More than 1.8 million searches were made for hotel-related keywords online in November, with LateRooms.com emerging as the most visible website, according to new research.
Study reveals November hotel search results
More than 1.8 million searches were made for hotel-related keywords online in November, with LateRooms.com emerging as the most visible website, according to new research.
The search term ‘hotels’ was queried 110,000 times, accounting for 6% of all searches made for the sector, the study by independent search and social media marketing agency Greenlight found.
Searches for domestic-related keywords were queried 590,000 times, accounting for 32% of all searches made for the sector.
LateRooms was the most visible website in the natural search listings, achieving a 61% share of voice, while Booking.com was the most visible advertiser, achieving a 94% share of voice in the paid media space.
Of the brands looked at in the social media analysis by Greenlight, TripAdvisor was the most visible brand, achieving a Klout score of 61.
LateRooms featured at the top of Greenlight’s integrated league table, as it attained a sizeable share of visibility in both the natural search listings and in paid media.
Booking.com was the most visible advertiser, achieving a dominant 94% share of voice through bidding on 117 keywords, at an average ad position of two.
LateRooms attained a 50% share of visibility through bidding on 100 keywords, at an average ad position of six. Of the top 10 advertisers, Hotel Direct bid on the least number of keywords at 21.
“Interestingly, Booking.com only attained a 5% share of visibility in the natural search listings; however, it achieved a dominant share of visibility in the paid media space (94%), indicating that in November it bought the majority of its visibility,” the report said.
TripAdvisor saw its share of natural search visibility increase by 12% since the previous Greenlight hotel report in August and it rose in the league table from tenth to sixth place.
Hotels in the UK and Ireland were the most popular, with more than 590,000 searches in November.
Generic?related hotel keywords were the most searched for, indicating that consumers looking for hotels searched for destination-specific keywords.
Searches for generic hotel keywords only accounted for more than 564,000 searches in the month.
The keyword ‘hotels’ was queried 110,000 times, accounting for 19% of all searches made in the sub-sector.
Lastminute.com attained a 53% share of visibility through ranking at position one for four keywords, including ‘last minute hotels’.
Travelsupermarket saw its share of visbility increase by 16% since August and it rose up the Greenlight league table from ninth to fourth place.
Domestic operator Superbreak saw its share of visbility for natural search of domestic hotel keywords increase by 2%, rising from fourth to third place in the sector.
Searches for hotels in long-haul locations accounted for more than 341,000 searches. The search terms ‘New York hotels’ and ‘Las Vegas hotels’ were each queried 14,800 times, cumulatively accounting for 12% of all searches made for the sub sector.
Greenlight said: “Our own research found that there are two peaks in the day when consumers conduct travel-related searches online. The first is a ‘lunchtime slot’ from approximately 12 midday to 2pm, the second is the ‘after work slot’, from 6pm to 8pm.”
