Experiential travelers — also known as geotravelers, apparently — are those with a desire to escape outdoors without the pressure of an unexpected interruption due to a connected device.

So says a report by travel and outdoor marketing specialists MERCURYcsc in a new quarterly called the Pulse, which queries its Think T+O Forum, a panel of “more than 1,000 experience seekers.”

The survey asked:

Does technology and the ability to stay connected almost everywhere inhibit or enhance their leisure time? Is it a blessing or a curse, and have we come to peace with its role in our outdoor adventures and vacations? And, what does vacation mean in today’s connected world?

The experiential/geotravelers in question take, on average, five leisure trips per year and are well-educated risk takers who avoid homogenized experiences at all costs.

Those surveyed in the report are also much more likely to take all of their vacation days: while 40% of Americans had unused vacation days last year, 72% of the customers of travel and adventure brands managed to take all of their days. 

The folks that this survey are concerned with are far less likely to allow those vacation days to go expired, and are extremely committed to using these vacation days for outdoor adventures. The report points to this as the primary reason for travel marketers to target this cohort.

In addition, those surveyed in this panel were far more likely to fully disconnect to enjoy the outdoor experience, with 75% planning to step away from those commitments to enjoy vacation time. Regardless of intent, these outdoor adventure seekers still end up seeking out connectivity in order to stay afloat at work and avoid that dreaded mountain of catch-up upon return.

Travel marketers looking to appeal to the needs of this group should consider this mixed message on connectivity and determine an approach that both excites the guest to get away while comforting them with the safety fall-back of connectivity if needed.

The conclusion is that those targeting this demographic must make their own strategies to appeal to this outdoor demographic’s love/hate relationship with technology and connectivity while also promoting what makes a destination, tour or adventure so memorable for a vacation getaway. The report recommends:

Travel and Outdoor brands should provide this audience with the emotional and tangible breaks they need to succeed— helping them stay connected while providing constraints to that connectivity, and letting them feel safe turning off their devices knowing they can connect when truly needed. These consumers are willing to turn to outside entities to help them balance immersive experiences with connectivity.

One approach is to choose one side for your brand to champion— acting as either the proverbial angel or devil upon the consumer’s shoulder as they struggle with decisions related to connectivity.

A travel brand might adopt the position that “You’re too connected. Here’s how we’re going to help you decide to unplug,” while an outdoor brand might say “Screw unplugging. Be 100% connected and leave your anxiety at home.” Success could lie at either of the strong points of view, but is unlikely to come from a soft position in the middle.

The full report is available for download (email required) here.
- See more ... 

Trendspotting in South Africa. I found these quite enlightening, especially the thought that relaxing on holiday is no longer what is desired. After the fast pace of life and work, I certainly still really appreciate relaxing in a stunning setting! - Wilna 

Eight trends shaping tourism to South Africa
By: Mariette du Toit-Helmbold - About
           
Being able to predict the future in such a volatile world, and in an industry like travel and tourism, would be wonderful.

While we are not able to foretell the future, we are able – if we look beyond the narrow perspectives of our immediate surroundings and comfort zones – to detect changes in people’s behaviour and the fragile systems that hold things together.

Below, I have singled out a few trends that are relevant to South Africa:

1. It is all about the heart
One trend holds the key to standing out in 2015 and it is of particular relevance to South Africa: ‘connecting the human to the heart’ has become critical in an ever-increasing world of mobile connectedness. Today, these ‘connected travellers’ are making choices dependent on their impact on the world and its local communities, and brands need to react as such if they are to attract a piece of the ever-evolving travel pie.

The world wants meaningful experiences, knowing that their visit has had a positive impact on local communities and the economy without harming the natural environment. It’s good to show some heart and let the world inside our less than perfect world. Perfect is boring.

2. The new relaxation
Whilst airlines are competing to make air travel more relaxing and hotels are focusing on quality sleep as a unique selling point, in destination, travellers are spending less time ‘relaxing’ at the poolside, opting for active ways through which to explore destinations. Biking, hiking and even running tours are popular ways to get to know places better. Many people travel to learn a new skill, practise their hobbies or learn more about a particular field of interest, whether it be cooking, cycling, architecture or design.

South Africa is perfectly positioned to take advantage of these trends.

3. Convenience
Technology now plays a major role in achieving convenience. More consumers in pursuit of trying to manage their days more effectively are willing to pay for products and services that optimise the use of their time. If we can make it easier for travellers to find the information they need, enquire, book and navigate through our destination, we will reap the rewards.

4. Online influencers
It is no longer conventional celebrities who are dictating buying behaviour through sponsorships and those awful ‘paid-for tweets’.

Mobile technology is transforming the tourism landscape in terms of bookings, customer service and consumer behaviour. Social networks are fast becoming ‘virtual shop windows’ and with the rise of technology, regular consumers like you and I are able to share our thoughts, movements and favourite things immediately, steering the buying preferences and behaviours of those around us who trust our opinions.

