SINGAPORE, 2 October 2025: Fauchon L’Hotel Paris recently surveyed luxury travel advisors to determine what really matters to their clients when selecting a hotel.
One of the key findings confirmed by travel advisors suggests a hotel needs to offer “an authentic sense of place” versus a “cookie-cutter brand design.”
This is clearly a departure from when travellers preferred the consistency of knowing that no matter where in the world they travelled, they would find the same carpeting, bedding, décor, amenities, and overall experience.
Fauchon L’Hotel Paris’ survey indicated that respondents were seeking an authentic local experience, rather than the typical cookie-cutter brands.
The top two important factors when selecting a hotel were hotel location (97.5%) and staff and service (82.5%). When travellers report back about their trip, 6 in 10 respondents commented about the “warm and welcoming service they received”, while only 21.3% mentioned the “great location.”
The two factors which were the least commented on were “the views, welcome amenity, and staff” and “the value for their dollar.”
When selecting a hotel that offers a promotion or special offer, seven in 10 travel advisors said a “complimentary night” was most important to their clients, with an “added complimentary VIP amenity” coming in a close second.
Other deciding factors included an “enhanced commission” for the travel agent, a “percentage discount off the room rate,” and “added value in food and beverage.”
Also noteworthy in this age of social media is that travel advisors reported that only 30% of clients definitely requested a specific hotel after seeing it on social media. In comparison, 11.2% stated that an increasing number of clients were requesting hotels they had seen on social media.
And while loyalty programs once held considerable power in driving bookings, only 1.3% of respondents definitely request hotels with loyalty programmes, less than 60% sometimes request hotels with loyalty programmes, and 35% do not request hotels with loyalty programmes.
