“Millennials are not a monolithic group,” says Sarah Kennedy Ellis, vice president of marketing and strategic development for Sabre Hospitality Solutions.
Her view is based on a new research report from Sabre on millennial traveler behavior.
If you define the generation broadly as 18- to 35-years old, you'll get a confusing picture, she argues. It's often savvier to look at the sub-segments, to get an accurate understanding of its travel behaviors and profiles.
At the most obvious level, older millennials (meaning those over age 30) tend to travel differently than those still in school, as noted in Sabre’s global online survey of 1,150 millennial travelers. Hotel marketing should reflect that variety, the company argues.
That said, there is room for some generalizations about millennials as a group, Kennedy Ellis says.
They do tend, on average, to “crave authenticity” in travel more than other generations do. She explains:
“They want to see there is a real, meaningful connection between the brands and products they spend their money on and what they consider to be truly valuable in life."
It is much more likely that millennials will visit a supplier site during their booking path than other generations will, on average, as they prefer to judge the brand’s authenticity themselves rather than defer to a filter like an online travel agency — regardless of where they actually complete the transaction.
The report finds that:
“Out of the eight information sources Sabre measured, across the board, millennials rated friends, family and coworkers as their most trusted sources of information on where to stay when traveling (83% trustworthy).”
So how to act on this information? Here’s one tip from Sabre’s report:
“To create a more authentic experience, hoteliers will do well to rely less on traditional advertising channels or social media and, instead, create storylines and brand personas using marketing channels that millennials trust.
The best advertising for those millennials may come from happy guests who leave positive reviews on sites such as TripAdvisor.”
In Sabre’s survey, 81% of millennials rated TripAdvisor as trustworthy.
Another key finding from the report is that millennials sought out seamless mobile booking experiences more than other generations.
The report comments:
“Hoteliers have an opportunity to capitalize on this by identifying pain points that prevent millennial customers from booking on mobile devices – compatibility issues, concerns about privacy or security, or general shopping trends (especially given the preference for booking further in advance and the relatively small percentage of Sabre survey respondents who booked fewer than two weeks before travel).”
Newer, in-context booking engines might encourage millennials and other customers to book while they’re still viewing inspirational photo galleries on hotel's brand.com sites, rather than get be forced into a non-visual, form-based booking path, as is more common today, Kennedy Ellis argues.
She adds that in-context booking can capture customer interest in an experience — something especially important to millennials — at the point of inspiration.
Targeting millennials matters because perceptions that they don't spend are becoming outdated. As Tnooz noted in a preview of the report, Sabre projects that millennials will become the largest spenders on hotels as early as 2017.
That forecast is based on the company's analysis of a representative slice of the transactions made at properties via its SynXis booking engine.