Australian Travellers Give Up Emailing and Shopping



A brand new travel survey by Medina Apartment Hotels reveals that Australian travellers still value the back to basics approach to holidays and hotels.

As Australians settle back into their jobs and busy lifestyles after summer holidays, a new survey* conducted by Medina Apartment Hotels reveals what leisure travellers really want. On holidays, travellers are abandoning their addiction to email and shopping, preferring to keep in touch with phone calls amongst visits to museums and reading books.

The results of the survey showed that Australian travellers are more than happy to leave their addiction to email at home. Almost 50% thought a good old fashioned telephone conversation was the best way to keep in touch whilst on the road. Interestingly, the survey also revealed that almost a quarter didn't want to stay in touch at all whilst travelling.

More than half of all respondents indicated that the best thing about being away from home was soaking up a new city's culture including: going to museums, admiring the local architecture and checking out tourist attractions. This was in stark contrast to the less than ten percent that wanted to indulge in shopping whilst travelling, with only a similar amount of people packing an extra bag for souvenirs.

In line with this back to basics approach to travel, the must have suitcase items were no more high tech than a camera (34% always packed this item) and a good book (18% always packed this item). Both of these out ranked iPhones and/or BlackBerrys.

When asked about hotels over 60% of respondents thought a 'great location' was the most important feature of a hotel followed by space (16%).

Lisa Phillips, Director of Brands and Communication said: "The survey helped us to collect some real insights from our guests. The results have reinforced our commitment to Medina's core brand offerings - sleek, stylish and spacious apartment hotels in great city locations. Medina apartments are also a great solution for the quarter of respondents that crave a home cooked meal while they're away!"

Medina Apartment Hotels conducted the survey in order to gain insights from Australian leisure travellers about what they love about staying in hotels and travelling. The information will be used to improve each guest experience at the 21 Medina Apartment Hotels across Australia.

For more information about Medina Apartment Hotels or to book, visit www.medina.com.au or phone 1300 MEDINA (633 462).

*Research conducted by Medina Apartment Hotels. The survey was distributed online with a total of 1382 respondents

Summary of survey results:
• 47% of respondents keep in touch via phone whilst travelling
• 23% of respondents didn't stay in touch at all whilst travelling
• 52% of respondents thought the best thing about being away from home was soaking up a new city's culture - museums, architecture, tourist attractions...
• 9% of respondents enjoy shopping the most whilst on holiday
• 34% of respondents always packed a camera
• 18% of respondents always packed a good book
• 14% of respondents always packed an iPhone or BlackBerry
• 60% valued a great hotel location above all other facilities
• 16% valued space in their hotel room above all other facilities
• 25% miss a home cooked meal most when travelling