Connected Travellers twice as likely to make travel bookings via mobile
Ipsos have conducted TripAdvisor's latest TripBarometer1 study on the global booking trends and in-destination smartphone usage for Connected Travellers.
The survey defines Connected Travellers as those who have used a smartphone to plan or book a trip and provides in-depth insight into their habits and behaviors.
Key findings include:
- 45% of Connected Travellers usually use their smartphones to book activities for a trip
- Almost three quarters of Connected Travellers (72%) use their smartphones to look for restaurants while on vacation
- A third of Connected Travellers (34%) want their accommodation to offer mobile check-in.
Mobile apps bookings have doubled in last year
- In 2014, 4% of TripBarometer respondents booked their accommodation using a mobile app channel, in 2015 this has risen to 8% this year which increases to 11% for the Connected Traveller.
- Those who book via mobile app channels are habitual users, with one in four (24%) saying they usually book this way. One in five Connected Travellers say they booked via a mobile app because it was easier or faster to access and 29% felt they got a better price.
- 45% of Connected Travellers say they use their smartphone to book activities for their trip, while 55% say they use a laptop.
Smartphones are the essential trip companion
Connected Travellers are more likely to want their smartphones with them on vacation to organize their trip more efficiently (44%) and book accommodation on the go (37%). 72% use their mobile to look for restaurants, 67 % use it to find things to do and 64 % use it to read reviews.
Opportunities to please Connected Travellers Nearly half (45%) of all Connected Travellers would enjoy an app to book things through while on their trip and a third (34%) would find mobile check-in useful. Yet only 11% of hotels offer mobile check-in.
1Technical note
The TripBarometer study, by TripAdvisor, is based upon an online survey conducted from 16 January to 2 February 2015 conducted by Ipsos.
A total of 44,277 interviews were completed in 32 markets, spanning 7 regions. The sample is made up of 34,016 consumers who are TripAdvisor website users and Ipsos online panelists who chose to take part in the survey and have researched their travel plans online in the last year; and 10,261 representatives from accommodation properties who use TripAdvisor free marketing services, making it the world’s largest combined accommodation and traveller survey. The consumer survey data is weighted to represent the known profile of the global online population, to keep in line with previous waves of TripBarometer. Equal weighting is also applied at country level for the business survey.
42% of TripBarometer respondents can be considered Connected Travellers – a subset of global TripBarometer respondents. This includes travellers who have used a smartphone to plan their vacation, book accommodation for their vacation or book an activity before going on vacation. These travellers most commonly fall within the millennial (32%), families (20%) or no children (19%) life-stage and are more commonly male (51%).
