9 Hotel Statistics and What They Mean for You

Wrapped up in the day-to-day operations of your hotel business, it’s only natural that you don’t have time to read about the latest news and hospitality trends. Touching upon global trends, booking patterns, guest preferences and loyalty, in this article we offer nine hotel statistics which will catch you up to the latest hotel related news. Ultimately, we hope to help you use current information in hospitality to drive innovation, delight customers, and offer increasing value.

Hotel statistics and what they mean for your business

The hotel industry is big, diverse and constantly changing. As a result, it’s difficult to keep up with the latest hotel statistics, news and trends. Swamped by your typical day-to-day tasks, it’s likely – and understandable – that you struggle to find time to read multiple hotel-related articles per week. However, this could be inhibiting you from remaining agile within the industry.

Taking a quick ‘refresher course’ in the latest hotel trends can help your hotel to outperform competitors, stay fresh and on trend. In this article, we offer only nine current trends in the hotel industry, to ensure that you’re up to date and in tune with the latest knowledge.

1. Travellers visit an average of 38 websites before making a booking (Expedia)

It will come as no surprise that your hotel website is integral to the success of your business. Having your website stand out from the immense crowd is key to securing bookings in 2022. In order to ensure that your website is doing its job and drawing the most benefit, you should:

• provide guests with plenty of high quality images
• ensure that your site if mobile-friendly
• share as much information as possible about your services
• make sure that it is functional, simple and easy to navigate
• clearly state contact information

Some of these pointers will be revisited in the remainder of this article. However, for more information about how to improve your website, click here.

2. 40% of hotel guests are likely to write a guest review after a positive experience, while 48% of hotel guests are likely to write one after a negative experience (ReviewTrackers).

Improving your hotel’s reviews and ratings can be an excellent way to increase revenue. However, it is well known that negative reviews take a heavier weight than those which are ‘average’, ‘good’ or even ‘excellent’. Considering this, your hotel should take extra steps to encourage reviews from all customers; not only those who have something specific to share about your property, but those who were simply satisfied with your services and had a great stay.

Sending following up emails, using an in-room QR code and verbally requesting reviews upon checkout is a great way to request reviews and ensure that the number of people writing reviews across the board, increases.

3. Millennials are more likely to redeem hotel loyalty points for upgrades, while older travellers are more likely to redeem points for free nights (PWC).

This valuable hotel statistic and insight into the industry allows your hotel to understand how to communicate with and target different audiences. Whilst promoting your loyalty program – or even communicating offers through a new campaign – keep in mind that age can contribute to diverse guest preferences. By segmenting your email database, or creating ad campaigns, you can target those of different ages using messaging that specifically speaks to the wants, needs and preferences of different groups.

4. 61% of travellers reported that the pandemic has inspired them to travel more sustainably. 81% of travellers also stated that they wanted to stay in sustainable hotels in the next year (Booking.com).

There is no doubt that sustainable travel is on the rise and that conscious consumers make up an ever-growing demographic across the globe. Resultantly, one of the most important things you can do as a hotel in 2022 is to improve your hotel’s sustainability initiatives. Anything from reduced energy and water usage, improved waste management, conscious sourcing and charitable efforts are things that all hotels should review in our environment and climate aware world.

It is important to note however, that greenwashing is absolutely not the solution in today’s society. With well informed guests savvy about what truly makes a business green, responsible or sustainable, hotels should absolutely communicate their sustainability initiatives with pride, but they should stay humble about their progress. Hotels should pay close attention not to exaggerate their sustainability efforts. Those initiatives which only address the ‘bare minimum’ expected from a hotel in 2022 should not be taken advantage of for marketing purposes.

5. Large hotel chains lose 10% to 15% of total revenue as commission paid to third-party booking services. Small chains and hotels pay between 18% and 22% of their revenue as commission to third-party services (PwC).

Hotels are well aware of the financial detriment associated with third-party bookings. Regardless of whether your hotel is large or small, efforts should be made to reduce commission paid to third-party booking services. Creating ‘book direct’ offers, discounts and campaigns which centre around bookings made through your website is one great way to reduce the commission you pay.

In addition, your hotel could also focus more heavily on its SEO strategy, communicate regularly with previous customers or use social media to explain the benefits of booking direct.

6. An average customer shifts over 50 times across desktops, tablets, smartphones, and channels when researching hotels and travel online (McKinsey & Company).

An increasingly apparent customer behaviour – and perhaps one of the most striking hotel statistics – revolves around the use of multiple devices for the searching and booking of accommodation. In 2022, it is vital that your hotel has a mobile-friendly site which is as easily navigated upon a small screen, as it is on a computer or laptop.

In order to improve your site for mobile use, contact your web developer and check that everything is being done to welcome mobile guests and keep them on your page. It is also worth remembering that a mobile-friendly site is also an SEO-friendly site.

7. 95% of travellers with Gen Alphas say that keeping their family happy and entertained is of the utmost importance (Expedia Group).

Current trends suggest that nothing is as important as an entertained and happy family when traveling. As a result, your hotel might be able to do a little more when it comes to catering to families and young children. Babyproofing rooms, offering in-room gifts (such as colouring books or chocolates), or creating specific family rooms are all great steps you can take in 2022 to encourage more family visits.

Sharing your family-friendliness on social media, on your website and through adverts is also key to taking advantage of this particular trend.

8. Appealing imagery influences 54% of travel decisions (Expedia Group).

It is well known that your hotel’s imagery is important to the conversion of browsers into paying customers. In 2022, descriptions of your hotel are simply not enough to convey the hotel experience that you provide for guests. Through the use of plentiful, high-quality photography, you can bring your accommodation to life and share your property’s personality.

Literally showing your customers what they’ll get at your hotel is key in 2022, whilst on the contrary, a lack of photographs leaves guests uninformed and in the dark, less sure about whether they would like to book.

9. At least 8 of the global leading hotel chains have implemented VR experiences in their marketing strategy. Meanwhile, hotels that are using virtual tours are getting up to a 135% increase in online revenue (PwC).

A VR hotel tour provides website visitors with a means to obtain a digital first-person view of your property. Especially useful for the portrayal of guest rooms, through VR, customers are able to obtain a ‘feel’ for what kind of experience a hotel can provide them with.

Whilst your hotel might not yet be ready to integrate a VR experience on its website, it is worth considering that this fairly novel technology could be commonly used within the industry in the coming years.

Work with 1834 Hotels

1834 Hotels is an evolutionary one stop hotel, motel, resort and pub management solution. We take the essential and crucial tasks of hotel operations and adapt them to the tools and systems and automation of today.

To talk to us, please use the contact form on this page. 

Disclaimer: the hotel statistics used to create this article were carefully selected from reliable sources. Having said this, content in this article is intended only to share 1834 Hotels’ own unique perspective on industry trends. Content is strictly for educational purposes and does not amount to professional advice.