Marketing Forward » travel and hospitality

Top 20 most “comfortable” cities

Jennifer Marshall — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 10:05:17 +0000

While the runways boast couture and fashions that you rarely see walking down the street, some of the top cities in the U.S. keep comfortable in their sweats. At Experian Simmons we ask our survey respondents if they bought any sweats in the last 12 months, as well as the number of individual items they purchased, and for the second year in a row, the nation’s top per capita consumer of sweats is Philadelphia, PA. New York, NY is seventh, Los Angeles ranked eighth and Chicago rounds out list at the twentieth spot. The nation’s capital is also casual, coming in at fourteen.

The top 20 cities for sweats consumption:

Philadelphia, PA
Hartford, CT
Pittsburgh, PA
Lafayette, LA
Laredo, TX
Boston, MA
New York, NY
Los Angeles, CA
Victoria, TX
Scranton, PA
Salt Lake City, UT
Marquette, MI
Milwaukee, WI
Washington, DC
Austin, TX
Watertown, MA
Jacksonville, FL
Idaho Falls, ID
Providence, RI
Chicago, IL

Perhaps these purchases are fueled by the desire to travel in comfort. Spirit Airlines passengers are the biggest buyers of sweats, followed by Jet Blue, Continental and US Air. Foreign airlines have really high sweat purchase numbers too ¾ especially — Asian carriers. On the flipside, Southwest Airlines passengers buy the fewest number of sweat apparel items.

Sky-high Olympics television ratings provide lift to airline advertisers

Bill Schneider — Thu, 09 Aug 2012 16:19:59 +0000

The London Olympics have proven to be a television must-see event with ratings that have reached and exceeded the expectations of the majority of advertisers. An average of 32.2 million viewers have tuned in for NBC’s nightly primetime telecasts. That translates to a 30% share of all televisions in use. Those are heady numbers in a day and age where advertisers are dealing with a highly fragmented and multi-tasking consumer audience.

There was never really any question that the Olympics would attract a rich and demographically diverse audience of consumers. A more pressing question for Olympics sponsors and advertisers is “how good of a match is the audience with respect to the characteristics of my potential brand users?” In other words, “to what extent will I be reaching the type of consumer who is most likely to be interested in my brand?” Tools like the Experian Ad Relevancy Score help to answer these questions. The score, developed from television viewing behaviors and purchase data collected by Experian Simmons, is derived from profiles of actual brand users compared to the corresponding profile of the Summer Olympics television viewing audience. The higher the score the more benefit and overall sales lift that can be hypothetically derived by the advertiser from placing spots that reach this audience. Think of the score as a general measure to quantify the degree to which the ad will be seen by an audience that is most appropriate and relevant for the brand being advertised. Scores are benchmarked against an average of 100.

After applying the Experian Ad Relevancy Score to a subset of key Summer Olympics sponsors and advertisers, we found that the highest scores are attributed to airline brands. The top five include United Airlines (142), American Airlines (133), American Express (129), Delta Airlines (128), and Citibank (126).

United’s investment in the Summer Olympics appears to be a match made in heaven. The brand’s top score of 142 means that the Summer Olympics viewing audience is 42% more likely to be comprised of consumers who are United flyers. United has been the official airline of the U.S. Olympic team since 1984 and clearly has a nice marketing match with this global event. Nike and McDonald’s, also official sponsors of the U.S. Olympic Team, had scores of 109 and 107, respectively.

A more in-depth analysis and profile of Summer Olympics enthusiasts provides further evidence of a strong connection between interest in the London Games and airline travel. Experian’s Mosaic® USA lifestyle segmentation solution shows that consumer segments including Kids and Cabernet, Jet Set Urbanites and Silver Sophisticates, are among those with a 50% or greater likelihood to be avid fans of the Summer Olympics. Consumers from all three of these segments also have a high propensity to be frequent flyers.

Interested in ad relevancy? Take a look at posts comparing advertisers to audience for these events:

NCAA Tournament

Academy Awards

Super Bowl

Family Travelers Seek out Deals and Packages

Hitwise — Mon, 06 Aug 2012 11:00:30 +0000

Summer travel plans are well underway for most and it’s particularly a very popular time for family travel. Catering to families is a smart strategy for many in the travel industry, and there’s growing evidence that even in these tough economic times the family vacation has become more important than ever—with families working hard to find more value for their travels, rather than sacrifice the idea of taking a vacation.

