According to a recent report from digital marketing agency, Greenlight, 60% of the 3.3 million UK consumer online searches for hotels made a month ahead of the festive season were for lodgings domestically.
Greenlight’s analysis found that UK online search volumes for hotels were up 6.5% on the previous quarter and, on the domestic front, those for hotels in York and Edinburgh saw the highest quarter-on-quarter uplift.
Greenlight profiled consumer online search behaviour and identified the most popular search terms used on Google UK to look for lodgings and accommodation – both domestically and abroad – in November. Details of the agency’s findings can be found in its Hotels Sector Report – Issue 18.
Analysis of the quarterly data shows that search-wise, demand for hotel accommodation at home saw the highest rise with volumes up 13%, from 1.8 million in August to over 2 million in November.
By contrast, quarter-on-quarter online search volumes for hotels located in short-haul destinations declined almost 2%. Those for long-haul destinations increased marginally by 0.6%.
London topped domestic hotel searches, with the capital featuring in three of the 10 most popular search phrases. Cumulatively, the terms ‘hotels in London’, ‘London hotels’ and ‘cheap hotels in London’ accounted for 11% of queries.
However, search demand for hotels in York and Edinburgh, among the top 10, enjoyed the greatest quarter-on-quarter gains – 150% and 144% respectively. Combined, the terms ‘hotels in York’ and ‘York hotels’ totalled 82,600 in November, compared to 33,100 in August. Searches for ‘hotels in Edinburgh’ and ‘Edinburgh hotels’ leapt from 27,100 in August to 66,200 in November.
Greenlight also determined and ranked the most visible hotel websites to November searches. The report shows that Laterooms.com was the most visible website in the organic listings overall, attaining a 73% share of visibility.
Laterooms.com was also the most prominent site to queries for hotels domestically, and was visible to a volume of over 1.5 million searches in this sub-sector – over 230,000 more than its nearest rival, tripadvisor.co.uk.
Meanwhile, in the paid media listings, Booking.com emerged the most visible advertiser overall, attaining an 88% share of voice. The site also topped Greenlight’s league table charting the most visible advertisers in the paid listings for domestic destinations, achieving a 91% share of voice.
