Attracting Millennial Travelers

Hotels are betting on longevity. Let’s break it down: High-end hospitality is evolving. Guests aren’t just coming for rest, they’re also coming for optimization. The rise of "wellness tourism" means the top hotel brands are becoming centers for diagnostics, recovery, and peak performance. But creating a true health destination takes more than just a "sauna" or "juice bar". Here’s the real model: ✅ 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗱𝗶𝗮𝗴𝗻𝗼𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗰𝘀, 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗱𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗿 Bloodwork, biological age testing, VO2 max, microbiome kits. Low infrastructure, high insight. It’s the unlock for personalization, and loyalty. ✅ 𝗕𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗰𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘁𝗶𝘀𝗲 𝗶𝗻-𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗲 MDs, NPs, and functional health pros alongside movement and nutrition experts. Guests don’t want a list of services, they want a plan that makes sense. ✅ 𝗟𝗮𝘆𝗲𝗿 𝗶𝗻 𝗼𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗶𝘇𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗼𝗼𝗹𝘀 Hormone therapy, hyperbaric, NAD+ IVs, red light, breathwork. From luxury to longevity, this is what turns guests into long-term clients. ✅ 𝗣𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘇𝗲𝗱 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗽𝗿𝗲-𝗽𝗮𝗰𝗸𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗱 Generic retreats are out. Tailored protocols based on biomarkers and goals? That’s what brings them back. ✅ 𝗠𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗵𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗻𝘂𝗼𝘂𝘀, 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗲𝗽𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗱𝗶𝗰 Offer re-testing, app-based progress, supplement delivery, remote consults. Guests leave with a roadmap, not just a short-term experience. 🏨 Early movers: → SHA → Six Senses Hotels Resorts Spas → Lanserhof Group → Aman → Equinox Hotels The future of hospitality isn no longer just about five-star service. These are places to recharge. Longevity isn’t a trend. It’s becoming the new standard for wellness travel. And the best hotels are getting ahead of it. 👉 Which brand do you think will get there first? ♻️ Repost if you see this shift coming, and follow Delphine Le Grand for more on where hospitality meets healthspan.

TikTok just rolled out a feature that could disrupt the whole hospitality industry. Meet TikTok Go: The first major step toward social platforms becoming full-fledged booking engines. We've been saying it for years, social media has become the primary discovery engine for modern travelers. 81% of travelers use social for travel inspiration. Gen Z and millennials aren't starting on Booking.com or Expedia - they're scrolling through Instagram and TikTok, getting inspired by content. But until now, there's been massive friction in the discovery-to-booking journey. A potential guest discovers your property on social media, gets excited, wants to book, but then has to click through your profile, find your website, navigate to booking pages, and enter dates. At each step, you lose potential guests. But TikTok Go changes this completely. Here's how it works: Eligible creators can partner with hotels to create content and earn commissions when that content drives bookings. Users can now book hotels directly inside TikTok through a Booking.com integration. Each participating hotel gets a dedicated landing page showing prices, amenities, reviews, nearby attractions, and related TikTok videos. This is a fundamental shift creating several massive advantages: 1. Seamless Discovery-to-Booking: Guests inspired by your content can book immediately, eliminating the friction that kills most social media conversions. 2. Potentially Better Attribution: For the first time, we could have clear tracking from social content to actual bookings, solving the attribution blindspots that have plagued social media ROI calculations. 3. Creator Economy Leverage: You can tap into established creator audiences without building your own following from scratch. The program is already active in Indonesia and Japan, now rolling out across the U.S., with plans to expand beyond hotels into food, wellness, and other local services. We're witnessing social media platforms taking their first major step toward overtaking OTAs. The exact mechanics will evolve, but the change has been set in motion. Every major shift in hospitality creates a brief window where early adopters capture outsized returns. Websites in the 90s. Mobile booking in the 2010s. Social commerce in the 2020s. The hotels building serious social media followings today will be best positioned when these booking features become standard across all platforms. While most properties post occasional content and hope for the best, smart operators are treating social media as their primary guest acquisition engine. TikTok Go is just the beginning. What are your thoughts?

