July 3, 2014: Offering the guests luxuries like gadgets, night clubs and fusion food to offering woman only bar facilities and fitness facilities. The hotels in India are trying their best woo customers with their service innovations. As the number of new age travellers increase and the number of footfalls in the hotels so are the expectations of these travellers. Sunjae Sharma, Area Director, Hyatt Hotels was quoted as saying “Expectations have changed as these new-age travellers are looking at something which can take care of even their lifestyle in their busy work life.” He further added “Many travellers who come by late night flights would prefer to hit the gym even at one in the night and do some work out before going to bed.”
Some hotels have even started women only bars looking at the growing business travel by single women. As the expectations of the new age travellers change hotels like Hyatt are also changing their service offerings. For example Hyatt offers a 24×7 access to their fitness and business centres for the guests. Recently a study reported that 50 per cent of the corporate clients who travel are in the age group of 25 and 30. These numbers are reported to be growing at 18-20 per cent year on year and these travellers are presently bringing in 80 per cent of the revenue. This warrants the need for urgent attention to be given to the new age travelers.
Earlier the hotels were trying to cater to the people in the age group of 50s and 60s but now the hotels have started concentrating on Generation Y. Now as the young travellers travel with their new age gizmos, hotels are trying to stay abreast with the new technology. Biswajit Chakraborty, General Manager, Sofitel Hotel was quoted as saying “The hotels have to stay abreast with new technology as these tech-savvy travellers are used to their gizmos and gadgets, which we need to keep in mind.” Some hotels have started life style based promotions like free wine tastings, organising social events, screening IPL and World Cup football matches etc.
Hotels are also trying to woo customers by offering them free wi-fi, in room power consoles to plug iPads etc. They are even trying to understand the behaviour of the customers and targeting middle managers. As the expectations of the new age customers change, it would be a very difficult task for the hotels to manage their expectations and frequently tweak their service offerings.