We decided to take a look into the online habits of the segment of Family Travelers to understand how their search activity for travel may differ from the online population. Before visiting the websites within the Travel Agencies category, they had a much higher propensity to search terms related to ‘deals’, ‘all-inclusive’ and ‘packages’. Agency names that they seemed to favor more than the online population include Bookit.com, Priceline and Expedia during the 12 weeks ending June 30, 2012 .

To identify what Family Travelers are interested in and care about – we can look at what types of sites they visit before travel sites. Not too surprisingly, children’s sites topped the list but when you look further there is an array of sporting & gaming sites –skateboarding/skating, watersports and entertainment sites including wrestling – that they had a higher propensity to visit than the online population. Activity based vacations, excursions and related offerings would likely catch their eye.

Source: Experian Hitwise

To capture the attention and summer travel bookings from Family Travelers it’s critical to focus on value/deal oriented messages, and you can find them online with highly targeted advertising on children and youth oriented websites.

Young couples are a strong target for everything from travel to electronics

Pamela Robertson — Wed, 16 May 2012 15:28:15 +0000

The Fast Track Couples Mosaic^® USA segment embodies one of four major demographic shifts and sociological trends that have come about due to dramatic changes in American life over the last five years.

This segment consists of young couples and families already on the road to upward mobility. They enjoy vacations filled with heart-pounding sports, including skiing, scuba diving and backpacking. They are also self-described early adopters, and like to stay on top of the latest consumer electronics and technology.

I really enjoyed this video by Rick Erwin, President of the Data and Analytics Division of Experian Marketing Services. He provides some interesting details about Fast Track Couples and how retail marketers can best connect and engage with them

For more facts about Fast Track Couples and “New American Consumer,” download our 2012 Digital Marketing Report.

Flight search infographic: New York accounts for 34% of U.S. flight searches

James Murray — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 17:19:35 +0000

Here at Experian Hitwise we are always looking for new and interesting ways to visualise our data. Our research team in London have been particularly inspired by the work of David McCandleless and his brilliant book “Information is Beautiful”. With this in mind I have created two new bubble charts which visualise flight searches by the UK Internet population.

This first visualisation shows the relative popularity of destinations that the UK Internet population want to fly to. You can see immediately that Spain and the United States are the most popular countries; together they account for over 30% of all flight searches in the UK. The all encompassing blue bubble represents all flight searches made in the 12 weeks ending 27 August 2011, so all of the blue bits in the middle represent flight searches to other countries which are not included in the top 10. The second visualisation goes into a bit more detail regarding specific destinations people are searching for. As you can see, I have included here how popular each of the countries are as a percentage of total flight destination searches. For example, Spain in the big pink bubble accounts for 17% of all flight searches to a destination. Within those country bubbles are smaller destination bubbles, so Alicante accounts for 9.2% of all flight searches to Spain. What’s interesting here is to see the relative dominance of some of the top destinations within a country. 1 in every 3 searches for a flight to the US for example is for a flight to New York, whereas 10.4% of all Greece-related flight searches are for a flight to Corfu. One of the trends that struck me as I was pulling this data together is the different ways that people search for a particular destination. For the mature markets like Spain, the US and Greece, people have a higher tendency to search for flights to a specific destination such as Malaga, Las Vegas or Crete. For less mature markets like Cyprus and Turkey, people are more likely to search for flights to the country: ‘cheap flights to Turkey’ rather than a destination search such as ‘cheap flights to Bodrum’. Generally speaking, as a country’s tourism market becomes more mature and the UK population becomes more familiar with specific destinations available, the percentage of generic country-based searches will go down. One notable exception is Australia, which has a mature tourism market but only has 31% of flight searches related to a specific destination. This may have something to do with the distances involved with flying to Australia, and because flights tend to be quite expensive, people are more interested in getting to Australia first, and less worried about where in Australia they go to. As you might expect, internal flight searches within the UK are heavily destination based with people intimately familiar with the destinations they wish to fly to. The 2% of country based flight searches in the UK were for flight searches to Scotland. Folllow Hitwise on Twitter, and if you like the infographics by all means copy and reuse them but please link back to us as the source of your data.

Domestic travel in U.S. heats up during summer

Bill Schneider — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 19:51:22 +0000

With summer vacation just around the corner, the hospitality, lodging, and travel industries are looking forward to a steady stream of domestic vacationers, many of whom have a bit more money to spend this year than last. To help these industries prepare for summer, Experian Simmons has some interesting insights into the characteristics of Americans on holiday this year.

Retirees Spend More Time & Cash On Vacations

Approximately 65% of adults say they have traveled domestically within the past 12 months. These travelers take an average of 3.8 trips and spend an average of 5.2 nights away from home per trip. Married couples (72%) are significantly more likely than singles (54%) to have traveled domestically.

