Brides Path to Purchase... the Why behind the Where

Today, I was delighted to be a speaker at the Hotel Insights Forum in London. I was part of the Meetings stream in the afternoon entitled "The Meetings Revolution" chaired by Director of BDRC, James Bland. Consumers are so used to the online booking experience now for hotel bedrooms, flights, and all elements of travel - the question was posed; why not the meeting room booking too? Both James and Ciaran Delaney from MeetingsBooker.com demonstrated clearly that the move to online booking for small meetings (the average online meeting booking is for 8 people) is here and here to stay. Consumers are demanding it and hotels are (slowly) starting to provide this facility. Some of the larger brands now have online meeting booking on their own sites and MeetingsBooker is an online market place for meeting rooms online. Co-working spaces offer meeting room rental by the hour and I think this will definitely flow across all hotels as meeting room space becomes more commoditised.

What James asked me to focus on in advance of the session was the Path to Purchase in relation to Weddings. Why do couples make the decisions they do - what are the influencing factors that hotels and venues could tap into to understand more how they can attract more bookings in the weddings space.

Obviously I don't think weddings can be commoditised in the same way, it is too much of an emotional purchase, too many variables and not a simple "transaction", however lessons can be learned from the user experience/booking journey point of view and how to streamline that in order to avoid unnecessary delays, provide a superior service and make the couples feel supported and special in their wedding planning.

I shared some key findings from our most recent UK survey, but more than that this time - I wanted to get out there in the "wild" as it were and hear it from the brides themselves.

Take a look....

I think this video gives a great insight into the minds of modern brides and what they are looking for from venues. Speed of response, exceptional customer service from the wedding sales team and knowing date availability are all key - particularly when narrowing down the shortlist and determining which venues to visit for the all important show round.

I would love to know your thoughts on this video and please do challenge me if you think any of this is wrong!

You can download a copy of my slides here.