Free WiFi is now one of the most desired hotel perks with pictures of hotels and restaurants landing up on social media sites in real-time, allowing consumers to curate their travel aspirations.

5. Shopping
Online shopping allows for foreign shopping at the touch of a button. It’s more interactive, fun and sometimes significantly cheaper. However, this has not made the desire for real shopping experiences obsolete altogether.

Euromonitor International believes that in 2015 “many consumers will be making a holiday of shopping, or at least making shopping tourism a major part of their holiday by choosing a base near key shopping areas”. Malls are being reinvented as stylish community centres, becoming hubs for social and business activities, as well as the opportunity to be exposed to sought-after international brands.

Food is a big factor in retail, with consumers and travellers opting for artisan bakeries, fresh-produce markets and authentic local food experiences. Craft beer, biodynamic wine, super-sleek designer butcheries, delis, coffee roasters, organic anything and locally produced gin are all the rage.

6. Millennials
Travel by Millennials is on the rise and is one of the largest growing markets in the world.

Millennials are young and connected savvy travellers with big hearts but not always a lot to spend. They are indifferent to luxury brands, preferring responsible and impactful products and services. Euromonitor says: “ [Millennials] have grown up on free services, games and social networking, and brands are finding it harder to sell to them.”

Mobile payment methods, wearable electronics and real-time mobile translation will become an important tool for millennial travellers as they explore new and often off-the-grid destinations, allowing them to stay connected and make bookings as they travel. They are influencers themselves, gathering information via travel websites (67%), blogs and reviews (66%) and social media (35%), whilst inspiring their peers and parents to travel beyond the obvious and dated destinations.

Flexibility will be key if you want to stay appealing to these ‘always-connected’ consumers.

7. Changing the world for better
Consumer interest now dictates a more caring and committed culture, where travellers want to experience the authentic daily life of locals and want to see their money make a difference to the lives of people in the places they visit. Consumers are searching for value for money combined with more memorable and authentic experiences like in-home meals, cooking lessons and guided tours around foodie hotspots.

In addition, going green in travel continues to gain momentum as Fair Trade organisations all over the world punt environmentally and socially responsible products to travellers.

Furthermore, the concept of ‘lightweight living’ is on the rise. More people are downsizing on possessions and the ‘sharing economy’ is growing, from ridesharing to homesharing and couchsurfing.

8. Health conscious
Consumers have become increasingly health conscious and are becoming more devoted to their mental and physical wellbeing, taking to digital media for news on fitness, healthy lifestyles, daily workouts and diets. This rise in ‘connected health’ is working for consumers in other ways too as social media and blogs act as megaphones to pressure the food and travel industries into greater transparency and ethical practices.

Yoga retreats, active holidays and responsible, healthy travel options will gain popularity in 2015.

South Africa must position itself as a destination that offers healthy, safe travel experiences to the curious, active traveller – tailor-making experiences and packages that suit both Millennials and older travellers. This is one area that needs investment, making it easier for people to buy travel to South Africa through all-inclusive, interesting packages suited to the kind of travellers we want to attract.

2015 holds great promise for the travel and tourism sector if we can spot the many opportunities that these trends hold, break a few moulds and tell our whole story.

This article is published in: South Africa
By Mariette du Toit-Helmbold - About

Stayful CEO Cheryl Rosner has a background working at both Hotels.com and Expedia. Stayful is now almost one year old and so far the company is in 19 markets with listings of a few thousand boutique hotels. 

The site is skewed to Millennials and seeks to make hotels stays more affordable with its bidding and booking system by enabling one-to-one negotiation on rates. It also hopes to give greater exposure to boutique hotels that have traditionally paid higher distributions costs.

In the video, she discusses the boom in the boutique hotel business with Pimm Fox on "Taking Stock." (Source: Bloomberg)

A good read, I particularly agree with point 4 and 5. Happy reading! - Wilna 

Much has been said about the volume and quality of backlinks to your B2B or corporate website, determining your SEO success. 

But what about the importance of SEO on your website? This is what you have immediate control over and when optimized appropriately, will drive the most immediate returns (in SEO page 1 Google visibility). But the ongoing Google changes, sometimes at a whim and seemingly meant to penalize B2B sites, are making it harder for B2B marketers to stay in top.

Here are 5 ways B2B or corporate websites can evaluate their on-site SEO program to have 2014 success in SEO:

1. Does your user experience suck or is your conversion at the top of its game? Google and other major search engines are placing heavy emphasis on on-site user experience. It is important that your site is not only gaining qualified target leads; but also that those leads then stay on your site, follow their intended user path and convert into customers for Google to give you a thumbs up in the world of SEO.

