Online review sites make travel a buyer’s market, says Deloitte

Travel has changed from being a seller’s market to a buyer’s market due to online price comparison and review websites, according to a new report from Deloitte. 

Deloitte’s Travel Consumer 2015 report found that more than half (59%) of consumers are now using the internet to compare prices.

The survey of 40,000 holidaymakers also found that 42% of consumers used review sites when planning their holiday, compared with 31% using travel company websites and 21% online travel agents (OTAs). Of those planning with review sites, 59% said that it was their main influence.

Alistair Pritchard, UK lead partner for travel at Deloitte, said: “The travel industry plays a less influential role now, and holidaymakers are more likely to be influenced by each other than content created by travel businesses. People are moving from being content consumers to content creators.

“According to our research, a third of holidaymakers have posted a travel-related review to a review site. As the digital divide closes and older people become more active online this is only going to increase.”

Pritchard added that one way for travel companies to adapt to this to create a “recommendation culture”, as word-of-mouth marketing is low cost and self-perpetuating, while also reducing customer acquisition costs.

The report also suggests travel companies must adapt to a fragmented digital channel, as a third of consumers used two or more digital devices when researching their holiday

Pritchard said that consumers are increasingly using smartphones and tablets for research, then switching to their desktop or laptop to book, which can have a negative impact on sales conversion rates as a customer will appear as two separate customers.

He said: “To allow activity to be tracked across devices and apps, companies should introduce an integrated experience across channels and devices, for instance by offering incentives to encourage users to sign in on every platform.”