Women dominate hotel search on digital platforms, though men are more likely to convert when they visit according to a booking trends report.
The Net Affinity study, which looks at data from 12.8 million hotel website sessions, including digital transactions and booking patterns.
It combines data from web sessions of Net Affinity clients with Google Analytics demographics by age (67.87% of total users) and gender (65.91% of total users).
The report finds that an overwhelming majority of hotel booking site visitors are women.
The ratio of female to male visitors is 2:1, with 69% female and 31% male.
More women book than men overall, but the report says this figure is skewed by the significantly larger share of women visiting sites. Men covert 1.5 times more often on their visits than women, though they contribute less revenue and fewer transactions overall.
Those between 25-34 years old make up the largest share of visitors (28.8%), and the majority of visitors (56%) are between 25-44. Visitors aged between 45-54 and those over 65 convert more often.
The youngest demographic, 18-24 year olds, are shoppers, moving through different sights before committing to a booking.
The type of device used to visit travel websites will also affect booking patterns, and device habits vary by demographic.
The majority of handheld mobile device visitors (63%) are aged between 25-44.
More than 40% of visitors browsing on tablets are 55 or older. The share of people 55 or older browsing on handheld mobile devices is significantly smaller, only 11%.
Women are three times more likely than men to be browsing on handheld mobile devices, and two times more likely than men to browse on desktop and tablet devices.
Women are also somewhat more likely to convert on mobile devices. While men convert 1.5 times more often overall, that figure drops to only 1.25 times more often on mobile devices.
Net Affinity finds that 56% of total website visits are on handheld mobile devices, while 11% of al visits are on tablet devices.
Desktop accounts for 33% of total website visits. That said, desktop devices contribute a larger share (nearly 60%) of revenue suggesting that many browse on mobile devices and close the buy on desktop devices.
This desktop dominance may shift as mobile payments become increasingly more straightforward and secure.
The report also looks at trends in booking windows, finding that 27% of all bookings were made within one week of arrival.
The largest share of bookings (53%) were made within a month of the scheduled arrival date and 29% of bookings were made 60 days prior to arrival.
These figures vary by geography, however, and those travelling longer distances are more likely to purchase in advance. Net Affinity recommends geo-targeting rate plans as part of a marketing strategy.
Cancellations, on the other hand, happen within relatively short windows.
Overall, 40% of bookings which cancel, do so within a week of the arrival date and 67% of bookings which cancelled did so within the month of arrival.
Reservations made in advance are more susceptible to cancelation, with 57% of cancellations relating to bookings made a month or more prior to arrival and only 15% of cancellations relating to bookings made within the week of arrival.
Monday is the busiest day (17%) for bookings, and Saturday sees the fewest bookings (10%). Friday and Sunday are both relatively slow, at 13%.
Half of all bookings are made between Monday and Wednesday.
Peak times for booking are in the evening, between 7-10 pm, accounting for 22% of all transactions during the day.
However, bookings run at a steady clip throughout the day from 11:00 am - 6 pm with 6% of all bookings recorded each hour. Additionally, 78% of all bookings made on the day of arrival occur between 9:00 am and 6:00 pm.
Most bookings are for short-term travel, with 62% staying only one night. The next higher share (25%) is for two-night stays.
Other insights in the Net Affinity report include mobile interface design trends, activities for increasing brand awareness, conversions trends for special offers and a look into the “Brexit effect” on bookings.
Image by Alysa Bajenaru