BDRC report shows surge in online bookings for UK hotels
The internet is used by 60% of business travellers and 50% of leisure travellers when booking a hotel in the UK, according to the British Hotel Guest 2007 report.
In 2006, only 44% of business travellers and 37% of leisure travellers booked UK hotels online.
The report was researched and produced by BDRC, which questioned 803 business and 809 leisure travellers.
It showed that 89% of these travellers book through search engines compared with 41% going straight to the hotel website.
Of the online travel websites, Expedia is number one in terms of sites visited (31%) and rooms booked with lastminute.com taking second place (29%).
The survey found the UK hotel market saw domestic business volume up almost 5% on last year.
In the last seven years, branded room supply has increased by almost 50%, with the budget sector doubling its stock since 2000.
When it comes to choosing one hotel over another 43% of business travellers claim their top priority is access to free broadband in their bedrooms with free wireless internet access the top priority in 38%.
By Bev Fearis
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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