Guest feedback platform TrustYou has published the results of recent consumer research into how online travelers search for and book accommodations.

Interesting findings:

• 91% use search engines to find places to stay, with 81% preferring Google.
• 77% search by keywords relating to accommodation or location:
  • 57% for hotels
  • 49% for locations
  • 31% for a combination of the two
• Top drivers of hotel booking decisions:
  1. Nightly rate
  2. "Trust score" (average review rating score)
     • 88% eliminate hotels with trust score <3.
     • 32% eliminate hotels with trust score <4.
• Following Google search, travelers are most likely (20%) to click a direct link to the hotel's Web site. (But 80% click something else.)
• Top 3 booking channels reported:
  1. Expedia
  2. Hotels.com
  3. Travelocity
• 93% of respondents said they have used hotel booking engines, 84% have used meta-search engines.
• Preferred booking device:
  • Desktop 66%
  • Mobile 18%
  • Tablet 16%

Demographics of the respondents:

• All said they had made at least 1 online leisure booking.
• Top booking selections:
  • Hotels 86%
  • Motels 34%
  • Resorts 34%
• 65% female, 35% male
• 25-34 and 35-44 age groups predominated (approximately 50% combined share)
• Average household income $70K

Implications of results, as identified by TrustYou:

• Hoteliers need to pay attention to their findability on Google, in order to draw more lookers and bookers to their hotel Web site.
• Travelers are strongly influenced by hotel reviews, including those on Google, which are provided in part by TrustYou.

It takes work and money to get a hotel Web site to page one of Google search returns, even for searches on the property name. But it's worth it.