Survey: what travellers want vs. what ads deliver

Jasons recently conducted two surveys that examined both travellers’ expectations and the offerings of accommodation operators’ who advertise in Jasons Business Traveller New Zealand Accommodation Directory.

The majority of advertisers overwhelmingly saw ‘a comfortable bed’ and ‘location’ as the key factors in winning business customers, followed by ‘car parking’ and ‘free Internet and newspapers’.

When asked to choose the most important features of accommodation, 81% of business travellers also responded with ‘location, location, location’! This was then followed by ‘a comfortable bed’, then ‘free Internet and newspapers’, and a place to eat on site. The importance of having food available on site was underestimated by advertisers, however.

Security was a consideration for 25% of travellers, particularly among female respondents. And according to Jasons General Manager Operations, Mary Ansell (herself a frequent traveller for work) her own experience supports these findings. “When I travel, security is always high on my radar. I always lock the door and chain when I'm in the room and prefer to be upstairs in the property where possible.”

When it came to booking accommodation online, business travellers said the deciding factors of choosing one site over another, were ‘the ability to compare options in one place’ and ‘knowing all costs upfront’. Offering plenty of information and photos of the property was also considered to be very important to almost a quarter of those surveyed.

Reflecting traveller opinions, 70% of advertisers also saw the most important factor as knowing the costs upfront, and 41% believed the key to success was offering plenty of photos and other information.

With more than 90% of business travellers surveyed now booking online, it is increasingly important for accommodation operators to offer plenty of information, exclusive incentives, and transparency in their fee structure. Says Jasons CEO Matthew Mayne, “No one wants to pay more than they need to We hope travellers feel confident about booking online with Jasons Travel Media, and knowing there are no fees, commissions or hidden costs when they book.”

Jasons Business Traveller New Zealand Accommodation Directory is a comprehensive guide providing information on a range of services for business travellers including accommodation, conference and meeting venues.

No other travel publisher has the coverage, range or depth of Jasons Travel Media. The Jasons database is the largest in the industry, with more than 26,000 detailed tourism operator listings, thousands of travel articles and hundreds of maps.

Yearly, Jasons prints and distributes more than 6 million copies of 86 different FREE print directories and guides, and delivers 1.63 million online user sessions at http://www.jasons.com. Its quarterly Business Traveller Newsletter, which is full of Hot Deals, travel articles and features aimed at the business traveller reaches a customer database of 20,000.

Incorporated as a family business in 1967, Jason Publishing Co Ltd was restructured as Jasons Travel Media Ltd in 2000 to reflect the changing nature of its business, rapidly transformed itself into an expert "infomediary", delivering high-quality information to connect travel buyers with sellers.

ENDS

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