by Todd Lucier on June 11, 2009
Report on Luxury Travel during the current recession
Results are from survey of over 2000 luxury travelers and over 200 luxury hoteliers. What is interesting is that the trends identified in this report have relevance for the entire tourism industry regardless of whether serving a luxury or budget traveler. I’ll highlight a few points I gleaned from the report, but you may want to download and read the report pdf Luxury Travel during the recession from Marketing Matrix.
Word of Mouth Matters more than ever
Key Point: Almost 30% of respondents were inspired to visit a new destination on the recommendation of friends or acquaintances.
Interesting to note: Nearly 8 of 10 respondents said they have read user-generated reviews online, and 1 in 3 has posted a review after their stay. These rates of usage among luxury guests are higher than industry averages.
Take away: Be great and your guests will tell others. Refer to the post on boosting revenue 20% with Trip Advisor referrals.
Travelers are increasingly booking online
Key Point: For making hotel reservations, all segments have increased their use of the internet, but luxury hotels show the biggest jump in usage over the past two years.
Percent Booked on Internet 2006 vs 2008 (note – these are increases in percentage booking online, not % booked online – which unfortunately is omitted from the report)
Economy + 4.8%
Midscale w/ F&B + 3.5%
Luxury + 8.2%
Take away: Give your guests clear, simple navigation and let them book online! Paypal makes it easy for even small operators to take bookings online.
Seeking Enriched Guest Experiences
Key Point: People are seeking educational experiences and adventure travel that provides opportunities for “personal growth”. A key demographic that is leading the way is women traveling with female companions (sisters, mothers, best friends) in record numbers.
Take away: Develop female-friendly oferings and getaways focusing on special interests: (women and wine, adventure women, women’s golf, etc.)
Destination Decisions Changing
Key Point: As a result of the recession, about 50% of those surveyed indicated they would be changing or canceling planned trips in 2009. About half of the luxury travelers polled said they would reduce their expenses by making fewer or shorter trips, travel shorter distances or change destinations entirely.
Take away: Think local. While respondents indicated a need to cut costs, the focus is on cutting back on the cost of getting to the destination, while keeping high end accommodation / experience options.
In Summary:
- be great and continue to encourage your guests to share positive word of mouth.
- encourage online booking
- enrich your experiences (and increase value) by targeting your preferred niche markets.
- boost your marketing in nearby markets to capture those traveling closer to home.
by Todd Lucier on May 22, 2009
With the relaunch of GlobeandMail.com and the regular Wednesday travel feature, we were delighted that Northern Edge Algonquin was featured in image and text in a story about a new travel trend… Glamping.
For the past few days, the phone has been ringing like crazy as a result of this article.
But the story just ends there.
This article is about the beginning of this story.
The purpose of this story isn’t to encourage the travel industry to embrace the BYOT (bring your own tent) practice, but instead to:
- appreciate the most important benefit of twitter – access to current trends by following travel twits.
- understand the power and immediacy of the product development cycle in an Internet age
- appreciate how Help-a-Reporter has turned the press release formula upside down.
Twitter provides access to Current Trends:
The story begins one month earlier when I noticed a tweet in my twitter stream that got me thinking about our travel packages and the current marketplace. There are really interesting people sharing their ideas on Twitter. Ideas that can enhance your business.
This tweet got me thinking about adjusting our product offer to provide a recession-based offer without lowering our price:
With a discussion among our team we realized that we could change our travel product
offer to provide a lower price point, without compromising the perceived value of the experiences we offer.
Bring your own tent and our Glamping package were born.
It’s never too late to adjust your product offer:
This isn’t the first time a challenge has faced the travel and tourism industry in Canada. April 23, 2003, Toronto was blacklisted as a travel destination by the World Health Organization. Our business, and others were hit hard hit by cancellations. It is easy to blame a difficult business environment for a poor travel season. But within weeks that year, we had created new product to fill empty beds and today, Quest for Balance (which likely wouldn’t have been created in a comfortable economic times) is a staple of our summer experience offerings.
When economic shocks shake up your business, think of it as a creative opportunity to enhance your tourism product.
Help A Reporter is more effective than traditional press releases in getting earned media:
HelpAReporter.com is a Web site that journalists, writers, reporters, bloggers and other media use to find sources for stories they are currently working on.
A newsroom, writer or reporter somewhere, right this minute is currently working on a story that you could be a source for.
Every day, approximately 100 briefs are provided in three short emails by reporters who need your help.
We saw this in a recent HARO email
I responded by email and two days later was interviewed for the feature story that is currently running on Globe and Mail.com and was featured in the print version of the paper.
Each day I spend about three minutes reading the headlines of the stories and if there is one I think I can help with, I read the brief and contact the reporter. It’s that easy.
To summarize:
- Pay attention to what’s happening NOW with Twitter. There are dozens of really helpful travel tweeps. Get started with a few travel follows like: @targetvacations , @elliotng, @kimmance, @wendyperrin, @nerdseyeview, @sekeener, @celesdavar, @cajun_mama, @authenticcoast, @happyhotelier. I know I’m leaving out a bunch, hey, I follow nearly 200o great people.
- When things get tough, get creative. Adjust your tourism offer any time you get an idea.
- For heavens sake – sign up for HARO
Links:
