Holidaymakers search differently, and they decide faster
They are not comparing six sources over three weeks. A visitor has a fixed number of days, takes the first credible answer, and 19 percent of consumers expect a response the same day even without that pressure. Speed beats polish for this audience.
What is different about a visitor
They have a deadline. Somebody with 7 days on an island is not conducting research, they are looking for something available now, and every hour of delay removes options rather than adding them.
They also have less context. They do not know which street is close, which business is well regarded locally, or what a normal price is here. That makes them unusually dependent on what a profile says and unusually quick to accept the first credible one.
And they ask in their own language. 45 percent of consumers used an AI tool to find a local business in 2026 against 6 percent a year earlier, and those tools answer in the language of the question, so a business described only in the local language competes for a smaller share of these questions.
What follows is uncomfortable for anybody who has spent months on a website: for this audience, the hours field and the reply speed outrank everything the site says.
What decides it
Hours first, and correct across sources. 7 days with two times each is 14 values, and across six sources 84. A visitor who arrives at a closed door has lost part of a short holiday and will say so.
Then the path to contact. A telephone number as a link and, where the trade allows it, a way to book without speaking. A visitor deciding at nine in the evening will not call in the morning, they will book somewhere that let them book at nine.
Then the reply. 19 percent of consumers expect a response the same day in general, and for somebody with days rather than weeks, a next morning reply arrives after the decision. Whatever your normal response time is, this audience needs it halved.
| Property | Visitor | Resident |
|---|---|---|
| Decision window | Hours to days | Days to weeks |
| Sources consulted | One or two | Up to six |
| Decides on | Availability and speed | Price and reputation |
| Language | Their own | Local |
| Cost of a slow reply | The enquiry | A comparison you might still win |
The one page worth writing
Short, in their language, answering three things: what you do, whether you have capacity this week, and how to reach you now. Everything else can wait for the audience that has time.
Then keep it seasonal. The page that says open daily in August and says nothing in November is doing its job; the page that says the same thing all year is wrong for half of it.
Questions and answers
How fast do I have to answer a visitor?
Do visitors read reviews?
Which language should the page be in?
What is the most expensive mistake?
Sources
- BrightLocal, Local Consumer Review Survey 2026 Response expectations and the growth of AI use in local search
- schema.org, openingHoursSpecification The structure behind the fourteen hour values
