Hotels.com reveals literary faux pas for holidays

Hotels.com has discovered that more than two fifths of women admit that they judge a man not by what he is wearing, but by his book cover - as 43% of women say they find a man less attractive if they don't rate his choice of reading.

Hotels.com's summer research has revealed that for women it really is all in the mind, and men who want to impress should think carefully about what they choose to read by the hotel pool*. Moreover, almost one third (31%) of men say that they will take into account what a woman is reading when posing by the pool in making a judgement about their attractiveness.

Male fans of horror novels should be particularly wary about reading away from the privacy of their own rooms, with 95% of women listing this as their least desirable genre. Science fiction novels came a close second as 94% of women admitted that they would be turned off a man if he were seen reading the latest Trekkie blockbuster.

Women, on the other hand, should avoid showing their love of romance or classic novels in public, with 88% of men admitting that they find these genres unattractive. It seems from the Hotels.com research that the safest route for both sexes is to pick a neutral genre such as crime fiction - in each case, over a third of both men and women (37%) admit this is their favourite holiday read and the one they find most attractive.

Alison Couper, communications director for Hotels.com, said: "Reading is a great way to unwind on holiday, but it seems that men in particular need to take extra care when working out which page turners to take away as the wrong choice could spell disaster when it comes to attracting a holiday mate."

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*Research conducted amongst 1,454 UK travellers in July/August 2009.

About Hotels.com
As part of the Expedia group which operates in all major markets, Hotels.com offers more than 100,000 quality hotels, B&Bs and serviced apartments worldwide including London hotels, New York hotels, Edinburgh hotels and hotels in Dublin. If a customer can find the same deal for less on a prepaid hotel, Hotels.com will match it. Hotels.com benefits from one of the largest hotel contracting teams in the industry negotiating the best rates for its customers, plus there are 1.3m reviews from users who have actually stayed in the hotels to ensure customers make an informed choice when booking. Hotels.com won the Gold Award for best hotel booking site in Webuser magazine in February 2009.

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