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This week’s episode is a breakdown of an article from Adobe that was recently published on CMO.com. The article takes a look at several travel-related trends that have been aggregated from numerous sources. The fueligans discuss the merits of each stat and provide insight into the impact they may have on hotel marketers.
SHOW NOTES:
Original article from cmo.com: https://www.cmo.com/features/articles/2017/5/5/15-mind-blowing-stats-about-digital-trends-in-travel-hospitality-tlp-ddm.html#gs.guwjf4
Planning/Booking Process:
- In 2018 digital travel sales worldwide increased 10.4% to $694.41 billion. (Source: eMarketer) – Study does not cite how this compares to offline sales
- 48% of U.S. smartphone users are comfortable researching, booking and planning their entire trip to a new travel destination using only a mobile device. (Source: TrekkSoft)
- 82% of travel bookings in 2018 were completed via a website or mobile app, without human interaction. (Source: TrekkSoft) – 51% of revenue generated with no human interaction (directly from study)
- Search plays a big role early on in the travel booking journey. In 2018, 31% of accommodation searches started on search engines, up from 23% in 2017. (Source: McKinsey) – The travel-shopping journeys that began with search led to purchases more quickly than those that began on the sites of suppliers and intermediaries (directly from study).
- 69% of travelers said they have used voice search while planning a trip. (Source: Travelport)
- In North America, 26% of travel searches in the fourth quarter of 2018 occurred on a mobile device. (Source: Sojern) – Believe this to refer to room searches, not search engine queries
- 84% of consumers said they book travel through bundling sites like Expedia.com or Kayak vs. going directly to an airline and/or hotel. (Source: Humley)
On-Site Experience
- Cosmopolitan Las Vegas found that hotel guests who text its chatbot, Rose, spend up to 30% more money than those who don’t. (Source: Skift)
- 90% of travelers worldwide say they expect a personalized experience when they book their travel. (Source: Medium)
- Experience is the name of the game in travel today. In fact, 67% of high-income travelers said they would rather spend their money on activities than a nicer hotel room. (Source: Skift)
- Almost two-thirds of guests (62%) with complaints said unfriendly staff are the most frustrating part of their stay. (Source: ALICE)
- Nearly one-third (32%) of consumers said they prefer communicating with a hotel by walking up to the concierge, front desk, or other staff member directly. As for how different generations prefer to make special requests, nearly one in every seven (15%) Millennials said they want to text message with hotels, almost one in five (17%) of 35- to 54-year-olds want an email survey from the hotel before they arrive, and roughly two-thirds (66%) of those 55 and older prefer to call hotels directly. (Source: ALICE)
- 77% of airports and 71% of airlines said they are planning major programs or R&D in biometric ID management over the next five years. (Source: SITA)
Post-Stay
- As competition heats up in the travel industry, hotels are increasingly focusing their strategies on building loyalty. In fact, the loyalty efforts of the top five hospitality enterprises grew from 30% to 47% last year. (Source: L2)
- More than half of travel apps are deleted after a month. (Source: CleverTap)
Listener Feedback
Greetings from Sofia, Bulgaria. I am a fan of your podcast – thank you for being so up to date and competent, it is a pleasure to listen to you on the way to work :).
- Martina
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Dear Fueligens, Dear Stuart, Melissa, Pete and Phil,
I discovered your podcast about 4 months ago and I have been catching up with all 113 Episodes since.
The Apple podcast app for some reason plays them based on when the podcast was added.
It was very interesting to hear your story backwards.
Having the Bees being resurrected and figuring out why buttons / goats have to be burned, was really a lot of fun.
I love the great content and appreciate the entertainment. Keep up the amazing work, I’m looking forward to the next shows.
You have really helped me for our Marketing and to understand my Customers (Hotels) better.
Kind Regards and thank you for keeping me informed and entertained on my commute for 4 month.
Elisha
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In The Newsaroos:
- Favicons for natural search on mobile
https://searchengineland.com/google-rolling-out-mobile-search-redesign-with-black-ad-label-favicons-for-organic-results-317328 - Have App, Will Travel. Like A Local… Hopefully
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/06/travel/have-app-will-travel-like-a-local-hopefully.html
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Submit your questions and topic ideas on Twitter to @_travelboom or info@travelboommarketing.com.