Research commissioned by Europ Assistance, the parent company of award-winning Australian travel insurance provider Insure&Go, has found that big hotels are back in favour of Australian travellers.
The results revealed that almost 6 out of 10 Australian respondents (59%) will now choose a hotel for their next trip, compared with 50 per cent of Europeans and 53 per cent of North American respondents.
Safety also ranks higher for Australians, with 31 per cent saying they value safe or well-protected accommodation, compared with 19 per cent of Europeans and 28 per cent of North Americans. Australians largely shied away from P2P stays, with just 24 per cent saying they would opt for these types of holiday rentals – a figure that was lower than among European respondents (31%) and North Americans (27%).
Hotels with fewer than 20 rooms are also an unpopular option – with less than a quarter of all respondents from across the three continents choosing the accommodation type – 23 per cent of Australians, 20 per cent of North Americans and 24 per cent of Europeans plan on a small hotel stay.
Just 24 per cent of Australians will opt for free accommodation at a friend or family’s place, and a mere 10 per cent would consider camping or road trips in a campervan.
The findings were derived from the Europ Assistance 2024 Holiday Barometer, an annual global survey of 21,000 respondents from 21 countries, designed to uncover travel trends. Australia was included in the research for the second consecutive year – with a panel of 1,000 respondents from Australia taking part in the survey. The study provided a range of accommodation options and examined the driving forces behind those choices, including affordability, safety, familiarity, services and amenities, environmentally friendly accommodation and reliability.
“Our survey found that 31 per cent of Australians value services and amenities, which big hotels tend to be very good at providing,” said Insure&Go Chief Commercial Officer Jonathan Etkind. “A busy family on holidays will appreciate a downstairs café with breakfast and lunch menus; couples and singles would appreciate access to a well-equipped gym and spa facilities; businesspeople taking combined business and leisure trips would also appreciate business amenities and room service.”
The full report can be found HERE.
