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The hotel and hospitality industry has become one of fastest growing sectors worldwide since the last few years. At present the sector offers numerous jobs for people who the right skills and significantly adds to the economy. In fact, during the last financial crisis, it was one of the very few industries that remained unaffected and continued to grow.
Shifting Trends In Hospitality Sector
When general people and experts think the hospitality and travel sector, one of the first things that come to mind is transportation companies. However, industry experts are now learning that transportation is merely a small fraction of the equation. The fact is nowadays the real change has been brought about by accommodations providers in the hospitality industry. Moreover, among them the start-ups and small businesses are creating the real change in the scenario.
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Originally, accommodations referred to only the hotel sector and to some extent, it included the vacation rental space of the business. However, with the growth of the private homeshare concept, it has gained considerable popularity among the consumers. Moreover, it is striving to occupy a significant market share for accommodations, especially because of the technological and digital amenities, which hotels, rental condos and homeshares are now offering.
Offering More Convenience And Affordability
Additionally, there has also been a change in the way the hotel and hospitality industry deals with consumer engagement. Nowadays, travellers and visitors expect excellent convenience and great prices with high levels of value and affordability due to the advent of digital concepts and self-service. Now guests can easily access check-in, online booking, catalogues, guest newspapers and many more effortlessly thanks to special mobile apps that deliver everything directly on to your smartphones.
Megatrends Shaping Travel In 2015, which a recently launched magazine from Skift on the hospitality sector, analyses how travellers and users are receiving and reacting to the newest offerings of the hospitality and travel sectors in this digital age.
Among the key findings of the publication was whether the new modes of convenience and connectivity have become the standard for the industry. Gone are days of premium paid WiFi connections in hotel rooms or in-room cable-based Ethernet connections, although all rental chains and hotels have not changed yet.
Currently, most travellers are not satisfied with simply a complimentary copy of USA Today kept at the lobby desk during the morning. Moreover, now guest not only want to read about the local news, they also want to find out what’s going on at home. Hence they prefer to book rooms in hotels which can offer them such amenities and facilities.
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Need For New Approaches
Rafat Ali of Skift says “As consumers become self-serve and mobile-dependent, new models and approaches to both customer relations and local discovery are emerging, and hospitality is the big crucible where all of this is playing out. We see this at every touchpoint in the hospitality industry: From how hotels are building direct links to customers in digital, to how customer service is being rethought through social and mobile tools.”
He adds “Within the confines of a property we see this in how hotels are redoing lobbies and how customers check in, as well as everything about the customer experience inside a hotel room, entertainment inside the hotel, and food & beverage offerings, too. Brands are also questioning customer interaction pre-, during and post-trip, as they examine and rebuild it in new ways.”
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