Kiwis put brains before beauty when choosing hotel buddies

MEDIA RELEASE

Kiwis put brains before beauty when it comes to their ideal hotel buddy

Auckland, 11 July 2012: Kiwis have proven they’re not a shallow bunch choosing brains over beauty when it comes to their idea of an ultimate hotel companion or ‘plus one’

According to a fun survey carried out by Hotels.com more than two in five (41%) New Zealand travellers look for a hotel buddy with substance, preferring intelligence over looks (6%) when choosing their ideal hotel room companion.

Well known for their love of life and laid back attitude, New Zealanders rated having a sense of humour high on the list with almost three quarters (71%) voting for a funny hotel buddy. More than half of New Zealanders (53%) also rated similar lifestyle values as an important quality in a ‘plus one’.

Top five characteristics Kiwis look for in a plus one when staying in a hotel room:

1. Sense of Humour

2. Similar lifestyle values

3. A love of life

4. Trustworthiness

5. Caring nature

6.

When asked which family member New Zealanders would most like to share a hotel room with, well over three quarters chose their husband or wife (82%) followed by a sibling (15%).

At the other end of the spectrum, the biggest turn-off for New Zealanders when looking for an ideal hotel room buddy was flatulence with over three quarters (79%) voting for a gas-free ‘plus one’ hotel buddy. Snoring also rated high with almost three quarters (70%) of New Zealanders voting for a non-snoring ‘plus one’ hotel buddy. Selfish-natured hotel room companions were also unpopular with 64% New Zealanders preferring not to bunk with egotistic personalities. Smoking (61%) also registered high up as unpleasant characteristics.

Katherine Birch, Director of Marketing Australia and New Zealand, Hotels.com said:

“Through surveys like this we continue to learn about what our customers want and need, which is how our loyalty program was born. Our customers told us they wanted a simple and easy-to-use loyalty program so we created Welcome Rewards. This gives our customers and their favourite ‘plus one’ one free night for every ten nights stayed across more than 65,000 hotels around the world.”

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