The increasing demand for “deeper experience” from guests is now developing a new marketing strategy for hotels. In recent years, guests have been focusing more on the experience the hotel can offer rather than the physical properties of the hotel. Guests starts to seek more cultural offerings of the destination. They have been searching for scenery that they won’t find anywhere else, the one that is one of a kind. Moreover, guests are also seeking for better service from the hotel. In order to keep up with the nowadays trend, hotel managements are now starting to modify their marketing strategy in ways such as enhancing the cultural program, offering diverse landscape, and increasing hotel’s services for the best guest experience.
Nowadays, guests demand more than just physical properties but also cultural programs in the hotel. That thing might have affected the hotel management because they will need to develop new and more interesting programs for the guests. As said by Kaiulani Blankenfeld, “As we looked into the future with our strategic planning and saw the evolution of today’s traveler, it was really evident that the guests want to dive more into culture.” She also said that “Travelers are looking to connect to the destination.” It is clear that travelers nowadays want more than just physical properties, guests no longer want intermediate hotels offering only properties, they want hotels that can offer them more than just properties, for instance; the destination’s culture, so the easiest way for the guests to get more knowledge about the destination’s culture is through the hotels they’re staying at, unfortunately, hotels in Hawaii that offer cultural programming is still lacking.
According to the Hawaii Tourism Authority report, the total of hotel occupancy in Hawaii had fallen slightly, but the number of arrivals remained relatively stable. That was caused by several hotels that are closed because of renovation and out of service room, but it may have happened because of the lack of hotels that are interesting enough for the guests to stay in. Fortunately, The Fairmont Orchid has recognized the increasing demand from guests. That’s why, The Fairmont Orchid in Hawaii Island has step up their marketing strategy and started the cultural programs early this year. Kaiulani Blankenfeld, who has been working for Fairmont Orchid for almost 20 years, and was recently selected as the Director of Hawaiian Culture at The Fairmont Orchid; has been leading the strategic planning to advance the cultural programs, including increasing the knowledge of staff and guests.
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Since then, The Fairmont Orchid already has quite a lot of cultural programming, but the one she is expecting to expand is hula, as it was her passion since she was a small child. She felt that hula has a strong connection to Hawaii’s culture and ancestors, hoping that more guests would learn the dance later on. To conclude, guests are currently gaining interest in the culture of the destination, but with the lack of hotels that offer cultural programs may have caused a slight fall in Hawaii’s hotel occupancy. That’s why hotels need to start stepping up their marketing strategy.
Not only did guests demand cultural programs, but demands are also increasing for hotels that offer a diverse landscape. Guests wants a unique scenery, authentic experiences they will never forget. Which leads to the development of Red Sea Project in Saudi Arabia. As John Pagano, CEO of the Red Sea Development Co. said, “There is currently no competing destination that offers international travelers the opportunity to visit the Middle East and enjoy such a unique collection of experiences, spanning heritage and culture, diverse landscape and an array of thriving ecosystems.” In that case, they are currently planning to develop as many as 50 hotels that offer both beach and mountain sceneries, capable of hosting up to a million visitors a year. Regardless, building new hotels in a new destination wasn’t an easy task, building a hotel is not only about the physical property, but the hotel management should also consider the facilities guests can enjoy; such as leisure and lifestyle facilities.
According to Khalid Al-Kahtani, a counselor at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ visa department, the project itself had been noticed and strongly demanded for tourism especially from the U.S., European countries and Japan. However, in order to attract Western tourists, they’ll need to consider distributing extra effort such as negotiating with the government’s policies for waiving its ban on alcohol or women’s attire. That may be an obstacle for them because as we all know, Saudi Arabia has quite a strict rule about those things. While guests’ demand keeps on increasing, the hotel management will definitely face more challenges, including developing more hotels that overlook various landscapes. In addition, to attract various types of guests from around the world, hotel management might need to operate some changes regarding the government policies, which might be a hurdle for them.
Lastly, guests are also in constant search for hotels with the best services. Guests wants to be prioritized. Based on the research from ‘The Hotel Industry in 2020’ carried out by Peter O’Connor, a professor at ESSEC Business School, and Ideas Revenue Solutions, Revinate and SiteMinder, “By the year 2020, the industry will see a new breed of highly sophisticated and digital native hotel guests who will be better informed, seek unique experiences, have higher expectations and also expect recognition.” From time to time, guests’ wants and needs keep on changing, yet one aspect remains the same: the guest experience.
Guests experience can’t be replaced, as said by The Hostfully Team, “Guest experience is a key success driver. Not only can it yield better ratings and reviews, but it also drives increase customer loyalty, referrals, and more revenue per listing. A well-constructed guest experience can even claim a higher price level.” Once they had good experience with one hotel, they’ll want to come back, or even better, promotes the hotel to friends and family. Great service is not just about smiling and delivering, it also includes a 24/7 customer service that is able to respond and resolves issues quickly, and even higher technology to improve guests’ convenience. The hotel management should also encourage the staff to be happy by creating a fun work environment, as well as giving them reward and recognition, because statistics shows that happy employees are 31% more productive and three times more creative than unhappy employees.
By developing higher technology in the hotel management, it also helps improves communication convenience within guests and staffs, for example, make requests via smartphone or in-room tablet, or even hotel check-in. As both communication and technology are connected and are equally important, hotel management will need to provide better amenities and faster service for the best guests’ experience.
Basically, the three main demands from guests that affect hotel management the most are the search for cultural programs in hotels, the scenery from the hotel, and the services the hotel can offer. Properties are no longer the most significant thing guests are looking for. Guests nowadays want to connect with the destination. Obviously, in order to fulfil guests’ demand and attract more guests, hotel management may not always have a smooth journey. In fact, they might have some encountered some obstacles along the way. Despite the challenges and the constant changes of guest’s demands, the hotel management must keep on improving their managing strategy.
