Toronto,
19
January
2021
|
18:00
Europe/Amsterdam

Booking.com Traveller Review Awards 2021 Recognize Over 8,000 Partners Across Canada

In a year where the travel industry faced unparalleled challenges, the Awards recognize exceptional accommodation and transport partners across 220 countries and territories

TORONTO - JANUARY 19, 2021 - Today Booking.com announced it will present 8,130 Traveller Review Awards to Canadian partners, alongside over one million global partners across 220 countries and territories who made travel experiences more memorable for those booking a place to stay, a rental car or an airport taxi. Amidst a year of untold challenges for the entire industry, Canada’s travel partners continue to prove their dedication and first class commitment to helping travellers experience the country with ease. 

“As trips became fewer and further between, each and every trip meant more to travellers than ever before, and it has become even more important to celebrate the outstanding service that the Traveller Review Award winners displayed during a year like no other,” said Adriana Mantilla, Regional Manager, Canada for Booking.com. “On our mission to make it easier for everyone to experience the world, our partners play such an impactful role in delivering amazing experiences to travellers. I know that we can rebuild travel together and help more and more people rediscover our beautiful world over time.”

With so many incredible winners to highlight, Booking.com is uncovering the key attributes of a great stay, the Most Welcoming Places in Canada and the incredible diversity of offerings that make up the pool of partners that can proudly display their Traveller Review Award 2021.

2021’s Most Welcoming Places 

Based on the share of properties receiving a Traveller Review Award 2021, Booking.com is revealing the ‘Most Welcoming Places’ in Canada for travellers to experience the best in hospitality and friendliness when it’s safe again to do so. Recent Booking.com research found that 28% of Canadians travelled more domestically in 2020 when compared to 2019. These top notch spots, reaching the Atlantic to Pacific, include fresh mountain escapes and unbeatable culture and history home-away-from-homes, may be just the domestic getaway inspiration Canadians need once travelling becomes safe again. 

Topping the list of Most Welcoming Places with the highest percentage of total eligible properties winning an Award is Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, followed by St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador; Banff, Alberta; Golden, B.C.; Jasper, Alberta; Charlottetown, P.E.I.; Ucluelet, B.C.; Halifax, Nova Scotia; Nanaimo, B.C. and La Malbaie, Quebec.

* To discover more about these incredible destinations, click here.

From Chubut, Argentina, to Taitung County, Taiwan, the remarkable global destinations boasting partner winners of the Traveller Review Awards 2021 prove that supreme hospitality can be found in every corner of the world. To learn more about these exceptional regions, click here.

Essential Attributes of a Great Stay

The Booking.com Traveller Review Awards 2021 reveal insights into traveller preferences throughout the past year, uncovering that Canadian travellers appreciate staff, cleanliness, and location most when reviewing award-winning properties on the platform, with those attributes scoring highest among the categories that travellers rate following their stay. With consumers increasingly conscious of health and hygiene, on average, winners had a cleanliness score that was 17% higher than the average cleanliness score for non-winners, suggesting it may be a key differentiator when feeling most comfortable.

Homes, Apartments and Unique Stays Remain Top Traveller Favorites

The most-awarded accommodation types in Canada for 2021 include hotels, B & Bs, apartments, holiday homes and motels. While hotels remained the second most-awarded accommodation type globally for 2021, for the fourth consecutive year, four out of the five top-awarded accommodation types globally are unique places to stay: Apartments (484,243), hotels (175,748), holiday homes (123,145), guest houses (94,003), and bed and breakfasts (78,903). With alternative accommodations accounting for 30% of all new bookings in the third quarter of 2020, Booking.com is proud to offer so many unique stay experiences bringing superior hospitality to travellers.