2. Are your site visitors sharing your site content? One major factor of how well your site is optimized for SEO is shareable on-site content. Are your PDFs being downloaded and shared? Have you performed appropriate SMO (Social Media Optimization) of your site content? Do you have a Blog that provides real value to your target audience? Is the Blog set up for subscriptions and social sharing? Are you contributing original content weekly? There are many ways you can drive attention to your site through good content. That content being shared gives yet another thumbs up to Google.

3. Do you analyze and update your keyword strategy frequently? Consistent analysis of your keywords and related Meta data, alt tags and the like to determine and enhance your online market position in SEO will help you to stay in the game. If you set a keyword plan with a one-time on -site optimization on your site and keep the same old Meta data, you are doing your SEO program a disservice.

4. Is there duplicate content on your site? If so, you better take action or Google will!With the aggressive world of SEO, your B2B site cannot afford to be penalized if even for a week. Your rankings will drop fast and so will your new business development. Duplicate on-site content on page or even in Meta data is a no no for SEO. Make sure to check your B2B site for such issues via Google Webmaster Tools easily and make the appropriate changes.

5. Is your site speed load optimal? If not, Google will ignore you.With the wide array of open-source development programs available these days, many B2B sites find themselves with problems with site load times because of plug-in issues. Don't be one of these sites. There are plenty of sophisticated web hosting companies out there who can make sure you have the right hosting solution for your platform and development needs, whether that means VPS or Dedicated server if you have lots of on-site functionalities.

There are, of course, more ways you can improve your on-site SEO performance and more I can get into on each point above. However, these 5 ways to evaluate will certainly get you going quickly to where you need to go for SEO rank in 2014.

Don't underestimate the importance of your website in 2014, whether you are driving content from other webpages or simply on your site. Your website is and should be your B2B marketing machine for driving consistent new business. Make it work for you.

Image: Mashable composite. iStock, alashi

• Denny’s and Atari Appeal to Gen X With Mobile Games
• A Big Data Hype Filter for B2B Marketers
• The Second Screen Is Secondary No More – Are You Making the Most of Mobile?
• 4 Digital Tools for Trend Scouting and Ideation

This article originally published at ClickZ here

Some more info on Millennials - the little video is also great. Wilna 


The Key Facts:
written by Jeff Fromm

• Millennials are people born between 1977 and 2000. Although, there is not a universal agreement on this definition.
• There are more than 80 million of them. This makes their generation larger than Baby Boomers and 20 percent bigger than Generation X.
• Millennials make up 25 percent of the U.S. population.
• Currently, Millennials has 21% of consumer discretionary purchases, which is estimated over a trillion dollars in direct buying power and a huge influence on older generations . Their influence in some categories on other generations is far greater and cannot be ignored
• Millennials are not a homogenous cohort.
• Millennials often seek peer affirmation before making decisions — even small ones.

Barkley has been a part of publishing five major reports on millennials. We published our first report in 2011, “American Millennials: Deciphering the Enigma Generation,” a comprehensive study of the attitudes and habits of this consumer group.  Our most recent report,  The Millennial Generation Becomes New Parents, was published in October 2013.  This study focuses on a new wave of American pragmatism and the trends that follow.

Based on our research we know that: 

• Millennials include some of the earliest digital natives.
• Millennials are interested in participating in your marketing.
• Millennials are known as content creators and users.
• Millennials crave adventure- often “safer” adventures.
• Millennials strive for a healthy lifestyle.
• Millennials seek peer affirmation.
• Millennials are “hooked” on social media in much the same way older. generations are “hooked” on email at work.
• Millennials are not a homogeneous cohort.
• Millennials embrace authentic cause marketing and align to brands with a purpose.
• Millennials are in many ways similar to older generations.

For more information on any of the five major reports on millennials, contact Jeff Fromm atjfromm@barkleyus.com. To purchase the Millennials As New Parents report click here. 

If you’d rather learn about the findings another way, you can watch this handy video:

... I am fascinated about how to communicate to Millennials -and here are some trends to look out for. - Wilna 




