How Consumers Search Travel Online
http://www.travelagentcentral.com/trends-research/how-consumers-search-travel-online-22313
Research intensity has been increasing steadily. Travelers are consuming more content online before booking a trip.
Google has seen a 15 percent increase in site visits and 30 percent increase in search clicks prior to booking
Tip:
Add travel guide content to your hostel's website so that travelers see your website earlier in the travel planning stage.
Over half of business and personal travelers interact with online travel videos in all stages of their travel planning.
Tip:
Add videos of the city, attractions, and the hostel to your website.
Consumers are booking their trips online closer to the travel date.
The average booking in 2009 took place nearly a week closer to the trip date than in 2008, fueled by the desire to obtain last-minute deals and promotions
Last minute promotions on the website, Twitter and Facebook are an interesting idea. Do you think they could work?
Mobile is playing an increasing role in gathering information and transacting while traveling.
One of every seven minutes of media consumption today is through a mobile device.
I think hostel websites should be viewable on mobile devices. At a minimum, that means using good XHTML/CSS and avoiding Flash.
Travelers are searching more for local, point-of-interest-based information around a destination while planning for and during a trip.
70 percent of searches on Google contain a local component.
Travel search terms with a "destination component" are up 117 percent more than hotel, car rental, and air searchers.
Google has seen a 66 percent growth since 2004 in "Near +" and "Close To +" terms in the Hotels & Accommodations Category on Google.com
You can optimize your website for keywords like "close to...". A blog is one way to do this. If your hostel's travel guide (described above) has a page about an attraction, you can optimize that page for those keywords:
[HTML]Athens Hostel Near the Acropolis
Our Athens hostel is neat the Acropolis. The Acropolis is...[info about the attraction]
[/HTML]
Seen via HotelMarketing.com.
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