Smith Travel Research and Deloitte & Touche are joining forces to provide data benchmarking for hotel markets outside of North America, the companies announced today.
The two firms have signed a letter of agreement that will unite Smith Travel Research's operations with Deloitte's HotelBenchmark, forming STR Global. The partnership initially will provide HotelBenchmark clients with regular emailed reports supplementing the data already available, and the two firms ultimately will enhance their reports and coverage, according to Lorna Clark, HotelBenchmark's director.
The Smith Travel Research and HotelBenchmark data collection processes will continue to operate through their respective channels. The Web sites, however, will operate in tandem to enhance data and reporting.
"Our combined capabilities provide unprecedented benefits to our customers as a result of enhanced access to data," Alex Kyriakidis, Deloitte's managing partner for real estate hospitality and leisure, said in a prepared statement. "Operators, owners, banks and consultants will now have more extensive hotel data at their fingertips."
The agreement is still subject to contract and regulatory approval, according to Smith Travel Research and Deloitte.
Last year, Smith Travel Research merged with London-based lodging data benchmarking provider The Bench to enhance its global reporting capabilities
(BTN, Oct. 9, 2006). That partnership is the source of STR's trend reports for non-North American markets, segments and property sets.