- 20 January 2022
- Posted by: Sara Marchetti
- Category: Travellers
Many trends in the hospitality industry that we observed in 2020 reaffirmed also in the following year, forcing hoteliers to adapt their strategy to a situation still affected by the pandemic. Net Affinity and Hospitality Net published their 2021 roundups focused on the hotel industry, within which trends and predictions have been analysed and, in most cases, reconfirmed.
We present the most relevant trends in 5 bullet points:
- Technology to save costs
In 2021, hotels continued to implement cost-cutting measures, and tech as well as digitalisation were fundamental to improve operations, such as in the case of self-check-in technology and website optimisation. A study by Skift and AWS reports that 67% of hoteliers stated that digital transformation was a “very important priority” to their business. - The growth of direct bookings
Direct channels saw a growth in 2021. The crisis drove hoteliers to redefine their distribution mix and took therefore many steps to increase direct bookings. During 2020 direct channels proved to be the most resilient booking system. A report by Siteminder showed that hotel website share reached number two in markets like Germany, France, Italy and the United Kingdom. - Tourism implies sustainability
According to a report by Booking.com, 83% of global travellers think sustainable travel is vital. A further study by the travel company Virtuoso showed that 82% of the respondents want to travel more responsibly in the future. This implies that sustainability concerns will be more and more critical in customers’ decision-making process, who expect hoteliers to run their business sustainably and to share their own values. Effective communication is a must! - Staycation first
At the beginning of 2021, we talked about staycation, which turned out to be one of the most evident emerging trends of the COVID-era. Domestic travel, indeed, continued to dominate, supported also by a strong promotion of local travel as well as by the role played by the workation trend. - Guests’ priorities have changed
The pandemic shaped tourists’ needs, whose choices have been influenced by the most important value: hygiene and safety. For this reason, people travelled in small group to less-frequented destinations, where to live outdoor experiences.
Moreover, even if the tourism sector did not find business continuity, people’s strong desire to travel (now or in the next future) led many of them to purchase vouchers, which on the one hand helped businesses monetise and on the other hand responded to tourists’ need for flexibility and customisation.
At Twissen we observe that, with the COVID emergency still ongoing, many trends reported in the last two years are expected to be relevant also in 2022. Among them, some new behaviours adopted both by tourists and hoteliers, such as supporting sustainable practices and direct interaction, will potentially prevail in the long-term, fostering a much more resilient development of the sector.
She graduated in Planning and Management of Tourism Systems and enjoyed study experiences abroad. At Twissen, she coordinates the editorial plans and the research department of the company.