Hospitality is now considered one of the most competitive industries of our time. It has been growing at an exponential rate since 2008. Whether it is a massive hotel chain or a single boutique hotel, hoteliers cannot ignore these latest trends that are emerging in the hospitality industry.
Here in this article, we will discuss the upcoming trends in the hospitality industry that will likely be responsible for shaping the industry’s future.
1. Bleisure
The rise of digital media and internet have given birth to the “millennial” traveler crowd and the hospitality industry is working hard day and night to cater to this new emerging market segment. Experts have forecasted the hotel industry will continue to witness the “Bleisure” phenomena that the millennials bring to the market, also known as business travel mixed with leisurely travel.
“Bleisure” is a term coined by millennials that means an extended vacation after a week of mandatory meetings and networking. It is a perfect opportunity for young professionals to take an extended vacation after a tiring business trip, kind of like “killing two birds with one stone”.
Hotels are working very carefully to cater to this new trend as “Bleisure” not only keeps rooms and dinner reservations booked but a happy millennial is almost guaranteed to spend money on other amenities that the hotel has to offer too. It is imperative for hotels to carefully formulate viable business strategies and utilize resources properly to generate more revenue from the “Bleisure” crowd.
2. An Increase in AI Presence
The impact of A.I is bound to be felt in the coming years in many technological industries. We can safely assume that the hospitality industry will also be greatly impacted by the emerging A.I.
Many businesses within the hospitality industry have already begun to implement some friendly robots to help out with some of the housekeeping and other tasks that don’t require a lot of face-to-face interaction.
From a non-robotics point of view, AI is already being used extensively in order to provide flawless guest experience to the guests. For example –
RepUp review/feedback collection tool has its fair share of A.I usage. Suppose if a guest mentions some sort of plumbing problems in the bathroom in his reviews or feedbacks then the review will automatically be sent to the maintenance team to be taken care of.
It is safe to assume that AI will ultimately help the customer experience by improving the quality of any person-to-person exchanges.
3. Smart Rooms
Imagine a room that knows the guests and cares about their preferences. That is exactly what Smart Rooms are. It can control the room- temperature, light even the television as per guest preference.
With more people using voice-activated devices in their homes, it’s only natural to use these same devices to make rooms more “smart.” The lights, temperature, and other features in a hotel room can be difficult to figure out and smart rooms alleviate that problem.
Hilton has already started implementing smart technology in rooms to make them more user-friendly and to keep a healthy record of the room data. Smart Rooms is ought to be one of the deciding factors that shape the future of the hospitality industry.
4. Guest-Data
Accumulating and processing guest data is bound to be one of the decisive factors to shape the future the hospitality industry if it is not already. The right usage of guest data is imperative to provide a satisfying and optimal guest experience.
The applications of guest data in the hospitality industry are almost never-ending and every day we, hoteliers are discovering new applications of it. For an example –
RepUp Marketing Automation tool helps to create targeted and personalized marketing campaigns based on the acquired guest data. If a couple spent their last year’s anniversary in a hotel then the marketing automation tool can send him marketing emails with personalized offers before this year’s date automatically.
Technically we are witnessing only the beginning of the data-driven technology universe. The digital universe, which encompasses all the data we create and copy is bound to increase at an unprecedented rate, opening up new fields for us to put our acquired guest data to use.
5. Data Privacy/ Security
In the age of emerging big data, Data privacy will be one of the major factors that will dominate the industry. Hotels these days accumulate and process a massive amount of guest data and it is imperative to come up with corrective data handling solutions to stop this data from getting exploited in the hands of the wrong people. Data privacy and security will inevitably be the “talk of the town” for the hospitality industry in the years to come.
The EU has planned to implement GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) this year in order to address the issues related to data privacy and security. A data security act of this magnitude is the first of its kind and experts believe other countries will follow soon. Under the GDPR, all the data of the EU residences must be handled under strict guidelines and regulatory frameworks and the data exchange must be consensual.
By studying and analyzing the current market trends, it is safe to assume that these five factors will be the driving force behind hotels in the upcoming years and will play a decisive role to shape the future of the hospitality industry.