Starwood Hotels says the future of luxury hotels is catering to the luXurY traveler, according to an exclusive interview given to Melanie Nayer in her column at 4Hoteliers.com.
The article says 85% of Starwood’s luxury guests are Generation X and Generation Y wealthy travelers. These are the people who were born 1966-1976 Gen X, and 1977-1994 Gen Y.
Generation X and Generation Y are the two age groups that encompasses most of the BoardingArea bloggers, although a few of us are older Baby Boomers and there is even a Generation Z blogger or two who were born after 1994.
Generation X in the USA is also called the ‘lost generation’ since they were exposed to a much higher divorce rate and time in daycare than baby boomers. This cohort of 40 million or so is considered to be the generation of people who tuned out the news and politics. They had the lowest voter participation rate of any generational cohort. Yet, this is the best educated cohort with nearly 1 in 3 earning a college bachelor’s degree.
Generation Y is a cohort of 70 million in the USA born from 1977 to 1994. This generation is supposedly characterized by their immunity to advertising and marketing pitches. They are characterized by diversity and segmentation due to the expansion of cable TV, internet, and satellite radio during their lifetime. This cohort is less brand loyal.
In the USA the Generation X and Generation Y cohorts are less likely to become the millionaires and billionaires of tomorrow.
Starwood appears focused on its Asia properties for revamping and expanding luxury.
The new luxury hotel environment is geared for the tech savvy with personalization catered to the guest’s interests. One of the topics I frequently read articles about is using social media for data mining to build a personalized profile for hotel guests. This is a rapidly growing area in hotel and revenue management.
[Three bottles of Stella Artois and a fruit plate please! That makes this hotel traveler a happy guest upon arrival.]
Generation X and Generation Y are big on credit cards. This is another great source of data mining on personal spending habits and interests.
Melanie Nayer is a popular hotel industry columnist I read regularly.
Her Starwood luXurY trends article was focused on the Chinese traveler.
Do Generations X and Y in China have the same characteristics as Americans?
Chinese Gen X/Y traveler desires, according to Starwood Hotels:
- full-service urban hotel.
- breakfast option at hotel.
- dual sinks, shower and separate vanity make-up area to reduce congestion in the bathroom.
- in-room amenities like coffee/tea maker, WiFi and internet access.
That does not sound too demanding to me.
I like those same features in hotels.
My other primary request is an ice machine where I can cool the warm bottles of Stella Artois. Sometimes I just can’t squeeze enough beer bottles in between all the other items in the electronic mini-bar.
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