HRTurizam reports that Booking.com has announced that it will be handing out 1,147,344 Traveler Review Awards for 2021, giving recognition to partners from 220 countries based on millions of guest reviews.
In a year in which the travel sector has faced many unusual challenges, these awards recognize partners who offer accommodation and transport in 220 countries and territories.
In Croatia, 52,992 received Traveler Review Awards, which places the country among the top 5 most awarded countries in the world behind Italy (151,801), Spain (81,341), France (77,687), and Germany (63,829). Although the ranking cannot be viewed only through the number of awards, because the number of Booking partners in other countries is much higher, it is certainly clear that Croatia belongs to the top of international tourism, at least according to Booking.com.
“As less and less travel was done, each trip meant more to travelers than usual, and it became even more important to emphasize the outstanding service and hospitality shown by the Traveler Review Award winners in this extraordinary year,” said Arjan Dijk, SVP and Marketing Director in booking.com and added: “In our mission to make it easier for everyone to explore the world, our partners play a critical role in providing amazing user experiences to travelers, and I know that with their perseverance, partnership and passion we can rebuild the travel sector and help even more travelers to rediscover our beautiful world over time.”
Booking.com also revealed the key features of an excellent stay and the most hospitable places in Croatia.
Booking.com’s Traveler Review Awards 2021 reveal data on passenger preferences in the past year and reveal that Croatian travelers value staff, cleanliness, and location the most when evaluating award-winning facilities on the platform because these three factors have the highest ratings among the categories rated by travelers after the stay.
These preferences are also in line with global trends, which show that staff with the highest-rated category are among the winners of the 2021 Traveler Review Award, followed by cleanliness and location. As users pay more attention to health and hygiene, the award winners had an average of 17% higher rating than the average rating for cleanliness in non-award winning facilities, which means that this is the main distinguishing factor for a better welcome. Another proof of the importance of the approach to tourists, which is crucial.
According to the reviews of travelers, the most hospitable places in Croatia are in Lika-Senj and Karlovac counties. At the top of the list, with the highest percentage of winners among the facilities that met the criteria, is Selište Drezničko, Karlovac County, followed by Grabovac, Karlovac County; Jezerce, Lika-Senj County; Korenica, Lika-Senj County; Slunj; Karlovac County, Smoljanac, Lika-Senj County; Otočac, Lika-Senj County; Skradin, Šibenik-Knin County and Karlovac, Karlovac County.
While hotels remain the second most awarded type of accommodation in the world for 2021, for the fourth year in a row, four of the five most awarded types of accommodation in the world are unique accommodation facilities: apartments (484,243), hotels (175,748), cottages (123,145), private accommodation (94,003), and bed and breakfasts (78,903).
The most awarded accommodation types in Croatia for 2021 include apartments, holiday homes, villas, and hotels. Bed and breakfasts, farm accommodation, country houses, lodgings, and private accommodation have made up most of the most hospitable accommodation types in the world, showing how interesting it is for travelers to stay in unique accommodation facilities. Interestingly, alternative accommodation facilities account for 30% of all new bookings in the third quarter of 2020 at the level of the entire platform.
A recent survey by Booking.com shows that almost half of Croatian passengers (51%) went by car in 2020 (which is above the world average of 24%) and that 29% of them traveled more within the country in 2020 compared to 2019, which is almost equal to the global average of 32%.
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