Opulent rooms, grand interiors, plush amenities and standardized service are terms that were considered benchmarks in luxury hospitality over a decade ago. These are constantly being redefined to appeal to the manifold needs and desires of today’s luxury travel consumer. Evolving global trends have significantly changed the way immersive luxury travel is perceived. The scales have shifted towards offering a personalized touch and bespoke experiences. Hotel brands globally need to meet the rising expectations to stay relevant, particularly with millennials who will comprise 45 per cent of the addressable market in the next 10 years according to research by Horwath HTL.
Independent hotels score higher on this front; the primary focus is on a plethora of curated experiences, intertwined with varied facets of a destination. According to a 2017 Expedia study, independent hotels had greater overall ADRs and faster growth than branded hotel chains. Additionally, they have doubled the pace of branded ADRs since early 2014. This has ramifications not just globally but in India too, wherein the travel and tourism market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 13 per cent. Indian travellers may spend $136 billion in the next three years, according to recent reports by Google and Bain & Co.
However, the majority of the offerings have tended to be ‘reactive’ rather than ‘proactive’ to new-age needs, and therein lies the gap and enormous potential to move to transformational hospitality. Transformational travel This is a trend resonating with luxury travellers globally and it goes one step beyond the now-established ‘experiential travel’. It creates opportunities for people to experience travel in a way that challenges perspectives and facilitates a deeper connection with indigenous cultures, communities, nature, and most importantly, themselves.
Luxury travel today needs to be enriching, inspiring and beneficial. Hotels need to assume responsibility by offering curated destination experiences, ranging from authentic gourmet cuisine to art, heritage, history, culture and wellness. A hotel needs to be the flagbearer of a destination by ensuring that it is an integral part of their hotel stay. This will necessitate a move from surface-level concierge efforts of basic itineraries to more in-depth packages.
As an example, for Rajasthan, experiences should move beyond the regal heritage to allow guests to ‘be and breathe Rajasthan’ through its cuisine, culture and local crafts.
The evolution in the service culture
The foundation of great hospitality comes from its people. The staff, right from the butler to the front office associate and the concierge assistant, is trained using global best practices. While this offers a predictable experience, it leaves something a miss, particularly when it concerns newfound expectations of the discerning traveller. It’s not about providing standardized solutions to concerns. While perceptive travellers are progressively more confident about their lifestyle preferences, they also crave authenticity and relatability in any spatial interaction. There is immense potential for innovation and evolution in service culture, and there is a need to empower the hotel’s staff to be themselves. Simply building a robot army of ‘brand-appropriate’ representatives is not going to make the cut.
Hyper-localization
Travellers aren’t seeking familiar comfort or traditional 5-star standards. Hyperlocalization is a radical lever that hotels can adapt to create a multiplier effect of experience. For those fleeting days, travellers want to feel what it means to be inhabitants of that destination. Hotels are essentially lifestyle institutions and should present the destination in the best of its spirit through thoughtfully tailored experiences. Independent hotels gain a significant competitive advantage as they are not only lodging experts but are recognised for their curated experiences amongst connoisseurs.
As one of the original players in the world of independent hotels with a 51-year heritage, Preferred Hotels & Resorts has always championed independence, celebrated individuality and connected travellers to their chosen destinations through a diverse global portfolio of one-of-a-kind properties and authentic, localized experiences.
Today, luxury hospitality is no longer the exclusive domain of hotels with uberluxurious interiors and white glove service. These amenities are now part of every day for a refined luxury traveller and do not offer any additional appeal. This evolution in the desires of the luxury traveller gives brands such as ours an edge over the competition. Independent hotels must continuously strive to offer their own uniquely engineered splendour to this consumer travel segment. They must draw inspiration from the most authentic local shades of a destination to craft transformational experiences that are delivered with genuineness in service.
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