HOTELMARKETING.COM

Reviews outpacing price in online travel planning

August 06, 2007 | Online Travel

In a recent survey, Yahoo Travel found that 61 percent of people now go online for vacation recommendations. Travelers are no longer just searching for a hotel based on price, they are now mainly looking for user reviews, user ratings and photos.

When it comes to travel, perhaps more so than any other industry, word-of-mouth is king. Travelers make decisions on where to stay, where to eat, and what to do based on recommendations from friends.

No surprise, then, that many of today’s niche social networking sites are built around travel: WAYN, TravelPod, TripAdvisor, IGoUGo, SideStep (thanks to the recent acquisition of TripUp), FlyerTalk - the list is tremendous.

“It’s built off the fact that travel research and travel bookings are growing online,” says Rohit Bhargava, the writer behind Influential Marketing Blog. “People like to share their expertise and experiences when it comes to travel, whether that’s finding the best deal or telling people where not to go.”

Travel marketers have responded by advertising on general and niche networks, building their own networks, and collecting feedback consumers leave on other sites.

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