Traveler Reviews Weigh Heavily in Travel Booking Decisions

With a 10 percent anticipated increase in holiday travel for 2011 – nearly six in 10 Americans (57 percent) are confident they will take a holiday trip this year – popular travel review and social media websites can expect more traffic this holiday season.

“In these tough economic times, consumers want assurance that if they are going to spend on travel, they are selecting the best experiences, and reviews from peers and colleagues act as a security blanket for uncertain travelers.”

“With the growing popularity and influence of social media and online review sites, it isn’t surprising that more and more consumers are using these sites as resources when booking their travel,” said Daniel Durazo, director of communications for Mondial Assistance. “In these tough economic times, consumers want assurance that if they are going to spend on travel, they are selecting the best experiences, and reviews from peers and colleagues act as a security blanket for uncertain travelers.”

Online Word of Mouth is King and Affects Bookings

• Travelers under 35 are most likely to say that online travel reviews influence their travel plans (74 percent) while those 55 and over are least likely to be influenced by reviews (44 percent).
• Nearly 79 percent of respondents with a household income of $75,000 or more factor other travelers’ reviews into their own plans, while less than half of those with an income of under $25,000 do so (46 percent).

The Trust Factor

• Nearly two thirds of respondents (63 percent) find other travelers’ reviews to be trustworthy, while 29 percent are less trusting.
  
  • Travelers under 35 are more likely than those who are older to trust the travel reviews they read (70 percent vs. 54 percent).
  • Over three quarters of respondents with a household income of $75,000 or more (77 percent) find travel reviews to be trustworthy compared to just half of those with an income of under $25,000 (50 percent).

Social Networking Sites are Most Popular for Sharing

• Facebook packs a punch: Among travelers who share reviews of their travel experiences online (24 percent of respondents), social networking sites such as Facebook are most popular. Nearly one in five (18 percent) say that they share their travel experiences on social networks, more than double the proportion of those who post on travel review sites (eight percent).

Young Adults, Affluent More Likely to Share Online

• Adults under 35 are more likely than those who are 35+ to share their travel experiences online (35 percent vs. 20 percent), particularly on social media sites (29 percent vs. six percent).
• More affluent adults are also more likely to share about their travels. More than a third of those with a household income of $75,000 or more (36 percent) share their travel reviews online, compared to 15 percent of those with a household income of less than $25,000, and they are twice as likely to use social networks to do so (24 percent vs. 12 percent).

The Access America Vacation Confidence Index is based on a telephone survey conducted by Ipsos November 2-7, 2011 of a nationally representative sample of 1,000 randomly-selected adults aged 18 and over residing in the U.S. With a sample of this size, the results are considered accurate within ±3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, of what they would have been had the entire population of adults in the U.S. been polled. The margin of error will be larger within regions and for other sub-groupings of the survey population. These data were weighted to ensure the sample's regional and age/gender composition reflects that of the actual U.S. population according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

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