How Millennials Are Changing Hotels
It’s a millennial world and everyone else is just living in it. As of 2013, millennials outnumbered baby boomers 79M to 76M, and as the boomers continue to age, that gap will continue to widen to a predicted 78 million to 56 million in 2030. Not to mention, this adventurous, try-anything-once generation is quickly becoming the biggest customer block for the hospitality industry. Millennials are expected to spend roughly $226B on travel this year. As a result, the hotel industry is making some significant changes to accommodate this new generation of travelers.
First, let’s define "millennial.” Those of us who have been wandering aimlessly, wondering where we fit in, now have a place. The Pew Research Center has defined a millennial as anyone between the ages of 18-34 in 2015. And if your friend argues that point, just whip out your smartphone and Google it, because that’s what we do. The needs of the millennial generation are miles apart from the boomers. Luxury isn’t about frills anymore and personalized service doesn’t have to actually involve a person. Rather, we want functional spaces, technologically advanced customer service, and most of all, free WiFi. Let’s take a look at what really matters to millennials:
Technology is king to this generation, and it’s not just for streaming on our iPads…although that’s part of it. It’s also about efficiency. Millennial travelers prefer not to be bothered with the formalities of check-in when a kiosk can do the job just as effectively. We live in a world of electronic boarding passes and email confirmations. Standing in line at a front desk is unnecessary. Additionally, this is a generation that gives and receives information differently. To accommodate this, Hotel Teatro in Denver uses a social media concierge to recommend activities and handle special requests. This kind of service allows customers to keep up to date in a world where information travels in real time. And let’s not forget peer review sites like Yelp and TripAdvisor, which is practically the millennial equivalent of word-of-mouth recommendations, or the best kind of word-of-mouth: selfies on social media.
Luxury means something different to millennials than it did to boomers. We definitely want instant gratification, but we want it at the click of a button. No sense involving the middle man. We don’t plan on spending a lot of time in our rooms since we’ll be out on the town enjoying the local life, so a streamlined design is preferred. Even business-traveling millennials tend to have a coffee-shop mentality, preferring an open communal space where we can be alone together, rather than sit in a solitary space inside the room. The upcoming RadissonRed is a perfect example of this with its art gallery space and adjoining bar and deli.
Here’s the kicker. We want what we want, for less money. Just because millennials like a pared down design and less “personal” customer service doesn’t mean amenities aren’t important. We like the urban life, where everything is at our fingertips, and we’re willing to sacrifice space to get everything we want at a reasonable price. And there’s nothing like a special incentive to make one hotel stand apart. The Linq Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas is a great example with WiFi hot spots even in the spa. A hotel after a millennial’s own heart. And capturing a millennial’s heart is important, because we’re not averse to writing scathing reviews on Yelp.
