The hospitality industry is undergoing transformative shifts due to changing consumer behaviors, emerging technologies, and evolving market dynamics.
Staying ahead of the curve not only gives you a competitive advantage but also improves the overall guest experience and satisfaction—the ultimate revenue force.
What hospitality trends are currently in?
Let’s find out!
Why Should You Keep Pace With Hospitality Trends?
Keeping up with hospitality trends is essential to thrive in an ever-changing, dynamic, and highly competitive market.
In addition, it allows you to identify areas for improvement, leading to a better understanding of your guests and their needs.
Staying Competitive — Incorporating innovative ideas can help you attract more customers and stand out.
Enhancing Guest Experience — From offering unique amenities to providing tailored services, staying on top of trends lets you create memorable experiences that boost guest satisfaction and loyalty.
Driving Innovation — Allows you to identify growth opportunities, experiment with new ideas, and drive positive change within your organizations.
Adapting to Guest Behavior — Adapting your offerings to meet the changing needs of your target audience ensures they stay relevant and appealing to a diverse customer base.
Future Planning — Allows you to anticipate developments and plan strategically for the long term.
5 Hospitality Trends You Should Know About
One of the major factors dominating and dictating current trends is guest behavior and the desire for a more personalized experience.
1. Set Up Attribute Pricing
Attribute pricing is a strategic pricing method in which you adjust the price of an accommodation unit based on various attributes such as:
- Room size,
- View,
- Amenities, and
- Location.
This allows you to maximize your revenue by charging higher prices for rooms with desirable attributes and lower prices for rooms with less desirable attributes.
For example, a hotel with luxurious spa facilities may charge a premium for rooms that include access to the spa, while rooms without this amenity may have a lower price.
However, the challenge with attribute pricing is monitoring and tracking all different room types with different amenities and rates.
The solution is leveraging property management systems that automate this entire process based on your criteria.
OTA SYNC’s dynamic pricing possibilities enable you to update and adjust your pricing strategy based on demands, seasonality, attributes, etc., across OTAs and booking channels.
This pricing strategy allows you to offer value to guests by allowing them to choose the most important attributes and pay accordingly, while maximizing your profits.
2. Leverage AI and Machine Learning
The integration of AI and Machine Learning technologies has revolutionized the hospitality industry and paved the way for innovative solutions that:
- Streamline operations,
- Enhance customer experiences and
- Maximize revenue potential.
AI algorithms can analyze vast amounts of data to predict trends and customer preferences, allowing you to personalize services and create tailored experiences.
Machine learning algorithms deal with other important aspects and automate routine tasks such as booking management, inventory control, and pricing optimization.
Let’s see additional ways where AI and machine learning excel:
? Virtual assistants — Provide instant customer support, answer common questions, and assist with bookings.
They can be available 24/7, improving response times and customer service.
? Predictive maintenance — Monitor equipment and systems to predict when maintenance is due, thus reducing downtime and lowering maintenance costs.
? Revenue management — AI algorithms can analyze market trends, competitor pricing, and historical data to optimize pricing strategies and maximize revenue.
? Sentiment analysis — Analyze customer reviews and feedback to identify trends, monitor customer satisfaction levels, and address any issues proactively.
With OTA SYNC’s AI-powered Ask Concierge feature within the Guest App, you can instantly provide replies to FAQs and additional info your guests will find valuable.
3. Boost Marketing Efforts with Influencer Collaborations
Collaborating with influencers can be a powerful tool to reach new audiences, increase brand awareness, and drive bookings and sales.
Naturally, when choosing influencers to collaborate with, it’s important to factor in their audience demographics, engagement rates, and alignment with your brand’s values.
Thus, look for influencers with a strong following in your target market and a track record of creating high-quality, engaging content.
✨ Work with influencers to create content that showcases your property in a unique and compelling way via:
- Sponsored posts,
- Instagram takeovers,
- Blog reviews, or
- Video tours of your property.
✨ Leverage influencer-generated content — Once the collaboration is live, share it on your social media channels, website, and marketing materials to make the most of it.
UGC content is excellent for building trust with potential guests by showcasing the authentic experiences your property has to offer.
✨ Measure and track results — To determine the success of your collaborations, track KPIs metrics such as website traffic, bookings, social media engagement, and brand sentiment.
✨Offer exclusive deals — Encourage influencers to highlight the unique features and experiences that set your business apart by offering them special deals.
For example, offer complimentary stays, meals, spa treatments, etc., to help create authentic content that resonates with their audience and drives interest in your business.
