Steve Robinson

Evolving Hotel Trends

While cheap travel options, including discount hotel rooms and cheap vacation packages remain in good supply, emerging trends are starting to change what guests see while staying at hotels. 

The following trends are in the near term future of many hotels:

·      Hotel lobbies are evolving into social hubs that attract guests via colorful seating, free Internet service and stylish cocktail and coffee bars.

·      Except when staying in a suite, hotel rooms increasing are not offering tubs.  Many new hotels only offer showers in their bathrooms.  Research has shown that business travelers prefer showers to baths.

·      Pump dispensers in bathrooms are growing in popularity at the expense of the tiny bottles of shampoo and individually wrapped bars of soap.  The upside of using dispensers is that you are not limited to the half ounce capacity of many small hotel plastic containers.  Also there is an environmental benefit it that many millions of plastic bottles will not have to be thrown away each year. 

Although hotels are increasingly switching to pump dispensers, they often have complimentary bottles or wrapped soap bars available on request at the front desk.

·      Electronic check-in is allowing some guests to avoid waiting in line at a front desk to check in.  Select Starwood’s Aloft hotels have started offering “Smart Check-In” to Starwood Preferred Guest program members.  Participating members are sent a keycard with radio-frequency identification technology.  On check-in day a text message is sent to the guest’s mobile device with a room number.  Guests can then proceed directly to the room using their keycard to open the door to their rooms.

·      The lacavore and hyperlocal trend is becoming very popular with high end and boutique hotels where chefs are growing their own herbs and in select instances even hosting their own beehives.  Buying local is a key attribute of the sustainability movement. 

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