Here at Melt, we’ve been closely monitoring Google trends data throughout the pandemic to gauge the levels of search interest across key travel sectors such as; flights, hotels, holidays, cruises and car hire in order to anticipate which areas will return to peak first (score of 100), and what trends might emerge in this new unknown landscape.

Our aim is simple: to help you navigate a complex Covid-19 landscape that is in constant flux.

Again, as per our messaging in previous months, Google Trends data should be used as a guide.

It’s recommended that you validate any trends data with qualitative and quantitative metrics before taking action.

Methodology

• Defined an initial list of searches for each category
• Used Google Trends API to pull “interest over time” data at scale within the defined category (67 – Travel)
• Visualised summed averaged for each category by week in the “interest over time” graphs
• Analysed rising queries within “related queries” tables from the last 30 days to get a sense of what queries are trending in each category.

Accommodation

Interest over time (YOY)

The accommodation category covers queries related to popular stay types such as: B&B, hotels, apartments, and camping.

We have also included a comparison between UK accommodation and US lodging types to highlight differences in travel trends for the two countries at different stages of fighting the virus.

UK

US

Melt Takeaways

For the first time this year accommodation searches in both the UK and US are trending higher than the previous two years which is a great sign for the hotel industry.

In the UK, searches have maintained at a comparable level to 2019 for a few weeks now, but have seen a slight dip in the last 2 weeks. However, in week 35 (w/c 24th August) searches are above what they were in both 2018 and 2019.

This is the same in the US which for the first time in 2020 has surpassed previous year levels. It will be an interesting trend to monitor over the next month to see if it continues or whether it’s a one-off spike in the data.

Rising Queries:  “Hotels”  (UK, Last 30 Days)

These are rising queries related to “Hotels” within the travel category of Google trends for the last 30 days. The higher the value the sharper the increase in recent searches.

Melt Takeaways

When looking at the rising queries for “Hotels” only, this month we are seeing a consistent trend to previous months. As consumer confidence has grown since the restrictions of hotel stays were lifted, people are searching for specific hotel names as opposed to hotels in destination which shows that it’s either a place they are familiar with, or they have carried out prior research.

In terms of the top 10 searches, there are a variety of destinations but they are all UK based, which shows that this growth in searches is largely domestic. Popular UK hotel destinations this month include Exmoor, lake district, Scotland, Devon, and York.

The three following hotels in particular received a lot of interest this month, both Tynedale and Seawood are both luxury high end hotels, whereas Sidmouth appears to gain some search traction due to a landslide on the beach nearby.

When drilling into the different accommodation types below (Fig 3) we can see some changes over the last month, especially when it comes to “camping”, which has seen an expected fall due to the change in weather.

Both “cottage” and “bed and breakfast” searches continue to increase slowly whilst at a steeper rate than hotels, which could indicate that people are still looking for more private or less crowded accommodation.

Fig 3: accommodation type searches over time

We hope you’ve found these trends and insights useful, and hope to see you back here next month to find out how these trends play out over time for the travel sector.

If you’d like us to monitor any particular trends for you travel or non-travel get in touch via [email protected].