With OTA SYNC, you can easily share your booking engine link with any influencer and let them earn a preselected commission each time someone makes a reservation through them.
4. Prioritize Health and Wellness
Did you know that 50% of travelers want their trips and stays to accommodate both physical and mental wellness?
This growing interest is something you shouldn’t take lightly, as wellness tourism is expected to reach $1.3 trillion by 2025.
So what do the guests want? It ranges from organic food and vegetarian and vegan dishes to spa and wellness facilities.
Regarding food, expanding your food and beverage offer also benefits you.
It allows you to tap into new guest segments and also team up with local producers.
When it comes to spa, wellness and fitness activities, you can implement the following:
- Yoga classes
- Meditation sessions
- Massages, facials, and aromatherapy
- A well-equipped fitness center on-site
- Swimming pools, saunas, jacuzzis, etc.
Of course, you can include outdoor activities and organize hiking and biking, local city tours, etc.
If you have a wellness and spa section in your hotel or property, our SPA & Wellness management solution can be of great help to streamline and enhance the operations and:
? Automate appointment scheduling.
? Help with client management and resource allocation, such as treatment rooms and equipment.
? Integrate with point-of-sale systems and manage staff schedules.
By centralizing these functions, Spa and Wellness management software improves overall efficiency while enhancing guest experiences through high-quality services.
5. Embrace Gamification
Gamification in the hospitality industry isn’t a new concept, but thanks to technological advances, it has evolved significantly.
It provides a fun and interactive way to reward guests for their stays and enhance their satisfaction.
Gamification can come in many shapes and sizes, and can include:
? Status levels (Silver, Gold, Platinum), points accumulation, badges, and rewards for completing challenges
Thus, guests can earn points for stay, dining, engaging with your brand, etc.
? If you have an App, your guests can earn points using certain app features, such as mobile check-ins, room service orders, etc.
? You can consider offering points, rewards, and incentives to companies planning and booking meetings, events, and group accommodation.
? Rewards for guests who explore the property, dine at restaurants, attend shows, and participate in activities.
OTA SYNC’s bidding feature brings an element of fun to the booking process.
Your potential guests can participate in a bidding process and say their desired price.
Naturally, you set parameters for the bidding feature, such as minimum bid amounts, bidding timelines, available room categories, and additional services they can bid on.
Once the bidding period ends, the hotel reviews all bids and may accept the highest one that meets or exceeds the minimum acceptable price.
The appeal for guests is that it offers them the opportunity to potentially secure discounted rates, upgrades, or unique packages based on their bid amount.
? Bonus: 4 Major Hospitality Trends
Hospitality trends primarily revolve around personalizing and improving your service to enhance guest satisfaction and engagement.
In our blog, Top 4 Hotel Trends in 2024, we’ve covered four key hospitality trends in great detail.
To give you a sneak preview, these are:
- Implementing contactless technology to streamline your operations.
- Embracing direct bookings to personalize offers for your guests.
- Tapping into bleisure travel to expand into new markets and leverage upsell opportunities, and
- Opting for eco-friendly and sustainable solutions to expand your guests’ pool.
All of the above trends aim to improve service quality while adapting to the needs and wishes of a modern-day traveler.
How Can OTA SYNC Help You Stay On Top of Hospitality Trends?
OTA SYNC is an all-in-one property management system that provides a centralized solution that automates everyday operations and improves operational efficiency.
It has advanced tools covering everything from front and back office operations to enhanced guest experience.
Thus, with our tool, you can digitalize your property and:
✅ Monitor and track all your properties across all channels in a single view.
✅ Enhance guest satisfaction by enabling smooth mobile check-ins and outs.
✅ Personalize and tailor your guests’ stay according to their needs, thanks to the guest data our system collects.
✅ Offer upselling and cross-selling options to your guests based on their preferences.
✅ Increase direct bookings by customizing your Booking Engine to align with your brand and resonate with your guests.
✅ Automate cleaning schedules and inventory tracking, and get maintenance alerts to ensure every room meets the highest standards.
✅ Process payments instantly, supporting multiple currencies and payment methods.
And the list goes on.
Ready to see how you can propel your property management with OTA SYNC?
Start with OTA SYNC for free and explore a wide range of tools to keep up with the latest hospitality trends.
Keep Learning:
Top Digital Transformation Ideas For Your Hotel
10 Ways To Improve Your Hotel Business In These Challenging Times
