According to a new report by TravelClick, Internet reservations received at the central reservation offices for the major chains grew 75% in 2002 over 2001. And big surprise - the increase was driven primarily by the brands' own Web sites.

Despite the impressive growth of the Internet, the report shows that over twice as many reservations come through GDS channels than via Internet sites.

"Electronic channels are the primary source of central reservations office bookings," said Bruce W. Mainzer, senior vice president of marketing for TravelCLICK. "While the Internet channel contribution is growing, hotels still need to focus on the GDS to ensure that they are maximizing ADR and occupancy."

The 33 major chain and brands participating in this survey reported that 13% percent of their total CRO reservations were received from their brand Web site in 2002 (i.e. marriott.com, hilton.com, etc.), while six percent of all reservations were sourced from third-party Internet sites. Less than half, or 42%, of reservations were made via phone to the CROs.

The top ten third-party Web sites for hotel bookings to brand CROs were, in order: Priceline, Expedia, Travelocity, Orbitz (which moved from #7 to #4 since 2001), Lodging.com, TravelNow, Hotwire, WorldRes, TravelHero and USA Hotelguide. Some well-known third-party Web distributors, such as Hotels.com, did not place in the top ten on this list because these sites usually obtain rates and inventory directly from individual properties rather than from a brand or chain CRO.