CCRA Travel Solutions Forecasts Fall & Winter Travel Trends & Announces Yr/Yr Increase In Leisure & Corporate Hotel Bookings

FORT WORTH, TX, November 03, 2012 (Press-News.org) CCRA Travel Solutions - a leading provider of business-related solutions for the travel professional - today announces the top five domestic and international fall and winter 2012 travel destinations based on travel agent hotel booking trends. According to recent CCRAtravel.com statistics, the following cities have received the highest number of hotel bookings from travel professionals for fall and winter arrivals (based on leisure hotel bookings made before October 17th):

The Top 5 U.S. Cities (ranked from the highest number of hotel bookings):
1. New York
2. Las Vegas
3. New Orleans
4. Boston
5. Orlando

The Top 5 International Cities (ranked from the highest number of hotel bookings):
1. London, Great Britain
2. Rome, Italy
3. Paris, France
4. San Juan, Puerto Rico
5. Palm Beach, Aruba

Other travel trends revealed by travel agent bookings made via the CCRAtravel.com reservations portal, include the following Yr/Yr increases in 2012 leisure hotel bookings compared to 2011:

A 28% increase in Winter 2012 U.S. Hotel Bookings
A 16% Increase in Summer 2012 Leisure U.S. Hotel Bookings
A 10% Increase in Summer 2012 Leisure International Hotel Bookings

CCRA also reports the following increases in summer 2012 hotel bookings made through the GDS, primarily by corporate agencies, via the CCRA rate code compared to summer 2011 GDS bookings:

A 33% Increase In Summer 2012 GDS U.S. hotel bookings
An 85% Increase In Summer 2012 GDS International hotel bookings

"According to information released by Pegasus in July, the industry, as a whole, experienced declines in transactions for both leisure and corporate bookings, domestically and internationally," says Dic Marxen, President and CEO, CCRA International. "With this in mind, we are thrilled that CCRA hotel transactions continue to increase across the board, and we attribute this success to our multi-channel distribution model; the ongoing expansion of our global partner network of travel buyers, and our focus on increased international participation in our preferred hotel program."

Added Tiffany Topcik, Vice President, Hotel Partner Solutions, "A strong network of global buyers requires a robust offering of hotels in key destinations across the globe. We believe that the positive increases we are seeing in both leisure and corporate bookings is the result of the development of the CCRA global travel partner network and the aggressive expansion of our Hotel Preferred Rate Program to hotels and brands around the globe. We anticipate continued growth in future booking transactions as a result of these highly successful expansion efforts."

CCRAtravel.com is a unique hotel booking portal that offers travel agents real-time availability for up to five different rate categories on a single search at over 160,000 hotels worldwide. Agents can choose the best option for each client from GDS rates, Promotional rates, Internet rates, Net rates and the 15% Enhanced Commission rate categories. An additional feature allows agents to set their own commission by adding their own mark-up to Net rates. In addition to offering these competitive rate categories, CCRA pays agents their commissions earned for all bookings made through CCRAtravel.com on a weekly basis. All certified travel agents who have valid travel ID may register on the CCRAtravel.com agent portal for free.

CCRA continues to invite hotels to submit a bid to participate in the 2013 Preferred Hotel Rate Program. Participating hotels benefit from exposure in two distribution channels: the CCRAtravel.com hotel booking portal, as well as the GDS preferred rate program available to tens of thousands of linked agencies across the globe. For more information about the CCRA Preferred Hotel Rate Program contact hotelprogram@ccra.com.

ABOUT CCRA
Based in Ft. Worth, Texas, CCRA Travel Solutions is a growing network of integrated travel solutions for suppliers and travel professions in the global travel market. The company is comprised of the CCRA Call Center Solutions, the CCRA Global Network Division and CCRA Hotel Partner Solutions. CCRAtravel.com is CCRA's proprietary hotel reservation booking engine that provides real-time rates and availability at over 160,000 hotels worldwide and allows travel agents to choose from up to five rate categories on a single search including: CCRA Preferred Hotel rates, GDS rates, Internet rates, Net rates and the 15% Enhanced Commission rate categories. Additionally, CCRA offers a variety of marketing opportunities to suppliers interested in reaching over 30,000 professional travel planners. For more information, please visit http://www.ccra.com or contact Mary Wiley at mary.wiley@ccra.com.