Market Metrix: What factors influence customers’ choice of hotel?

Market Metrix, a market research company that focuses on improving customer satisfaction for hotels, recently completed a survey report that analyzes the factors that influence consumers in various regions around the world to choose a hotel or a casino. The survey results provide valuable information on the current behavior of hotel customers and provide suggestions for hotels on how to attract these customers. In the following and future articles, we will further analyze more important results in the survey report.

The survey, based on the Market Metrix Hospitality Index, collected data from 40,000 travelers in the United States, Europe, and Asia. We asked customers a few key questions about why they chose a particular hotel or casino during their most recent trip.

Feedback from travelers around the world

Location remains the most important factor influencing hotel decisions, especially for leisure travelers. Location is a very important consideration for older travelers and those with higher incomes (earning $100,001–150,000 per year and preferring upper mid-range or upper-end hotels).

Among the main factors that influence customers' hotel decisions, "price" and "previous experience" are second only to the hotel's location. Interestingly, the importance of the factor "previous experience" has been increasing over the past few years, while customers' emphasis on "location" and "price" has remained stable. Perhaps this is due to the fact that there are a variety of hotel products available in the market, especially in the high-end hotel market, so customers are becoming more demanding.

In the global market, "past experience" plays a more important role in customers' hotel decision-making process (11.9% of respondents said they value this factor), which is more important than recommendations from friends (6.8%), brand reputation (5.5%), promotions (5.0%), the power of loyalty programs (3.8%) and the influence of online reviews (2.9%) on customers' hotel choices.

In contrast, the location of the casino plays a smaller role in the customer's decision-making process. As shown in Figure 2, "past experience" and other factors (what is the atmosphere of the casino, whether it makes people feel excited and entertaining, etc.) are all part of the customer experience. In fact, if all these aspects are taken into account, the customer experience is the most important factor affecting the customer's choice of casino. (Wing compiled)

via: traveldaily