After months of speculation, the world recently breathed a collective sigh of relief when the dream of a COVID-19 vaccine finally became a reality. And while it will be many months until the public at large is fully vaccinated and our lives begin to look something like they used to, there is no denying the impact of this news on the travel industry. If 2020 was the year of staying home, it seems that 2021 may very well become the year of getting away.
Just last week it was announced in the UK that 800,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses will be available to the public in the coming days. That news, along with growing expectations of vaccinations beginning in the United States before the end of the year, has triggered a wave of optimism across the travel industry. Even before the UK announcement, the trade publication Hotel News Now reported in early November that solely based on news of successful trial tests for the vaccine, many hotel and travel stocks and valuations were already seeing major gains. The news has only gotten better in recent days.
Here at The Guestbook, we witnessed a dramatic shift in recent bookings as travelers react to news of the vaccine release. Our Black Friday campaign resulted in a 94% increase in hotel reservations. And member responses to our Cyber Monday offers were all the more impressive, resulting in a whopping 169% jump in bookings with our partner properties. “To put it mildly, the year 2020 has been an historically challenging year for our industry,” says Dana Manacher, CSO and Co-Founder of The Guestbook. “Many of our hotel partners were forced into survival mode, having to adapt quickly and focus on short term solutions to the immediate challenges created by the pandemic. The positive news of the eventual widespread availability of the vaccine allows us all to finally begin proactively planning for the longer term, buoyed by the news of increased bookings from travelers who can’t wait to be out in the world again. We look forward to supporting the efforts of our partners and providing even more innovative solutions to accelerate their recovery in 2021.”
In fact, The Guestbook team is already working on a special January e-blast promotion to our 1.3 million member base. We encourage all of our partner properties to take advantage of the resurgence in consumer demand by submitting an offer of their own to be included in this exclusive promotion (more details to come).
We will continue to closely monitor the global vaccine roll-out over the coming months and look for opportunities to help make 2021 healthier and happier for all our members and partners!
