Vacation Lodging Demand Strengthens in March
Growth Uneven Across Destinations

For Immediate Release

Pasadena, CA April 13, 2010. LeisureLink, Inc., the leading distribution and revenue management platform for specialty lodging suppliers, today updated the LeisureLink Demand Index™ through March, 2010. Consumer demand for Vacation Lodging in mainstream online travel channels rose in the first quarter of 2010 in sharp contrast to 2009.





“Consumer demand rose from January to March 2010, reflecting in a modest increase in ski bookings and the beginning of a healthy Spring Break season,” said Steve Reich, Senior Vice president of LeisureLink. “Consumers are slowly beginning to spend again,” he continued. “In 2010, our Demand Index™ rose 2%, versus 2009’s 9% decline.”

“The benefit of this increase in demand was not spread evenly across all markets and properties,” said Reich. “Results are strongest in ‘drive to’ markets within 2 or 3 hours of major population centers, with many ‘fly to’ locations still suffering decreased demand.” “Many properties are aggressively discounting non-peak dates and nearly 50% of total bookings include promotions.” “In spite of the high level of discounting, ADR (average daily rate) actually increased nearly 5% from January to March,” he added, “in sharp contrast to the declines still being experienced in the broader hotel industry.”

“We are seeing pricing becoming much more dynamic in our markets. Many properties are pricing more like hotels—sharply raising rates when demand rises and dropping rates when demand falls off,” said Reich. “Nimble properties are finding that they can capture increased revenue by responding quickly to increases in demand,” he continued. “Properties in hot markets are seeing opportunities to raise prices on a spot basis, but not across an entire season,” said Reich. “This puts a real premium on Revenue Management”, he added.

“Our clients are also benefitting from all of the attention being focused on Vacation Lodging in the national media. Recent articles, such as one in the Los Angeles Times, have called attention to rapid consumer adoption of this emerging lodging category,” said Reich. “This media attention is bringing the value of more space and unique lodging choices to attention of more consumers.” Reich concluded.

The LeisureLink Demand Index™ measures query volume across its Major Market Access (MMA) platform. The MMA provides distribution on major travel sites such as Travelocity, Orbitz, Priceline, GDS Marketplaces, and LeisureLink’s own ABetterStay.com marketplace. The queries on this network measure demand for Vacation Lodging directly from consumers, as well as from wholesale and travel agent channels. Taken as a whole, the index broadly measures total consumer demand for Vacation Lodging.

The LeisureLink Demand Index™ is derived from the more than 500 million consumer queries processed annually by LeisureLink. The Index includes properties in North America, Mexico, and the Caribbean. LeisureLink clients include vacation rentals, timeshare resorts, and boutique hotels, and their properties encompass ski, beach, and other destinations.






About LeisureLink™
LeisureLink powers global distribution and demand for the specialty lodging industry.
LeisureLink Major Market Access™ enables property management companies to market and distribute their vacation lodging products across thousands of travel Web sites, travel agents and other distribution channels. Over 1500 vacation rentals properties, timeshare resorts, condohotels and boutique resorts throughout North America and Europe build their bookings through LeisureLink.
For more information visit www.LeisureLink.com and to view properties go to www.ABetterStay.com.

For more information please contact:

Steve Reich
Senior Vice President, Sales
LeisureLink Inc.
626-696-4530
Slreich@LeisureLink.com