“Security” is the main element that hotel guests will prioritize during the year that begins, according to “The future of travel in 2021 and beyond – from resilience to recovery”, Accor’s study that collects global transfer trends based on the responses of 10,000 customers, worldwide.
Following the covid-19 eruption that prompted the development of new care protocols, safety was installed as a priority for travelers. In fact, 77% of Accor’s respondents identified that when choosing where to stay, the key is a hotel with hygiene, physical distance and protection policies, above no charges for booking changes (69%) or cancellation of stay (68%).
“Leisure, lifestyle and location” is another highlight. That is, guests are looking for a space that guarantees rest, with the domestic tourist demanding mainly this condition. Local travel currently meets this need, as people take the opportunity to explore their region, discover in their communities what they didn’t know, and visit destinations closer to home.
Massive meetings and activities
The third prominent trend relates to the future of massive social gatherings and activities. Field professionals have changed their priorities, with flexibility and safety being the predominant factors for them. Events will be shorter, local and smaller. In this line, more than half of those interviewed by Accor (58%) believes that large meetings with more than 150 participants will be reduced, but only 25% are betting on a fall in these smaller and smaller instances. At this point, on-premises events are gaining momentum, as are hybrid meetings, which continue to grow and where new solutions are being pushed.
The above is also true for personal events, such as marriages. To address such occasions, many of the company’s hotels decided to reinvent their lounges and other unique locations to host small ceremonies that fit local layouts and boundaries. In addition, catering services have been expanded outside the hotel and food kits have been introduced to pick up and bring the culinary experience home.
Another fact relates to corporate travel and the incidence of telework that certainly came to stay. More than half of business travelers (53%) believe they will move less frequently than before the coronavirus outbreak. For them and millions of others who are feeling the effects of working from home (including reducing the balance between personal and professional life, impacts on productivity, and physical and mental health with personal space turned into an office), hotels are offering a variety of solutions.
Services such as Room Office, transforming rooms into private offices with all the necessary inputs to fulfill remote work or concepts such as “Work for Anywhere”, allow you to mix leisure and work, in the so-called “bleisure”.
Resmarring tourism
Although promising vaccines have emerged, recovery times continue to be debated, so the industry must reconsider and accelerate new business models to make the transition from Covid-19’s initial impact to a stronger future.
In this sense, André Sena, CCO Accor South America, says that “the report confirms that our industry, despite having been very impacted by the pandemic, was reinvented and, with innovation, is prepared to better serve its customers”.
“The Future of Travel in 2021 and Beyond: From Resilience to Recovery” is the first document in a series of studies in the chain. To do this, the Consumer & Market Insight team conducted three exclusive surveys. In June, he listened to 7,460 Accor customers from 10 countries. In June and July, 893 B2B clients were consulted. The last one was held in July with 1,770 event professionals from five regions.
