Word-of-mouth to world-of-mouth
Nowadays, everyone it appears, talk of peoples’ eagerness to travel, despite airfares, hotel rates and everything else costing an arm and a limb. After being released from a virtual home imprisonment sprinkled with lockdowns and restrictions caused by the recent pandemic, a pent-up desire to travel anywhere, coupled with monies saved from not getting to go on holiday during a tumultuous twenty eight months period, has fuelled, what many term ‘revenge travel’. A newly rampant demand of people taking vacations - that are more frequent, more tolerant, and if anything…far from home.
While COVID-19 is a fast fading memory (despite lingering safety fears though), other problems are springing up in the wake of this rosy travel rebound. These threatening issues are led by staff shortages which are cutting across continents. Quite a lot of hotels have responded by automating some operations like check-in /- out and adjusting room cleaning procedures which are no longer daily, whilst restaurants have curtailed operating hours. But perhaps nowhere is the impact of the shortages publicly evident than the recent scenes of disarray seen in airports across the world: such as flight cancellations, delayed baggage retrieval and lengthy lines through security.
Demand it seems is ramping up much quickly than businesses anticipated. After shedding workers during the pandemic, finding new recruits is tough, with the hospitality industry hit the hardest.
Revenge travel may end sooner than later. An economy that struggles to get back on track and slowing inflation with increasing costs will grind down peoples overall willingness to spend, especially when they begin to realise that they are paying more for less.
Already there are signs that inflation and rising costs are starting to bite. A study undertaken by ETC found that the percentage of travelers, who expressed concerns on costs affecting their vacations, has tripled since 2021. Whilst hotels are all still recovering without trying to exploit the situation, increased prices are posing a challenge for them to explain that to customers. Add to that the fact that hotel amenities and services remain substantially reduced.
Revenge travel caused by pandemic fatigue created an inconsistency between performance and satisfaction because people simply wanted to travel again and were prepared to jump through a number of obstacles. All that is now on the wane and a new wave of customer dissatisfaction is forming.
Hotels will do well by preparing for after the revenge travel honeymoon by pushing exceptional customer experiences. Experiences that transcend across-the board; from marketing (channels such as apps, websites, live support, mail, etc) to delivering extraordinary services and products.
Today's guests are more experienced and moving forward, going to be more demanding than ever before. They expect the best overall experience, which is why the American Marketing Association revised its definition to: "Marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large." While your promotional strategies make the brand promise, it is how you keep the promise – i.e. how you deliver – that matters most.
With the proliferation of all things in social media, how you deliver the experience is more important than ever before.
No longer is it word-of-mouth, but it is now world-of-mouth.
Shafeek Wahab – Editor, Hospitality Sri Lanka, Consultant, Trainer, Ex-Hotelier
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