Hotels.Com Reports 98% Of Newlyweds Still Planning A Dream Honeymoon

Released on: May 14, 2009, 6:35 am
Author: Hotels.com
Industry: Travel

According to new research carried out by Hotels.com, the world's leading hotels booking site, honeymooners are not cutting back on their dream trip, despite the recession. The survey of more than 500 brides-to-be found that 98% remain undaunted and are still planning to honeymoon after their wedding.

The survey, conducted by the hotel booking site through Ireland’s leading wedding forum site, showed that 47.3% of honeymooners believe they should still take a honeymoon, but they should only spend what they can afford as a couple. However, 1 in 4 people surveyed believe that budget should not be a factor as their honeymoon is a once in a lifetime experience.

The honeymoon is considered to be an integral part of wedding celebrations with 84.4% of newlyweds taking their honeymoon immediately after their wedding and only one in ten waiting to go away at a later date. Work commitments and financial strains were cited as the main reasons for delaying a honeymoon.

Nearly two thirds (64.6%) of those surveyed agreed that more deals are now on offer to honeymooners during these recessionary times. In terms of spend, 21% of the people surveyed said they were willing to spend between €3,000 and €4,000 on their dream holiday, while 9% said they would be prepared to splash the cash right now, spending a recession denying €8,000 plus on their honeymoon.

However, over one in ten (12.6%) did admit they would be happy to take a shorter break directly after the wedding and wait until they have more money for a bigger holiday, showing a shift in attitudes is beginning to emerge amongst newlyweds and they are trying to be more sensible with their money.

Alison Couper, Director of Communications for Hotels.com, said, "It doesn’t surprise me that newlyweds are not prepared to sacrifice their honeymoon as it is such an important part of the wedding celebrations. Now is a great time to honeymoon as there are some fantastic deals available around the world with savings of up to 40% off in the current Hotels.com summer sale."

Not surprisingly, for those planning to marry and honeymoon in the same destination, the Irish survey found that Ireland topped the list, with close to one in five respondents (18.4%) citing their home nation as the number one choice for both their wedding ceremony and honeymoon. The Caribbean is the second favourite (12%), followed by the popular European wedding and holiday spots of Italy (7.9%) and Spain (6.6%).

Editors Notes:
The survey of over 500 people was conducted by Hotels.com through www.weddingsonline.ie website and weekly newsletter in March 2009. The majority of respondents (80.4%) were aged between 26-35. Weddingsonline.ie has over 38,000 subscribers to their site.

About Hotels.com
As part of the Expedia group which operates in all major markets with dedicated staff, Hotels.com offers more than 100,000 quality hotels worldwide including a wide selection of Dublin hotels, hotels in New York, Rome Hotels and hotels in London. If a customer can find the same deal for less on a prepaid hotel, Hotels.com will match it. Hotels.com benefits from one of the largest hotel teams in the industry negotiating the best rates for its users, plus user-contributed reviews of its properties. Hotels.com won the Gold Award for best hotel booking site in Webuser magazine in February 2009. Travellers can book online or by contacting one of the multi-lingual call centres.

Hotels.com PR contact:
Cordy Griffiths
PR Manager
Hotels.com
42 Earlham St
Covent Garden
London
WC2H 9LA
020 7019 2360
www.hotels.co.uk