Providing an insight into inngoers’ preferences and demographics, a survey findings indicate that B&B travelers are highly educated, prefer to research and book travel online.

Published: 12 Aug 2007

Providing an insight into inngoers’ preferences and demographics, a survey findings indicate that B&B travelers are highly educated, prefer to research and book travel online.

Such travelers use the Internet not only for travel but for consumer and lifestyle products and ideas, too.

The survey conducted by online B&B directory BedandBreakfast.com involved more than 4,000 B&B travelers, revealing key trends in who stays at B&Bs and how consumers research and book B&B travel.
The survey revealed that almost 90 percent of respondents choose B&Bs at least once or twice a year for either leisure or business trips. More than 89 percent responded that they prefer three- to four-star accommodations when traveling for leisure, while just over 81 percent choose three- to four-star accommodations when traveling on business.

Just over 78 percent of survey respondents claimed to use major travel websites like Expedia, Travelocity and Orbitz, and more than 77 percent said they also use specialty sites like BedandBreakfast.com for booking B&B getaways.

“Most travelers check multiple websites when researching travel. Seven percent claimed they checked only one website for hotels, while 90 percent said they checked between two and four websites for hotel accommodations. B&B travelers seem to do somewhat less research, with over 27 percent claiming to check just one website for B&B accommodations, and over 72 percent checking between one and three sites,” stated an official release. “Almost 40 percent of survey respondents said they use specialty sites like BedandBreakfast.com exclusively or frequently when researching B&B travel, and more than 62 percent of respondents used BedandBreakfast.com for making online reservations in the past two years.”

“Not surprisingly, women are more likely to choose B&Bs; more than 78 percent of survey respondents were female. The largest group of survey respondents (58 percent) fell in the 45-55+ age group, yet the Gen-X and Gen-Y age groups don’t lag far behind when it comes to B&B travel, with almost 40 percent of respondents between the ages of 26 and 45. More than 30 percent of respondents had incomes between $100,000-$200,000+, while more than 47 percent had average incomes between $50-$99K. More than 71 percent had a college, graduate or post-graduate degree.”

The survey also revealed that B&B travelers shop online for all sorts of things in addition to travel. At least 60 percent of respondents claimed to go online for consumer electronics, to research healthcare issues, or to search for recipes.