3 ways your hotel brand can win with millennials

3 Ways Your Hotel Brand Can Win with Millennials

The ever ambiguous Millennials. Cheapskates the lot of them. Or, at least, that’s the picture that’s painted of them.

A lot of our work over the past year has been focused on this bunch and we think we’ve come to understand them quite well. We’ve worked in over 20 countries now and while we see big differences around the world, there are some common threads we think are important.

The question is:

Are Millennials winnable or are they just too slippery a customer to ever truly grasp?

We think they are very much winnable given the right understanding of what makes them tick.

Firstly, let’s dispel a few myths:

- They aren’t cheapskates — they just have a different definition of value.

- They aren’t fickle — loyalty just requires a different formula.

- They aren’t only interested in the next new shiny thing.

Okay, so how can a major hotel brand win them?

1. Offer ‘value’ in their terms Value to their parents was a lot of ‘stuff’ for the least amount of cash. It’s not so black and white with Millennials. The question you need to ask about your customer — what is value to them?

We’ve found that collecting an a mass of ‘stuff’ – a bigger room, say, with more ‘things’ in it, isn’t just unappealing - it’s off-putting. These guys have a new world perspective that can be summed up quite simply:

Experience > Accumulation So if you’re offering a huge furniture-filled suite, a bigger TV, free bathroom items, — ask yourself if this is something your customer really values. What we’re finding is that experiences are a lot more important and attractive to the Millennial.

These guys live in the World’s great cities. They are used to small spaces, shared spaces, utilising shared wi-fi, working in communal work-spaces. They don’t need a desk in their room – they need a shared space to work with others and experience the people and place they came to see.

From a marketing perspective, experiences are far more shareable too.

An experience also has a lot more personality for the brand to show. You can make it reflect the place, the culture and the brand that you have to offer.

These elements make it a lot more appealing from a marketing perspective to choose experience over a standard give-away. Free shared wi-fi in a ‘workplace’ foyer / lounge will be more compelling than a desk and a dollar-rate in-room connection.

How brands can respond:

Simply: In every interaction ask yourself ‘How can we create an Instagram-worthy experience for the customer? ’How can we offer them ‘value that they value’? What do they not need?

2. Meet them where they’re at

London taxi’s have drawn swords over Uber’s expansion. The change is inevitable. The more time they spend resisting the less time they’ll have to adapt.

Their world is changing and so is yours.

The brands that fight the change will lose.

Those who embrace it will win.

Those who lead it will soar.

The obvious change in the hospitality industry is the global expansion of Airbnb and it’s many copy-cat sites. So what is it that Airbnb offers that hotels typically don’t?

A homely feel A real sense of place and cultural connection with the location A sense of being a traveller not a tourist A sense of the unknown Kitchen access A local guide in the owner A personal reception A ‘cheap’ accommodation option Easy and free wifi Maybe access to a car, a bike or a travel card to get around.

If we can look past Airbnb as a threat, we can uncover some important insights about the Millennial customer: - They want a personal experience.

- They want to really connect and feel they are ‘in’ the place they are visiting.

- They want to be delighted, surprised, even challenged by what they find; they don’t want every trip away from home to feel the same.

- They may want independence to cook or control their own food- and an opportunity to learn about it, shop for it. Make local food available to them; food is a proxy for cultural engagement.

- They like being able to speak to a local for advice and tips.

- They want a fair and final price.

So how can hotel brands respond to these insights in order to try and win Millennial customers?

Some ideas on how brands can respond: Perhaps this is obvious, but list like Airbnb. However don’t just copy and paste — you know what this customer is probably looking for so make it obvious that you understand. Give a custom experience to Airbnbers.

Expect your guest. Know their name. Know something about them so it shows you care. There are plenty of online tools that can give you this information at very little cost.

Invest some time in conversation with them when they arrive, just as you would a guest in your house. Give them tips on restaurants, bars and things that are currently on. Make it obvious you care that they enjoy their stay outside of your hotel just as much as inside it. Help them be a traveller not a tourist – help them ‘live like a local’.

Be obvious about your wifi policy. Actually, if you really want to appeal to Millennials, don’t have one — just give it to them for free. Their favourite brands already do, show them you understand them and offer a free, no-login-required, hassle-free Wifi service.

Don’t worry so much about offering them space to sleep in; offer them space to do things in, to hang out together, work together and to meet and network.

Find ways to help them connect ‘like a local’ with what is going on locally – in food (for many millennials food is a proxy for cultural engagement), in music, in where’s cool to go. It needs to go beyond the in-house magazine with the ever-so-obvious tourist tips. Tell them where NOT to go as well as where to go; an AirBnB host would!

These ideas are possibly not feasible for all guests but consider customising your offer for Millennials to truly impress them.

3. Be warm The general move away from big monster brands within Millennials is not due to price.

From what we see it’s down to a lack of ‘real’.

Take a look at what they’re moving to: Taxis to Uber Hotels to Airbnb Big brand beer to Craft Beer Global to Local

What do these things have that ‘big’ doesn’t?

A story A human feel Personality

They’re warm. Approachable. Nice to interact with.

Big is the opposite — functional, robotic, cold.

It doesn’t have to be. Any brand can be warm, it just needs the right ingredients. If you want to stay relevant to Millennials here are some tips…

Some ideas on how brands can respond: Be Thoughtful: Use first names, show you care, don’t treat them like a number. Thoughtfulness is cheap yet highly valuable to the Millennial consumer.

You don’t need to go the extra mile, just a step or two.

Be Human: Human’s have personality. They have vulnerability. They have names. Gone are the days where it pays to hide behind a big brand name. Draw the curtains and say hello, they’ll love you for it.

Tell a story: Sure, all big brands have a Brand Strategy which has an over-arching story that ‘we tell’. This isn’t enough though. Small stories are like little sweets. They don’t have to be well thought out campaigns, just little glimpses into the story of the brand.

The future is bright for those agile enough to adapt. So remember next time you see some impeding competition from some hipster trend to simply ask yourself — what value are they meeting that we aren’t?

We would love to speak to you more about your brand. This is what we do. If you’d like any more insights or ideas please do feel free to just pick up the phone and say hello.

Drop us a line any time.

Brett, Cameron and all the pluralthinking team.

+44 2890 428996

brett.templeton@pluralthinking.com

www.pluralthinking.com