Inflation impacts holiday travel.
High inflation has many Americans tweak their holiday travel plans this season. A recent survey from The Vacationer, a travel industry website, revealed 43% of adults plan to travel this holiday season, a 4-point decrease from the recorded number last year. In addition, according to Bankrate, 79% of are changing their holiday travel plans due to inflation and rising prices. Some are cutting trips short, i.e., traveling fewer days and choosing cheaper accommodations or destinations. While a large majority of people confirmed that inflation was contributing to altering their plans, those planning to make the trip still are willing to spend more than they did in 2021.
Recommendation: Despite the inflation, people are still opting to make their that trip by choosing cost-effective alternatives. Hotels and Vacation Rentals should be proactive and personalize guest journeys based on the current need of the hour. Leverage Mini Apps and booklets to build itineraries and share economic activities, deals, events, restaurants, and locations in the area.
Attract the right talent by going greener.
While sustainability in hospitality is still a growing opportunity for travelers, it may be just the thing you need to lure and retain the right talent. Gen-Z, joining the workforce now, has a much greater awareness of sustainability issues. They grew up in an age of high exposure to social media, where the reputation of a business can be irreversibly damaged by reaching millions in a matter of hours. In her speech at Skift Global Forum East, Margaux Constantin, partner at McKinsey & Company, highlighted how sustainability is a huge criterion for new job seekers. Almost 60% of candidates consider it while selecting an employer.
Recommendation: Implementing smart tech is a great way to become more sustainable and attract new talent. Digitizing and automating guest operations can ease up laborious, repetitive tasks, and get rid of tremendous amounts of consumable goods.
Teams with limited bandwidth.
Before Coastal Maine adopted Akia, they used to have outpouring calls, emails, and messages from multiple channels. It was nearly impossible for the team to consolidate communication into one portal without hiring more employees, which only meant one thing - more operational cost.
Switching to Akia allowed Coastal Maine Vacations to manage all communication flow in one centralized location without adding additional team members. With Akia's dashboard, the team gets a real-time snapshot of the company's health, allowing them to prioritize and act proactively. As a result, they respond much faster and from anywhere, on the go.
“We definitely would be in a worse situation if not for Akia. With a team of only two, we’d probably need to hire at least two more people, for example, to answer phones and emails separately if we didn’t invest in Akia’s platform. This system has greatly helped keep our operational costs at bay.” - Justin Jurist, VP & Portfolio Manager.
Coastal Maine Vacation