Online review sites are gaining ground as a research tool in the destination selection process, according to a recent report published by PhoCusWright that looked at the habits of leisure travelers in the United States, France, Germany and the United Kingdom. Online travel agencies (OTAs) are still a popular source for reviews, the study found, and different patterns are developing in each market.

A higher percentage of travelers in all four markets are turning to review sites such as TripAdvisor—21 percent of French and German travelers consulted one in 2011, an increase of 8 and 7 percentage points, respectively.

Although the use of traveler review sites is increasing across the board, U.S. and German travelers still put more stock in the reviews they find on OTA sites, according to PhoCusWright. The percentage of U.S. travelers who called traveler review sites slightly or very influential decreased from 65 percent in 2011 to 59 percent in 2010. Meanwhile, the portion who said the same about reviews on OTA sites held steady at 73 percent. Travelers in the United Kingdom and France are much more likely to be influenced by traveler review websites.

Competition for travelers’ eyeballs is not a zero-sum game, the study confirmed. Travelers in all four markets visited an average of three to five sites before booking, according to the report, “Destination Unknown: How U.S. and European Travelers Decide Where to Go.”

Photo: TripAdvisor.com

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More Positive Yet Tepid Outlooks for Travel, per PhoCusWright

PhoCusWright, one of the leading travel industry research companies, conducted an online event last week sharing its experts’ top 10 travel trends insights into what 2011 holds for the performance of the travel industry.

Truth, Myth, and Pith: PhoCusWright’s 2011 Travel Industry Trends presentation, moderated by Lorraine Sileo, vice president of research, made clear that the biggest news for the industry is that vacations are finally making a comeback. People are tired of having to cut back or postpone their travels due to economic factors the past few years, they’re getting on the road again, and they’re willing to spend more and spend directly with suppliers as opposed to online travel agencies.

Other key trend topics included air distribution, with a battle lining up for online retail storefront and, ultimately, consumers that will eventually end with all parties coming to an agreement on how to live together; shift in search whether or not Google completes its acquisition of ITA; China, India and Brazil continue to lead the way in emerging markets, followed by Singapore, Mexico, Hong Kong, Argentina, Indonesia and Chile; and more advances in how mobile devices and tablets will improve customer service and enrich the travel experience.

Here is the complete list of 10 travel trends for 2011, along with which trends participants deemed the most important (each listener could choose up to three):

1. Vacations (Finally) Make a Comeback – 31 percent
2. Emerging Markets: No Internet, No Problem – 21 percent
3. Air Distribution: As Clear as Mud – 31 percent
4. Google-ITA: If Not Plan A, Then on to Plan B – 34 percent
5. “Mobile” is Not a Trend – 47 percent
6. Suppliers Get Smart About Smart Technologies – 30 percent
7. Suppliers Claw Their Way Back – 21 percent
8. Emerging Markets: Which Ones are Real? – 17 percent
9. Private Sale: Flash of Brillance or Flash in the Pan? – 15 percent
10. Tablet Wars Spark a Travel Revolution – 28 percent

PhoCusWright presenters included Carroll Rheem, director of research; Cathy Schetzina, director of communications and senior research analyst; Douglaa Quinby, senior director of research; and Ram Badrinathan, market analyst the Asia Pacific region.

Participants compared how 2010’s predicted travel trends played out, with 78 percent saying PhoCusWright was either spot on or mostly on target. Last year’s trends:

1. A Restrained Recovery
2. Online Travel Agencies Maintain Momentum
3. Airline Optional Services – Ancillary No More
4. Mobile Travel Bookings Become Reality
5. Social Media Tops Agendas
6. Getting Local: Mobile, Social and Search Converge
7. Growing Pains Prompt Meta-morphosis
8. Trip Planning Gets Personal
9. Emerging Markets on the Radar
10. Mapping Makes its Mark

How do you think PhoCusWright experts did in predicting 2010 trends, and what are your thoughts on their picks for 2011?

