Hotels.com Reveals Stags Continue Celebrations While Hens Tighten
Their Belts
Released
on: July 29, 2009, 6:11 am
Author: Cordy Griffiths
Industry: Travel
According
to a poll by leading accommodation website Hotels.com, British
men are preserving the right to enjoy their last days of pre-nuptial
freedom while brides-to-be are reining in their spending and economising
on hen parties.
Hotels.com
and Wedding Ideas magazine found that stags continue to revel
in a final fling of freedom as three quarters (74%) say their
celebrations will last for a weekend or longer. Stay-at-home hens,
meanwhile, are far more likely to economise as two-thirds (59%)
say their pre-marital celebrations will only last one day.
Accordingly,
the research found, stags are spending considerably more - parting
with £179 each on average for each party they attend. Hens
spend a more modest £118 on the celebration.
Stags
are far more likely than their hen counterparts to venture beyond
British shores for their celebration, with a third (32%) planning
parties overseas. Of all stags polled, a quarter (27%) will head
to European party destinations while another one-in-twenty (5%)
will venture even further afield to the US or Canada. As a result,
a number of the top stag do destinations were foreign cities:
Prague (second), Amsterdam (third), Barcelona (fifth) and Tallinn
(eighth) all feature in the top ten destinations for stags, although
London retained the top spot. With many stag nights now going
beyond one night and into a weekend, this saw a boost for London
hotels last year.
At
the other end of the scale, the vast majority (96%) of brides-to-be
will celebrate in the UK and more than a quarter (28%) will not
venture further than their home towns. In fact, only one foreign
destination - the Spanish city of Barcelona - made it into the
top 10 most popular locations for hen parties. Hens booking accommodation
for their celebrations looked first to London, closely followed
by Brighton, then Edinburgh
hotels and accommodation in Devon, Cornwall and Bath.
Alison
Couper, director of communications for Hotels.com says "Traditionally
the wedding day is all about the bride, so it would seem that
many grooms use their stag do as an opportunity to take share
the limelight ahead of the big day."
Rachel
Moschke, editor of Wedding Ideas magazine, said: "Most of
us worry about keeping our wedding costs to a minimum, and brides
are becoming increasingly conscious of what they ask their friends
and family to pay for. The hen do is one area where brides feel
like they need to keep their eye on the budget and are celebrating
in the UK so there is more in the kitty for their big day."
- ENDS -
Notes
to editors:
Research was conducted among 300 Wedding Ideas magazine readers
in May/June 2009.
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 New
York hotels,
Rome hotels and Paris
hotels. 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 contracting teams in the industry negotiating
the best rates for its users, plus the site has user-contributed
reviews of its properties.
About
Wedding Ideas Magazine
Wedding Ideas Magazine is the UK's best-selling handbag-sized
bridal magazine and is on sale from newsagents and supermarkets
nationwide. Wedding Ideas has hundreds of ideas every month, from
dresses and accessories to stationery, gifts and honeymoon ideas.
PR Contact:
Cordy Griffiths
Hotels.com
42 Earlham St
Covent Garden
London
WC2H 9LA
020 7019 2268
www.hotels.co.uk