If you do a simple Google News search about the hotel guest experience, you will come across a wide-range of articles about how this is the new frontier in hospitality. From new innovations to catering to the more affluent traveler, the concept of making a hotel stay a unique experience has fully taken hold.
Of course, offering a “truly unique guest experience,” is much easier to read about than to actually create for travelers. But in due time, we may see that providing these experiences will become a commodity – with many hotel brands providing similar offerings, which will in turn, make them not unique.
However, independent hotels seem to be on the forefront of this trend, and for now, this is translating into business growth. According to new research, performance of independent hotels in the United States has been on a steady growth trajectory over the past year. In addition, demand also outpaces supply, creating a favorable operating environment.
Independent hotels cater to the more forward-thinking traveler, who want to make new personal connections in the lobbies, leverage mobile innovations, and have experiences that will reinforce and shape their individual identities.
This is one arena where Airbnb cannot compete. While many travelers are embracing the idea of staying in another person’s apartment or home – and “live like a local” – one cannot truly have a unique guest experience in an Airbnb. There is no hotel staff to provide insights into local attractions, and there are no built-in guest innovations to help serve as digital concierges, or opportunities for personal networking in lobbies.
As with any industry, there are trends that take hold with many jumping on board as the train takes off. The idea of providing a unique guest experience is upon us and worth considering. Although we’ll keep an eye on how long it will last, and which hotel brands emerge as the winners in this frontier.