Hotelmarketing'com

Daily must-reads for hotel marketers.

How to future-proof travel. A golden opportunity to rethink and reset. The robust travel recovery being seen across the world, as well as beginning in Asia, cannot be used as a reason for things to go back to normal.

Popularizing solo travel. Influencers have popularized the image of the solo traveler, showing off their gregarious personalities and desire to try new things while on the road.

Remote work trend leads to more travel, says EY. When people have the flexibility to work from home, they travel. A different demand category from bleisure: People working from home and companies not expecting people to work as much - are leading to a lot more travel, according to EY's latest survey.

The great holiday rush has become the great holiday mush. More a blob of intensified travel than a burst of large spikes. With remote work seemingly here to stay, the way some people travel during the holidays has perhaps changed forever - they now skip the most hectic and fraught days of the travel season.

Meet the megatrends in travel. SITA’s innovation report explores 12 key trends that will shape the travel industry over the next decade. A new era of travel is emerging which will feature trusted digital identities, hyper efficient metaverse-like airport operations, sustainable aviation, and air taxis.

The younger look of luxury. By 2025, 61% of luxury consumers will comprise Millennials and Generation Z, with children having a major influencing factor on parent’s purchasing behavior.

Cookie-cutter travel is out. Travelers demand more personalized travel regardless of budget. Personalized service has always been a marker of luxury travel, but now switched-on travel businesses are going the extra mile with unique, one-off experiences for guests.

Hilton taps students to uncover blended travel trends. The hotel group has just finished hosting an analytics challenge with Adobe Analytics. The winning team examined the cross-device customer journey to understand how consumers are making purchase decisions digitally across devices.

Fewer people will be traveling for work - hope is not a strategy. Travel industry must learn to dance to a different tune. Travel companies are identifing new markets, revenue streams and business models and what decisions have to be made to ensure they are in a position to take advantage of them.

Google data highlights growing interest in blended trips. Travel marketers should prepare for the rise of blended trips. Consumers are prioritizing booking travel experiences and are embracing blended trips to have those experiences, according to new research from Google.

Expedia's travel trends for 2023. More trips in three-star properties than splurge on one big luxury getaway. In 2023, 40% of U.S. travelers plan to stay in 1-to-3-star hotels and 34% plan to book a vacation with added value inclusions, such as free parking or breakfast.

Hilton released its 2023 trends report. Focus on frictionless travel and more engaging experiences. Based on a global survey, today’s travelers are looking for a balance of technological and human innovations, deeper connections and care, embedded wellness experiences and more.

Members-only clubs are hitting hotels everywhere. The trend of private members’ club-meets-hotel concepts that require a key - literal or figurative - has skyrocketed. The idea of an elite vacation just a few minutes from home still retains its appeal even after (most) people have resumed traveling both domestically and internationally.

Retailers have a new threat this holiday season: wanderlust. The holiday season will test consumers’ spending priorities, especially amid inflation. Americans are returning to the skies, filling hotels, swarming theme parks - and they’re showing a willingness to spend more of their money on trips.

Amadeus Travel Trends 2023. Exploring the metaverse, new biometric possibilities, and traveling light are set to transform the industry next year. Travel is set to see significant changes in 2023 as it moves closer to a “try before they buy” model in the metaverse, while the ‘corporate team holiday’ could be on the horizon.

Rethinking tourism with travel tech. An overarching strategy of being data-driven, tech-enabled and human-centred is the way forward to deliver a more personalized experience.

Where to travel next? National Geographic is releasing its Best of the World list in late October with 25 must-see travel destinations for 2023.

Wealthy wanderlusters are seeking more extreme vacations. Remoteness as the ultimate luxury. High-net-worth individuals' desire to be catered to in the middle of nowhere is a trend accelerated by the pandemic, as well as a reflection of the personalities of this class of travelers.

Reimagining the hotel customer experience. The future of lodging aligns with today’s modern expectations of connected, comfortable and elevated home living. Despite their best marketing efforts, many hotels aren’t seen as trendy or experience-centric. Therefore, they aren’t capturing new customers or evolving with them.

Grey gap years. A growing movement of people aged over 60 who are choosing to take a gap year after retirement – a desire that has been fuelled further by the enforced isolation of the pandemic.

The rising trend of travel freebies and incentives. Suppliers trying to entice those that are still hesitant to travel but can’t pass up a deal. The travel industry is caught up in a sudden wave of free offers, discounts, and incentives being offered by everything from specific destinations to airlines to cruises.

