Long weekends and holidays present a time to get away with the family and friends, for relaxation and as little admin as possible. It stands to follow that the convenience of online bookings would therefore be an attractive idea to holiday makers. While eCommerce in general has faced some challenges, we are seeing some interesting trends in terms of actual bookings and sales online. The statistics in this Friday Fact Box focus on North America and Europe, but they do give us an idea of what is happening in this market.
From New Trend Media Watch (April 2009):
- More than 55% of all travel bookings were generated by the Internet.
- Approximately 40% of all hotel bookings in North America were generated by the Internet.
- This is double the growth as compared to 2008.
- A third of hotel bookings were directly influenced by the content which travelers read online.
- More than 65% of the online hotel bookings came from a direct online channel, of which 76% weremajor hotel brands.
From New Media Trend Watch (April 2009):
- 12% of the hotels in Germany, received nearly 50% of their turnover online.
- One in five hotels generated up to 10% of all bookings via electronic distribution channels.
- One in ten gained 25% of their annual reservation turnover via internet sales.
From Travel Daily News (April 2009):
- 81% of hotels indicated a growth in the number of electronic room bookings via affiliate websites (HRS.com and Hotel.info).
- 73% of hotels indicated a growth in the number of electronic room bookings via their own website.
- 58% of hotels indicated a growth in the number of electronic room bookings via CRS and GDS.
From iPerceptions’ Hospitality Industry Report (August 2009):
Based on real-time feedback from over 123,000 visitors on several hospitality sites:
- Only 60% of ‘would be bookers’ made a reservation when on the website.
- One in four would be travelers clicks away before completing the transaction.
- 40% of these ‘would-be’ bookers said the reason they abandoned the booking is due to poor usability and functionality on the website.
A survey carried out by the Tourism Exchange Company in June 2009 shows that:
- 20% of North Americans read reviews before making a hotel booking during domestic travel.
- 33% of North Americans read reviews before making a hotel booking before overseas travel to Europe.
- 50% of North Americans read reviews before making a hotel booking before traveling to Mexico and Latin America.
Additional findings by Market Matrix (June 2009) state that:
- Approximately 1 in 5 North American travelers read online guest reviews before making a booking at a hotel
- In addition 1 in 10 travellers write a review after their stay at a hotel
The number of travelers who write comments on their experiences is on the increase according to New Media Trend Watch (June 2009):
- 2008 Q3 7.8%
- 2008 Q4 8.4%
- 2009 Q1 8.6%
What do these reviews mean for the customer experience though?
The latest Market Metrix Hospitality Index (June 2009) found guests who wrote a review after their stay were:
- 20% more likely to recommend the hotel.
- 40% more likely to return.
- Older.
- Leisure travelers as compared to business travelers.
From these leisure travelers:
- 12.7% were luxury guests.
- 14.3% were timeshare guests.
- 7.2% were casino guests.
Hoteliers' online marketing activity is also growing, as shown by the study by EyeForTravel (March 2009):
- 63% of hoteliers increased their online marketing spend in 2009.
- 81.6% of hoteliers believe web optimisation has the high return on investment, with search optimisation second at 60.9%.
The facts without a doubt show that eMarketing is moving in one direction, and that’s up! It is important for hoteliers to realise the importance of customer reviews in order to increase their own personal bookings. eMarketing has proved to be the force once again.
Image Credit: Zoagli
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Very interesting article Naazneen.
Do you have any stats on SA online bookings?
Posted by Helen Low on 2010/04/07