The leisure travel industry is growing dynamically, and so does the trends. Compared to 2018, the year of 2019 has been a good year for the leisure tourism as it recorded a 4% percent increase in holiday bookings. Apart from the increased bookings, there was also a lot of global changes from the increase in environmental activism, extreme weather conditions and the political uncertainty, such as the Brexit, leading to the volatility in the global economy and the weakening of the British pound.
The ravaging of the corona virus in China, at the beginning of this year, had hit the global tourism and will severely affect the income to hotels this year as Chinese outbound tourism is a major source of revenue, accounting for 160 million outbound tours that were predicted to be taken by the Chinese in 2020.
Whether be it a fluctuating number of tourists, an increase in the hotel room prices, geopolitical changes or some rampant unexpected events of extraordinary nature, the leisure market is one of the important categories in the hospitality industry, as it is purely based on entertainment, recreation, tourism and travel.
Being a dynamic business, this industry has a lot of challenges to face and trends to take in. Here are some of the important leisure trends handpicked by AP LBC experts exclusively for the leisure hotels to adopt this year.
Innovative technology is the harbinger of a quality guest experience
Technology is growing at a faster rate than ever before. The usage of innovative technology from the virtual reality to artificial intelligence is rising among the hotels to provide an outstanding and excellent guest experience. In order to stay highly competitive and stand out from the crowd, it is essential for the hotels to incorporate the use of technology and add it as an arsenal in their stock. Using the in-room technology can also make the guest’s stay more convenient and comfortable.
Voice technology is another way to improve online searches, as almost 50% of the searches are done through voice-enabled technology.
79% of the hotels are planning to invest in voice technology in the hotel itself and some hotels are already using it to give a seamless guest experience. Alexa for hospitality, offered by Amazon is a good example of voice-enabled technology, and amazon and this can be tailored to the specific needs of the hotels. Guests can speak into the device and control the various aspects of the room such as the music, lighting and temperature.
Many hotel chains like the Marriott had adopted the use of this technology, allowing the guests to connect to the hub with the use of their own amazon account.