Impact of Millennials on Hospitality Hotel Industry-Free Samples

Question: How are the giant hotels in the hospitality industry adapting to new demands trends? Answer: Introduction Economy has been improving all over the world and this has led to realization of higher income after deduction of taxes and other mandatory expenses. This has led to increase in leisure travel. On the other hand, the hotel industry has had a lot of competition as clients try to find a place they will get a better value for their money(Nate-tra Dhevabanchachai, 2013). Success factors in the hospitality industry relies majorly on the quality of customer service. Hospitality industry has also not left behind emerging trends and needs of the potential clients, satisfying their needs has been their major goal. This has always been full filled through observation of their buying behavior(Nate-tra Dhevabanchachai, 2013). This has thus led to this research study which aims at understanding how global trends keep on emerging from the hospitality industry and how hotels react to them. Due to the ever-changing population structure, the study will mainly focus on the emerging trends with respect to millennial generation or generation Y. This type of generation has highly adapted to the use of technology. Millennials This generation has been given many names including dot. Com and so on(Baumer, 2013). However there has been a contradiction on the period into which this generation came into existence but according to many researchers this generation consists of people who were born between 1979 to 2000(Baumer, 2013). However, considering generation size between baby boomers and generation Y, Generation Y consists of 75% of currents generation. The hotel industry and millennial guests The growth of service sector has been a major impact as potential customers have become more knowledgeable, demanding and complicated(Oracle Hospitality, 2016). This is because guests have travelled around the world than previous generation and hence have a clear idea of what to expect in the hospitality industry(Deloitte, 2016). This has made the hospitality industry to major on quality of service rendered as a cornerstone of their operations so as to satisfy the customers demands so attract more and keep a good relationship with their current customers. Previously the hospitality industry has given a lot of attention to baby boomers and however changes in population structure has led to changes in the attention from baby boomers(Patterson, 2012) to generation Y. Generation Y are travel oriented and they have the urge of travelling all over the world. It is therefore advisable that the hospitality industry to fully understand what this generation wants and try to fulfill their need and expectations. The hotel industry and Asian guests The Asian continent has been termed as the best tourism generator due to the current population structure and ease of travelling(Kearney, 2015). It is therefore important for the current hospitality industry to know the cultural and social life of the Asians so as to satisfy them fully. This is realized via rendering quality services which attracts more customers from the same region. Tourism evolution worldwide Tourism industry has been developing constantly since 1980s. This has contributed to growth of economy in the world. Tourism has been termed as world fastest growing industry(Howard Roth, 2014). Due to discovery of many tourism destination, tourists have increased tremendously over the years. This has led to creation of jobs boosting economy in many countries all over the world. It has been a major contributor of many countries GDP as research in 2013 show. Forecast show that international tourism will grow to 1.8 billion people by 2030 this will majorly be fueled by the major discovery of new tourist destination in North America and parts of Europe. Research therefore shows that journeys to the newly discovered destinations will increase compared to journeys made to old tourist destination in the world in first world countries. The future for the hotel industry Hospitality industry is majorly influenced by the emerging trends. At a glance as times change, so does the terrain which the hotel industry is built in. what is a top priority today may not remain so tomorrow(Jeroem Oskam, 2016). Globalization has been a major trend transforming the hospitality industry. This has been through emergence of potential markets which attract exploration by hotels. Globalization has led to several implications in the hospitality industry including staffing, brand integrity and ability of the hotels to manage prices and payments across the world. Technology is another trend transforming the hotel industry, this has had both positive and negative impacts in the hotel industry(Jeroem Oskam, 2016). Some of the positive features we can consider are; has led to growth of business via online room booking, has also led to hotels offering quality services and so on. On the other hand, one of the major negative impact on this is it has led to loss of money via hackers(Jeroem Oskam, 2016). It is expected that competition between hotels will get on becoming stiffer over time and not every hotel will make it in the industry. Due to these players with a vision and ability to forecast will have an easy time maneuvering in the future market and players who lack an eye to the future will have a hard time in the future market. Focus on Millennials and Asian travelers. The performance of hospitality industry will majorly depend on the global spend of Millennials and Chinese travelers(Aleshaiwy, 2015). On the other