Trends in the Online Booking of Hotel Accommodation

New technologies and tourist habits are the main reasons for the constant development in tourism. Tourist surfs through so many websites and promotional messages before making a final decision on which hotel to book. The hotel must invest in the development of a modern reservation system. The research is aimed at elaborating systems, trends, and innovations in online hotel accommodation sales in the Republic of Croatia. The authors have set the following research questions: (1) Which systems are used in hotel sales and marketing departments, and what are they used for in Croatia? (2) What is the growth of online sales in the last three years in Croatia? (3) What is the share of online sales per sales channel in Croatia? The main discoveries of the research are the systems used in hotel sales and the percentage of share of reservations made through direct sales channels of the companies surveyed. Keywords Croatia, Hotels, Innovation, Online Booking Systems, Qualitative Research, Quantitative Research, Share by Sales Channels, Tourism, Trends