It’s no surprise that online reviews are an important part of the travel buying process. 95% of consumers read reviews before booking a trip – with leisure travellers checking out six to 20 reviews before booking, and business travellers looking at five.
NB: This is a viewpoint from Kevin Mullaney, head of digital at Flagship Consulting.
Review browsing is well ingrained in the travel shopping psyche - and we are pretty sophisticated at it.
79% of us are put off by a five-star sweep, wanting to see an ‘honest’ reflection of the good, bad and ugly.
When making travel decisions we put a huge amount of time and faith in the opinions of strangers, relying on collective sentiment to justify our choices.
However, the review sampling that dominates our online holiday research rarely takes personal preference into consideration; reviews don’t bend to our demographic profile, hobbies or life-stage, and this can lead to misleading information.
For example, a traveller might be looking to book a resort hotel and, in the process of their research, come across a scathing review decrying the atmosphere and terrible experience. This review may have been the result of a young couple on a romantic holiday being driven crazy by a mob of pool-bound children.
For another childless couple seeking a quiet escape this is ideal intel.
For the parents of fun-seeking kids who would love a fun pool to play in, this review is inappropriate and misleading.
Although 69% of us trust travel review sites to help form our opinions, brands have changed tactics in order to claw back control of how they are represented by the public, and to focus again on direct bookings.
They have achieved this by focusing on the online customer experience and needs of individual travellers, investing in user- generated content which is dynamically served on-site to showcase the glowing experiences of ‘people like me’.
Through advanced customer profiling, multi-channel targeting and website tracking, brands are now able to develop a complex picture of potential customers, learning more about their interests, needs and preferences with every single click and interaction.
As this unique profile builds, bespoke deals lure travellers back to a landing page containing video and testimonials from these ‘people like me’, which is powerfully combined with a ‘limited time’ call to action to purchase a similar break.
As a result the travel industry has evolved beyond purely managing their reputation online to actively harnessing the power of reviews and UGC to deliver a more personalised, conversion driven experience.
The final frontier for the travel industry, however, is proving the ROI on word of mouth (WOM) and referral marketing, which drives direct bookings like no other channel.
84% of us trust family and friends above all else.
Traditionally these endorsements have happened as we chat away face-to-face with our nearest and dearest.
However, increasingly this is happening on social media – with 90% of us being influenced socially in some way before deciding on a trip.
So it’s no surprise that Facebook, in its perpetual quest to capture our attention and personal preferences, is formalising the process of gathering advice from our friends with the release of its new recommendations feature.
Currently active in the USA, and soon to hit news feeds across the globe, travel buyers will be able to ask their friends (as they do already) about where to go, stay, eat and what to do when planning a trip.
Facebook automatically detects the question and will prompt users to label it as a request, creating an eye-catching post which alerts friends that advice is being sought.
And as the recommendations pour in from friends, Facebook automatically identifies the recommended hotel, destination or attraction and plots them on a map so users can see what is on offer.
Feeling much more loved and informed, individuals can click on each of the business previews listed, sending them directly through to the brand’s Facebook page where there should be a click to buy, book, call or reserve button.
This sleek and incredibly intuitive interface saves users a huge amount of time, as they can quickly review trusted recommendations all in one place, with the ability to buy in just a few clicks.
And what is good for buyers is equally beneficial for travel brands. Any destination, attraction, venue, restaurant or business looking to grow tourist footfall can now rely on the genuine experiences and advocacy of customers to drive direct bookings from Facebook.
NB: This is a viewpoint from Kevin Mullaney, head of digital at Flagship Consulting.