KUALA LUMPUR, 3 May 2018 – Brand Expedia today announced its Global Flight and Hotel Etiquette® Study 2018, revealing Malaysians to be one of the most cost-conscious and technologically inclined avid travellers in Asia.
Looking into the air travel trends amongst travellers globally, travellers are taking 5 flights per year on average (counted as one-way flights), with personal flights (3.2 per year) accounting for two-thirds of these flights and another one-third being business trips (1.6 per year). When compared against the Americas and Europe, Asia-Pacific travellers are most likely to take more average flights per year with Thailand taking the lead with an average of 10.1 flights per year while Belgium claimed the least frequent air travel nation with 2.9 flights per year.
With more than 600 Malaysian respondents surveyed online between 22 February to 29 March 2018, the study further highlighted that Malaysians are most likely to jump on a flight, landing them a top 5 global ranking with 5.5 average flights annually, with 83 percent of them checking into flights online or via mobile. In addition, the mobile-friendly Malaysians love travelling, taking more personal trips (3.6 average flights) than going away for work (1.9 average flights).
When it comes to considering the total costs of flight, Malaysian travellers are the most cost conscious in Asia with 97 percent said that price is an important factor for air travel booking. Reflecting Malaysians’ wise spending behaviour even further, they also weigh price as most important (74 percent), followed by complimentary Wi-Fi (71 percent) and location (63 percent) when it comes to considering hotel booking. Other price-conscious nations include Brazil (76 percent), Canada (71 percent), US and Singapore (70 percent).
“Of all the extrinsic factors affecting Malaysians’ flight and hotel etiquette, budget seems to take up the biggest chunk of the pie. In the recent 2017 Expedia Vacation Deprivation Study, affordability issues are the primary reasons cited for not taking sufficient vacations amongst Malaysians. And when they do, the total cost of flight and accommodation do weigh in heavily. It is no surprise then that Malaysians are also seen as one of the most cost-conscious countries globally,” said Lavinia Rajaram, Regional Head of Communications, Brand Expedia in Asia.
The penny-wise Malaysians were found to be the least generous with tipping. More than half of them would consider only parting with lesser than RM5 or none to hotel employees. Only around 10 percent of hotel guests from Malaysia would tip generously, far behind Americans who are the most generous with over 40 percent willing to tip more than $4 (RM16) to hotel staff.
Besides the booking and flying patterns of travellers globally, the study also highlighted some general behaviour of travellers that affect others.
When it comes to accommodations globally, dirty rooms, general displeasure of room state and noisy neighbours are reasons travellers would ask for a room change. Yet, what really would tick Malaysians off to demand a room change is when their room get too cold or hot (36 percent). The same frustration was shared equally amongst those from Singapore, India and Brazil (35 percent).
Additional highlights from the study include:
- Flight behaviours that agitated Malaysian travellers include seat kickers/bumpers/grabber (57 percent), aromatic passengers (36 percent), and inattentive parent (36 percent).
- Malaysian travellers enjoy a good sleep in-flight (83 percent) followed by in-flight entertainment (64 percent) and listening to music (51 percent).
- Malaysians will choose to stay in a hotel equipped with Wi-Fi (76 percent), complimentary toiletries (53 percent) and freebies (50 percent).
Malaysians will not give in to in-room reveller (48 percent), hallway hell-raiser (44 percent) and inattentive parents (35 percent) while staying in a hotel.
“Package bookings remain the single easiest way for travellers to save hundreds on travel, both domestically and internationally. By booking your flights and hotels together, Malaysian travellers can stand to enjoy up to 16 percent off your travel costs. For those who are still looking to book your travel, Expedia.com.my currently offers packages to nearby destinations for under RM499 (per person) and RM170 onwards (per person) for local destinations, making the coming school holidays in June a great time for travel,” said Lavinia.