TikTok’s ability to turn a 30-second video into a hotel booking has raised eyebrows across our industry 🚨 Some call it the next wave of disruption, others see it as just another OTA channel in disguise. The truth, as always, sits in the nuance — here’s what you should know. Hotels can now be booked directly on TikTok Through a new Booking.com integration, travelers in the US can book hotels without ever leaving the app. Influencers can tag properties in their content via TikTok GO, earning commission when bookings happen through their videos. Here’s why this matters: ✅ From Inspiration → Booking in Seconds Travel discovery is already happening on TikTok. Now, that spark of inspiration can convert instantly into a reservation — no browser tabs, no drop-off. ✅ Creator Trust Drives Action Gen Z and Millennials trust influencers more than traditional ads. Pairing that with instant booking is a powerful distribution shift. ✅ Proven Performance Tools Exist Even outside the in-app flow, Spark Ads, Dynamic Travel Ads, and the TikTok Pixel allow hotels to amplify creator content, retarget viewers, and measure ROAS. ⚠️ But there are trade-offs       • Bookings flow through Booking.com, meaning higher cost of sale and loss of first-party guest data.       •  FTC disclosure rules require compliance and brand-safety.       •  TikTok’s regulatory future in the U.S. still carries uncertainty. 👉 So what’s the right play? Think of this as a both/and strategy:       1.  Leverage TikTok’s in-app booking when speed and reach are the priority.       2.  Drive creator content to brand.com when loyalty capture and long-term guest relationships matter most. The bigger picture: social commerce isn’t a fad. It’s the next chapter of hotel distribution. The winners will be those who balance today’s reach and conversion with tomorrow’s guest ownership.

TikTok is stealing significant traffic and influence from OTA websites. Traveler behavior reflects it: 👉 42% of users booked a trip or made a travel purchase directly from platform content 👉 Travel video views grow by 5% every week 👉 #TravelDeals content is up by 34% 𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝘁’𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗚𝗲𝗻 𝗭. 👥 The average TikTok user is 30 years old. 𝗧𝗶𝗸𝗧𝗼𝗸 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗯𝗲 𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗽𝗲𝗿, 𝘁𝗼𝗼. 💸 Ad CPMs dropped by 20% in Q4 2024. But like any hotel marketing channel, TikTok needs a strategy. 🤓 It may be “new,” but the psychology behind what works stays the same. 🧠 𝗧𝗼 𝘄𝗶𝗻 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗯𝗼𝗼𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀, 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲’𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝘀: 🎥 𝘼𝙪𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙘 𝙎𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙮𝙩𝙚𝙡𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜 Behind-the-scenes content builds trust. Sofitel and Alma Maya Resort did this well. 📣 𝙄𝙣𝙛𝙡𝙪𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚𝙧 𝘼𝙢𝙥𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 Choice Hotels International and Wombat's City Hostels partnered on giveaways and trends to expand reach. 🧩 𝙎𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙜𝙞𝙘 𝘼𝙙 𝙐𝙨𝙚 Smart hotels mix organic UGC with TikTok’s travel ads to reach active bookers. 𝗬𝗲𝘀, 𝗵𝗼𝘁𝗲𝗹𝘀 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝘄𝗶𝗻 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗧𝗶𝗸𝗧𝗼𝗸. Even OTAs like Booking.com and Expedia Group use TikTok to engage travelers. 🌐 𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝘆 𝗯𝗲𝗮𝘁𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹𝘁𝘆. 🏳️ If you’re curious about what specific tactics hotels winning on TikTok use, swipe below. 👇 #HotelTech #HotelMarketing #HospitalityTechnology _______________________________ 📍 HotelTechReport.com | The Leading Authority on Hotel Technology

