Mobile Channels LGBT Use To Book Hotels vs Air Travel, November 2014 [TABLE]

Mobile Channels LGBT Use To Book Hotels vs Air Travel, November 2014 [TABLE]

Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) mobile users of all ages show the same habits when researching and planning travel via mobile. Once it comes time to book their trips, though, everything changes, according to a November 2014 study by Community Marketing Inc. (CMI).

Across generations, about 40% of LGBT mobile users reserved hotels through their devices, and more than one-quarter booked flights. But that’s where the similarities ended. When booking lodging via mobile, LGBT millennials were huge fans of online travel agencies (OTAs). Nearly two-thirds of millennials booked that way, compared with 55% of Gen Xers and 43% of boomers. The two older age groups—especially boomers—preferred to book through a hotel’s mobile site. Lodging-sharing and deal sites, much newer on the scene, were around 10 percentage points more popular among millennials than boomers or Gen Xers.

When booking flights via mobile, LGBT millennials once again preferred OTAs more than older respondents, who favored going directly through an airline’s site. However, the latter option was the most popular mobile purchase method among all age groups here. Still, LGBT millennials’ much higher usage of OTAs for both hotels and air travel suggests the demographic is a prime target for sites like Expedia and Orbitz. Read the rest at eMarketer.