Investigation about booking habits and preferances among people in Germany, France, UK and USA. Also experiences from local tourism businesses using Booking.com as a global booking system

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Booking habits and preferances
- Svein Ølnes, Vestlandsforsking, 16.09.2013

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Theme
1. Questionnaire about booking habits and preferances
2. What are the booking alternatives for local tourism
providers?
3. Experiences from use of Booking.com by local tourism
providers

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Booking habits and preferances
 Questionnaire to random sample of people above 18 years
 About 500 answers
 Germany
 France
 UK
 USA
 + answers from online questionnaire at www.fjordnorway.com
 Financed by the Sogn og Fjordane County Municipality

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Gender and age
• 56,5 % men
• 43,5 % women
< 20 years: 2,6 %
20-30 y: 17,3 %
31-45 y: 34,3 %
46-60 y: 26,8 %
> 60 y : 19,0 %

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Planleggingsfasen
 The planning started on average 4 months before the
holiday
 What resources was used in the planning phase?
General tourism web pages 20,2 %
Family and friends: 16,9 %
Brochures etc. 13,7 %
Destination sites 13,3 %
Travel agencies 11,3 %
Travel books 10,5 %
Other sources 7,2 %
Social media 6,9 %

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What was planned before travelling?

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What was booked in advance?
0,0 %
5,0 %
10,0 %
15,0 %
20,0 %
25,0 %
30,0 %
35,0 %
Pakketur Overnatting Transport innan
reisemålet
Attraksjonar og
aktivitetar
Anna

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How was accommodation booked?
0,0 %
5,0 %
10,0 %
15,0 %
20,0 %
25,0 %
30,0 %
35,0 %
40,0 %
Int. bookingtenester Nasjonale/reg.
bookingtenester
Direkte hjå
overnattingsstaden
Anna

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Why use a global booking service?
0,0 %
5,0 %
10,0 %
15,0 %
20,0 %
25,0 %
30,0 %
35,0 %
Prissamanlikning Brukaromtalar
og rangering
God oversikt,
synlege
God erfaring frå
tidl. bruk
Ingen andre
alternativ
Anna

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What are important criteria when booking?
Criteria Important or
Very important
(%)
Localization 90,5
Price 88,5
Quality (e.g. stars) 81,1
Facilities 72,8
User reviews 71,8

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Booking systems
1. Own booking system
2. Booking through local/regional destination organization
3. National booking service (e.g. BookNorway)
4. Global booking service (Booking.com, Hotels.com ++)

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National booking switch (NBS)

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Book Norway’s business model

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Experiences from using Booking.com
 Random sample of 21 local tourist businesses drawn from a
total of 94
 Interview of the 21 businesses

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Experiences from using Booking.com
 Flexible
 Easy to use
 You can do most of the
work yourself
 Good service
 ”They take care of
everything”
 Less contact with guests,
fewer revisits (?)
 Difficult to present the total
picture (the nature, the
surroundings)

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Erfaringar med Booking.com
”They arranged everything, and there was very little I had to do myself. They were
service-oriented. It is easy for customers to book. Information is good. It’s easy to
use for a hotel... It is a flexible system.”
“I think it was stupid of us not to join earlier. Customers use booking.com, there are
so many people using booking.com.“
“…the guests coming here have known us for a long time, or they come because of
recommendations… So I think there is a greater chance that they return. This system
with online bookings gives us a smaller chance for guests to return. “
“We have had guests paying 22,000 NOK [€2,500] for a week – if they had called it
would have been half the price.”
“We would probably be able to attract more guests if we were allowed to also present
the beautiful surroundings and the region”

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Thank you for your attention!
 sol@vestforsk.no
 http://www.slideshare.net/sveino/booking-26261141
 Documentation:
 VF report 5-2013: ”Bookingtenester i reiselivet”
 Journal article: ” Online reservation systems for accommodation
in rural tourism: change-maker in the countryside” (under
publishing)