As the world reopens, travelers are ready to hit the road and make up for a lost time - it's time for revenge travel! Hotels can prepare for the onslaught of tourists by offering unique experiences and enhanced safety measures.
At its core, revenge travel is about reclaiming what was lost. After suffering from cabin fever for upwards of two years, the loosening of COVID restrictions has opened the floodgates to herds of hungry travelers. People want to sightsee, adventure, and relax in new places.
By understanding why people are so eager to travel, putting in place plans and procedures to handle the increased demand, using technology to streamline operations, and offering personalized experiences, you can build lasting relationships with guests.
The Psychology of Revenge Travel: The Mindset of Post-Pandemic Tourists
Revenge travel may be a buzzword, but it also reflects a real psychological response across the tourism industry. In a nutshell, revenge travel is the trend of people wanting to make up for the time they lost due to the pandemic-related shutdowns. Here, we dive into some factors that influence this behavior shift.
At its core, revenge travel is about reclaiming what was lost. After suffering from cabin fever for upwards of two years, the loosening of COVID restrictions has opened the floodgates to herds of hungry travelers. People want to sightsee, adventure, and relax in new places.
Some people even felt bitter that COVID forced them to cancel travel plans. After so many extravagant vacations, weddings, and family holidays were postponed, it makes sense that people want vengeance. As a result, there’s a serious tourism surge. In fact, almost 50% of people say they intend to travel more in 2023 than the previous year.
But people don’t just want a vacation. The reasons for travel are also shifting. Sustainability is becoming a more important consideration for this new wave of conscious consumers. Additionally, with the rise of remote work, many are also looking to travel in order to work from new places. In general, people are seeking longer stays to embrace the local culture.
Even with the pressures of inflation, money doesn’t seem to stand in the way of people’s desire to book a trip. In fact, revenge travel means travelers will spend more money on their vacations.
After months and months of staying home, some people have been able to save up a little extra cash. They’re ready to take their dream trip and splurge on more luxurious amenities!
Prepare Your Hotel: Operational Strategies for Managing High Demand
As the demand for travel continues to rise, hotels must adapt their operational strategies to keep up. This means proactively planning for the tourism surge, simplifying systems, and developing an effective pricing strategy.
Simplify Systems
Cross-training employees in different departments ensures that each employee can answer guest questions and direct them to the right place. In addition, streamlining front desk protocols saves guests time and helps staff prepare everything for each arrival. Hotels can also simplify menus and housekeeping processes while simultaneously reducing waste and energy usage, thereby earning sustainability points.
Adopt Strategic Pricing
Implementing demand-based pricing is the best way to keep occupancy rates and profit margins high. This requires analyzing historical occupancy rates to predict which times of the year will be in higher demand than others.
Using predictive marketing tools that track real-time flight bookings, hotel searches, and travel plans can inform future demand and allow hotels to adjust room rates accordingly.
During peak season, implement a minimum stay length. This encourages guests to stay for more than a single night and caters to remote workers who want to reserve for a week or more.
Reducing group room allocations and keeping rates consistent with competition can also help hotels adapt to the growing demand for travel. While forecasting-based pricing strategies are effective, it's essential to contextual them with the revenge travel trend.
Looking at numbers from 2021 or 2022 won’t accurately reflect upcoming occupancy rates, so hotels should use pre-pandemic levels as a baseline while tracking current trends.
Leverage Technology to Improve Guest Experience and Operational Efficiency
Gearing up for the upcoming summer of revenge travel should be exciting for your business. But with industry-wide staffing shortages, system integration, and ongoing maintenance issues, the uptick in bookings may not be all sunshine and rainbows. That’s where technology can help.
With the right hospitality management software to help you manage your hotel operations, you can streamline staffing, reduce costs, and improve the guest experience without missing a beat.
But not all tech is created equal. What’s more, we aren’t suggesting adding a third (or fourth or fifth) platform to complicate your systems further. When choosing hotel management software, you should look for one that meets all your needs.
One way to use technology to improve your guest experience is through digital check-in and checkout processes. Travelers who have just gotten off a long flight might want to go straight to their rooms instead of waiting for a front desk attendant.
Digitization also increases efficiency and decreases stress for staff. Housekeeping staff benefits from immediate notification of which rooms are ready for turnover, while front desk attendants can give more personalized attention to guests.
Digital tools also make it easier to solicit feedback from guests through satisfaction surveys, which can be added to mobile apps or websites for easy completion. The right software can also help you easily aggregate data and track trends in guest satisfaction.
Tips for Creating Memorable Guest Experiences During Revenge Travel
Personalization is key to building guest loyalty, especially as revenge travel picks up around the world. By creating a personalized guest experience, hotels can stand out among their competitors and encourage repeat bookings.
Start by developing a digital profile for each guest that includes as much detail as possible. This will allow your staff to better cater to their specific preferences with every stay.
By increasing efficiency in administrative work, your staff can focus on providing charismatic customer service and ensuring that all needs and wants are met (or, better yet, predicted).
Case in point, if a guest is visiting as a remote worker, make sure to let them know about any private or communal workspaces or business centers they can use. Since this is a growing demographic of travelers, offering top-notch Wi-Fi is also a necessity.
Consider providing coffee and refreshments for the digital nomad, cool communal workspaces, and substantial in-room desks for their convenience.
Another way to enhance the guest experience is through intentional communication and marketing. Preempt their stay with a guide to hotel highlights, such as spa treatments or menu updates, and recommendations for fun activities to do in the area. Consider offering booking services for these activities to make their stay even more seamless and discounts to encourage add-ons.
After they leave, create an automated marketing campaign for their birthdays or anniversary of their first stay with you. Invite them to come back and make new memories while reminiscing about all the times they’ve enjoyed at your hotel. This will help keep your hotel in mind and encourage repeat bookings.
Hotels can build loyalty and create lifelong customers by taking these steps to personalize the guest experience.
Prepare for Revenge Travel with WrkSpot
You know better than anyone how the pandemic caused a pent-up demand for travel—and now hotels must prepare for a sharp increase in demand. By understanding what guests want from their visit, you can better structure your operations to accommodate the revenge travel trend.
Finding the right technological solutions to support hotel management should be your first step. WrkSpot offers powerful, cloud-based software that keeps all your ducks in a row. From managing payroll to tracking room turnovers, your staff will find clarity and ease in their responsibilities and have more capacity to support your guests through the revenge travel era and beyond.
WrkSpot: Jun, 01, 2023
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