Top 10 Hospitality Industry Trends in 2014
By Robert Rauch, CHA

1. Millennials will become the core customer within the hospitality and travel industries over the next five to ten years. The majority of airlines, hotels and travel companies will benefit from this sector as they enter into their peak earning, spending and travel years. Within this group of GenY travelers, there are many different markets considering the fact that exploration, interaction and experience are the major focus of Millennials. Willing to pay more for a greater experience, "foodies" are a prevalent subset of this market; looking for an overall gourmet experience for a reasonable price will cause the industry to revamp their lobby bars, restaurants and food service. Internet bloggers, culture buffs, LGBT and Multi-generational travelers all looking for a unique, novel experience will command change within the market.
2. Speed and precision will be a requirement when it comes to accommodating Millennials in upcoming years according to Hotels.com's latest Hotel Price Index report. Fast booking, fast check-in, fast WiFi and fast responses to customer service needs will need to be implemented within hotels. Considering Millennials have no problems speaking up, if what they are seeking is not quick enough, they will turn to Twitter, Facebook, Yelp or TripAdvisor to voice their complaints.
3. WOW customer service will become even more influential this year. Service today consists of four levels: basic, expected, desired and WOW. Basic service can be found at the post office whereas expected service can be found at most fast food restaurants and many businesses. Desired service is often found at good hotels and restaurants but WOW Service is the only way to ensure repeat business. By creating an impressive, unique guest experience that exceeds all expectations, you are able to capture the customer.
4. Leadership is modeling the way and showing your management team how critical it is to "walk the talk." Each and every employee, including myself, all have something we can work on. Forming a connection with guests can improve dramatically with genuine, individual interaction. It is my goal as a leader to instill the value of building relationships by sharing the knowledge I have and learning from them as well. For instance, I run with our guests staying at the Hilton Garden Inn and Homewood Suites San Diego/Del Mar and offer personal training sessions for others.
5. Expectation of more international visitors. Average rates and occupancy levels in the U.S. are likely to increase over the next few years, influenced by a very new market. "Leisure demand from abroad, fueled in part by the new Discover America campaign, will stimulate a new demand" according to Arne Sorenson, President and CEO of Marriott Hotels & Resorts. China is preparing to send about 100 million leisure tourists into the international market every year. If the U.S. gets its typical share, that will mean an additional 10 million visitors from China alone. Considering the average Chinese traveler spends a week in the U.S., demand is created for an additional 70 million room nights in a market where prices are steadily rising. The globalization of travel will prove to be a massive force.
6. Social media and mobile will be inseparable. Social media and mobile already live in symbiosis and we will only continue to see them merge over the course of this year. Mobile activity has allowed social media to live in real time by allowing users to create updates, tag friends and check in on their mobile devices. Smartphones represent 50 percent of new mobile devices being purchased and the growth of connected devices will only continue to rise. Ericsson estimates that there will be over 50 billion connected devices in circulation by 2020, including laptops, tablets and smartphones. In North America, 2014 will mark the first year that online access is greater from mobile devices than a desktop or laptop. Keeping an eye out for authentic ways to make use of emerging social/mobile applications will be of great value to those in hotel marketing.
7. Content marketing will replace traditional advertising. Traditional advertising is rapidly losing value as hotel marketing professionals begin to take advantage of effective content marketing. Marketing's new mantra, "Brands must now act as publishers," has come about due to social media and its potential to engage in meaningful conversations with loyal fans and clients alike. You will be able to drastically reduce investments in traditional paid media by implementing media tools such as blogs, social media, newsletters, webinars, eBooks, photo or video sharing and shared media. If brands begin to "opt out" of being a producer, SEO efforts will be affected. Google is now weighing current content, social proof and author scores in their results ranking. Simply put, you need to create and share content while engaging people if you want to be recognized moving forward.
8. Renewed focus on property websites. Finding ways of encouraging direct bookings will be one of the most important parts of a marketing director's job in 2014. Considering travelers are increasingly taking their transactions online, the hotel's own website needs to become the most important avenue for bookings to gain the highest ROI. After American hotels spent an estimated $2.7 billion on OTA commissions, the rates rose and restrictions tightened. Hotels are looking at any and all ways to increase direct bookings in 2014. This means that hotel websites will need to create incentives through booking with them directly rather than via the OTAs. Fresh content, consistent updates of promotions and rich media will draw in the guests.
9. Review site tactics. According to The Wall Street Journal, Yelp reports 50 million users across its web and mobile platforms. TripAdvisor has become the world's most popular travel website with 34 million unique users each month. Google Places is the Yellow Pages of the digital age meaning that business listings also show up on iPhone searches as well as on Google Maps. In 2014 there is a need to:
   • Monitor Yelp, TripAdvisor and Google Places reviews and alert management of any low reviews twice a week
   • Comment on glowing reviews to thank them
   • Comment on low reviews and how the property intends to handle future situations
   • Feature Yelp deals
10. Reputation Management. There is much anticipation that reputation management will begin to dictate the hotel industry in upcoming years. Considering there are millions of reviews written each day across a plethora of different platforms, the world wide web has the power of influencing one's decision making process; being able to manage your businesses reputation will determine success or failure. TrustYou had made it their mission to influence travel decisions in a positive way, developing a technology and software making it simple to monitor, manage and market a businesses reputation. Another company, Flip.to, has been making strides to tap into the market of potential travelers' family and friends considering 70% of customers take recommendations from their family or friends when choosing a product, brand or business.

ROBERT A. RAUCH, CHA
Robert Rauch serves as President of R. A. Rauch & Associates, Inc. He is a nationally recognized hotelier serving clients in all facets of the industry. Rauch has over 35 years of hospitality-related management experience. Widely recognized as the "hotel guru," Mr. Rauch maintains a blog where he expounds upon insights and trends in the hospitality industry at www.hotelguru.com.

