UK boutique hotel queries outnumber those in short, long-haul destinations 3:1

The agency's "Boutique Hotels Sector Report - Issue 3" found that in August, consumers made a total of 136,650 searches on Google UK for small, fashionable, luxury and trendy hotels.

Of the total, 57% were for accommodation in the UK compared to 17% in short-haul and just 3% in long-haul destinations.

On the domestic front, the term 'boutique hotels london' was the most queried, accounting for 7% of searches made for boutique hotels in the UK. In fact, of the ten most popular search terms used, four pertained to the UK capital.

Other popular local spots UK consumers sought this style of accommodation in included Brighton, the Lake District, and Edinburgh.

On the continent, despite consumer online searches for boutique accommodation in Paris being prevalent, Spanish destinations proved more popular.

Ibiza, Barcelona, Majorca and Majorca's Puerto Pollensa, featured in five of the top ten queries. Combined, they accounted for a 13% share of the 23,800 UK consumer online queries for boutique lodgings in short-haul destinations.

US a top draw destination

Further afield, the US, particularly New York, followed by Turkey, Istanbul proving a popular draw, then Singapore, were the prime long-haul locations consumers searched for boutique & luxury accommodation in.

Greenlight charted the most visible websites to consumer searches for boutique hotels overall and also split by destination, in the organic* and Paid Media** listings.

Tripadvisor.co.uk was the most visible website for specialist lodgings both in domestic and short-haul destinations, attaining a 39% and 20% share of visibility, respectively, in the organic listings. In the case of long-haul destinations, Mrandmrssmith.com was the most visible capturing 16%.

However, in the paid listings, trivago.co.uk was the most visible site for both domestic and long-haul related queries, achieving a 40% share of voice in the former and 39% in the latter. Booking.com, with 34%, was the most prominent site in the case of short-haul searches.

Greenlight's report also shows that over 65% of the 40 most prominent sites to consumer searches for boutique hotels, had no visibility in the organic listings, instead relying solely on that garnered via paid ad listings on Google, to attract the searchers' attention.

Notes:

*Natural /organic Search- Listings in search engine results pages that appear because of their relevance to the search terms
**Paid Media - an Internet advertising model used on websites, in which advertisers pay their host only when their ad is clicked. With search engines, advertisers typically bid on keyword phrases relevant to their target market.

Greenlight's "Boutique Hotels Sector Report - Issue 3" profiles search behaviour in this sector. It assesses which brands, websites and review sites are the most visible in Natural Search, Paid Media, and Social Media and hence have the greatest share of consideration when consumers go to Google UK to look for specialist lifestyle and boutique lodgements.