Hoteliers have always been interested in marketing to travelers' generational differences, and today, it’s becoming a necessity for optimizing a hotel’s revenue mix. Generational differences are evident across the guest experience, influencing not only how travelers like to book but also where they book, how they prefer to check in, and what constitutes a positive stay experience.
Depending on one generation or another, guests could be more incentivized to book based on their desire for personal interaction, the ability to access contactless check-in, or their preferred booking channel based on loyalty and comfort. Most travelers prefer to book online, but their chosen channels matter greatly. Some guests are more open to shifting their booking preferences to direct channels than others, making them malleable based on their on-property experience. Hoteliers can target these travelers with direct interactions and upsell through various touchpoints–if they have the right technology in place.
Additionally, trends around technology and booking behavior are increasingly fluid. Conventional wisdom tells us baby boomers prefer more human interaction, and Gen Z prefers a more disconnected experience with a focus on customization during booking. Other travelers prefer a specific check-in process or value daily housekeeping service.
Ultimately, these preferences won’t always adhere to age-based generalizations—but it’s important to have the tech and operational infrastructure in place to meet these needs. Hoteliers must construct their tech stack to support data gathering and development to inform them of their guests’ preferences. When hotels speak to travelers the way they desire, their experience will be improved.
Serving Personalization
A hotel’s back-end capabilities are the foundation for understanding and providing personalization within hospitality. Operators must have access to a system that can take action based on guest preferences and react to guest purchasing behavior. Hotels that can adjust prices based on their guests will reap more significant revenue thanks to increased interaction between guests and the property.
For example, while it’s common for consumers to visit various websites before purchasing a hotel stay, the nature of online shopping has continued to change, and hotels must find new ways to adapt to this change. A recent survey from L.E.K. shows that 39 percent of Gen-Z consumers consider themselves “constantly shopping or browsing,” compared to just 10 percent of Baby Boomers and 14 percent of Gen-X consumers.
This constant research for new purchases puts consumers in a state of frequent visitation to your site in search of the optimal stay experience. Hotels must have a tech stack in place that informs them on how often consumers visit their site, which stay experiences and packages are most interesting to them, and what influences the timing of their purchases. Using this data, hotels can offer greater personalization for each traveler based on actionable data with real capability to influence their purchasing decisions.
Millennial and Gen-Z consumers value personalization the most among all generations, and there’s reason to believe Gen-Z’s valuation of these offers will increase as they mature into their prime consumer spending years. Offering personalization requires a well-integrated tech stack designed to prioritize sharing property information between departments. Using cross-department data, hoteliers can provide the experiences guests seek, develop targeted promotions and enhance their ability to upsell effectively, all while dynamically adjusting technology in response to generational changes.
The Next Generation
Understanding and catering to generational trends will improve as hotels gain more information from guest purchasing data. Revenue management technology’s ability to track long-term trends and identify what potential guests value most plays a significant role in this, and the technology’s knowledge and scope grow as it is fed data from purchases made across an entire property. These elements are helping hoteliers better market to the next generation, with many focusing on experiential travel above all else.
Forecasting technology is the next great opportunity for hospitality as it allows operators to leverage revenue management data and, in turn, inform everything from operational decision-making and purchasing to staffing. When operators know who is coming to their hotel, they can adjust staffing based on guest expectations, which can be better informed using generational data. Doing so can help hotels match and exceed guest expectations through optimal staffing allocation, available amenities, and more.
Soon, hoteliers will serve travelers their ideal experience based on historical, purchasing and even generational trends. Generational knowledge provides a competitive edge in a marketplace poised for a new evolution in revenue optimization. Suppose hotels can continue to build on their understanding of price flexibility and apply it to the expanding world of experiential travel. Suppose business owners can harness the speed necessary to analyze generational data and apply actionable strategies based on emerging trends. In that case, the hospitality industry will remain the cornerstone of the service industry in both guest satisfaction and profitability.