Nearly 65% of adults with children at home made at least one domestic trip in the past 12 months.

Nearly 65% of adults with children at home made at least one domestic trip in the past 12 months. These families report that they took an average of 3.7 trips, stayed away from home for an average of 4.9 nights per trip, and spent an average of $556 per trip. Just over 6 out of every 10 adults say they took at least one domestic trip for a vacation. Sightseeing (57%), dining and shopping (49%), going to the beach and participating in water sports (45%), and spending time outdoors camping, hiking, and fishing (41%) are among the most popular activities that domestic travelers say they like to do when on vacation. Attending a specific event is cited by 24% of travelers as a primary vacation activity.

The average amount spent per trip by domestic vacation travelers is $559. This is part of a continuing trend downward from a high of $612 spent per trip in the Spring of 2008, just prior to the economic downturn. Singles spend the least amount per trip ($478).

Retirees appear to have the most time for vacationing. They spend an average of 6.4 nights away from home per domestic trip. They also tend to spend more per trip ($631) compared to domestic vacationers overall.

4 Out 5 Prefer To Travel by Car

Whether by plane, train, car or bus, domestic travelers have many options for reaching their favorite destinations. The primary mode of transportation for domestic vacationers is the family automobile. Among those who have taken a domestic vacation, 81% say they traveled by car. This has been relatively stable over the course of the past five years and supports the notion that a plain old-fashioned road trip is the best way to enjoy the sights.

Air travel among domestic vacationers has been on the decline since autumn 2007 when 50% of travelers taking at least one domestic trip said they arrived at their destination by plane. By the fall of 2010, airline transportation was used for at least one domestic trip by 44% of domestic vacationers. Domestic vacationers who are college educated are most likely to say they traveled by plane for at least one trip (58%). In contrast, adults with children at home are least likely to fly for a domestic trip (38%).

Transportation by bus or train is least preferred. Only about 6% of domestic vacation travelers say they made a recent trip on a bus or by rail.

Go By Air – Stay Upscale

The majority of domestic vacation travelers say they stay overnight at a hotel or motel (67%). Friends and family members also provide overnight accommodations for a large percentage of travelers (50%). Married couples have the greatest likelihood to say they stayed at a hotel (72%) while single adults and retirees have the greatest likelihood to say they stayed with friends and relatives (54%).

Plane travelers are more likely than those who travel by car to stay at upscale hotel properties such as Ritz-Carlton, W Hotels, Hyatt, Westin, Marriott, Hilton, and Sheraton. More specifically, domestic travelers who arrive at their destination by plane are 1.8 times more likely to say they stayed at a Ritz-Carlton compared to domestic travelers overall. As would be expected, a variety of traditional roadside type motels including Sleep Inn, Baymont Inn, Red Roof Inn, Quality Inn, and Howard Johnson’s are heavily favored by those hitting the road by car.

For those seeking a more luxurious and well-rounded lodging experience while vacationing, all-inclusive resorts provide an enticing option. About 7% of domestic vacation travelers say they stayed at these types of properties. This is down from 9% in the Fall of 2007.

The more adventurous and likely more frugal domestic travelers choose to stay at campgrounds. Camping has nearly doubled in popularity since the Fall of 2008 when slightly under 7% of domestic vacationers said they stayed at a campground. This increased to over 12% in the Fall of 2010. The economic advantages of trailer camping or pitching a tent in the great outdoors might partly explain the overall decline in domestic travel spending.

The South Is The Top Vacation Destination

The southern and western states are the most popular destinations among vacation travelers. About 55% and 42% of domestic travelers say they made at least one trip to the South and West respectively.

Since the bulk of domestic vacationers say they travel by car and because travel times for reaching various areas of the country are vastly different depending on the point of departure, it is important to examine regional differences.

Residents of the western states are more inclined to stay within their region when traveling compared to residents of other regions of the country. About 9 out of every 10 vacationing Westerners say they stay within the western region when traveling domestically. Southerners are the next most likely group to travel and stay within their own region (81%). This is followed by Midwesterners (65%) and those from the northeast (64%).

Due to shorter travel distances, northeastern residents are the most likely group to travel for vacation outside of their area (75%). Those living in the western states have greater distances to travel and are therefore least likely to venture outside of their region (37%).

The southern states are the most favored destination among domestic vacationers who say they traveled outside their home region.

The southern states are the most favored destination among domestic vacationers who say they traveled outside their home region. About 61% of Northeasterners say they traveled to the South. The corresponding percentage of Midwesterners and Westerners who say they traveled to the South is 47% and 21% respectively.