Frequent travelers demand more personalized services, even at the expense of their privacy.
More and more frequent Spanish business travelers are willing to say goodbye to their privacy in exchange for a personalized experience. In fact, 7 out of 10 travelers say they would share their consumption habits to get personalized services through push notifications on their mobile, especially among 25- and 35-year-olds.
These are data from the First Study on the Preferences of the Frequent Traveler elaborated by Wanup, the new European hotel loyalty club, with the sectorial support of the Instituto Tecnológico Hotelero (ITH).
The aim of this study is to provide insight into the level of penetration of hotel loyalty programs, as well as the habits and preferences of Spanish business travelers.
Loyalty cards, points or discounts are no longer the priority for frequent business travelers, who are now looking for something else: to increasingly anticipate their needs in a personalized way, rather than offering a rigid and static program.
In this regard, 80% of respondents acknowledge that they would be part of a loyalty program if the hotel knew their specific needs.
“Digitalizationón is a great opportunity for the sector. Especially the younger generations are increasingly willing to receive segmented and personalized digital advertising and do not see it as an intrusion to their privacy but as an added value, explains Guillermo Vallet, CEO of Wanup.
This study allows us to draw some conclusions about user preferences:
• One in three frequent business travelers takes advantage of their stay to do tourism in their free time.
• Thecultural aspect is the one that most attracts the attention of Spaniards when traveling for business (43.5%), with activities such as touring the city, visiting museums or living local experiences.For the frequent Spanish business traveler, the main expectation of a loyalty program is to be able to access premium coverage (26.2%) for accident or illness, lost luggage or flight cancellations. In second place, with 19%, is the option of having priority access to pass through security control and reduce waiting time at the airport.
DIGITAL TRAVEL
The study also analyzes the use of mobile and the technology available, both when organizing the trip and to solve the different needs they may have during their stay.
In addition to talking or sending messages, the main use business travelers make of the mobile phone is mainly to leave comments and ratings after their stay (76.4% of cases). In second place, they use it to share experiences on RRSS or book transportation through an app.
More than half of the respondents attach great importance to the ratings of other travelers: the notes, the photographs and the rating of the hotel.When analyzing the differences in behavior between the millennial generation and the Generation X, no significant differences were observed. The use of the mobile phone is more widespread among millennials, who use apps up to 9% more than those over 35 years old when organizing their trip (63.7% millennials vs. 55.9% generation X) and booking transportation (71.7% millennials vs. 55.9% generation X);n X) and booking transportation (71.8% millennials vs. 63.5% Gen X), or communicate with the hotel via instant messaging in more cases (52.1% millennials vs. 43% Gen X).
Loyalty Clubs
41% of respondents say they do not belong to any hotel loyalty club . The lack of variety of available hotels and the difficulty in obtaining benefits seem to be the main reasons.
?What are users looking for, then? For almost 80% of those who do not belong to a loyalty program, the fact of being able to receive an economic incentive for signing up would be the incentive to register. For example, in the form of cash vouchers to redeem on future bookings or free breakfast.
TURISTIC APARTMENTS
Despite the popularity achieved in recent years by the platforms that offer accommodation in private apartments, this option is in the last position in all the countries in which the study has been carried out.
When it comes to business travel, travelers have no doubts: 64.8% choose to stay in hotel chains. 17.8% stay in independent hotels and 8.3% say they do not pay attention to the hotel, but only to the fact that it is part of their loyalty club. Boutique hotels or apartments are in last place, selected as the preferred option by only 2% of respondents.
The preferences of these travelers are not very different when it comes to traveling for pleasure. 48.3% prefer chain hotels, 22.7% independent hotels, 7.7% hotels that are part of their loyalty club and 12% boutique hotels. Only 8% book apartments, with millennials choosing these more than Generation X respondents.