Just when I think I am getting to grips with Facebook - I realise I am behind again! This is a long article but well worth the read if you want to understand this social media giant - Wilna 

EdgeRank Is Dead: Facebook’s News Feed Algorithm Now Has Close To 100K Weight Factors  by Matt McGee (Edited my me)

EdgeRank, Facebook’s original News Feed ranking system, is dead.

Facebook hasn’t used the word internally for about two-and-a-half years. That’s when the company began employing a more complex ranking algorithm based on machine learning. The current News Feed algorithm doesn’t have a catchy name, but it’s clear from talking to the company’s engineers that EdgeRank is a thing of the past.

During a phone call this week, Lars Backstrom, Engineering Manager for News Feed Ranking at Facebook, estimated that there are as many as “100,000 individual weights in the model that produces News Feed.” The three original EdgeRank elements — Affinity, Weight and Time Decay — are still factors in News Feed ranking, but “other things are equally important,” he says.

In other words, the News Feed algorithm of today is much more sophisticated than just a couple years ago.

“The easiest analogy is to search engines and how they rank web pages,” Backstrom says. “It’s like comparing the Google of today with Alta Vista. Both Google and Bing have a lot of new signals, like personalization, that they use. It’s more sophisticated than the early days of search, when the words on a page were the most important thing.”

This has implications for marketers and business owners far beyond the wording used to describe News Feed rankings. It’s a reflection — and a cause, too — of today’s complex battle to reach Facebook users organically.

The winners? They’ll be the ones who understand how Facebook has moved past Affinity, Weight and Time Decay, and move past it themselves. 

But now that job is a lot more complicated than ever.

Consider that there are more than a billion people using Facebook each month. And 128 million in the U.S. that use Facebook every day. They’re using dozens of different mobile devices with different capabilities for displaying content. There are 18 million Pages, many of which are actively looking for attention and a way to show up the News Feed as often as possible. And that number doesn’t include the numerous businesses that are using Facebook via regular accounts rather than Pages.

With all of that going on, Facebook says that the typical user has about 1,500 stories that couldshow in the News Feed on every visit.

So how does Facebook decide what users see, and what content from Facebook Pages make it into the News Feed? As you can imagine, Facebook isn’t about to give away all the details, but Backstrom did talk openly about several ways that the algorithm has grown up in recent years.

Affinity, Weight & Time Decay - These are “still important,” Backstrom says, but there are now multiple weight levels. “There are a lot of different facets. We have categories and sub-categories of affinity.”

Facebook is attempting to measure how close each user is to friends and Pages, but that measurement isn’t just based on personal interactions. Backstrom says Facebook looks at global interactions, too, and those can outweigh personal interactions if the signal is strong enough.

“For example, if we show an update to 100 users, but only a couple of them interact with it, we may not show it in your News Feed. But if a lot of people are interacting with it, we might decide to show it to you, too.”

Relationship Settings Another factor is the relationship settings that Facebook users can apply. With each friend, you can go a step further and label the person a “close friend” or “acquaintance.” With liked Pages, users can choose to “Get notifications” or “Receive updates,” and there are deeper settings to control what kind of content the user wants to see.

“We try to extract affinity naturally,” Backstrom says, “but if you go to the trouble to tell us more about your relationships, we will factor that in.”

Post Types The News Feed algorithm takes into account the type of posts that each user tends to like. Users that often interact with photo posts are more likely to see more photo posts in the News Feed, and users that tend to click more on links will see more posts with links.

Backstrom says this is also applied on a deeper level. “It’s not just about global interactions. We also look at what types of posts you interact with the most from each friend.”

In other words, Facebook Page owners that continually publish one type of post are likely not having those posts seen by fans that interact with other types of posts.

Hide Post / Spam Reporting News Feed visibility can also be impacted by users’ ability to hide posts or mark them as spam. But it’s not as simple as having a set threshold that will cause posts to stop showing in users’ News Feeds.

“For every story, we do the same computation,” Backstrom explains. “Given this story, and given the user’s history, what’s the probability that you’ll like this story? What’s the probably that you’ll hide it? We’re looking at this and trying to decide, is it a net positive to show this story in the News Feed?”

Further, Backstrom says there’s an element of decay when considering posts that have been hidden. Recent “hides” may carry more weight when deciding if a post shows in the News Feed, but those “hides” will have less impact as they decay over time.

Clicking On Ads, Viewing Other Timelines The News Feed algorithm is completely separate from the algorithm that decides what ads to show, when to show ads, and where to show them. But how a user interacts with Facebook ads can influence what shows in the News Feed.

“Nothing is off the table when we’re looking at what we should show users,” Backstrom says. “It can be clicking on ads or looking at other timelines. It doesn’t have to be just what the user interacts with in the News Feed.”

