The wedding industry is big business — worth a staggering $72 billion in the US alone, according to IBISWorld. There, couples spend on average between $12,343 and $14,006 on just their venue (in many cases, a hotel). And then there’s the revenue coming from guests staying at the hotel, which, even with discounted room blocks, represents a profit to the property. What is especially exciting about this lucrative niche market is that it’s no longer an exclusive one; even the smaller, independent properties now have a chance to break into the wedding hospitality industry. Interested? Here are five ways to…

Enhancing the guest experience and increasing revenue: two top priorities for many hotels and other accommodation providers. The good news is that they don’t necessarily have to be mutually exclusive activities. In fact, hoteliers don’t necessarily even have to choose which to focus on first. Because one of the most effective revenue boosters for properties today is also a significant guest-experience enhancer — and it doesn’t require a great deal of extra time or effort to pull off. We’re talking about selling local experiences to guests. Here’s a look at why it works and how it’s done. Why selling local…

There are now vast volumes of personal data shared online. E-commerce and social media are fueling the personalization of technology and customer service. As a result, customer privacy, transparency, and data protection have become critical topics in industries across the board — including hospitality. What do hotels and other accommodation providers need to know about privacy data protection? What do two new pieces of related legislation, namely the GDPR and CCPA, mean to their businesses? And what practical steps can properties take to improve their data and privacy protection — and improve their brand reputation in the process? Read on…

Keeping up with the ever-changing — and ever-increasing — desires and demands of today’s digital and discerning guests is a challenging task. Near impossible, you might even say. But what is possible is to have a pretty good idea of what will be some of the most important hotel guest expectations in 2019. We’ve taken a look at the top 2019 hospitality trends from the guest perspective. Summarized here, our findings highlight what guests are expecting this year from their hotel amenities, their booking experience, and the reputation of the properties they choose to book. Recognizing and then providing what…

Discover the 5 hotel trends that are having the biggest impact on the guest experience this year.

What are the best hotel amenities to offer your guests? The answer will depend entirely on who your guests are. Because apart from room quality and cleanliness, which are absolute musts for all types of travelers, guest expectations and needs can vary greatly. To meet them, you’ll need to identify the traveler types you’re attracting. We can help with that. Your Visitors’ Profile in your PRO package account will tell you if your trivago traveler audience is made up of business travelers, vacation travelers, or weekend travelers. These insights will help you understand the type of traveler interested in booking…

In the pursuit to provide the ultimate unique experience to travelers, hotel design has become a powerful instrument of differentiation. Because for guests, choosing the ideal hotel now involves identifying the ideal hotel room. And a hotel room that stands out for its unique aesthetic appeal will have a far better chance of resonating with the guest, both when they view photos of the room online and when they see it in person. As a result, cookie-cutter hotel rooms are swiftly falling out of style and out of demand. In updating the nondescript, generic designs that had made their rooms…

Offer guests something special along with your hotel room. That’s the message coming through loud and clear in an article published on Tnooz last month, which examined Expedia Group’s recent study on the consumer appeal and profitability of package sales. Hotel guests who purchase packages spend more on their rooms, book further in advance, and are less likely to cancel their bookings compared to customers who opt for standalone rooms. Additionally, guests who go for a package deal – especially those from international markets – also tend to book more nights. These findings, which were based on Expedia 2017 booking…

Guest expectations are a moving target. To be able to meet them, let alone exceed them, hoteliers and all accommodation providers must always be innovating their offerings and updating their services. And yes, some hotel updates require months to complete and come at steep prices. But there are also always fast fixes that can take a hotel a long way on a tight budget. So even if you’re not currently able to redo all the bathrooms, for example, it’s still a good idea to do whatever you can now, today, to increase the perceived value of a stay at your property.…

Part 2 of a two-part interview series with author, journalist, and luxury hospitality expert Rahim B. Kanani. In our recent interview Rahim B. Kanani, a luxury hospitality expert and the author of the critically acclaimed A Wealth of Insight: The World’s Best Luxury Hoteliers on Leadership, Management, and the Future of 5-Star Hospitality, we got deep into discussing two of our favorite topics: emerging hotel trends and hotel technology. He was able to provide us with some illuminating insights into both, valuable enough to merit their own blog article. Would you like to have insights delivered to your inbox? Sign…