It is crazy how fast tmany of the hospitality industry’s facets have changed over the past two years. With a pandemic behind us and the threat of growing inflation, businesses – small, medium, or large – had to adapt to new norms by turning challenges into opportunities. Not surprisingly, their success resulted in major innovations in the field. When it comes to modern luxury, one hospitality trend we're sure to see a lot more of in 2022 is the continued shift toward the impression that less is more. Other sub-trends, which we enlist below, are also expected to emerge due to this perspective. Let’s have a quick look over what to anticipate for this year and the coming ones.
Sustainability
Millennials have firmly set the bar high. With more awareness being raised about sustainability, businesses have kept this topic at the forefront of consumers’ interests. Now more than ever, eco-friendly services have become essential criteria that influence people’s decision-making process. It has become an inevitable characteristic in this area that more than 83% of travelers opt for planning sustainable trips, based on Booking.com’s report. This hospitality trend not only attracts customers and preserves the environment, but is also cost-effective. It really took businesses that much time to find out about this (no, we’re not being sarcastic). It’s about time, finally!
Digitized services
In a digital time as such, it would be ridiculous to stop the clock’s ticks in the year 2007. Technology is becoming increasingly crucial in how hotels manage their services, and they can now control many areas of the visitor cycle and experience. Needless to say, the trend toward digital and contactless services has received fresh traction. Faces and fingerprints have become the key to unlocking digital devices nowadays, and consumers are expecting this new norm to be applicable to unlocking their hotel rooms’ doors; thus, enhancing their safety and security.
Providing local experiences
What is travel without embracing local experiences? If that’s not the main point of a trip, then what really is? Visitors’ demand for discovering new cultures and lifestyles is increasing and the hospitality industry has to keep up big time. Offering complimentary experiential activities such as guided trekking, farm, and distilleries tours are sure to attract most travelers. This privilege will definitely help them make the most out of their stay, saving lots of research time. With the right approach, this trend is definite to represent unprecedented opportunities for further profit and growth.
More and longer stays
If we’ve learned anything from the pandemic, it’s that people are longing for more and longer vacation trips. They have found that working from home encroaches on their personal life far more, resulting in having a higher urge to look after their wellbeing. This trend will push hoteliers and experts in the industry to accustom their services, bringing us to our previous note about local experiences.
Beyond traditional hotel stays
With online marketplaces for lodging such as Airbnb skyrocketing in popularity, hotels have a big competition to enter. Hotels are now driven to embrace advanced practices like creating separate distinctive properties. They are now projected to grow into house-sharing, increasing their margin of profit. This year and beyond, there will be a fairer distribution of business between a more leisure-focused Airbnb and hoteliers turning to place-sharing as an overflow option to meet market demands. Experts in the hospitality industry will then discover and better implement Airbnb’s strategy perks.