Device & Technical Considerations Yep, the News Feed algorithm even considers what device is being used and things like the speed of a user’s internet connection when deciding what to show.

“The technical limitations of some old feature phones make it impossible to show some content,” Backstrom. “We also know that some content doesn’t perform as well with Facebook users on certain devices. And if the user has a slow internet connection, we may show more text updates. We’re trying to show users content that they’ll find interesting and want to interact with.”

Story Bumping & Last Actor
Don’t forget these two changes that Facebook just announced last week. Story Bumping bends the “decay” rules by giving older, unseen posts a second chance at News Feed visibility if they’re still getting interaction.

Last Actor puts a premium on recency. Facebook is tracking a user’s most recent 50 interactions and giving them more weight when deciding what to show in the News Feed. This works on a rolling basis, so the value of an interaction will decline after the user has made 50 more recent interactions.

Final Thoughts
It should be clear that Facebook’s News Feed algorithm has developed significantly over the past few years. EdgeRank is a thing of the past, and it’s been replaced by a machine learning-based algorithm that, as Backstrom says, “only ever gets more complicated.”

That poses new challenges for brands and marketers hoping to get attention on Facebook, but the company says its advice to Page owners and others is the same: Create and publish and a variety of interesting content that will attract shares, comments, likes and clicks. That requires understanding your Facebook fans — from the types of posts they interact with to the different devices they might be using when they’re on Facebook.

I really enjoyed reading Piers predictions of trends int he Boutique market. Most fascinating was the change in room service! - Wilna 

Top ten boutique hotel future trends for 2014
Boutique Hotel News' Piers Brown gives his forecast of what the boutique hotel sector can expect to see during the coming year.

Hotel shopfronting
Hotel frontages will become more competitive places for advertising brands. It's not about an increased number parading affiliation plaques, or a multitude of front door or window stickers displaying the latest hotel recommendation or award for a variety of accolades - they're all too numerous, less noticeable and becoming distracting in nature. The majority are non-revenue generating for the hotelier welcoming the pre-booked guest. Even worse, many promote the very OTAs that take heavy booking commissions - why? That's a discussion for another time but we think there will be an increased focus on incremental direct revenue generation from appropriate third-party advertisers who value the space and a captive hotel guest demographic more. Expect to see more engaging hotel front window 'theatre' and digital brand advertising with heightened social media interaction popping up, particularly in high-value advertiser urban locations. Let's not forget, Selfridges, Oxford Street, London's prime retail store windows are amongst the most expensive in the world for brands to secure - tempted?

OTAs get closer to the hotel guest
These online travel agent technology companies are becoming a huge threat to direct hotel bookings, achieving expanding market share with heavy investment and increased customer (guest) loyalty based on price attractiveness. Price will remain a dominating factor. Expect to see OTAs collaborating more and purchasing 'high-touch' service travel agents or similar, as they look to get closer to guests in other ways, based on making the complete travel experience easier - keep an eye out for a splurge of complementing free mobile apps developed by OTAs too.    

Hostels create the 'pos(h)tel' experience
The luxury hostel category grows boutique and individual, taking form and design inspiration from the likes of 'boutique chic' Citizen M and Marriott's Moxy hotel brands. Upscale hostels are now a booming business with many urban locations offering flexible lodging pricepoints, safe and friendly accommodation and great value food and beverage options.They're gunning for Generation Y business all day long as increasingly sophisticated young travellers on a budget migrate for the homier comforts of a posh hostel. It won't be long before established hotel groups scoop up the major players in the sector in an effort to understand and retain this future hotel guest.
 
Mobile no more
The 'year of mobile' has come and gone as smartphone manufacturers show signs that mobile is no longer an emerging technology or media platform with flat revenues and declining average selling price for devices. Despite mobile accounting for 20 per cent of all travel sales, hoteliers battle to convert mobile users who are currently three times less likely to book a hotel room than those using a PC. Hotel marketers who proclaim themselves innovative and disruptive will already be looking elsewhere in the technological sphere for the next big thing.

Tangible technology
Cutting-edge hoteliers focus on 'wearable tech', with Google already pushing, albeit slightly odd looking,Google Glass to the market.  Applications are numerous and hotel marketing innovators envisage what's possible and wonder how and when these technologies will be adopted by business and the average consumer. We're likely to see front of house staff wearing Google glasses for guest facial recognition as early as the first quarter of 2014. Suffice to say hotel websites will place more focus on remote engagement to reflect "what's happening in the hotel right now" with real time applications.
 
Hotel reviews come clean
Cleanliness is always a top priority for guests, and boutique hoteliers have an obligation to provide their guests with a safe and secure environment. Housekeeping practices vary across brands and properties with little or no standardization industry wide. The current validation method for hotel room cleanliness is a visual assessment, which has been shown to be ineffective in measuring levels of sanitation. Expect more regular and thorough contamination checks by hotel owners with adenosine triphosphate (ATP) measuring devices for instance, that determines microbial contamination on surfaces, and ultraviolet light pens for detecting stains invisible to the naked eye. Don't be surprised to see fanatical hotel reviewers carrying this handy tool!

