Travel Survey Day #1

Another day, another press release with details of a study into online bookings trends.

Today's first offering comes from Utell.com, a division of the Pegasus Solutions travel technology brand.

The, er, headline grabbing finding is the revelation that 31% of women are concerned about inaccurate product information for hotels, rather than the 19% for men.

The survey said men and women cited inaccurate information as a reason for not booking accommodation online.

How did the respondents know the information was inaccurate unless they made a booking? Or have they been scarred by previous experiences?

A spokeswoman tells us the figures are more likely to be a combination of the "perception of hotel websites and actual experiences", but the detailed questions about why were not asked.

Officially the Utell Us 2007 surveys says:

"This scepticism might stem from the fact that women are much more likely than men to book accommodation based on hotel facilities; 61 per cent of women rate it as a key factor, whereas only 43 per cent of men are swayed by hotel facilities."

Far more transparent results can be found in news that 57% of the 1,600 business and leisure travellers who tookpart in the survey "prefer" to book their hotels over the web.

Taking into account different age groups: 55% of over 55s and 61% of 16-24 year olds preferred the web.

Kevin May, editor, Travolution

Technorati tags: hotel user review