Hotels trump Airbnb for millennials

Resonance Consultancy’s 2018 Future of Millennial Travel Report, which it describes as the ‘blueprint for the next decade of North American travel’, interviewed 1,500 US travellers between the ages of 20 and 36 who had an annual household income of $35,000 or higher, finding that an owner-direct rented apartment is actually their least favourite accommodation type, despite 52 per cent admitting to having used accommodation like this.

According to the survey, staying with friends or family is the second most preferable option. The rest of the top five consisted of all-inclusive resorts, upscale luxury hotels/resorts and, perhaps surprisingly, camping – camping is reportedly on the rise again after years of decline, thanks in part to millennials. According to Kampgrounds of America (KOA), more than one million new households have gone camping every year since 2014.

Another significant trend highlighted in the report is the rise in wellness tourism for millennial travellers, with 18 per cent claiming the fitness facilities at hotels are ‘very desirable – more than the interior design of the hotel’. The report states: “For millennials, health, fitness and wellbeing are experienced in very different ways than for previous generations, all of which influence their expectations when they travel.”

It concludes: “As millennial consumers decide which meaningful, value-driven, shareable brands deserve their increasingly hard-earned money, the rubber hits the road for companies and destinations that have been listening, empowering and getting out of the way.”

Read the full report here: http://resonanceco.com/report-download/?report=5096