A mobile phone is the number one travel accessory, with more Canadians preferring to travel with their device than their loved one. Nearly 70 per cent of Canadians spend at least two hours a day connecting on social media while travelling.
TORONTO – As mobile devices continue to evolve, the Hotels.com Mobile Travel Tracker uncovers the true impact that the number-one travel accessory, the mobile phone, is having on our booking and travel behaviours. It reveals Canadians are now booking hotels in secret, becoming more spontaneous, staying connected with friends and placing less emphasis on price.
Global travel summary for 2015
According to the Hotels.com Mobile Travel Tracker, a global study of 9,200 travellers across 31 countries, today's modern traveller makes four trips a year and on average stays in a hotel 13 nights of the year. Although for some, the hotel becomes their home for a month, as almost 1 in 10 spend more than 31 days a year in a hotel room.
Almost a third of people admit that they book more trips than ever thanks to mobile, so as smartphones continue to get smarter, it's no surprise that nearly a third (30 per cent) of Canadians regularly book their hotel stays on a mobile device, with this number rising to 42 per cent for those aged 30 – 40, according to the survey. Short breaks at home (19 per cent), short breaks abroad (16 per cent) and business trips (16 per cent) are the main occasions Canadians make their hotel reservations on mobile.
We're booking our hotels from everywhere
Gone are the days of booking your trip in a travel agent's office surrounded by people, because nowadays hotel bookings are sometimes a more secretive affair, with travellers reserving their hotel room from their bedroom and their bathroom. Seventeen per cent of Canadians say they have booked a hotel while in bed with their partner. Eleven per cent of people also admitted to booking a hotel in the office when they were supposed to be working and nine per cent even confessed to booking a hotel while sitting on the toilet! Over a quarter of people (27 per cent) are multi-tasking mobile users as they have booked a hotel while also searching on multiple devices, according to this survey.
How we pay is more important than how much we pay
For today's savvy traveller, it is no longer simply a case of the price is always right. In fact according to the Hotels.com Mobile Travel Tracker, having the right payment method and offering genuine guest reviews are more important factors when Canadians book a hotel on mobile. (Hotels.com offers 15 different payment methods, including the newly launched Apple Pay available currently in the U.S., but coming soon to Canada.)
Top five influencing factors for Canadians to book travel on mobile:
- Payment method is right for me – 45 per cent
- Price is best value – 42 per cent
- Genuine guest reviews – 40 per cent
- There is relevant and detailed info on hotel – 37 per cent
- Lots of hotel photos – 37 per cent
- Nine per cent of travellers say having a loyalty program, like Hotels.com Rewards, influences their decision when booking on mobile and 11 per cent of people say having a coupon code also influences whether they make a booking. When it comes to the hotel itself, being connected is so important that 23 per cent of people say they only select a hotel if it offers free WiFi.
Mobile technology lets travellers be spontaneous
More than a third of Canadians (37 per cent) say their smartphone makes them more spontaneous when travelling and the fact that 37 per cent of people have made a same-day hotel booking and over a fifth of holidaymakers book less than a week before travel, seems to be evidence our travel booking behaviour is becoming more last-minute. A super spontaneous nine per cent of us have really left booking a hotel to the last minute and actually booked in the airport lounge before departure.
Travellers want to do more with their phones
With mobile technologies developing at such speed, there's no doubt mobile usage for travellers will evolve. The Hotels.com Mobile Travel Tracker looked at what activities Canadians would be prepared to do in the future on their mobile devices while travelling. The most popular future usage for a quarter of people was to use their mobiles as an identification tool, to open hotel doors electronically and to check-in at self-serve kiosks at hotels.
More mobile usage facts about Canadian travellers:
- Two-thirds of Canadians say their mobile phone is their favourite travel accessory.
- The biggest use for mobile devices while travelling is as a camera with 42 per cent of Canadians using their phones to take photos.
- The mobile apps Canadians use most while travelling are dedicated social media apps with 53 per cent of us using them while on the road.
- Sixty-nine per cent of Canadians spend 1-to-2 hours per day on social media while travelling.
The Hotels.com app constantly evolves to meet the needs of travellers
Dan Craig, Senior Director of Mobile at Hotels.com brand said: "We pride ourselves on the booking experience we offer today's modern traveller through our mobile app. As one of the market leaders in the mobile space, we're constantly innovating and adding new features to make our app more personal and improve both hotel shopping and the customer experience. We see a growing number of transactions coming from mobile, so it's fantastic to see that travellers anticipating new mobile technology features. It's also great to see that booking a hotel on mobile is so easy, that 10 per cent of people do it while sitting on the toilet!"
Hotels.com is continually evolving its in-stay mobile experience and some exciting new features will be revealed in the coming months.
Launched earlier this year, a new home screen design on the Hotels.com Android app now means users have a more personalized experience. New home screen features include the Hotels.com Rewards punch card, dynamic reservations, cross device searches and offline mode.
The Hotels.com mobile app is available for IOS, Android, Windows and Amazon Kindle devices, and already has over 50 million downloads worldwide.
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
