Hurry, just nine seats left: How travel websites bully us into booking online
TRAVEL websites are boosting profits by using psychological tricks to sell expensive hotels, flights and insurance, academics have revealed.
Their mind games include bombarding customers with messages such as ‘Hurry only nine seats left’, ‘12 other people are looking at this’ or ‘40 people have already booked this’.
Experiments carried out at University College London (UCL) found such phrases significantly increase bookings and profits.
They also allow the websites to sell deals that might be more expensive than direct bookings with hotels, airlines or insurers.
The phrases pressure potential customers by suggesting a deal might soon be sold out, or exploit so- called ‘herd mentality’ by saying that others have already booked.
Reviews were found to be particularly powerful in encouraging bookings and were even more effective than a promise of a price cut.
UCL’s research involved online experiments with 1,251 volunteers. Tests measured their reactions to website deals on flights, hotels and travel insurance.
The message ‘Hurry only 3 seats left’ on a site led to a 4.7 per cent increase in bookings compared to no message at all. There was a 9.4 per cent rise in bookings after the prompt ‘12 other people are looking at this’. The increase was higher still at 13.8 per cent when volunteers were told that ‘40 people have already booked this’.
The UCL team, led by Dr Joe Gladstone, also measured the impact of discounts. Bookings were 8.9 per cent lower when the price listed did not have a ‘20 per cent discount’ sign. Positive reviews for a hotel also notably boosted reservations.
An average rating of 9.5 from more than 2,000 reviewers led to a 36.3 per cent increase in bookings compared to when no reviews were offered.
Almost half of those surveyed said they were persuaded to book after reading the positive reviews.
Dr Gladstone, an assistant professor who specialises in consumer behaviour, said the human instinct to follow the herd is understandable. But he warned that customers can end up paying more than if they shop around.
He said: ‘Our brains have evolved to respond in these ways for good reasons: copying the herd helps us make quick decisions and can be a very sensible thing to do if we do not have time to make an independent decision under pressure.
‘But these ways of thinking can sometimes lead us astray – or allow us to be led astray. Consumers are bombarded with these kinds of marketing tactics every time we go online and the study clearly shows that they work – when unsure, we simply follow the person ahead of us, even if it’s not a good deal.’
The work was funded by InterContinental Hotels Group. Apurva Pratap, of the group, said: ‘Persuasive tactics often mean travellers are stretching their purse strings more than they have to.’