Luxury leaves the middle-class developed world behind
For the luxury traveller who can still afford the high-end, things are going great.
However, technology and the free flow of information continue to remove middle-class jobs, and those that remain do not pay what they once did. The cost of being middle class has increased out of proportion to the cost of merely living. This has ramifications from a boutique hotel guest booking, spend and hotel management wage perspective. Any middle class is essentially an urban phenomenon. In days past, when a town and its hotel industry fell into decline, its middle class disappeared. But as a new town rose in tandem with hotel development, a new middle class would spring up as if by magic. And that's what is happening now. A new middle class is appearing in Russia, India, China and the Middle East, and it's perhaps no surprise future projected hotel new builds in these areas tower over everywhere else.

The rise and fall of room service creates a new dining experience
Hilton Midtown New York's recent removal of room service sent shockwaves through the hotel industry. If management provide a service which is only marginally valued by the guest at best, then there is a strong motivation to end such a practice, and offer a simple, yet more streamlined approach to guest services. The elimination of room service also eliminates exorbitant service charges and guest complaints about cold food that's supposed to be hot, exorbitantly priced items and late deliveries. Ask yourself, whether removing room service and a food and beverage offering takes the experience out of your boutique hotel stay, or does it just make things a bit more streamlined, cut accommodation expenses and ensure a more "experiential" trip. For example, the recently opened Nadler boutique hotel in Soho, London encourages lodgers to dine in the local area because the offering is so good, liberating guests from the limitations of room service and restaurant fare. A grab and go breakfast offering like from the Aloft select-service brand with rooms designed with an empty fridge (no mini bar) for guests to use is the closest 'halfway house' option we've seen, catering to the ever more individually empowered guest who value their freedom and "no strings" approach. Denihan Hospitality's Affinia Hotels, a small luxury-boutique chain, has taken this approach one step further linking with the online grocer FreshDirect to provide specially packed meals for guests including healthy options. Through this partnership, Affinia Hotels can have guests' rooms fully stocked upon arrival, so that they feel like they're at home during their visit - hotel grocery delivery is not just for select-service, extended-stay or family resorts anymore.

Foodification
There is nothing more personal than food. Consumers today have an amazing personal connection with what they put into their bodies. Dining has become a comprehensive and interactive experience with diners becoming more knowledgeable about their food choice, peppering the waiting staff and chef with questions about sustainability, responsible husbandry, and local chef-prepared ingredients top dining trends. As a result, boutique hotels will focus on the trend of fresh, local and in season, displaying the percentage of locally sourced food or similar on the menu.  Current buzzwords include 'farm to fork' and the SLOW philosophy ( seasonal, local, organic and wild), 'snackification' and 'small-plate movement' - the trend of communal and informal eating. The lure of small portions that encourage diners to purchase additional dishes, therefore increasing revenue. Variations include a healthy eating / low calorie total meal approach. While product is everything, don't underestimate organisational innovation with hotels increasingly taking their food offering to the street. The "Taste by Four Seasons"food trucks for example.
 
More luxury retailers move into hospitality
With Millennials defining themselves more by what they do than what they own, luxury brands continue to dare to remain relevant with consumers whose appetite for luxury and definition of luxury is constantly changing. Luxury retailers are already expanding beyond fashion and accessories as they aim to keep their customers interested with a 360 degree experience, based on what they are buying, what they are eating, where they are staying and who they are listening to. Boutique hotel guests are looking for information not only from their family and friends, but also from brand experts - balancing professional and shareable opinions with personal advice.

Click here to read from  Piers.

I love reading about new trends and this article by Robert Rauch was particularly  insightful. Millennials rule and service levels increase! - Wilna 


