Born between 1980 and 1995, millennials are the main target audience for hoteliers. Millennial visitors are currently in a stage of their life with economic independence.
Millennials have a very active social life. They engage in social media too fast. These generations have a lot of information and are demanding consumers.
Although millennials are not today’s core customer community of airlines, hotels, and travel companies, very soon that will shift.
In their study, Traveling with Millennials, BCG argues that in the coming years, millennials or Gen Y will be the key customer group for hotels when they reach their peak earning, spending, and traveling years.
There has been a rise in leisure (business + leisure) travel among millennials.
With nearly half of the workforce now comprising of millennials, this generation is constantly on the move for work and business.
In their pursuit to explore new places and improve their work-life balance, they very often extend their business travel into a leisure trip.
As a matter of fact, millennial business travel spending is projected to grow to nearly 50% of the whole business market in 2020.
To delight leisure travelers at your property, help them know and experience local cuisine or places around your property.
Chances are these travelers are busy attending events and meetings.
As they won’t have time to actively look out for options, make sure to have a city guide or map and pamphlets with local food recommendations always at your reception.
It’s also a good idea to set up fun group packages that include perks like transportation, tickets to museums, and on-site lunch or dinner.
Millennials want to be immersed in the local culture.
Destinations that have options for outdoor adventures, food and wine, music festivals, entertainment, nightlife, and art will naturally witness an increase in the number of millennial travelers.
After all, millennials are prioritizing their cars and homes less and less and assigning greater importance to personal experiences.
If you want to capture part of Gen Y’s travel market, you’ll have to adapt to the changing nature of millennials and enhance their experiential offerings.
Consider offering unique guest experiences and niche facilities at your very own property, like a well-being retreat.
Food also plays a major role in defining a local culture. Offer more authentic and interesting local dishes rather than a generic menu.
Traditional recipes made using local and fresh produce and wholesome ingredients are going to be big among millennials.
Other ways to pay homage to local cuisine is to hold food events or culinary tours and offer cooking classes or demonstrations.
Don’t forget to depict your local culture in your interiors too.
You can also bring more authenticity in common areas and hotel rooms through regional elements, artworks, and materials.
With traditional artisanal crafts and art by local artists featured in your hotel rooms, your guests will feel a powerful sense of place the moment they step through the door.
Regardless of what activities millennials pursue, they look to technology to keep them more connected than ever. 93 percent of frequent travelers prefer travel brands with technology that simplifies travel.
If you think giving free WiFi to your guests is enough, think again! While WiFi is a digital must-have for millennials during their stays, there are other digital facilities that delight millennials.
Consider providing other digital offerings, like mobile hotel apps, voice-based technologies, digital keys, mobile payment services, wearable technologies, and automated check-in and check-out.
All these technologies can help guests experience frictionless and smooth stays.
Also, invest more in having a strong and attractive social media presence. Millennials are extremely active on social media.
They look for online reviews before booking a hotel.
And they also keep on engaging with the property digitally during and after their stays.
Make sure that you are Instagram worthy every time your guests mention you in their stories or posts.
Providing personalized experiences to your millennial guests can help you stay ahead of their expectations and building customer loyalty.
As a hotelier, you might have access to a treasure trove of information about your guests.
It includes room preferences, past upgrades, reasons for staying, and more. It’s time to act on this consumer data.
By using this data for providing personalized experiences, your guests are bound to be delighted and become repeat guests with positive reviews.
Imagine knowing that your guest always asks for an upgrade to a king-size bed. Moreover giving the king-size bed without him asking the next time.
Therefore knowing that your guest is in the town for a family vacation and offering at-property fun and adventurous activities for the whole family.
Being sustainable isn’t only going to help the environment but it’s also going to positively impact your brand as well.
Millennials love brands that support their local communities and would rather purchase from them than competitors.
This also stands true for travel brands. Hotels that run environment-friendly campaigns and have sustainable initiatives around the property are hot favorites among millennials.
Such initiatives include waste reduction and global carbon emission compliance, among others.
Be generous with your knowledge to build genuine relationships. Hence by building good relationships you can target millennial visitors.
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