Europeans planning to take fewer trips next year

SPAIN
CONSUMERS across Europe are planning to take fewer leisure and business trips in 2011, a new survey has revealed.
Research by Deloitte showed that of the 4'000 respondents from the UK, Germany, Italy and Spain, the number who stayed in a hotel during the last 12 months remained “very flat” year-on-year.

In the UK and Spain, it rose slightly from 20% to 63%, and from 64% to 65% in Italy. This contrasted with German respondents, with the number who stayed in a hotel last year rising from 45% to 55%.

Across all four countries for 2011, consumers indicated that they would be making significantly fewer leisure and business trips compared with 2010, as uncertainty in the market continues.

The respondents also ranked their “wish-list” of services and facilities from hotels, with free WiFi and free bottled water rated as the preferred options.

Commenting, Marvin Rust, hospitality managing partner at Deloitte said: “The customer is still definitely king. “Loyalty only extends to a particular hotel chain as long as it relates to competitive prices. The room's facilities also ranks top amongst all four countries' consumers as the deciding factor when choosing a hotel.”