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Investing in new types of hotels to meet new consumer demands and
trends
With the growth of tourism in the ‘millennial’ travellers (18-35 year-olds) segment, hotels are now facing a profound
change in customers’ expectations in terms of services and infrastructures. The growth of this tourism segment,
together with the importance of digitalisation and the abundance of the offer on “collaborative” economy platforms has
led many hotel companies across Europe and worldwide to respond to this new demand by investing in new innovative
types of hotels and services.
As studies have shown that younger customers are increasingly looking for modularity, co-working or collaborative
spaces, most large hotel companies are now launching new specific brands, which come at a cheaper price, with a
strong focus on lifestyle, locality and shared spaces.
For instance, the AccorHotels group is a shareholder of the Mama Shelter brand, where hotels have living and meeting
spaces. Similarly, AccorHotels has developed the Joe&Joe brand where accommodation is conceived as an open
house for travellers and neighbours with individual and shared rooms. Similarly, the brand “Generator” is operating a
set of “posh hostels”. Other large brands are also adapting their offer to this new trend e.g. Moxy of Mariott, Citizen
M or 25Hours group. All these examples show that the hotel sector is already making massive investments to adapt
the tourism accommodation offer to new types of clientele and demand, based on modularity and the sharing of
experiences, therefore embracing innovation.
Other examples of using new technologies in improving sustainability include the
use of electric cars for guest transfers, offering charging stations for guests’ electric
cars, in-house recycling of water for a second use and heat. Visit NeZeH.eu
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