Posted
31/07/2015
This week's Friday 5 look at the battle for instant booking heating up between TripAdvisor and Google, last-minute booking behaviours, digital disruptors in the hotel industry, shifting user behaviour towards micro-moments and how to be prepared for them and ways to inspire trust in your customers.
Expedia Cozies Up to Google While Boycotting TripAdvisor Hotel Bookings
With Google and TripAdvisor ramping up their instant booking platforms, Expedia has chosen sides. Having previously declined participation in TripAdvisors instant booking platform, Expedia have not partnered with Google for a similar product, enabling users to book hotels directly from Google Maps, Google search and Google+, citing that Google is more straightforward in handling the booking without trying to own the customer.
Last-Minute Online Hotel Booking Habits
Priceline has released a study based on 1,000 US-based travellers on last minute hotel booking habits. While 61% of respondents claim they haven’t booked a last minute getaway so far in 2015, 27% did state that they typically start planning their vacations less than one week in advance.
Two Digital Disruptors Hurting Hotels
An interesting look at disruptors in the hotel industry from a panel at the Revenue Strategy Summit. Main “culprits” are mobile and sharing-economy platforms like Airbnb, both of which are areas to watch.
A Mobile Moments Mind-Set
In a new Think With Google study, Forrester Consulting looks at how mobile has transformed consumer behaviour. Consumers don’t “go online”, they live online and act on needs in micro-moments. According to the study, 98% of companies are not ready to deal with those micro-moments; is your hotel?
7 Ways to Inspire Trust from Ecommerce Customers
Appearing untrustworthy can permanently turn customers off purchasing on your site, so how do you inspire trust in your site’s users? Hubspot looks at 7 ways to make users feel comfortable when making an online purchase with you.
