Hotel reviews give mature couples confidence to book online

Cambridge, 15th August 2005: Following Active Hotels’ launch of hotel reviews 15 months ago, customer opinions are proving to be a hit with consumers who can access the latest up-to-date advice and information left by previous guests.

Recent analysis of hotel reviews (received from 1st June – 31st July 2005), showed a shift towards an increasing number of reviews left by an older clientele. Versus the same period last year, there has been a 67.5% increase in mature couples submitting reviews, well ahead of young couples, business travellers, families etc. This result seems to confirm a growing trend of older customers booking online who feel more comfortable using the internet for researching and reserving hotel accommodation. In particular, the reviews on Active Hotels help to determine whether the destination and hotel are suitable for them.

Mature Couples from France topped the table, accounting for 30% of all reviews received from France, followed closely by mature couples from the US accounting for 27% of US reviews, and Mature Couples from the UK accounting for 26% of UK reviews.

The top destinations for Mature Couples during June – July 2005, by country of origin were:
France: Paris, London, Lille
US: London, Paris, Edinburgh
UK: London, Manchester, York

Mature Couples from Germany accounted for 19% of total reviews received for Germany, whilst Mature Couples from Spain and Italy came in at the bottom of the table, accounting for 11% and 15% respectively, of total reviews received from these countries.

Luke Errington, Active Hotels Consumer Team Manager stated: “These results are extremely encouraging and clearly reflect a growing confidence amongst older customers booking online. Our Hotel Reviews provide impartial opinions thus reassuring customers and helping them to make the right choice that best suits their needs. In this way, customers are better informed without having to rely purely on promotional material prepared by the hotels.”

Active Hotels’ reviews consist uniquely of opinions expressed by guests that have booked and stayed at a hotel. The reviews are posted within a week of the guest’s departure and are published as submitted (unless removed for offensive language). Users are able to relate to the viewpoints given as the customer profiles are clearly displayed e.g. solo business traveller, mature couple, same sex couple. The information is therefore unique, relevant and up-to-date, helping potential customers to make suitable choices. For example:

“The hotel is amazing. At night it is lit up which is like something out of a book. The steps at the front of the hotel is where my partner surprised me and asked me to marry him. I would definitely recommend this hotel and I will be going back in the future. The staff are very friendly and the bar and restaurant are of a very high standard.” (Young couple)

“Our room 12a was supposed to be haunted and the old fashioned decorating and the eeriness of the hotel manager added to the spookiness….would recommend to ghost hunters.” (Mature Couple)

“A lovely hotel, central, had everything we needed there. The staff were very nice especially the young lad on reception with a cheeky smile.” (Same Sex Couple)

Dan Guio, a customer from Indianapolis, USA wrote: “Thanks for allowing (and even prompting) your customers to file this feedback. It’s a great service and really helped in the booking process for 2 hotels on this trip. It was the first time I’ve used your service and I plan to use it regularly from now on.”

Active Hotels is currently adding on average 8,000 international customer Hotel reviews per week. Comments can be found in 5 languages (English, French, Spanish, Italian and German), depending on the language in which they have been submitted.

-End-

About Active Hotels (Priceline Europe, part of priceline.com, NASDAQ PCLN.)
Active Hotels (Priceline Europe, part of priceline.com, Nasdaq: PCLN), is one of Europe’s leading online reservation providers to the hotel industry. The company has over 11,000 hotels, which it promotes through 1,500 distribution partners, including some of the market leaders in online travel. See: www.activehotels.com for more details.

In July 2005, Priceline acquired Amsterdam-based Bookings B.V. to complement its investment in Active Hotels and build on its European operations.

Combined, Active Hotels and Bookings have exclusive rates with almost 18,000 hotel properties, giving Priceline Europe a market leading position in Europe.

Media enquiries:
Mandy Zakhour, European Media Relations, Priceline Europe, [email protected] tel: + 44 (0) 1223 578134

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