Coming out of the health crisis, the urge to travel is stronger than rising inflation, and the already popular ‘bleisure’ travel trend — combining business and leisure — is pushing new preferences that are set to change the hotel sector. These are some of the insights revealed by SiteMinder.

TD spoke with Bradley Haines, market vice president of Asia Pacific, SiteMinder about the company’s latest Changing Traveller Report and what the findings mean for the accommodation sector.

Travel Daily (TD): You have presented some wonderful insights, but what does travel look like in 2022 and 2023? Are we reaching or surpassing pre-pandemic levels?

Bradley Haines (BH): Thanks, we are super proud of this year’s report! Travel continues to display its resilience and strength at the back end of 2022. According to SiteMinder’s World Hotel Index, booking momentum globally (and within Thailand) is currently outpacing the same period in 2019 (a record-breaking year for tourism), and in the survey data we collected for our recent Changing Traveller Report, the intention to travel clearly remains fixed.

Eighty-seven percent of travellers say they are happier when they are anticipating travel, and 62% plan to travel internationally in the next 12 months, providing a snapshot into both the mindset and behaviour of a ‘2022 traveller’ that’s making up for the lost time.

TD: How are inflation and high prices impacting travel decisions? Are they impacting how travellers are choosing destinations, types of accommodation, and experiences?

BH: In Thailand, approximately 60% of the local travellers we spoke to said that inflation was having a “moderate” or “no” impact on their accommodation decisions, indicating that the majority of travellers don’t expect to be held back by rising costs.

When on-site, over 9-in-10 (91%) said they were comfortable spending additional money on extras beyond the room, 6% above the global average. And interestingly, we saw that a memorable moment or experience (e.g. food and beverage, spa or event experience) was more likely to make a Thai traveller return to a property than other travellers we spoke to, appearing as a top 3 selection for 46% of Thais, compared to the global average of 39%.

To further highlight that inflation largely isn’t inhibiting travel decisions, 74% of Thai travellers expect to travel internationally in the next 12 months, well above the global average of 62%.

TD: In terms of ‘bleisure’ travel, can you be more specific about what the hotel of the future looks like?

BH: According to our research, 36% of travellers globally and 65% of travellers in Thailand (the highest globally) are planning to work on their next trip, meaning that understanding and meaningfully addressing this growing group is becoming a real priority for the world’s accommodation providers.

Beyond the practical elements that hoteliers need to address with more people working on their next trip (fast wifi and ample desk space), our Changing Traveller Report indicated that there is a range of differing needs amongst working travellers that will influence how hotels think about their future. Two are below, however, we highlighted ten others in this year’s report.

“…the ‘little things’ (e.g. a property’s scent, their artwork, the restaurant’s music) ‘always’ or ‘often’ impact whether they would consider returning…”

Firstly, for working travellers who are spending more time on site, a stay must be a unique and uplifting experience unto itself. For 78% of working travellers, the ‘little things’ (e.g. a property’s scent, their artwork, the restaurant’s music) ‘always’ or ‘often’ impact whether they would consider returning, however, this drops to 60% among non-working travellers.

Secondly, and somewhat, in contrast, working travellers have a strong preference for their accommodation experience to have a sense of familiarity and ‘home’. One example of this is seen in their attitude towards pets, which are typically excluded from many modern accommodation experiences. Almost 80% of those working on their next trip approve of more accommodation providers becoming pet-friendly, compared to just 68% of those not working.

TD: One potential way to achieve a seamless experience is to digitise everything. How can hotels balance this in order to not compromise on human connection?

BH: Accommodation businesses will always be based on customer experiences and human connection. Even as tech and traveller preferences evolve, great hospitality will require a thoughtful human touch, which came through strongly in our data.

For 47% of Thai travellers, the staff and customer service at a property was one of the top three reasons why they would consider returning, and although 72% of Thai travellers want a faster, automated check-in experience, over 90% said that they would prefer staff to be present on site.

For hotels, it’s important to use technology to remove obvious pain points for both guests and staff (likely clunky, time-consuming payment processes, or cumbersome double bookings), which will then allow hoteliers to focus on other ways to elevate the experience of their guests at the human level.

TD: We know how hospitality was impacted by the pandemic. How did SiteMinder evolve through this period?

BH: Today, many hoteliers throughout Asia and around the world continue to be challenged by talent shortages, rising costs and guest demands that are higher than ever before. Following an e-commerce boom, guests increasingly expect an experience that’s hyper-personalised and 24/7, and this was reflected in our recent survey data. In Thailand for example, over 70% of travellers would ‘often’ or ‘always’ appreciate personalised offers and deals from hoteliers post-stay, and 80% have ‘higher’ or ‘much higher’ expectations of human-delivered accommodation services (e.g. housekeeping, room service and reception) than prior to Covid.

In this environment, we knew that helping our customers simply acquire their guests online would no longer be enough – rather we needed to help them to sell, market, manage and grow, all from one location. To help facilitate this broader impact, in April we launched the next generation of our platform, which has effectively pulled together SiteMinder’s complete suite of commerce products into one location, alongside an ecosystem of booking channels, property management systems, hotel applications and hotel consultants. In this way, we are setting our customers up with everything they will possibly need to succeed, all on one platform.

Access SiteMinder’s full Changing Traveller Report here.