www.vestforsk.no

Booking habits and preferances

- Svein Ølnes, Vestlandsforsking, 16.09.2013

www.vestforsk.no

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

www.vestforsk.no

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

www.vestforsk.no

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 %

www.vestforsk.no

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 %

www.vestforsk.no

What was planned before travelling?

www.vestforsk.no

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

www.vestforsk.no

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

www.vestforsk.no

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

www.vestforsk.no

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

www.vestforsk.no

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 ++)

www.vestforsk.no

National booking switch (NBS)

www.vestforsk.no

Book Norway’s business model

www.vestforsk.no

Experiences from using Booking.com

Random sample of 21 local tourist businesses drawn from a

total of 94

Interview of the 21 businesses

www.vestforsk.no

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)

www.vestforsk.no

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”

www.vestforsk.no

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)