Toronto,
08
January
2019
|
18:00
Europe/Amsterdam

Booking.com Reveals the Most Welcoming Places in Canada According to its 2018 Guest Review Awards

Canada’s most welcoming places to visit included Niagara-on-the-Lake, Vancouver, Halifax, and more;

Alternative accommodations continue rise in popularity

Toronto – January 8, 2019 - Today Booking.com, one of the world’s leading digital travel platforms, is honouring its accommodation partners that consistently deliver great guest experiences with a 2018 Guest Review Award. For the seventh annual edition of the awards, 759,845 properties across 219 countries and territories are being given an award, with more than 2,200 Canadian properties claiming awards.

Most welcoming places in Canada

Based on the share of properties receiving an award in 2018, for the first time ever Booking.com reveals the most welcoming places on earth according to customer reviews. The reported most welcoming destinations in Canada are Calgary, Kelowna, Whistler, Victoria, Vancouver, Halifax, Niagara on the Lake, Ottawa, Quebec City and Mont-Tremblant.

When it comes to the most welcoming property types in Canada, four out of the five are alternative accommodation options: B&Bs (1,568), Apartments (1,048), Hotels (1,987), Motels (600), and Inns (486).

Apartments and unique places to stay remain high Canadian traveller favorites

For the second year in a row, apartments are the top-awarded accommodation type around the globe, making up more than a third (36%) of the award-winning properties in 2018. In fact, nearly three quarters (73%) of all the winning properties are homes, apartments and other unique places to stay, including everything from riads and ryokans to homestays and guest houses. This should be familiar to Canadians as recent research found that over one quarter (26%) of travellers say that they prefer unique and quirky accommodation over more traditional places.

The ongoing appreciation and interest from Canadian travellers to experience a wide variety of unique stay experiences is also reflected in recent research by Booking.com with 21,000 travellers across 29 countries which highlights that more than a quarter of travellers (28%) would prefer to stay in a vacation rental (holiday home or apartment) over a hotel in 2019. 12% said that they would consider listing their own home on a travel accommodation site over the coming year. With 29% of Canadian travellers also wanting to stay in an accommodation type they’ve never experienced before in 2019, the consumer demand in this segment remains strong.

“No matter the type, size or location of the property, what we see from our customers is that they value a human connection when they travel, whether it’s some extra attention to detail or a truly individualized approach to service,” said Nuno Guerreiro Regional Manager Canada at Booking.com. “With these awards, we celebrate and thank all of the amazing accommodation providers who create special travel experiences for our customers on a daily basis.”

Behind each score or plaque is a whole year filled with real guests, real experiences and real reviews, which are a core differentiator for properties to attract their next guests. The Booking.com Awards programme can be considered the global standard in guest experience ratings.

Notes to editors:

To be recognized with an award, properties had to have an average review score of 8.0 or higher based on at least 5 reviews as of 11:59pm (CET) on October 31, 2018. Only customers that have actually stayed at an accommodation can leave a review of their experience on Booking.com. After they have checked out of the property, they are invited to rate their accommodation experience against six categories: cleanliness, comfort, location, facilities, staff and value for money. As these reviews are never edited or adjusted in any way, travellers can reference them for an authentic account of what the real guest experience is like at every place to stay on Booking.com.

*Accommodation types were sorted by the total share of 2018 Guest Review Award winners when compared to the total amount of eligible properties globally in each property type.

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BOOKING.COM CANADA PR CONTACT:

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About Booking.com:

Established in 1996 in Amsterdam, Booking.com B.V. has grown from a small Dutch start-up to one of the largest travel e-commerce companies in the world. Part of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: BKNG), Booking.com now employs more than 17,000 employees in over 200 offices in 70 countries worldwide.

With a mission to empower people to experience the world, Booking.com invests in digital technology that helps take the friction out of travel. At Booking.com, we connect travellers with the world’s largest selection of incredible places to stay, including everything from apartments, vacation homes, and family-run B&Bs to 5-star luxury resorts, tree houses and even igloos. The Booking.com website and mobile apps are available in 43 languages, offer over 29 million total reported listings and cover more than 145,000 destinations in 229 countries and territories worldwide.

Each day, more than 1.5 million room nights are reserved on our platform. So whether traveling for business or leisure, customers can instantly book their ideal place to stay quickly and easily with Booking.com, without booking fees and backed up by our promise to price match. Via our customer experience team, customers can reach Booking.com 24/7 for assistance and support in 43 languages, any time of the day or night.

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