Top 10 Hospitality Industry Trends in 2014
By Robert Rauch, CHA

1. Millennials will become the core customer within the hospitality and travel industries over the next five to ten years. The majority of airlines, hotels and travel companies will benefit from this sector as they enter into their peak earning, spending and travel years. Within this group of GenY travelers, there are many different markets considering the fact that exploration, interaction and experience are the major focus of Millennials. Willing to pay more for a greater experience, "foodies" are a prevalent subset of this market; looking for an overall gourmet experience for a reasonable price will cause the industry to revamp their lobby bars, restaurants and food service. Internet bloggers, culture buffs, LGBT and Multi-generational travelers all looking for a unique, novel experience will command change within the market.
2. Speed and precision will be a requirement when it comes to accommodating Millennials in upcoming years according to Hotels.com's latest Hotel Price Index report. Fast booking, fast check-in, fast WiFi and fast responses to customer service needs will need to be implemented within hotels. Considering Millennials have no problems speaking up, if what they are seeking is not quick enough, they will turn to Twitter, Facebook, Yelp or TripAdvisor to voice their complaints.
3. WOW customer service will become even more influential this year. Service today consists of four levels: basic, expected, desired and WOW. Basic service can be found at the post office whereas expected service can be found at most fast food restaurants and many businesses. Desired service is often found at good hotels and restaurants but WOW Service is the only way to ensure repeat business. By creating an impressive, unique guest experience that exceeds all expectations, you are able to capture the customer.
4. Leadership is modeling the way and showing your management team how critical it is to "walk the talk." Each and every employee, including myself, all have something we can work on. Forming a connection with guests can improve dramatically with genuine, individual interaction. It is my goal as a leader to instill the value of building relationships by sharing the knowledge I have and learning from them as well. For instance, I run with our guests staying at the Hilton Garden Inn and Homewood Suites San Diego/Del Mar and offer personal training sessions for others.
5. Expectation of more international visitors. Average rates and occupancy levels in the U.S. are likely to increase over the next few years, influenced by a very new market. "Leisure demand from abroad, fueled in part by the new Discover America campaign, will stimulate a new demand" according to Arne Sorenson, President and CEO of Marriott Hotels & Resorts. China is preparing to send about 100 million leisure tourists into the international market every year. If the U.S. gets its typical share, that will mean an additional 10 million visitors from China alone. Considering the average Chinese traveler spends a week in the U.S., demand is created for an additional 70 million room nights in a market where prices are steadily rising. The globalization of travel will prove to be a massive force.
6. Social media and mobile will be inseparable. Social media and mobile already live in symbiosis and we will only continue to see them merge over the course of this year. Mobile activity has allowed social media to live in real time by allowing users to create updates, tag friends and check in on their mobile devices. Smartphones represent 50 percent of new mobile devices being purchased and the growth of connected devices will only continue to rise. Ericsson estimates that there will be over 50 billion connected devices in circulation by 2020, including laptops, tablets and smartphones. In North America, 2014 will mark the first year that online access is greater from mobile devices than a desktop or laptop. Keeping an eye out for authentic ways to make use of emerging social/mobile applications will be of great value to those in hotel marketing.
7. Content marketing will replace traditional advertising. Traditional advertising is rapidly losing value as hotel marketing professionals begin to take advantage of effective content marketing. Marketing's new mantra, "Brands must now act as publishers," has come about due to social media and its potential to engage in meaningful conversations with loyal fans and clients alike. You will be able to drastically reduce investments in traditional paid media by implementing media tools such as blogs, social media, newsletters, webinars, eBooks, photo or video sharing and shared media. If brands begin to "opt out" of being a producer, SEO efforts will be affected. Google is now weighing current content, social proof and author scores in their results ranking. Simply put, you need to create and share content while engaging people if you want to be recognized moving forward.
8. Renewed focus on property websites. Finding ways of encouraging direct bookings will be one of the most important parts of a marketing director's job in 2014. Considering travelers are increasingly taking their transactions online, the hotel's own website needs to become the most important avenue for bookings to gain the highest ROI. After American hotels spent an estimated $2.7 billion on OTA commissions, the rates rose and restrictions tightened. Hotels are looking at any and all ways to increase direct bookings in 2014. This means that hotel websites will need to create incentives through booking with them directly rather than via the OTAs. Fresh content, consistent updates of promotions and rich media will draw in the guests.
9. Review site tactics. According to The Wall Street Journal, Yelp reports 50 million users across its web and mobile platforms. TripAdvisor has become the world's most popular travel website with 34 million unique users each month. Google Places is the Yellow Pages of the digital age meaning that business listings also show up on iPhone searches as well as on Google Maps. In 2014 there is a need to:
   • Monitor Yelp, TripAdvisor and Google Places reviews and alert management of any low reviews twice a week
   • Comment on glowing reviews to thank them
   • Comment on low reviews and how the property intends to handle future situations
   • Feature Yelp deals
10. Reputation Management. There is much anticipation that reputation management will begin to dictate the hotel industry in upcoming years. Considering there are millions of reviews written each day across a plethora of different platforms, the world wide web has the power of influencing one's decision making process; being able to manage your businesses reputation will determine success or failure. TrustYou had made it their mission to influence travel decisions in a positive way, developing a technology and software making it simple to monitor, manage and market a businesses reputation. Another company, Flip.to, has been making strides to tap into the market of potential travelers' family and friends considering 70% of customers take recommendations from their family or friends when choosing a product, brand or business.

ROBERT A. RAUCH, CHA
Robert Rauch serves as President of R. A. Rauch & Associates, Inc. He is a nationally recognized hotelier serving clients in all facets of the industry. Rauch has over 35 years of hospitality-related management experience. Widely recognized as the "hotel guru," Mr. Rauch maintains a blog where he expounds upon insights and trends in the hospitality industry at www.hotelguru.com.