Executive summary

With so much choice and a mind-boggling amount of information out there, how does a traveller find the hotel that suits them best? Most people (46%) do a little research, finding a few comparable choices and selecting the most suitable. But one in ten (10%) simply choose the first ok one that they find. Technology is not only the way many people find their hotels, it can now be make or break for whether a hotel is chosen. Taking your work with you, or even enjoying an on-the-road iPod dock - is more and more vital to more and more people. An overall 47% make sure a hotel caters to their technology needs before they book it.

The Synovate survey asked potential guests to choose a statement that best described their feelings about all-things-green in their home away from home. Over half of all respondents chose the pragmatic-yet-caring approach, agreeing to 'a hotel's environmental policy is important to me, but I don't research it ahead of time'.

Even the most travel weary road warrior can still get a frisson of excitement from a spectacular hotel experience. Of course there is a flip side too and hotels need to rigorously manage the experience from start to finish. An overall 72% of all respondents agree that a bad hotel experience can ruin an entire trip.

Some guests arrive at a hotel, dump their bags and make a beeline for the bathroom to check out the nature and breadth of the toiletry samples. (No, not me. Honest.) And it turns out that this is not so unusual - half of all American hotel guests are taking toiletries, no questions asked.