It is no secret that our economy has transformed into an on-demand economy, due to the shifted expectations of consumers. The hotel industry is one of the most active verticals that is slipping into this on-demand trend. For example, guests are now booking hotels less in advance. As you know, it was common for bookings to be completed 60-90 days in advance; today, hotel bookings are made as late as one day prior or during the trip there, via mobile. Here are some highlights on why this movement is happening…

Trends of Last-Minute Travel:

1. Last-Minute Deals: Websites and apps, like LastMinute.com, provide users with discounted stays at several different hotels. With accessibility to a cheaper trip, travelers are known to wait out bookings.
2. Unknown Schedules: People are worried that if they book too far in advance, there is more of a chance that they may need to cancel their trip for unforeseeable reasons. It is prevalent that people, especially millennials, move around a lot, mainly due to work – leaving their calendars with a question mark.
3. Fast and Easy: Mobile has transformed human life and has made once difficult tasks as easy as a few clicks. HotelTonight, is a phone-only mobile app that specializes in same-day hotel booking. The growing base of apps like these make hotel booking a breeze, especially last-minute bookings.
4. Can’t Bear to Break the Bank: It is common nature that people want to hold onto their money for as long as they can. It can be hard to pay for a trip and see your bank account drop, especially if the trip is far in advance – pushing people to wait until the last minute.
5. Spontaneous Shift: Research from Priceline found that “73% of millennials said they were likely to take a last-minute vacation this year — versus 58% of all of those polled” (travelmarketreport) This Site.

The hotel industry has been challenged by this on-demand and mobile trend. Last-minute hotel bookings are: “upsetting loyal customers, undercutting full-priced rates, and training the customer to wait for last-minute deals” (tnooz). As a result, it is tougher for hotels to manage revenue and operations because they don’t know the actual demand in time to prepare.

Here’s are a couple of ways to adapt and ride the wave of on-demand economy:

1. Stay away from discounting rooms on flash sale sites or last-minute bookings.
1. Why?: Utilizing these sites will put your hotel in the category of those that are booked last-minute. This will run the risk of conditioning your customers to wait for these deals as opposed to booking more in advance.
2. Focusing on building relationships with your guests is more important than ever.
1. Why?: By keeping up exceptional relationships with your guests, you will stand out among your competition and prevent guests from switching to cheaper last-minute deals. A way to strengthen these relationships is through social media channels. Social media gives a business the ability to increase overall customer engagement, which allows you to become more accessible and personal to your customers.

Although you can stay above the trend, last-minute bookings aren’t going anywhere – it is important to be proactive and incorporate technology that can assist managing your hotel when the last-minute booking arises. TraknProtect’s platform comes in handy because it helps manage and utilize inventory better; hotels need technology like this to make sure they can accommodate last-minute demand. TraknProtect is the only hardware and software equipment-tracking & analytics solution that helps hotels better serve guests by providing real-time location of items anytime anywhere, all without increasing your labor costs.

References:

The implications of last-minute bookings for hotel operators

http://www.phocuswright.com/Travel-Research/Research-Updates/2014/Just-How-Large-Is-Last-Minute-on-Mobile-With-Apologies-to-HotelTonight

20 Charts Showing Surprising Trends in Global Last-Minute Travel

http://www.travelmarketreport.com/articles/Last-Minute-Bookings-A-Trend?articleid=15871