Google A Room with a View: Understanding Users Stages in Picking a Hotel Online - Manual (Page 2)

should be less frequent than choosing a restaurant: for
3-day trip, a traveler might choose 3 restaurants, but
stay at only 1 hotel. The disproportion of hotel queries
piqued our interest. Were multiple searches required to
make a decision about a single stay? We chose to
investigate further. Our goal was to develop a model of
decision-making for hotel search tasks, identifying
discrete stages and the information they required.
Background
Consumer decision-making has been a topic of research
for a considerable time [3].
Existing models focus on
product purchases and largely investigate the ante-
cedents of purchase decisions in supermarket aisles
(low involvement) or at car dealerships (high
involvement). One well-known recent model is ‘The
Consumer Decision Journey’ by McKinsey [1].
Motivations for consumer purchasing are also detailed
in Paco Underhill's Why We Buy: The Science of
Shopping [5]. However, both focus on consumer goods,
and there are two key differences in hotel decision-
making. First, a user searching for a hotel has typically
already made the decision to buy a hotel room. Second,
while consumer goods have highly standardized prices
and features, hotels have fluctuating prices and
availability, making comparison more complex.
There is some existing research about the specific
subset of hotel searches. PhoCus Wright have created a
multi-stage model of travel decision-making, including
hotel choices [3]. Yet, this research is not publicly
accessible, and does not give detailed qualitative
insights into the role of online information.
Method
We invited 9 participants, who regularly book hotels, to
our lab. Participants were of mixed gender, age, and
socio-economic status. We asked participants to talk us
through a recent hotel booking experience, starting
broadly: what was the occasion, when did it happen,
how was the plan formed. When online tools or online
information gathering were mentioned, we asked
participants to demonstrate what they had done. We
recorded participants’ commentary as well as their
actions on the screen.
Findings
FUNCTIONAL NEEDS. Across most interviews, we saw
location or ease of access traded off against price and
quality. Personal (e.g. price sensitivity) and situational
(e.g. business vs. leisure trip) conditions determined
the size of the margin for trading off. Location was
typically referenced by neighborhood name or proximity
to an event, office location, or landmark. Quality was
typically estimated by hotel class stars; many
participants categorically discarded hotels below a
specific star level (which varied by price sensitivity).
AFFECTIVE NEEDS. Hotel searches can be tiresome,
but we observed two rewarding aspects or behaviors:
(1) finding a great deal (not necessarily cheapest, but
cheaper than other options of similar quality) and (2)
imagining how nice it would be to stay at a place.
Important here are great photos, not too many
negative reviews that ruin even a decent choice, and
evocative editorial write-ups.