(There was a technical glitch with the recording of the webinar, but the company is working on rerecording the information, and a download of the transcript will be made available soon.)

Related posts:
Best and Worst of PhoCusWright @ ITB Berlin 2010
PhoCusWright/Akamai Study on Travel Site Performance
Goldman Sachs Investment Trends in Online Travel
Business Travel Trends from the AMEX-CFO Research Survey

(Photo credit: PhoCusWright)

Dear Atanas Christov and Vayant,

Atanas Christov holds court at the PhoCusWright Travel Innovation Summi

I enjoyed your demo at PhoCusWright showing all these complex queries that aren’t possible with a GDS only solution.  In fact, it was so appealing to this travel distribution audience, I’d characterize it as travel flight search porn.

OK, I have to admit that vision is very, very sexy.  Imagine a world where you can mix and match mainline flights with Low Cost Carriers (LCC) not available in the GDS to create interesting mix and match flight combinations that help customers save money and save time.  Create the ultimate Super PNR with a single search across multiple sources and types of fares.  Compare multiple classes of service on both mainline carriers and LCC.  On top of that, you can do massive data mining and segmentation of air travelers to create customized search preferences preset by customer segments and customer demographics.  These personae (like “businessperson” or “backpacker”) map to search criteria that are preset for me to deliver more customized flight searches that meet my criteria.

Wow.  The ultimate travel distribution orgasm.

But what you’re really selling is insurance against Google.  All of your customers are going to be OTAs and metasearch sites that are afraid that after 3 years (or however long their contract is) ITA Software won’t sell you data anymore.  The big thing you should be talking about is how you can deliver massive query volume to your customers at low cost.  You have got to be able to find an aspect of search that you can deliver on an economical basis to customers, to lure them away from giving ITA all of their business.  Are there specific search problems that ITA can’t solve?  Are there specific geographies and carriers that ITA isn’t providing?  Figure out how to be complementary as an additional data source to ITA.  You should get into accounts based on those ITA outages but also grab even more business being an insurance policy against ITA and Google risk.

Much less sexy to show at PhoCusWright.  But I’d hope that this audience would understand the strategic position that you are in and how you might exploit it.

But maybe you don’t want to talk about this.  Openly.

Anyway, the ITA Software deal couldn’t be a better thing for you.  Congratulations. I wish I had your luck!

Dear T.J. Clark and the Limos.com team,

T.J. Clark presents at PhoCusWright's Travel Innovation Summit 2010

Nice presentation at PhoCusWright.  This is a solid business that I wish I had thought up of and executed at the level of quality that you have.

You made some claims that you’re “5 times larger than anyone else in traffic.”  Looking at Compete and Quantcast, the story checks out.  Your PageRank and backlinks align with an important site on the Web.

Seems like one of the core issues that you need to decide on is how much you are a branded provider of limo services (e.g. SuperShuttle) and how much you are a “competitive service marketplace” (e.g. Ebay for Services, Odesk, Elance).  I suspect that the marketplace concept is powerful for the long term and a great investor and PR story.  Long-term it’s an exciting vision to scale your business globally and get coverage.  But I bet there is an 80/20 rule where the top 20% of suppliers are actually serving 80% of your demand and that is a good thing.  And in the short-term you seem to recognize that customer care  is critical and that is because customers feel like they are buying from you (the brand) vs. your supplier.  Your supplier basically doesn’t have a brand, right?  That’s how you are able to give them lower pricing vs. the national corporate competitors (e.g. SuperShuttle limos, Boston Coach).

I’d embrace being the online booking agency for limos and all that entails.  I love the rating system  and certification of your suppliers.

In terms of traffic, I can see tackling airport transportation content more aggressively as an SEO and traffic building tactic.  Why not build the “SeatGuru of Airport Transportation and Airports?”  Help people with their overall problem.  Getting from the airport, and getting to the airport.  Make that the TripAdvisor to your Expedia.  And that’s just for the airport transportation.  I see there are lots of other Limo vertical needs as well.

Congrats again on a great business.