Digital Marketing
Travel Research Trends
Expedia has collated and produced a new report that documents how travel trends differ from country to country. Not only is this a fascinating read, it also contains valuable insights for the whole of the travel industry. By confining their research to several distinct counties, Expedia were able to draw a picture of which countries prioritised what – vital for those hotels targeting more direct bookings from travellers in those countries.
With insights showing how many travel outside their country’s borders (68% for the UK, and only 18% for the US), it’s a piece of research that anyone working in hotel digital marketing can’t miss.
The research covers such trends as who spends the most for accommodation (the British and the Germans each spend 31% on their hotel) and who decides to travel before deciding on the actual destination for the trip (21% of Japanese people).
Finding trends in travel research is important not just for those in hotel digital marketing, but also for anyone in the hotel business. Leisure travellers are the most likely to book hotels, after all, and opening up your own hotel to plenty of other international travellers via third party websites means that you’re likelier to find your rooms are at fuller occupancy rate. Knowing what these travellers are looking for and their search behaviour means you’re much more likely to experience better occupancy rates and revenue per room.
It can also be useful for the hotel digital marketing professional to know who is ready to travel far to find the sights and who wants to stay close to home. You can use this information to personalise your marketing. Whether it’s value (94% of Australians said this mattered, compared to 78% of Germans) or the lack of worrying (popular in China with 70% of respondents saying it mattered), this data is a great starting point for marketers – use it to pinpoint where your travellers are coming from and make them offers that suit.
The Expedia document is of great interest to anyone in the travel industry, not least because it teaches us about trends as well as practical considerations travellers have to make. For example, language barriers can be a factor for countries that don’t place a high premium on learning English, and visa requirements are a worry in China.
Travel professionals should also take note that Canada and Australia are the most likely to be entranced by a deal, but China is attracted to pictures of the destination they are already searching for. Again, when adjusting your hotel digital marketing, it’s useful to find the demographics for international or domestic travellers who make your hotel home for at least a short duration of their stay.
The key takeaways are to integrate strategy, trying to influence travellers throughout the purchase funnel, and to make booking with you seem like the best option by focusing on the experiences a traveller will have when they’re at their destination. For more insights, read the full document here.
