Brand: a Simple Name or a Criterion in Purchasing Decisions?

The decision to buy or not a product by the consumer is based on a number of factors and criteria according to which it triggers. Starting with the utility designed to meet a specific need, product characteristics, price or even a unique method of promotion, all influence the consumer's decision to purchase a product. In a period of overconsumption, in which more and more brands appear in all sectors of society, in which the displayed image tends to have a growing importance for humans, even in a declarative level, this work aims to discover if the brand is just a name registered, to identify a company or became himself a criterion for the consumer in purchasing decisions as well as the price for example. Field of study of the chosen theme is tourism, and to find the answer to the question we conducted a qualitative research, using the technique of collecting information in depth interview and focus group site. These were applied to two categories of respondents, i.e. people with decision maker in ten travel agencies from Bucharest and a group of people who have direct contact with customers, such as sales agents, ticketing agents, receptionists and public relations specialists. The purpose of this work is to observe the influence of brand when a consumer decides to choose a destination, a hotel, a carrier or a travel agency for their travel needs. The results obtained were classified according to the importance given to the brand in relation to the other criteria associated with the purchase and highlights the extent to which a consumer is influenced by reputation, prestige and the attributes associated with the brand of a company operating in the field of tourism, when it decides to go on a journey.