In today’s world choice can often be associated with freedom and autonomy but is it really liberating? Or is this plethora of choice in absolutely everything we do actually oppressing? Ask anybody dating in this modern Tinder era. When you always think something better is around the corner it’s easy to get distracted by other options. And the irony is, sometimes people who have too many options actually feel paralysed by it and end up making no choice at all.
The Paradox of Choice is a theory that was initially proposed by the American psychologist, Barry Schwartz in his book The Paradox of Choice, published in 2004. Since publication there has been much debate around the world as to whether abundance of choice is a stressor or a benefit in our busy lives, with many believing too much choice leads to indecisiveness, less satisfaction and poorer decisions.
In 2000 Iyengar and Lepper carried out an experiment in which they set up a “free sample” table at a grocery store and presented customers with either 6 or 24 jam flavours. When presented with just 6 options 30% of people made a purchase whereas only 3% made a purchase when confronted with 24 options. Procter and Gamble ran a similar experiment that found that decreasing the available choice of any given product led to a 10% revenue increase. So what does this mean for hotels?
For hotels it can be difficult to limit choices on their website and booking engine. With an abundance of room types, rates and packages it can soon become very busy. However just a few simple strategies can make a big difference to your user experience and conversion rates.
Room Types
It can be tempting to list all your inventory on the one page but with just 5 room types and 6 rateplans that’s already 30 different options for a guest to consider.
