Travel Trends

In our shop, we have always said that people will continue to travel, despite the economy and gas prices.

Most of us believe that travel is our right. We work hard and deserve it. With our hectic schedules we need vacations as a way to regain our sense of family and togetherness. We need to stop the world for a minute and get away for it all. And, we want it to be a real, genuine experience.

An interesting study was presented recently by Peter Yesawich of Y Partnerships (I have long followed his excellent work!)...a few highlights:

* Family time is an important reason to travel.
* Celebration vacations are becoming increasingly popular - celebrating milestones such as birthdays and anniversaries as a reason to travel.
* People are taking fewer trips but still traveling. They are "trading down but not trading out."
* Value is everything...people are looking for ways to economize when they travel, even affluent travelers
* People will travel about 4 hours...which in a drive market is about the distance of a tank of gas.

These are simple trends to capitalize on in your marketing....for example, create a value-added offer, such as a room upgrade, and call it the "Special Occasion Package or Celebrations Package". Make it a genuine value-added (consumers are smart), and not too restrictive (please don't make it available only Tuesday nights in November), and then email it to your database. I would offer it for a limited time, meaning the consumer needs to make reservations by a certain date, and this drives some urgency. Your potential guest can look at the emotional side "yes, let's go away to celebrate our anniversary this year" and then rationalize it by saying "...and what a great value."

This is a great time to get creative!