Domestic hotel search outnumbering overseas three to one

Domestic hotel search outnumbering overseas three to one

Consumer online searches for domestic hotels and accommodation outnumbered those located overseas by three to one in August, new research shows.

Consumer online searches for domestic hotels and accommodation outnumbered those located overseas by three to one in August, new research shows.

People made a total of 3.1 million searches on Google UK for hotels located in domestic, short-haul and long-haul destinations.

Of that total, 1.8 million (58%) queries were for UK hotels, compared to 12% (382,610 searches) and just 8% (236,710 searches) for accommodation in short-haul and long-haul destinations respectively.

The research shows that London was the biggest draw domestically. Cumulatively, online searches for hotels in the capital accounted for 13% of queries. Brighton followed with 4%.

The findings from independent digital marketing agency Greenlight follow preliminary hotel figures released by business advisory and accountancy firm BDO in July, highlighting the health of the UK hotel sector a year on from the London Olympics.

They showed a 6.7% year-on-year increase in occupancy from 75.3% to 80.4% in the regions while occupancy rates in London increased by 10% from 79.2% to 87.1%, indicative of the UK hotel sector being in good shape to take advantage of the nascent economic recovery.

Laterooms.com was the most visible site in the organic listings for domestic hotel-related queries, attaining a 22% share of visibility.

Booking.com was the most prominent advertiser in the paid listings, with 70%.

Of the 10 most visible sites in Greenlight’s natural search listings, four were hotel chains, compared to just two in the paid listings.

The report’s 12 month retrospective view of online searches for hotels shows queries peaked in March at 3.7 million, the highest so far for 2013 and up 85% on February’s volume of 2 million, the lowest this year.

Greenlight’s report reveals the ten most popular domestic hotel-related search terms in August as being:

  • ‘hotels in london’ (90,500 searches)
  • ‘london hotels’ (74,000 searches)
  • ‘cheap hotels in london (60,500 searches)
  • ‘blackpool hotels’ (33,100 searches)
  • ‘hotels in york’ (33,1000 searches)
  • ‘hotels in edinburgh’ (27,100 searches)
  • ‘hotels in manchester’ (27,100 searches)
  • ‘hotels in brighton’ (27,100 searches)
  • ‘brighton hotels’ (27,100 searches)
  • ‘cheap london hotels’ (22,200 searches)