Today, we’re looking at the smart traveler. The smart modern traveler is the one who understands how to find the best deal, is dedicated to shopping around, and won’t be tempted into hasty bookings by a good deal – unless it’s a really good deal.
How can hotels build relationships with and appeal to these travelers? What’s the key to their fiscally-conscious hearts? With articles on topics from understanding the needs of modern budget travelers to the importance of emphasizing the perks of booking direct, we dove into the topic. Here’s what we found:
Podcast: Understanding the Needs of Modern Budget Travelers
Most people want to get a good deal when they travel, but “frugal travel” is a whole category on its own.
Online travel agencies make it easy to search by the lowest price. There are targeted websites likecheapair.com, cheapoair.com, insanelycheapflights.com, and eurocheapo.com to navigate. And the sharing economy lets travelers crash on couches, take over apartments, use someone else’s car, or borrow a bike.
On this episode of the Skift podcast, we’re talking cheap travel: Who does it, how travel companies are providing budget-friendlier options, and what travelers might give up to save some bucks.
Metasearchers Need To Go Beyond Affordable Fares
Even as Metasearch engines continue to pride themselves in helping travelers trawl through massive amounts of data for low-cost fares, prevailing travel habits are prompting them to look at differentiating themselves beyond mere prices.
Imbert Fung, director Southeast Asia of Kayak, said: “Passengers have so many choices with flights these days, and price is important, but maybe ultimately they want a comfortable flight with Wi-Fi on board and maybe there can be a simple filter we can provide (for that).” Fung is optimistic that such a service will come on board soon enough.
Fung highlighted how Kayak has in the meantime offered the first-ever Holiday Travel Hacker last year, which provided information on how and where to spend the holidays along with travel tips and median airfare.
Get a Room: The secrets to saving money when booking hotels
This article provides great insights into the consumer mindset. Many are still unaware that booking direct is often the best option for prices – that makes it our job to let them know! Hoteliers must step up their book direct strategies.
For holidaymakers hoping to book a hotel, there is a bewildering array of options to choose from.
You can pick one of the popular online travel sites such as Booking.com or Tripadvisor. You can visit the hotel’s own website, phone direct and try to haggle, book a package – or just turn up and hope for the best. But how do you ensure that you get the best deal?
Michael Vaughan, past president of the Irish Hotels Federation, says: “Savvy travellers should be able to make a saving of 15-20pc on many bookings if they take a clever look at the dynamics of booking and shop around.”
Our check on prices using different booking sites showed that they were often considerably more expensive than the hotel’s own website.
‘Millennials are so last year’: How Yotel is marketing capsule hotels
While many brands chase Gen Y with varying results, Yotel, one of the world’s fastest-growing hotel chains, is done with millennials.
The firm, started by Yo Sushi founders Simon Woodroffe and Gerard Greene in 2008, builds quirky capsule hotels targeted at “digital naturals” who are always online. Initially, that meant a younger clientele. But looking at data from Google Analytics and customer surveys, there’s nothing about Yotel’s customer profile (tech-savvy, independent travelers) that is age specific.
“We embed digital as part of the core customer proposition, the physical product and the online journey,” Boyd said.