Transport Partners Kept Travellers Moving

Recent Booking.com research shows that almost a third (31%) of Canadians have taken a road trip in 2020 (which is slightly higher than the global average of 24%***). As road trips and domestic travel became more common over the last year, Booking.com understands the immense undertaking that its transport partners faced including increased customer demand in certain markets and swift introduction of increased cleanliness measures in between pick-ups, provision of masks and sanitizers and minimizing customer contact and social distancing, among other initiatives.

This year, 2,100 rental car pick-up locations available on Booking.com, which offers rental cars in 160 countries worldwide, have been awarded. The top-awarded car rental pick-up locations globally include Christchurch Airport (New Zealand), Coolangagtta Gold Coast Airport (Australia), Phuket Airport (Thailand), Queenstown Airport (New Zealand), Orlando International Airport (United States), Tenerife Airport North (Spain), Thessaloniki Airport (Greece), Santorini Airport (Greece), Paphos Airport (Greece) and Larnaca Airport (Cyprus). Airport taxis, which are available in over 800 destinations globally, are also being recognized for their outstanding service, with 2,830 drivers across 18 providers winning Traveller Review Awards.

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Booking.com Canada Press Office:

Annie Hennessey | 416.668.3393

Hello@goldiepr.com

About Booking.com:  

Part of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: BKNG), Booking.com’s mission is to make it easier for everyone to experience the world. By investing in the technology that helps take the friction out of travel, Booking.com seamlessly connects millions of travelers with memorable experiences, a range of transportation options and incredible places to stay - from homes to hotels and much more. As one of the world’s largest travel marketplaces for both established brands and entrepreneurs of all sizes, Booking.com enables properties all over the world to reach a global audience and grow their businesses. Booking.com is available in 44 languages and offers more than 28 million total reported accommodation listings, including more than 6.5 million listings of homes, apartments and other unique places to stay. No matter where you want to go or what you want to do, Booking.com makes it easy and backs it all up with 24/7 customer support. 

Follow us on Twitter and Instagram, like us on Facebook, and for the latest news, data and insights, please visit our global media room. 

Note to Editors:

To be recognized with an Award, accommodation properties and car rental pick-up locations had to have an average review score of 8.0 (out of 10) or higher based on at least 3 and 5 reviews, respectively, as of 11:59pm (CET) on November 30, 2020. To be recognized for an Award, airport taxis had to have an average review score of 4.5 (out of 5) or higher and completed 2,000 rides as of 11:59pm (CET) on November 30, 2020. Only customers that have actually stayed at an accommodation, rented a car or rode in a taxi can leave a review of their experience on Booking.com. As these reviews are never edited or adjusted in any way, travelers can reference them for an authentic account of what the real traveler experience is like at every place to stay or with every ground transport provider on Booking.com. 

*Destinations were sorted by the total share of Traveller Review Award 2021 winners when compared to the total amount of eligible properties in that city (accommodation only). Destinations also had to have an above-average amount of winners to be included on this list (50 award recipients or higher) and were curated for geographic spread. 

**Accommodation type categories were sorted by the total share of Traveller Review Award 2021 winners when compared to the total number of eligible properties in that segment.

***Research commissioned by Booking.com and independently conducted among a sample of 47,728 respondents across 28 markets (1,997 from USA, 1,987 from Canada, 1,999 from Mexico, 2,003 from Colombia, 1,996 from Brazil, 2,002 from Argentina, 1,994 from Australia, 985 from New Zealand, 1,993 from Spain, 1,993 from Italy, 1,993 from France, 1,984 from UK, 1,989 from Germany, 1,977 from Netherlands, 983 from Denmark, 986 from Sweden, 998 from Croatia, 1,997 from Russia, 999 from Israel, 1,997 from India, 1,992 from China, 991 from Hong Kong, 1,991 from Thailand, 1,977 from Singapore, 998 from Taiwan, 953 from Vietnam, 1,990 from South Korea, 1,987 from Japan). In order to participate in this survey, respondents had to be 18 years of age or older, had to have traveled 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 in November 2020.