Top Brands and Booking Methods for Travelers

Think you really know about current consumer trends in the travel industry? Some of our insights might surprise you. We recently put together an overview of the travel market - not just what consumers are doing, but more importantly, how and why.

In the report, we cover everything from levels of spending on domestic, foreign, and cruise ship travel, to preferences and methods for booking. Included in our analysis are some brand specific insights - for example, travelers book different major hotel brands like Marriott and Hilton almost equally; and when it comes to flying, Delta is the international favorite at 19% of travelers booking, with Southwest being the most-booked for domestic flights. Even though these are brand favorites, did you know that over 70% of travelers are actually not members of hotel rewards or frequent flyer programs? Popularity in travel and accommodations seemingly relies more on flexibility of service, and not so much consumer loyalty!

We also take a close look at key behavioral insights important for understanding how these consumers go through their decision making process for travel. One of these interesting finds is that only 12% of travelers use mobile apps to book travel, compared to 74% booking on websites - a clear indicator that convenience of booking on mobile apps is not enough of a motivator for these consumers. We think this will be an especially important trend to keep track of in the near future, as mobile-friendly "sharing economy" apps and travel alternatives (such as Airbnb) become more and more popular.

To read the full analysis on consumer travel, download the 2018 Consumer Travel Report.