Something I’ve noticed while working with hotels across Australia and South East Asia is how much travel behaviour has shifted over the past decade.
For a long time, the hotel room was the primary product. Everything else — the pool, spa, beach club, rooftop bar — was seen as an amenity attached to the stay. But increasingly, travellers seem to be booking the experience first.
I have spent many years observing luxury resorts, to find that the guests are often of older generations and the amenities largely remain unused during the day. Meanwhile, the nearby towns, Air BnB's, hostels are bustling with young travellers looking for experiences. From my perspective, the travel landscape has changed. Travellers want to visit a property just to spend the day at a beautiful pool, work from a hotel lounge, enjoy a spa, or experience a beach club atmosphere — even if they’re not staying overnight.
It raises an interesting question for the industry:
Are hotels still primarily selling rooms, or are they actually operating experience venues that happen to include rooms?
Curious to hear what others in the travel and hospitality space are seeing.
Are experiences becoming more valuable than the room itself?
19 hours ago
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Are Experiences Becoming More Valuable Than Rooms?
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Something I’ve noticed while working with hotels across Australia and South East Asia is how much travel behaviour has shifted over the past decade.
For a long time, the hotel room was the primary product. Everything else — the pool, spa, beach club, rooftop bar — was seen as an amenity attached to the stay. But increasingly, travellers seem to be booking the experience first.
I have spent many years observing luxury resorts, to find that the guests are often of older generations and the amenities largely remain unused during the day. Meanwhile, the nearby towns, Air BnB's, hostels are bustling with young travellers looking for experiences. From my perspective, the travel landscape has changed. Travellers want to visit a property just to spend the day at a beautiful pool, work from a hotel lounge, enjoy a spa, or experience a beach club atmosphere — even if they’re not staying overnight.
It raises an interesting question for the industry:
Are hotels still primarily selling rooms, or are they actually operating experience venues that happen to include rooms?
Curious to hear what others in the travel and hospitality space are seeing.
Are experiences becoming more valuable than the room itself?