Four scenarios for the future of travel. Possible structural shift from international to domestic trips. They scenarios are plotted along two axes: one which runs from increasing consumerism toward more values-based decisions, and a second moving from less open to more open.

Accor on the rise of domestic bleisure travel. What do hotels provide beyond the hotel room?. Domestic leisure travel has increased notably as changing work cultures have allowed people greater flexibility and the opportunity to work in different settings.

American tourists are pushing hotel prices up, up, up. In Paris, luxury hotels are logging their best summer season ever. Helped by the euro-dollar parity, Americans now represent 45% of customers in Paris - up from about a quarter pre-pandemic - and they're staying longer than Chinese and Russian tourists.

Hotels prepare for incentive travel growth. The role of incentives in today’s decentralized workforce. A new study provides recommendations on using incentives, recognition and engagement programs as drivers of employee experience.

Bright ideas in travel. The players, places, and bold new concepts moving the industry into the future. From cities focused on urban regeneration to carbon-conscious hotels and airlines introducing new inclusivity measures, these 56 innovators are changing the way we travel.

Regenerative travel is the next phase of responsible tourism. Leaving destinations better than we found them. The idea is to go beyond sustainability, which focuses on minimizing negative impact, and instead have a net positive impact on the place you’re visiting.

Fall travel is changing. To save energy, the Eiffel Tower is turning off its lights earlier at night - just one example of how the industry is adapting to several pressures it is facing this fall.

Meet 9 people who are changing the future of travel. The architects, hoteliers, space pioneers and designers shaping what travel looks like in 2022 and beyond. It’s tempting to see the future as bigger, and bolder, but in many ways, we see the next era as gentler: more sensitive, more diverse and community-oriented - less about grand.

The new shape of business travel. The change we are witnessing today is beyond improving processes or just the tourist experience; it entails transforming the tourism system.

Travelers want to get more out of their travels. Hotel brands have a responsibility to listen to guests, adapt. Travel may not be fundamentally different these days, but it’s certainly shifted, according to Erika Alexander, chief global officer, global operations, for Marriott International.

Germany tightens COVID rules. The cabinet approved legislation that ensures protective measures against the coronavirus are continued during the fall and winter.

Social proof becomes make-or-break point for vacation booking. Reviews have never been more important in travelers' decision-making process. According to a new study, 82 percent of travelers won’t book their stay at a property without having first consulted consumer reviews - making them the make-or-break points for a vacation booking.

Gen Z to marketers: Ditch the persona. A recent Gallup survey found that 21% of Gen Z-ers identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender - nearly four times the rate of older U.S. adults.

Hotel operations must adapt to the new normal. A unique opportunity to change for the better. How this change plays out will have distinct benefits for the future of hospitality and the associates who work in it, according to panelists who participated in a panel at the Hotel Data Conference.

Hotel industry recovering but perhaps not returning to normal. Performance keeps improving but conditions are changing. There's been a lot of talk about when things return to normal, but hoteliers are also taking into account that may not happen because of guests and the changes to the way they travel.

More guests traveling with pets. One in five U.S. households acquired a cat or dog since the beginning of the pandemic, bringing their new furry friends with them when they hit the road.

How heat waves are changing tourism in Europe. Stockholm instead of Rome? October instead of July?. Shifts in travel patterns are likely to become more common in Europe, a region that climate researchers describe as a “hot spot” for severe summer heat.

Why shoulder season is the next big travel trend. Shoulder season bookings are increasing substantially year over year. Seasonal high peak destinations are no longer getting the cold shoulder during shoulder season - thanks, in part, to people working remotely.

Guests have more accommodation options than ever. Five key trends with implications for hotel owners. McKinsey’s recent US travel survey shows the lines have blurred between accommodation categories, and travelers are searching for hotel, home share, all-inclusive, and outdoors/glamping options.

Hybrid work is doomed. The existence of an office is the central premise of office work, and nothing - not even a pandemic - will make it go away.

The personal brand is dead. The youngest adult generation and the most online generation is frustrated with being surveilled and embarrassed by attention-seeking behaviors.

What next for travel and tourism?. Experts highlighted some key transformations during the World Economic Forum (WEF). As the world recovers from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, travel and tourism can bounce back as an inclusive, sustainable, and resilient sector.