hand, the Asian travelers will also contribute majorly to the hospitality industry as research shows that in the near future the disposable income will increase hence encouraging tourism as people try to enjoy their money. This will have a major positive impact on the hospitality industry. Main characteristic and emerging trends of millennial guests Millennial guests do have their own distinctive characteristics which leads to emerging of various trends in the hospitality industry. They consist of the following; Conscious millennials are the most conscious currently. This means that they tend to look for services which fulfill their needs and thats what they go for(Sweeney, 2006). Most of them expect companies and industries to show commitment to them as the customers. Impatient this has been termed as we want it now generation. They always want services, goods and so on delivered immediately. Adventurous millennials are always adventure oriented. This is brought by their desire to explore the world and to find out exotic or memorable experience. They are also out there to find out unique type of dishes. Tech- savvy this generation was brought up in the smartphone era and constant access to the internet hence they are into technology(Sweeney, 2006). This increases in their research on what to expect when making them knowledgeable and to satisfy them you really have to do it up to their standard. Socially active this generation is termed to be active when it comes to socialization. Comparing the previous generation with generation Y, generation Y is so social and prefer face to face interactions. Critic although they seem to be undercover critic, the millennial generation can be the worst critic compared to baby boomers(Jeroem Oskam, 2016). Due to advancement in technology they tend to use social media not only when it comes to passing positive compliments but also when it comes to criticizing. This keeps the hospitality industry on toes trying to render first class customer services. Auto-biographers millennial generation tend to involve family and friends in most of the things that they do. They also love keeping memories and tend to share pleasurable and amazing moments with family and friends. They also have the mentality of you only live once which makes enjoy their life to the fullest. The also love to get recognition online in social media through gaining likes and comments. Entrepreneurial minded - this generation tend to love being their own boss hence love and always wish that they can have their own companies and businesses. This makes this generation more business minded and entrepreneurial. Many hotels are aware of the millennial generation and their future trends and how they can impact on their success or failure. Therefore, hotels tend to start planning early in advance so as to survive in this era of changing demand trend. These paper looks at how big hotels are adapting to new demand trends through a case study of Marriott International Hotel. This hotel is part of the Asian travelers. Marriott international case study Over the last few years, Marriott international has been carefully observed the changing trends in the hospitality and in 2013 they decided to focus on millennial customer(www.cnbc.com, 2016). This was mainly done to rebrand the hotel chain. The rebranding included an updated and modernized logo. The brand was changed to Prottea hotels by Marriot(www.cnbc.com, 2016). This was not the only thing they changed they also changed their marketing strategy to mainly focus with the millennial generation. The also created a website which aimed at engaging next generation customers. This included campaigns, past innovations and future innovations that were currently into development. The website would take feedbacks from customers and potential clients would pose their question as well. This method helped understand their potential clients and understand what their need was and ways in which this would be satisfied. Mostly this was targeted to next generation or generation Y. Marriot hotel also renovated their rooms to look attractive to the young generation. This was another step towards satisfying the millennial generation. The corridors were redone to make them attractive and welcoming. They included Starbucks caf and WI-FI and counters where drinks were served(Aleshaiwy, 2015). Marriot also started an online fast food shop where the millennial generation would create an account in their phone and make orders online where deliveries would be made to their doorstep(Deloitte, 2016). This was driven by the love of fast food by the millennial generation. Marriott also developed an application where clients would check in and check out via the mobile phones or their personal computers(Howard Roth, 2014). This makes it easy as clients would check in to their hotel rooms before even physically getting there and they would just go and grab the key at the front desk and when it comes to checking out clients would easily check out by a simple tap on their devices and would not have to through the front desk. Critical analysis Here a critical analysis will be carried out to check out what should be done to the hospitality industry to attract more customers in respect to current arising trends. At a glance this is what the hotel industry should mainly focus on so as to remain in the industry in the future. This will also be based on millennial generation and the current trends. The following are some of the issues that need attention; WI-FI Free Wi-Fi is a major thing that hotel industry should major on. Not only do clients need free Wi-Fi, they also