Luxury travellers are leading edge consumers when it comes to technology, making them more than twice as likely to book their accommodation through a smartphone finds EyeforTravel’s new report. The research, which took in more than 2,000 luxury consumers across three countries, uncovered that whilst desktops and laptops still remain the main booking route, with 46% of luxury consumers using these devices, 31.1% of luxury consumers booked their accommodation using a smartphone, versus 13.9% of ordinary travellers. A similar, but slightly less pronounced, pattern occurred in flight bookings, with 30.2% of luxury bookings heading through smartphones against 18.2% of the rest of the sample.

The trend marks out a difference in cross device behaviour between the two groups, as during the research phase both luxury and ordinary travellers use their smartphones as their primary research device at nearly the same rate – 35.8% to 32%. These findings suggest that luxury consumers are happier to continue their entire travel journey using a single device rather than switching across multiple devices as the journey progresses.

The report also finds that ordinary travellers are substantially more likely to use non-digital booking routes and also to use their own means of transport and stay with friends or relatives. 13.1% of the non-luxury respondents in the survey report booking their flights through a face-to-face travel agency, against 5.4% of luxury consumers.

“We are seeing a picture of technological sophistication,” says Alex Hadwick, Head of Research at EyeforTravel. “Luxury consumers can afford top of the range smartphones, which will help to make the booking process easier but these are also consumers who are regularly on the move and therefore need the convenience of a smartphone. We found in our research that luxury consumers travel at twice the rate of non-luxury travellers and have shorter lead times for booking accommodation and transport. This seems to fit with a more smartphone-centric outlook for their travel booking.”

This detailed report looks at the state of the overall market currently and breaks down individual country markets, luxury consumer behaviors and spending patterns, and gives you the major trends to look out for.

For more information about the report, click here: http://www.eyefortravel.com/distribution-strategies/global-luxury-travel-consumer

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