Of the 1.8 million searches made online for hotels in November 2011, London emerged as the most searched for location, according to the latest report, "Hotels Issue 10," from digital marketing agency Greenlight. Whether these were consumers making tentative early searches for accommodation ahead of the Olympics or looking to spend Christmas in the capital has not been disclosed.
The report, which profiles consumer online search behaviour for hotels on Google UK, found consumer searches for domestic hotels in the UK and Ireland were the most popular, attracting over 590,000 queries which accounted for 45 percent of the overall number of searches made for hotels in November 2011.
‘Hotels in London’ most searched for location-specific term
Three of the five top search terms were for hotels in London, the most popular search terms used being ‘Hotels in London,’ ‘London hotels’ and ‘Cheap hotels in London.’ Combined, they accounted for 10 percent of the total number of hotel searches over the period.
Interestingly, in Greenlight’s previous report (August 2011), generic‑related hotel keywords were the most queried. According to Greenlight, this indicates consumers looking for hotels in November searched using destination-specific keywords.
Paris and Amsterdam top short haul searches
Searches for hotels in short haul locations (largely within Europe) accounted for more than 366,000 searches. Paris and Amsterdam were most popular. Cumulatively searches for hotels in these two cities accounted for 22 percent of hotel searches in this subsector.
Long haul hotel searches dominated by the U.S.
Hotels in the U.S. made up the majority (22 percent) of searches for hotels in long haul locations, which totalled 341,000 in November 2011. New York hotel-related searches topped the list, accounting for 10 percent of searches. Hotels in Las Vegas also proved popular with queries totalling 14,800 (six percent). Miami, San Francisco and Boston also drew in their fair share of hotel searches.
Greenlight’s report analyses which brands and review sites were the most visible in both natural* and paid media** results and hence received the greatest share of consideration when consumers searched for holidays on Google UK.
Trip Advisor and Booking.com dominate
In natural search, Late Rooms was the most visible website for domestic hotel-related searches achieving a dominant 95 percent share of voice. It missed out on a mere 29,205 volume of searches. Meanwhile, Booking.com with 99 percent share of voice was the most dominant advertiser in paid media.
For hotels in short haul destinations, Trip Advisor with 73 percent share of voice, was the most visible site. Booking.com was the most visible advertiser in paid media with 100 percent share of voice. By comparison its nearest rival, Last Minute, achieved 77 percent share.
It was similar in the long haul hotel sub-sector where Trip Advisor dominated with 76 percent share of visibility. Booking.com was likewise the dominant advertiser in the paid media space, securing a 93 percent share of voice way ahead of its nearest rival eBookers, which achieved 49 percent by comparison.
Although Expedia had the most number of followers on Facebook and LinkedIn, Trip Advisor was the most visible brand in social media achieving a Klout score of 61.