The latest report, from analyst firm Bear Stearns, indicates that key measures of hotel performance, such as RevPAR (Revenue per Available Room) have been steadily returning to pre September 11th levels after record drops in the last months of 2001 and early 2002.

The analysis warns, however, that total recovery will not be immediate, particularly in the area of corporate travel, as budgets have already been set by companies to reduce travel related expenses for the remainder of this year.

six-month lag in business travel that typically follows a downturn should be getting back to normal in November or December, said Jason Ader, Bear Stearns Gaming and Lodging/Leisure Analyst. lodging industry generally shows a lagging indicator coming out of a downswing.

Commenting on the report, Matthew Maxwell, ceo of Amateo, agreed with the findings and stressed the importance of learning form the experience of this recession.

recovery within the hospitality industry from the lowest points of this particular crisis has been commendable. The latest prediction that corporate travel will not return to normal levels for several months yet, however, will come as further bad news to certain hotel groups. These are operators who have been waiting for the business cycle to improve, rather than being in a position to pro-actively generate business during this period.

advertising budgets were slashed, many hotel chains simply had no other option but to engage in price-based competition and massively discount room rates , commented Mr. Maxwell.

have seen that this is because they do not have the tools in place to segment, target and acquire guests in a timely and cost-efficient manner. Deployment of an Amateo system gives hotel business planners this ability and adds considerable focus and strength to their sales and marketing campaigns, even in difficult market conditions.

Amateo are leaders in Marketing Automation and Business Intelligence solutions for the hospitality sector. Amateo's Guest Relationship Optimisation product suite standardises historical guest data stored in multiple hotel property management systems and facilitates revenue generating applications including Amateo 360 (Marketing Campaign Automation), Amateo Portal (Reporting and Analytics) and Amateo Affinity (Loyalty/ Executive Club Schemes).

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