2. Objective of Mini Research
Objective
The objective of this exercise is to demonstrate through utilising “Google Trends”, over a time horizon of 5 years. To identify insights that may be gained in relation to where demand for the unique experience,
associatedwith “luxury hotels”is originatingfrom worldwide.
Theidentificationof themost popularonlinetravelagencies (OTA), andaggregatorsincorporatedbypotentialcustomersinto theircustomerjourney
Theidentificationinthe riseof consumerssearchingfor alternativestohotels fortheirluxury holidays
SecondaryObjectives
Understandthe earlystagesof the customerjourney,of consumerswith no priorexperiencein usinga luxury hotel.Or at leasttheymay havenever useda luxury hotel,in theirintendedholiday
destination..
Trendsin thecategoryof hotels,that areof interestto consumersintentonholidayingat a luxury hotel
NB: The searchterm“TopLuxury Hotel europe”presented“0” data andthereforeisnot mentionedin the analysis
Google Trends: LuxuryHotel Brands
Duration: Jun2012– Jun2017
Google Trends
Googletrendsprovidesinreal-timea time seriesindexof the volumeof queriesusersenterinto theGoogle searchengine, withina given geographicarea.
Thequeryindexis basedonqueryshare: thatis thetotal queryvolume forthe searchterm in questionwithina particulargeographicregion
dividedby the totalnumberof queriesin thatregionduringthe time periodbeingexamined
Theindex measures thefractionof queriesthat includetheterm in thequestionin the chosengeographyat a particulartime relativeto the totalnumberof queriesat the time. Themaximum valueof the indexis set
to be 100.
4. 0
20
40
60
80
100
120
UnitedKingdom Australia Germany France UnitedStates
Geo Map:By Regionforthesearch terms:Top 10 luxury hotels, Topluxury hotels, Small
Luxury hotels:
(WorldWide)June 2012- June 2017
Top luxury hotels: (04/07/2012 - 04/07/2017) Small Luxury hotels: (04/07/2012 - 04/07/2017)
TheUnitedKingdom, Australia,andGermanyare thecountrieswith the highestvolume of searchresults. Thissuggests
thattheremay be a change in thepreferencesof consumers,and thattheyare seekingmore intimateexperiencesthrough
the useof smallluxuryhotels.
Inrelationto thesearchterm“top luxury hotels,” the high searchvolumes impliesthatconsumersare utilising“earned
media”to quickly findlistsof potentialbrands.Indicting thattheymay be unfamiliarwith luxury hotelbrandsin the
geographiesthat theyintendto travelto.
Forthesearchterm“Small Luxury Hotel” over the last5 years theUK hada queryindexvalueof [100]which is nearly2x
the valueforAustraliaat [53] and 5x thevalue fortheUSA at [20]
Thereisnocity data, thiscouldbe dueto the fact thatsearchvolumeswere toolow.
5. 0
20
40
60
80
100
120
top 10 luxury hotels in the world top 10 hotels in the world top 10 luxury hotels in india
Geo Map: Top Related Queries World Wide for the Search Term "top 10 luxury hotels" (04/07/2012 - 04/07/2017)
India seems to be a popular destination for consumers,
whencombining travel destinations worldwide and top 10
luxuryhotels
6. 0
20
40
60
80
100
120
United Kingdom United States
Geo Map: Top luxury hotels Search Volumeby Region: (04/07/2012- 04/07/2017)Worldwide
The UKandUSAarethe countries with the biggest search volumes for
the search term “TopLuxuryHotels”
7. 0
20
40
60
80
100
120
top luxury hotels in
the world
tripadvisor four seasons small luxury hotels top 10 luxury hotels
in the world
trip advisor top secret hotels expedia top 10 luxury hotels
in india
last minute booking.com luxury link
Top Related Queriesfor the Category "Top Luxury Hotels" (04/07/2012 - 04/07/2017, Worldwide)
UtiliseReviewsTo Drive SearchEngineOptimisation
Factorsthe will enhanceSEO include: -
Diversityof third-partysitesonwhich reviewsarepresent
Authorityof third-partysitesonwhich reviewsare present
Quantityof ReviewsbyAuthorityReviewers(e.g..Yelp Elite,
GoogleLocal Guides,etc)
PositiveSentimentin Reviews
Overall Velocityof Reviews(Native + Third-Party)
Quantityof Third-PartyTraditionalReviews
Product/ServiceKeywordsin Reviews
8. 0
20
40
60
80
100
120
top luxury hotels in
the world
tripadvisor four seasons small luxury hotels top 10 luxury hotels
in the world
trip advisor top secret hotels expedia top 10 luxury hotels
in india
last minute booking.com luxury link
Top Related Queriesfor the Category "Top Luxury Hotels" (04/07/2012 - 04/07/2017, Worldwide)
Consumersinterestedin “TopLuxury Hotels”are utilisinghotelaggregators, suchasTrip advisor,top secrethotels“secret
escapes”, expedia,booking.com, lastminuteandluxury linkduring theearlystatesof theircustomerjourney.
