Online travel booking service provider Wotif.com Holdings has announced a $53 million in profit for the year, which is a $9.5 million increase over last year’s results.
Robbie Cooke, Wotif Group’s managing director and CEO, says: "One of the most impressive features of this result is that it comes off the back of a 26 per cent profit increase last year – a year in which we were riding on the tail winds of an exceptional combination of events that really played in Wotif’s favour.”
According to the company, the 22 per cent uplift in profit was driven off the back of sales of 7.12 million room nights across the Wotif Group.
It saw strong migration to its websites as customers took advantage of the value, convenience and simplicity offered from booking travel online.
Based upon Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data, the group transacted more than 10 per cent of all Australian accommodation sales in 2009. This was up from approximately 8 per cent in the prior year.
There was also a 23 per cent increase in revenues from the sales of flights, which accounted for $6.4 million.
"While it is still early days, it's great to see our flights initiatives gaining traction in the year. Wotflight.com (our new flights booking site) and our other flights channels contributed close to 5 per cent of our revenues this year,” Cooke says.
“We see the sale of flights as an incremental value-add and a logical expansion of our offering to Wotif’s large customer base. Our offer of a free $20 Wotif.com accommodation voucher for every flight booking on Wotflight makes for a pretty attractive deal."