Booking.com Hits The Billion Mark

Booking.com has revealed new data on the number and variety of bookable rooms available across the 820,000 properties on its site, along with the unique places guests have chosen to rest their heads over the last year.

The company’s 820,000 unique properties have 21 million bookable rooms worldwide and within the last year alone, 285 million guests – the population of the UK, Germany, France and Italy combined — have stayed in these accommodations through Booking.com, and over 1 billion guests have stayed at a Booking.com property since the site was born.

The site offers 30 different categories to choose from, ranging from igloos in Lapland to rustic tents in South Africa and caves in the heart of Turkey. In fact, more than 70% of the total properties available to book are from all of the categories beyond the traditional hotel.

And Booking.com’s research reveals that travellers aren’t afraid to get their feet wet with over 150,000 choosing boat stays, or get their hands dirty with over 720,000 choosing a farm for their holiday getaway.

The following countries lead with the highest number of bookings for different types of stay:

• Spain is the leading country for guest house bookings.
• Italy tops the chart for the most bed & breakfast bookings as well as farm stays.
• The UK has seen the most hostel and inn bookings.
• Sweden makes a splash with the most boat bookings.
• United States is the leading country for hotel bookings.
• Japan has the most Ryokan stays.
• Morocco takes the crown for the most Riad stays.

As travel becomes more accessible, travellers are not only being more adventurous in their choice of accommodation but also their destination. Booking.com guests have travelled to 38,000 cities for hotels, 34,000 cities for vacation rentals and 51,000 cities for all unique categories, worldwide.

Darren Huston, CEO for Booking.com, commented: “Reaching these significant milestones highlights the incredible number and variety of well-priced, great places to stay on Booking.com, opening a world of possibilities to match peopleÆs personalities, desires and ambitions. Travellers around the world are seeking out local, authentic experiences and stays to match. In the last twelve months, vacation rental properties on Booking.com expanded 66% and other unique accommodations categories like boats, ryokans, guest houses, bed and breakfasts, etc. have grown by 32%.”

Go to http://www.booking.com for more.