"As more consumers go on line, more want to control pricing through comparative shopping," Peter Yesawich, president and CEO of Yesawich, Pepperdine & Brown, told about 400 hotel owners and operators at the 2002 Lodging Conference at the Arizona Biltmore Hotel.

Yesawich said surveys show that 41% of all hotel reservations are influenced by the Internet, although only about 5% of reservations are actually made on line. That increasing trend by consumers to choose Internet pricing is putting a downward pressure on room rates as vacationers and business travelers hunt for the cheapest deal.

In the first six months of 2002, 25% more people were using the Internet to search for better airfares and room rates. Currently, about 55% of business travelers and 53% of leisure travelers, up 7% in the last year alone, use the "Net" to plan their trips, making the Internet a powerful tool for cost conscious consumers. "It's giving them unprecedented consumer control," he noted. "They will determine the price they want to pay."