I have recently moved house to a new area of London, and my Mum is soon coming to visit. Being new to the area, I don’t really know the standard and prices of the hotels; however, my girlfriend (Jassmine) and her mum (Vonnie) have lived around this part of London for over twenty years. Vonnie, therefore, seemed the perfect person to ask what The Fox and Goose Hotel in Ealing was like. Her response, however, left me flabbergasted:
“I’ve heard of it, but let me check on TripAdvisor and get back to you.”
Now, I have worked with TripAdvisor in various capacities over the last three years (mainly buying space for display campaigns for clients such as Holland America Line or Tourism New Zealand) but never have I used it for personal reference, nor particularly come into contact with many people that have. So, this really threw me.
It used to be that I would watch my Dad idly typing words such as “hotels in Norwich” into the URL bar and see him become increasingly frustrated that the browser would return ‘this URL is not recognised or is incorrect.’ I would then grow irritable with him whilst I tried to explain that the Google search bar only required a vague idea of what he was looking for rather than him typing the full URL in the search box.

Over the weekend I spoke to my friends about their Internet habits and it turned out that we all have similar behaviours. We have up to five sites that we check every day, typically: Facebook, Twitter, a news site, a hobby site and something related to our profession (mine is NMA). Also, if we are looking to purchase an item we go directly to the site using the URL bar, typing in the full address. Google usage is fairly limited and often used simply to search for images or to answer that inane question which has come up in conversation and undoubtedly leads to the phrase: “let me Google it and you will see I’m right!”
However, those I know from the older generation seem to be developing a much broader experience of the internet. They seek information, find the deals, scratch further beneath the surface. They are no longer downloading the Pizza Express 2 for 1 offer from www.pizzaexpress.com, but printing off the buy six pizzas and pay nothing deal on www.obscurewebsite.com , found whilst routing around page four of the Google search results. (Personally, I haven’t scrolled below the fifth result on the list for at least three years.)
Maybe it’s because they have more time, maybe they are less frivolous with money (they have seen two recessions and survived both after all). Maybe it’s just those of us who have been Googling consistently for the last fifteen years have become lazy, and the over fifties have caught us up and learnt from our mistakes. As they say, slow and steady wins the race!

Either way I know that tonight I spent £5 pounds on a vegetable moussaka from Tesco’s and that my Mum and her friend are sharing two pizzas and a bottle of wine for £2.50 per head. I also know that Vonnie will continue to know more about hotels in Ealing than me.
As far as Brands are concerned this demographic needs to be taken seriously. Flashy display images that catch the attention of twenty-somethings may not work for those over fifty. They need some depth to the claims of cheap car insurance. Now, they will continue to look around and find out that the insurance might be cheap but the service is poor compared to the expensive insurer who looks after all your needs.