need fast Wi-Fi. When clients book hotel rooms the first thing to check if the Wi-Fi is free or it at a fee(Lindsey Farrell, 2014). Research has shown that many clients would prefer paying an expensive room where the Wi-Fi is free rather than pay for a cheaper room where they would still undergo other extra charges for the Wi-Fi. There is no need of charging for the Wi-Fi connection whereas your competitors are offering it for free. This may encourage more customers to prefer your competitors over you. Corporate social responsibility Generation Y has the most number of people who are willing to engage in helping the society may it be through volunteering, donations and so on. This makes this generation opt to be customers of a company that helps the society(Lindsey Farrell, 2014). Giving back to the society is an important step to attract more customers and creating social awareness. This has led to a new trend of tourism known as solidarity tourism. Digital marketing Due to the advancement of the technology digital marketing has been of major support to the hospitality industry. Social media pages e.g. Facebook, Pinterest twitter Instagram and so on should be considered by the hospitality industry so that the can reach to their potential clients. Generation Y is so much into social media as they were born in the smartphone era where they had affordable internet services(Howard Roth, 2014). Reaching out to this type of customers is therefore can easily be done via social media. Another section in digital marketing is the email marketing. Email marketing is whereby you send a message to many clients at one click(Jeroem Oskam, 2016). This is done through a software which has the ability of automatically sending mails to clients. Email markets has also played an important role in hospitality industry, hoteliers use this type of marketing to reach out corporate clients. However, for all this to be successful the hotel industry must have a team fully dedicated in realizing that all this is done to perfection. Group promotion Data from the previous section shows that the fact that the Y generation often share their information more frequently through peer interaction(Howard Roth, 2014). This should be a hint to those in the hospitality industry to consider their customer relation and link as compared to the services or products they offer. Services packages such as for large family and friends offers that they dont offer should well catered for to improve productivity. This deals have been a major turn off to the y generation who therefore go for other housing facilities such as letting tourist rooms using AirBnB or lodging bookings. This course of action has led continued wrangles between those in the hospitality industry and the AirBnB with claims of stifling the others operations and income source(Mahmoud, 2016). This would be beneficial both parties came up with a solution to this i.e. providing larger affordable packages with intention of market targeting. Packages such as family packs accommodations where they can offer spaces for several number of people at a pocket friendly price. Conclusions Having been brought up in a generation with access to a lot of information and education about new products emerging in the market and services, has led to a noticeable change in shaping of the priorities of the millennial generations when it comes to hospitality industry. Due to their distinctive characteristic, the hospitality industry will be forced to major their focus on improving their hotel facilities so as to attract this generation which will soon be their main customer. Millennial generation can be a little choosy and to curb this kind of situation the hotel industry must be always offer quality service and have their customers realize the value for their money. On the other hand competition will keep on becoming stiff. This will be through direct and indirect competition due to realization of new tourist destinations in the world. More hotels are coming up with more personalized facilities attracting more clients. Emergence of lodgings which offers services that hotels offer at a cheaper price will also offer competition to the hospitality industry. Doing adequate research and marketing will be the only option the hospitality industry will adapt to always be ahead of the other competitors. Nevertheless, realization of new tourist will also open new chances for the industry to expand its business. References Aleshaiwy, Y. S. M., 2015. Generation Y's Perception of Service Quality in the Hotel Industry, s.l.: Widener University. Baumer, C., 2013. A study of Generation Y, Vienna: s.n. Deloitte, 2016. 2016 Travel and Hospitality Industry Outlook, s.l.: s.n. Howard Roth, M. F., 2014. Global hospitality insights, s.l.: s.n. Jeroem Oskam, A. B., 2016. Airbnb: the future of networked hospitality businesses. Journal of Tourism Futures, 2(1), pp. 22-42. Kearney, 2015. China' Hospitality Industry, s.l.: s.n. Lindsey Farrell, A. C. H., 2014. Training the Millennial Generation: Implications for Organizational Climate. Journal of Organizational Learning and Leadership, 12(1), pp. 7-58. Mahmoud, A., 2016. The Impact of AirBnb on Hotel and Hospitality Industry. [Online] Available at: https://www.hospitalitynet.org/news/4074708.html [Accessed 25 5 2017]. Nate-tra Dhevabanchachai, K. M., 2013. The Preferred Work Paradigm for Generation Y in the Hotel Industry: A Case Study of the International Tourism and Hospitality International Programme, Thailand. International Education Studies, 6(10), pp. 27-36. Oracle Hospitality, 2016. 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