Detailed results of a global survey asking online travel consumers what from online travel sites before, during and after booking a holiday are now available to download at ecustomeropinions.com/survey/survey.php?sid=619898017. Top line results from global survey of more than 1,200 people, carried out for Frommers’s® Unlimited, the business-to-business division of Frommers’s, a branded imprint of Wiley, by web usage specialists eDigitalResearch, were first released at the PhocusWright Travolution conference in London this year.

The results show that consumers are still primarily influenced by price when deciding on a holiday. However, they also have additional information needs that change at each stage of the booking cycle. At the planning stage, images of the accommodation and a written description of the destination proved to be the most important factor in the process, closely followed by a information on activities and events and maps. At the time of booking, three pieces of information ranked as almost equally crucial, with airport and transportation information on a par with pictures of the room and a guide to the city or resort. Finally post-booking, a map of the destination was ranked as the most essential item of online content, with travel, weather, events and activities information and local dining also ranked as important.

Half of all travellers have struggled with poorly constructed, confusing and inaccurate websites that don’t provide them with sufficient images and information. The survey also showed that consumers were frustrated by out-of-date information, hidden fees and misleading descriptions, as well as technology-related issues such as slow downloads and broken links.

Despite the popular image of British being weather obsessed, when planning a holiday Americans found information about the weather to be more important that Europeans.

Joel Brandon Bravo general manager of Frommers’s Unlimited said: “every statistic we have seen this year shows that people are considering their travel plans for longer and booking closer to departure than ever before. So we feel this research will really help travel providers to understand exactly what content and tools they need to use to influence consumers in a very fast-changing market.”

Dominic Bean head of business development for eDigitalResearch which is launching an online travel benchmarking study this summer said: “we were concerned but not surprised by the dissatisfaction shown by travellers’ experiences online. We regularly research and report on the consumer experience of using major high street retailers’ websites and have seen online standards in general retailing transform in the past two years. It appears that travel has a long way to go to match these levels of online service.”

Media Contact:
Sarah Gorback, Wiley
Email: sgorback@wiley.com
Tel: 201-748-5629

Lucy Pennington, Debbie Hindle at bgb communications
Email: lpennington@bgb.co.uk, dhindle@bgb.co.uk
Tel: 0207 902 2990

About Frommer’s Unlimited

Frommer’s Unlimited is the business-to-business division of Frommer’s Travel. For more than 50 years, Frommer’s®, a branded imprint of Wiley, has been the trusted source of useful and engaging travel information. Frommer’s Unlimited enables businesses to create high-value propositions for their customers by leveraging Frommer’s travel expertise, rich content resources and technical capabilities. Products and services provided by Frommer’s Unlimited include global destination and events content, private label Websites, mobile applications and custom publishing. Frommer’s is a registered trademark of Arthur Frommer. For more information, visit frommers.biz

About Wiley

Founded in 1807, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. has been a valued source of information and understanding for 200 years, helping people around the world meet their needs and fulfil their aspirations. Wiley and its acquired companies have published the works of more than 350 Nobel laureates in all categories: Literature, Economics, Physiology or Medicine, Physics, Chemistry and Peace. Our core businesses publish scientific, technical, medical and scholarly journals, encyclopaedias, books, and online products and services; professional/trade books, subscription products, training materials, and online applications and websites; and educational materials for undergraduate and graduate students and lifelong learners. Wiley's global headquarters are located in Hoboken, New Jersey, with operations in the U.S., Europe, Asia, Canada, and Australia. The Company's Web site can be accessed at http://www.wiley.com. The Company is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbols JWa and JWb.

About eDigital Research

eDigitalResearch is a leading provider of digital market research, enabling customers to make critical business decisions with the benefit of comprehensive consumer insight and informed direction. eDigitalResearch possesses a unique combination of research expertise, marketing background, web technology and knowledge of the cross-channel consumer. As well as providing invaluable research data, the modules of its fully integrated research system - ratings, surveys, panels and forums - can combine to provide holistic analytics and essential market-leading insight. This gives clients the power, confidence and backup to make crucial decisions on key aspects of their business including product range, marketing, customer service, supply chain, even basic positioning. For further information visit http://www.edigitalresearch.com.

The global survey of 1,234 people was carried out for Frommers Unlimited by eDigitalResearch in April 2009.In the survey sample 45% took holidays once or twice a year and a quarter took holidays between two to three times a year. Half the sample respondents were from the UK, a quarter from the USA and the remainder from Europe, Middle East, Australasia and Asia.