Small Luxury Hotels of the World (SLH) has announced a profitable 2013, topping 2012 as its best trading year. For the period between 1st January and 31st December, SLH reported an increase of 8% year-on-year in terms of room nights, and a 12% rise in terms of revenue. This equated to the delivery of 369,152 room nights and the generation of $134m in revenue.
2014 has also started strongly for SLH, with a Boxing Day flash sale generating a 37% increase in reservations and a 51% increase in revenue for the week after Christmas, compared to the same week last year. Visits to the SLH website also increased by 229% that week, with reservations up by 128% by iPad and 300% by mobile.
For the whole of last year, the SLH website saw a 5% increase in visitors from 3.8 to 4 million, while revenue through SLH’s online booking engines has gone up by 54 percentage points, and now makes up 37% of revenue. SLH has plans in place to relaunch its website in 2014.
Revenue through travel agents has also performed strongly, and revenue through the GDS booking channels has gone up by 9%, making up 52% of revenue.
In 2012, SLH had increased the number of members to its loyalty club by 56,000, whereas in 2013 the brand added 71% more – equating to an extra 134,977 club members – taking membership numbers up to 324,977. These members spent 21% more than in 2013 with SLH properties.
With 29 new properties in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, 17 in the Asia Pacific region and 9 in the Americas, SLH grew the portfolio by 55 properties worldwide last year.
Paul Kerr, CEO at SLH, says: “This has been another extraordinary growth year for SLH. Certainly, there has been an increase in consumer confidence globally, but Small Luxury Hotels of the World offers a great product that is easily booked whether that is through a travel agent, online – via computer, tablet or mobile – or over the phone. However consumers choose to buy, we’re there, and we are looking forward to 2014, when we revamp our website to make it faster and perform better.”
