Booking.com Reveals the UK’s Top Ten Most Welcoming Cities

The awards also highlighted the age old favourite, Bed & Breakfast, as the most welcoming accommodation type in the UK

London – 8 JANUARY 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 in total across 219 countries and territories are being given an award. Significantly, in the top 10 countries most awarded, the UK has been ranked seventh, with 31,206 properties receiving a coveted Guest Review Award.*

The trusted Bed and Breakfast was crowned as the UK’s most welcoming property type, with the Guest House coming second. In addition, the UK’s top ten most welcoming cities spanned from: Scottish market town Stirling, coastal seaside spot Weymouth, bustling Blackpool and fashionable spa resort Harrogate.

UK’s Top Ten Most Welcoming Cities

This is especially relevant for the 67% of UK travellers who say friendly and interesting locals are one of their top considerations when selecting a destination for their next trip.**

Despite the UK’s penchant for Bed and Breakfast accommodation, globally, unique places to stay remain firm traveller favourites.

When awards are looked at on a global level, apartments are the top-awarded accommodation type for the second year in a row (269,649), making up more than a third (36%) of the award-winning properties in 2018. While hotels come in as the second-awarded accommodation type (148,913), nearly three quarters (73%) of all the winning properties are unique places to stay, ranging from boats and igloos to homestays and country houses, as well as homes and apartments.

This ongoing appreciation and interest from travellers to experience a wide variety of unique stay experiences is also reflected in recent research by Booking.com, which highlights that more than a third of UK travellers (35%) would prefer to stay in a holiday rental (holiday home or apartment) over a hotel in 2019. In addition, 15% said that they would consider listing their own home on a travel accommodation site over the coming year. With over a quarter (26%) of 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 Joost Vermeulen, Booking.com's Regional Director. “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.”

A SELECTION OF OUTSTANDING PROPERTIES IN THE UK RECEIVING A 2018 AWARD INCLUDED:

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.

*The full top ten list of countries with the most properties receiving GRA’s were: Italy (106,513), Spain (46,646), France (45,286), Germany (36,042), United States (35,626), Croatia (34,027), United Kingdom (31,206), Russian Federation (26,729), Poland (26,572), and Brazil (24,477).

** Research commissioned by Booking.com and independently conducted among a sample of 53,492 respondents across 31 markets. The results in this article focus on UK travellers only, which consisted of 1989 respondents. In order to participate in this survey, respondents had to be 18 years of age or older, had to have travelled at least once in the past 12 months and be either the primary decision maker or involved in the decision making of their travel. The survey was taken online and took place between October 16th and November 12th, 2018.

*** Research commissioned by Booking.com and independently conducted among a sample of 21,500 respondents, across 29 different markets. The results in this article focus on UK travellers only, which consisted of 1000 respondents. In order to participate in this survey, respondents had to be 18 years of age or older, had to have travelled at least once in 2018, be planning at least one trip for 2018 and either the primary decision maker or involved in the decision making of their travel. The survey was taken online and took place in August 2018.

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CONTACT DETAILS FOR BOOKING.COM UK TEAM:

lon-booking@ketchum.com

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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