On average, guests in Switzerland spend half their time in their hotel, a new survey conducted by Switzerland Tourism (ST) and HotellerieSuisse has revealed. According to this survey, Swiss and German hotel guests in Switzerland in particular are fans of staying in and spending more time at their hotels than their French and British counterparts. below are just some of the survey results that have informed ST’s new campaign, ‘Hotels and lodgings recommended by Switzerland’, which launches today in the UK, and runs until 19 November.

Keen to know just how much time visitors to Switzerland spend in their hotels, last September ST and HotellerieSuisse commissioned Geneva-based research company Ipsos Switzerland to conduct a survey of people in Switzerland, Germany, the UK and France who had stayed in a Swiss hotel for leisure purposes over the past two years. Of those surveyed, 62% said they spent more than 12 hours a day in their hotel. 

UK guests love activities organised by the hotel
Surprisingly, the study shows that British hotel guests spend a significant amount of time in their hotels during the day. While Swiss, German and French guests enjoy all that Switzerland has to offer outside their hotel during the day, in general, guests from the UK often tend to stay in their hotel during the day. They attach particular importance to hotel activities such as gastronomy, wellness, relaxation and sports. A large number and wide range of such activities can be found in high-end establishments. And it is precisely such luxury hotels that British travellers like, to an above-average degree, the study has revealed.

UK/French guests go out at night, while Swiss/German guests spend more time in their rooms
On average, Swiss tourists go to bed the earliest and sleep the longest when staying in a Swiss hotel. This is one of the reasons why they spend the highest amount of time in their hotels on average out of all the markets of origin surveyed (12h50m on average). Germans spend almost the same amount of time in their hotel as their Swiss counterparts, calculated by the day (12h30m). On the other hand, hotel guests from France and the UK are real night owls, spending most of their evenings away from their hotel, sleeping less and as a result spending less than 12 out of every 24 hours in their hotel.

Germans attach the most importance to accommodation
What destinations and sights are to other travellers, Swiss hotels are to German holidaymakers. They state that a hotel is just as important to them as the destination when it comes to planning their holidays. Hotels also score highly with German guests relative to tourist attractions: when it comes to holiday planning, they find the hotels just as important as the sights on offer. Guests from Germany therefore attach more importance to the choice of their accommodation than tourists from the other countries surveyed.

Great stay, great day
A large majority of all hotel guests surveyed in Switzerland (73%), no matter their nationality, agree with the following statement: ‘if the accommodation is good, the trip will also be good’. Instead of primarily focusing on the destination when planning a holiday, the survey shows that it is well worth taking the time to find the right hotel with the right facilities and the right bed. ST offers the necessary support here with its hotel campaign, ‘Hotels and Lodgings recommended by Switzerland’.

Hand-picked accommodation for the perfect holiday
As part of this new campaign, ST recommends a selection of accommodation options to suit every need. Its website has been specially redesigned for this purpose, and not only simplifies the search for the right accommodation, but also, thanks to the independent verification of the listed hotels, guarantees that guests find the best hotel to suit individual needs in the holiday destination of their choice. In addition to the new website, the campaign has also put together two short videos presenting the most surprising findings from the survey, all summed up by the slogan, ‘You spend more time at the hotel than you think’. This campaign will run from today until 19 November.