• by Tameka Kee , December 27, 2007

By the end of 2007, travelers will have booked more than 120 million nights in hotels electronically, via either the Web, mobile Web or through a travel agent, according to data from TravelCLICK's quarterly eMonitor report.

The Chicago-based, hotelier-focused online marketing company compiled data from the four major digital reservation databases and key Internet sites and found that travelers booked 6% more room nights electronically in Q3 07 than the same quarter last year.

Rooms specifically booked via the Web increased by 8% year-over-year, while the average daily rate for those rooms was up by 7%. And hotelier revenue from Internet-booked nights was up by more than 15%.

"2007 is on pace to be one of the strongest hotel revenue growth years of this decade," said John Hach, Vice President of eMarketing Products at TravelCLICK. "In the third quarter, the growth in electronic channels exceeded our high-end estimate, and we expect the fourth quarter to show similar results."