Introduction:
In just the last few decades, we have witnessed the OTAs upend the hotel distribution paradigm, the arrival and rise of some of a major hospitality company (and its imitators), the emergence of a significant competitor, and the virtually overnight closure of many key markets’ hotels due to a pandemic.
However, the hotel sector continues to grow by adjusting to changing circumstances and continually viewing trends as possibilities. I’ve chosen a few of the most important hospitality trends to be aware of in the context of strong hotel development pipelines in several locations, while also examining how hoteliers are responding.
1. The working nomad:
There is a huge opportunity for the travel industry, and especially hospitality operators, to embrace this new generation of digital nomad remote workers who combine employment with international travel. Major employers are embracing hybrid working models, and others are committing to work-from-anywhere policies.
The knowledge and services economy is less constrained in this regard, even though it is acknowledged that many jobs cannot be performed remotely. This is especially true given the exponential growth in the use of videoconferencing and collaborative working applications, which was sparked by the lockdown restrictions.
Responding to this potential requires much more from hotel operators than simply offering high-quality Wi-Fi. There has been a paradigm shift in attitudes as well; this new generation of remote workers is interested in community, being around peers who share their interests, and leading a more well-balanced existence. However, they don’t necessarily want to be surrounded by tourists when they have a deadline to meet!
It signals the end of the drab and oppressive hotel business centre era. I anticipate seeing more creative coworking spaces open up, as well as suites being remodelled to incorporate a desk/office arrangement and transform into useful meeting rooms as necessary.
In addition, I see a great opportunity for holiday locations to develop customised marketing campaigns to draw in working nomads. Ideally, tourism boards and hospitality businesses would collaborate to enhance the message and make sure that promises were believable and could be kept in practice.
2. The rise and rise of wellness tourism:
More than any other trend, hotels are trying to rebrand themselves as health and wellness destinations. It’s understandable why the market is booming.
Hotels must realise, though, that such a repositioning may not be as easy or risk-free as it first appears. Much depends on location: are nearby medical and wellness professionals available, considering that the majority of hotels cannot afford to employ such professionals full-time? Additionally, a number of businesses are already doing well in this market, so it’s crucial to research the local competitive landscape before making a major financial commitment.
Often, it may be preferable to consider more modest changes—what I refer to as “light wellness”—that can appeal to health-conscious visitors without breaking the bank. A small gesture like stocking the minibar with healthier options will warm people up to your business. Additionally, it’s becoming more typical to offer pillow and mattress menus; but, why stop there? Why not take things a step further by implementing sleep and wake-up rituals that are in sync with circadian rhythm cycles?
To be regarded as a wellness-conscious hotel, you don’t necessarily need to launch a specialty vegan restaurant or spend millions remodelling your spa. But even if you do spend money, it should be worthwhile because, according to studies, guests who are concerned about their health tend to spend more money overall. This can be explained by the fact that they are willing to spend money on things like yoga classes and personal training sessions as well as picking the in-house F&B options over unproven local competitors because they believe they would provide better food.
3. Embracing technology in spa & wellness:
The Covid pandemic and the explosion in wearable fitness technologies have combined to make us far more interested in our own personal health and wellness.
This has the potential to both present an opportunity and eliminate a threat for the spa and wellness sector.
Many ‘conventional’ spa rituals and treatments are less clearly beneficial than new technology like cryotherapy, hyperbaric chambers, and the like. Working with these scientifically validated treatments can also lead to fewer but higher compensated spa & wellness employment, which is crucial for a sector that is having trouble recruiting staff in the broader “battle for talent” in hospitality.
4. Deploying smart technology in hotels:
Technology and the hotel sector interact in an unequal way. We don’t typically lead the way in technological innovation; instead, we focus on applications created for the commercial real estate industry, airports, and homes, then consider how to incorporate them into so-called smart hotels.
The demand for a more kind greeting and a level of customization is considerably greater in a hotel setting than it is at an airport check-in, though. Why not give me the opportunity to check in from a smartphone app while I’m still in my cab leaving the airport if I’m your guest? In this manner, I am aware that a room is ready for me and can enter it right away when I get there.
But more importantly, if I want to interact with someone, there are staff members who have been let out from behind the front desk and are available in the lobby to welcome me, respond to my inquiries, and recommend the best restaurants, bars, and tourist attractions. As a visitor, it gives me the impression that the hotel is effectively incorporated into the neighbourhood.
This type of customer-facing position necessitates outstanding soft skills (as well as encyclopaedic destination knowledge) and is therefore more rewarding professionally and may even result in higher pay. These are precisely the types of jobs that we as an industry need to offer if we want to attract and retain the talent we need. If you’re a “people person,” it’s a profession you can love and make your own.
5. Marketing gets ‘transformational’:
We frequently discuss how the hospitality industry is a part of the larger “Experience Economy,” a phrase Pine & Gilmore first used just before the year 2000.
The idea of the “Transformation Economy,” where experiences are elevated from simple enjoyment to genuine personal transformation, was explored more subsequently by the same writers.
What does this signify for marketing in the hotel industry? I believe that the messaging will change to emphasise this idea of transformation through travel experiences, especially in relation to health and wellness. Additionally, messaging will becoming even more granularly tailored, especially in the luxury market. The benefit of digitization is that it makes such actions simpler to do.
6. Can the hotel ‘brand explosion’ last?
This sixth and last trend is probably a little more debatable than the other ones I’ve mentioned because they can largely be considered as possibilities rather than risks. It is about the segmentation of the hotel industry into numerous sub-segments, each having a stable of rival brands.
Although having options is generally a positive thing for consumers, has the hotel industry taken this practise too far? Given so many brands, are consumers becoming more perplexed than inspired? Will they still believe that formerly independent brands that are now a part of a global conglomerate can offer genuine experiences?
Personally, I believe that these worries are legitimate and that when larger operators concentrate on one brand in lifestyle, one in boutique, etc., we may eventually see some rationalisation.
Conclusion
These are the only six trends in hospitality I’ve decided to emphasise today. There are numerous other topics on the strategic agenda of the hospitality executive, some of which, such social responsibility, may ultimately prove to be more significant than those already stated. The continual struggle of the hotel sector to recruit and retain employees is the common thread that connects most of them, if not all of them.
The focus of most of what I’ve said has been on giving visitors transformative, highly individualised experiences. But how can a hotel accomplish this successfully when its front-line staff is always changing?
As a sector, we must address how we attract, retain, and inspire young people to work in the hospitality industry. We also need to use technology to increase our freedom to invest in people and give them roles that enthral both them and their guests. Finally, we must reclaim the idea of personalised, human-to-human interactions that Airbnb successfully employed when it first started to challenge the traditional hotel industry.
Because of the direction that visitor demand is moving, the hotel sector will experience remarkable growth if it can pull this off.
Blog by Amith Raj S
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