Travellers are mostly looking for information and inspiration about hotels and destinations, rather than air tickets, when using search engines such as Google.
Research from guest feedback platform TrustYou found that 57% of consumers search for hotels, 49% are looking for a destination, and almost a third are searching for a combination of both.
But the power of brand is perhaps less strong than what hotels may be hoping for, TrustYou found, with just 20% of consumers saying they are likely to click on a hotel's website link when it appears in a hotel listing on Google.
The survey results for US consumers showed that hotels remain the primary accommodation type for users of search engines, at least initially.
Some 86% are looking for hotels, with motels and resorts at 34%, B&Bs 14%, apartment rentals 13%, sharing-type accommodation 10%, and hostels 7%
In terms of initial inspiration, almost half (48%) use Google, followed by online travel agencies (43%) and, interestingly, Facebook (42%).
When disclosing what is the most important decision within hotel results on Google Price Ads, consumers ranked the following:
Nicholas Scott Johnson, from the University of Heilbronn, says:
"The majority of travelers turn to Google when seeking travel inspiration, beginning their accommodation search, and evaluating features between multiple hotels.
"By optimizing a hotel’s presence on Google, more information is available that would likely drive travelers to your website and also to book direct."
NB: Full report and survey background here: