % of hotel reservations are non refundable, and what are the top 10 hotel chains in the world and what % of bookings do they cumulatively make up?
Hello! Thank you for your question about the changing rates of hotel rooms. After an extensive search on the web, I was able to find answers to most of your questions. Hotel prices absolutely change but the percentage by which change depends on many factors. RoomsNinja, a reputable source that tracks more than 50 global hotel room vendors, asserts that hotel prices change an average of 18 times from booking to check in. You'll find a deep dive of my research below.
CHANGING RATES
The rates that hotels charge is based on the nuanced changed in demand. Things like seasons, occupancy, events, and occupancy of competitors influence prices. A mentioned above, RoomNinja said that between booking and checking in rates changed an average of 18 times. The most extreme examples of changing rates I found were in popular tourist destinations that had a tourist season. In this case rooms changed up to 0.77% a day. In this case, they went from $228/night in peak season to $95/night during times that weren't as busy.
BOOKING HABITS
An article by Skift, a company that is "fanatically focused on documenting and helping the travel industry understand the changing traveler behavior," indicated that people are more likely to make a reservation the same day than any other day. Of all U.S. hotel reservations, 29% were made the same day, and 37% were made within a week. The popularity of booking decreased up to 30 days before reservation. When booking a hotel room so close to the check-in date, there is less time for factors to influence price. After searching a variety of expert travel sources and hotel booking sites, I have not found any evidence that the daily change in price is more than a few dollars. There does not appear to be any average percentage by which rates change on a daily basis, nor are there any identifiable factors that cause these minute changes.
REFUNDABLE RATES
According to Mirai, a blog focused on the hotel industry, there is no set percentage of refundable reservations. It appears that the chances of getting a refund depends on each individual hotel. Some offer refunds only on certain dates, while others will refund up until a specific time before check-in. In many cases, consumers can choose to pay a slightly higher rate to have the option of getting a refundable reservation. If they choose the lower rate, it becomes nonrefundable. Ultimately, whether the rate is refundable or not also depends on the same variables that booking rates depend on.
TOP HOTEL CHAINS
There are several sources that rank hotels according to different criteria. This ranking of hotel chains was done by looking at the number of hotels, rooms, and brands under its umbrella. The top 10 largest hotel chains in the world are Marriott International / Starwood Hotels & Resorts, InterContinental Hotels Group, Hilton Worldwide Holdings, Wyndham Hotel Group, Jin Jiang International, Choice Hotels, Accor Hotels, Best Western Hotels & Resorts, Homeinns Hotel Group, and Carlson Rezidor. According to a study completed by Morgan Stanley in early 2016, the "five largest brands account for nearly half of all US hotel rooms," but unfortunately, despite extensive research into hotel annual reports, industry studies, and trusted media sites, I was not able to find any other data concerning the top 10 hotels' total booking contributions.
CONCLUSION
To wrap up, yes prices change. The extent to which they change is super variable. The recent trends of booking so close the stay date give less time for the prices to change drastically. In addition, since they change so much and there are so many ways to book it is hard to find data for every room in every hotel all over the world. Thanks for using Wonder! Please let us know if we can help with anything else we can help you with!