Consumer trends that hotel marketing cannot ignore. Guests demand immediacy, honesty. According to Daniel Levine, director of the Avant-Guide Institute, consumer changes can be boiled down to five phenomena occurring not just in hospitality but across society.

Change > cancel: Instead of calling off their vacations, more consumers will likely change their plans to account for price increases and added fees.

Barcelona wrestles with revival of mass tourism. Overtourism worse than ever, as weekend now starts on Wednesday. As visitors return after easing of Covid curbs, talk of diversification of Spanish city has been drowned out by sound of ringing tills.

Experiential hotel packages set to bloom. Travel is headed towards time maximization - filling a vacation or work trip with meaningful moments. Guests will be seeking hotel brands that aid with this goal by designing trips and itineraries that make those experiences a reality.

Today’s CEOs don’t just lead companies. They lead ecosystems.. Looking beyond the company they steward to shape the ecosystem in which they operate. Today’s CEOs are operating in a new landscape, with society and business becoming more intertwined and a broader group of stakeholders registering their expectations and demands.

Navigating a year without trends. You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. We must be careful to avoid the common trap of thinking that our own era is somehow different, more complex or faster-changing than previous times.

How European leisure travel is evolving. The last two years have changed how consumers broadly view the world and how leisure travel fits into it. Much like the U.S., albeit a few months behind on the curve, European hotel operators are seeing a massive jump in leisure travel demand heading into this summer travel season.

World Economic Forum: How tourism will change and grow. Recovery gaining pace as the world's pent-up desire for travel rekindles. The World Economic Forum asked four business leaders in the sector to reflect on the state of its recovery, lessons learned from the pandemic, and the conditions that are critical for the future success.

Flex travel is the 2022 summer holiday trend. Finding the best flight and hotel deals, rather than having your heart set on one specific destination. The effect of the pandemic and the ever-evolving travel restrictions have continued to accelerate this shift with flex travel becoming a new travel norm.

Trends are dead. Anything that’s vaguely popular online must be defined or decoded - and ultimately, reduced to a bundle of marketable vibes with a kitschy label.

Sabre research reveals shifts in travel. Complexity is likely to become increasingly challenging for the industry. The rise of connected trips, blurred lines between leisure and business travel, and an accelerated pace of change - survey results indicate how travel is different post-recovery.

Accommodation preferences shift from pre-pandemic norms. Travelers more interested in self-contained forms of accommodation. STR's latest travel and accommodation research show that travelers’ perceptions of accommodation are shifting in terms of their interest in different types of accommodation product.

How the pandemic changed travel’s off-season. Popular resort destinations are no longer experiencing seasonal slowdowns. Increased demand for beach and outdoor travel and more flexible work schedules have all but eliminated the shoulder and off-seasons in some popular destinations.

The awful American consumer. We want cheap stuff fast and don’t care who it hurts. People aren’t accustomed to having to really think about the trade-offs they make for the economy to run how it does, and when they do have to think about it, they don’t like it.

Travel's "stepping stones" to entering the Metaverse. Move to new virtual world represents evolution of computing. For travel, the Metaverse will most likely start with virtual tours offering a ‘try before you buy’ experience, followed by setting up virtual stores to attract visitors.

Reality is no longer enough. Immersive experiences fill travel itineraries. Technology is pushing interactivity to new extremes, driven by intensifying competition for leisure and the rising expectations of travelers who don't just want to look at things but feel part of it.

Travel is back - it just looks different. Returning to pre-pandemic levels whitewashes the complexity of how the travel industry has changed. In terms of raw numbers, nearly as many travelers are passing through airports now as they were in 2019. But the pattern and distribution of these travelers has fundamentally changed.

American Express Travel: 2022 Global Travel Trends Report. Spending on travel is outpacing pre-pandemic levels. Consumers are traveling to see the people and places they love, celebrate important life events, embark on wish list trips, experience in-person events, and to seek greater wellness and self-care.

Hoteliers navigate permanent changes to guest behaviors, business models. Some still-shifting industry trends require 'guessing game'. Many of the challenges facing the industry pertain to shifting business models and expectations that are expected to be permanent.

Netflix of holidays. Inspired by online streaming platforms, travel firms look to algorithms to tailor the perfect holiday to their guests.

