Fuel Hotel Marketing Podcast: Episode 80 – Hotel Booking Data Reveals Surprising Consumer Mobile Behavior
Google is not known for keeping the status quo and if all indications are correct 2018 is going to really shake up the hotel space. For years we have seen Google continues to make efforts to keep users on their platform for longer and longer. In 2016/17 Google even became a full-funnel system with the rollout of Google Hotel Ads. Well, they’re not stopping there. Here’s just a glimpse of what Google has in store for hotel searchers in 2018.
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SHOW NOTES:
There are so many sources talking about mobile data, but do the numbers all add up? What exactly does the data mean and how can hoteliers take action? In this episode, we dig into Fuel’s own data and compare it to data published by other folks in the industry to see if we can help you make sense of it all. Find out what we learned.
https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/consumer-insights/consumer-travel-smartphone-usage/
Researching:
- 48% of US travelers feel comfortable researching, booking and planning the entire trip to a new destination using ONLY a mobile device
Booking:
- Across all devices, smartphone users cite price as the most important factor in booking
- Easy search functionality and simple booking process were also mentioned as important
- 46% of US travelers said researching hotels on their mobile device was easy
- Over ⅓ of smartphone users have a negative view of a brand if the experience is slow
Length of Stay Based on Fuel Data:
| # Nights |
Bookings: Phone |
Bookings: Non-Phone |
| 1 |
12% |
6% |
| 2 |
28% |
21% |
| 3 |
26% |
27% |
| 4 |
14% |
17% |
| 5 |
8% |
11% |
| 6 |
5% |
7% |
| 7 |
6% |
9% |
| 8+ |
1% |
2% |
Booking Window Based on Fuel Data
| Booking Window |
Bookings: Phone |
Bookings: Non-Phone |
| 0 |
11% |
2% |
| 1 |
7% |
4% |
| 2 |
4% |
3% |
| 3 |
3% |
3% |
| 4 |
3% |
2% |
| 5 |
2% |
2% |
| 6 |
2% |
2% |
| 7 |
2% |
2% |
| 8-30 |
27% |
28% |
| 31-60 |
16% |
20% |
| 61-90 |
8% |
11% |
| 91+ |
14% |
20% |
Lower ADR vs. Higher ADR Based on Fuel Data
|
% of Traffic |
% of Bookings |
% of Revenue |
% Difference in Avg. Revenue |
| Lower ADR |
60% |
37% |
38% |
-6% |
| Higher ADR |
52% |
29% |
25% |
-21% |
Mirai findings as a response to Criteo study – consistent with Fuel Data:
https://www.mirai.com/blog/why-your-soaring-mobile-traffic-is-not-turning-into-bookings/
- Trended over time, phone and desktop gap is getting smaller
- The average booking window does not decrease at the same pace as the length of stay. The reason lies in the other part of the variable, the price (ADR), which still varies a lot for mobile clients in comparison to desktop clients.
- Little advance time and a short stay result in a greater use of the smartphone for bookings. It registered for almost 40% of single-night bookings for the same day.
- Bookings made well in advance for long stays registered a low use of the smartphone. Only 11% of bookings for 5 nights or more 60 days in advance were made with a mobile phone. This represents four times fewer bookings.
- The lower the rate, the larger the use of the mobile phone to book. As the rate grows, the use of the mobile phone decreases in favour of the desktop.
Our breakdown of the Criteo study: https://www.travelboommarketing.com/blog/fuel-hotel-marketing-podcast-episode-78-hotel-isnt-ready-second-mobile-tipping-point/
Mobile Payment:
https://www.businesstraveller.com/business-travel/2018/02/25/mobile-payment-will-shake-hospitality-sector-accor-ceo/
CEO of Accorhotels sees mobile payment as a bigger threat than OTAs. China is 2-3 years ahead than the rest of the world, using Alipay and Tencent. Alipay has 520 million users; Tencent has 400 million. In 2 years, 90-100% of transactions in China will be mobile (no cash or credit card). For the travel industry in 5-6 years, 100% of travel transactions will be mobile.
Hotelier Wishes
- Ed St. Onge
- My Wish is for every member of a Hotel’s team to audit the entire guest journey from search to post stay.
- Loren Gray
- I want to be as right as Ed is certain….. after that I would say a magic integration tool for all platforms from PMS / CRM / Channel management / marketing platform(s) and website with the ability to centrally house for the propertie(s) their data. Oh and a real light Sabre since you asked 🙂
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In The Newsies
AI To Be Included In New Version Of Windows 10
https://www.theverge.com/2018/3/7/17089860/microsoft-windows-ml-windows-10-ai-platform
Google Voice Search Ranking Factors Analyzed:
https://searchengineland.com/study-11-voice-search-ranking-factors-analyzed-unpacked-293221
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@makavanagh
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