TheImpact of ReviewsonConsumerDecisionMaking
Increasing numbers of consumers are utilising reviews as part of their decision making process. Consumers trust traditional
advertising far less than they do social recommendations and the review sites. Trip advisor and Yelp have 270 million
combinedreviews
“74%of customerstrustonlinereviewsas muchas personalrecommendations” Vendasta
As social media becomes more ubiquitous, the power to influence brand perception, has shifted from a small number of
elitestoconsumers.
This shift is termed the “inversion of influence”, and the ability of an organisation to harness “social capital” that is “earned”
mediais oneof the key driversof growth, forbrandsonsocialmedia.
9. 0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
120%
140%
tripadvisor top 10 luxury hotels in india top 10 luxury hotels in the world top secret hotels
RisingRelatedQueriesfortheSearchTerm"TopLuxuryHotels"(04/07/2012 -04/07/2017, Worldwide)
The review site“tripadvisor”andthe brand“secret escapes”are
featuredas thetoprising queries.This indicatesthatthesebrandsare
becoming well establishedaspartofthecustomer journey. When
searching forpeer topeer informationregarding topluxuryhotels
10. 0
20
40
60
80
100
120
UnitedKingdom Australia Germany France UnitedStates
Search Volumes by Region for the Search Term "Small Luxury hotels": (04/07/2012 - 04/07/2017) WorldWide
UnitedKingdom, AustraliaandGermanyare thebiggest marketsforthe searchterm “SmallLuxury Hotels”
13. 0
20
40
60
80
100
120
small
luxury
hotel
small
luxury
hotels of
the world
small hotels
of the
world
luxury
hotelsof
theworld
small
boutique
hotels
small and
luxury
hotels
small
leading
hotels
leading
small hotels
of the
world
theleading
hotelsof
theworld
leading
hotelsof
theworld
tripadvisor small
luxury
hotelsitaly
small
luxury
hotelsuk
small
luxury
hotels
london
relais
chateaux
small
luxury
hotelsparis
small
luxury
hotels
france
design
hotels
small
luxury
hotels
greece
booking slh small
luxury
hotelsrome
mr and mrs
smith
greatsmall
hotels
expedia
Top RelatedQueriesfor the searchterm"SmallLuxury hotels": (04/07/2012 -04/07/2017,Worldwide)
Aggregator sites such as expediaand trip advisor, booking.com, small luxury hotel
collection (slh), Mr and Mrs Smith feature in the customer journey of consumers
searching for “Small LuxuryHotels”.
In terms of the most popular locations they are Italy, London, Paris,France, Greece
and Rome
14. 0%
1000%
2000%
3000%
4000%
5000%
6000%
airbnb secret escapes trivago skyscanner booking tripadvisor booking.com easyjet small luxury hotels
of the world uk
british airways small boutique
hotels
Top Rising Queries for the search term "Small Luxuryhotels": (04/07/2012 - 04/07/2017, Worldwide
Arecent survey carried out by Search Engine Land; foundthat 88% of people surveyed now trust
online reviews as much as personal recommendations.
Big online travel agency [OTA]sites such as Holiday Check, Booking.com, andTrivagocan offer
travellers tens of millions of hotel reviews tolook at.In March 2013 Trip Advisor announced it had
100 million reviews uploaded to its site.
Aggregators such as secret escapes feature strongly as a brandused by consumers to source luxury
hotels.
Also, organisations such as Airbnb aredisrupting the business model of the hotel industry.
Consumers ofluxury hotels seem tobe considering Airbnbas an alternative totraditionalhotels.
Consumers booking hotels andflights separately may be less concerned regardingthe type of
airline used fortheir flights. Furthermore, they may be seeking low cost fares, as easyjet a [lowcost
brand]andBritish Airways [apremium brand]were considered duringthe customer journey.