Workcations becoming entrenched in many nations. Likely to become a permanent practice lasting well beyond the pandemic. In a global study of eight countries, 65% of 5,500 respondents say they plan to extend a work trip into a leisure one, or vice versa, in 2022.

Is tourism bad for us?. Tourism risks not so much broadening the mind as narrowing it. What makes today’s tourists different from previous travelers, is that globalization creates what philosopher Byung-Chul Han calls a “global Here by de-distancing and de-siting the There”.

Travel seeing biggest revolution in a century. How we now live and work lets more people blend everyday life with travel. New remote-work policies at unprecedented levels mean that at least 36 million Americans have the potential to become digital nomads and join the "live anywhere" trend.

Myth-busting the new digital nomad. Given the changes taking place due to the pandemic, the Nomad lifestyle is no longer accessible to only freelancers and the self-employed.

Summer 2022 will be ‘busiest travel season ever’, Expedia predicts. Airlines expected to be back to historic levels by August. Part of pent-up demand is pent-up savings - people tired of spending on material home goods are ready to shell out for experiences, be it in cash or loyalty points that have been gathering dust since 2020.

Omicron as a ‘Golden Ticket’. Many travelers are using a recent recovery from Covid-19 as a ticket to get moving. The variant has turned into a silver lining for the travel industry, with millions of travelers feeling emboldened after a diagnosis.

At hotels, Thursday is now a check-in night. Leisure travelers continue to shift occupancy trends. Leisure travelers are embracing weekends, and often Thursday nights are when they check in. This in turn has led to slightly higher-than-expected occupancy on Thursday nights in U.S. hotels.

Travel’s theme for 2022? ‘Go Big’. Travel over the Easter holiday period projected to be up by 130 percent over last year. With Omicron cases ebbing, the industry is looking for a significant rebound in spring and summer. Here’s what to expect, in the air, at the rental car counter and beyond.

Expedia doesn't see metaverse as competitive threat. The company is not worried about customers abandoning actual travel for a virtual-reality alternative. Expedia's CEO Peter Kern acquiesced that while he might be wrong about the metaverse long term, he beliefd that customers won’t be trading away their passports for headsets anytime soon.

'Working from anywhere' permanently changing travel. The ability to work from home is profoundly, and permanently, changing the way we travel. Because remote workers represent a whole new market for the travel industry to capture, accommodations providers will be racing to meet their needs - if they haven’t done so already.

The hotel industry has proven its resilience through demand. Recovery not just about getting back to 2019 levels but seeing a path beyond that. The resiliency of the U.S. hotel industry and strength of its recovery through the COVID-19 pandemic has attracted the attention and capital of investors.

Hotel guest mix has permanently changed. Looking back at 2019 is not the way forward for travel. The prevailing attitude among speakers at Americas Lodging Investment Summit is that this is the new landscape that hoteliers must navigate and waiting for a return to 2019 numbers or conditions is misguided.

The year of the "new" traveler. The pandemic has changed travelers, and hotels need to adjust. All indications are that the hotel industry will continue moving toward recovery in 2022, but that full recovery is still several years away, according to a new AHLA report.

The biggest travel trend of 2022: Go big, spend big. If 2021 was about domestic travel, 2022 may be the year of the “bucket list” trip. While financially devastating for some, the pandemic has allowed others - namely, professionals who have been able to work from home - to sock away more savings.

The endangered shoulder season. Has the pandemic undermined off-season travel deals?. In many places, high-occupancy rates are inflating prices for budget-minded travelers who count on off-peak periods to find the best bargains.

10 trends defining travel in 2022. Long-haul flights are experiencing a revival. Although going abroad will continue to be challenging for unvaccinated people, for fully-jabbed travelers, many parts of the planet will become more accessible in 2022.

How will the pandemic change tourism and business travel?. How the tourist map of South-East Asia will look very different in 2022. China is unlikely to reopen its borders in 2022 as it continues its zero-covid policy. What will the long-term impact of the pandemic be on tourism and business travel?

A peek into Marriott's R&D lab for post-pandemic travel. Leisure travel a vital factor in a lot of what gets researched. Blended business and leisure travel roared to life over the last 20 months, and an R&D team can figure out how to make Marriott hotels run better with this demand sector dominating the travel landscape.

Hoteliers look back on 2021. How transactions, revenue management and more shifted through the year. After record profitability in 2019 and some of the largest profit declines in 2020, in 2021 profitability has returned across much of the global hotel industry.