Hospitality brands are addicted to vanity metrics. Likes, follower counts, and viral moments look good in a boardroom slide deck, but they don’t move revenue, don’t build loyalty, and don’t feed the soul of your brand. They feed the ego. And when your marketing is built on ego, you’ll always be chasing the next shiny thing instead of creating a foundation that lasts. Social media is psychological. People don’t follow hotels or cruise lines because of how many followers they already have. They follow because of the value, the story, the feeling you give them. They engage because you trigger emotion, memory, or aspiration. They buy because you’ve built trust and culture around your content. The brands that get this are already winning, the ones who don’t are still sitting in weekly meetings debating fonts and hashtags. Here’s the truth: social media marketing in hospitality is not about perfection. It’s about connection. Stop worrying about the one negative comment and start worrying about the fact that your content has no personality. Stop running ads with generic stock footage and start putting your employees, your chef, your GM, your community in the spotlight. Starve your ego, feed your soul. Ego says “let’s protect the brand at all costs.” Soul says “let’s be human, let’s be real, let’s show the world who we are.” Practical advice: 1. Flip your priorities. Instead of obsessing over follower count, measure how many DMs you’re getting, how many people are sharing your posts, how many save your content because it’s useful. That’s impact. 2. Create content for humans, not executives. Show up raw, behind the scenes, unpolished if necessary, because that’s how trust is built. The polish is already assumed in your property. Your content should give people access to what they can’t find on Google. 3. Build a strategy that mirrors a startup, not a bureaucracy. Speed matters. Relevance matters. You don’t need ten people to approve a reel. You need one person who understands the brand’s voice and has the freedom to hit publish. 4. Teach your staff to be storytellers. Your front desk agent has more influence on your brand perception than your marketing director. Empower them, train them, and include them in your digital presence. 5. Stop copying your competitors. By the time you notice what they posted, the psychology of attention has already shifted. If you’re not setting the tone, you’re following someone else’s playbook. Feeding your soul as a brand means leaning into purpose. Why do you exist beyond selling rooms or cabins? What do you believe about hospitality, community, culture? That is what will separate you in a noisy feed. Consumers are smarter than ever, and they see right through ego-driven marketing. Hospitality is about creating memories that live forever. Your social media should do the same. Ego builds numbers. Soul builds empires. --- If you like the way I look at the world of hospitality, let's chat: scott@mrscotteddy.com

There’s no marketing tool more authentic, powerful and cost-effective than the voices of the people who live, work and love your destination. DMOs spend a lot of time crafting brand messages, but in reality, the best stories don’t come from us—they come from our residents. When residents share their experiences, it’s more credible than any ad we could run. Visitors trust real people more than they trust brands. A local artist talking about how your destination inspires their work or a restaurant owner sharing their family’s generational recipes—that’s the kind of storytelling that builds deep, emotional connections with travelers. How to Activate Residents as Storytellers 📸 Leverage User-Generated Content (UGC) – Encourage locals to tag your destination in their posts and showcase their unique perspectives. 🎙️ Start a Podcast or Blog Series – Feature local voices, businesses and community leaders to highlight what makes your destination special. 🎥 Create Resident Video Spotlights – Short, authentic videos of locals sharing their favorite places, hidden gems and experiences go further than generic ads. 🏡 Host “Be a Tourist in Your Own Town” Initiatives – Give residents reasons to engage with their own destination and become natural ambassadors. When you empower residents to tell their stories, you create a destination identity that feels real. The result? More trust and credibility from potential visitors, stronger community buy-in for tourism and content that resonates and spreads organically. Tourism isn’t just about attracting visitors—it’s about building a sense of place that locals are proud to share. If we make them part of the story, they’ll help us tell it in ways we never could. How are you engaging residents in your destination’s storytelling? Let’s swap ideas in the comments!👇 #DestinationMarketing #Storytelling #DMO #Tourism #Marketing #Travel

🎧 YouTube charges to skip ads. Hotels rarely charge for quiet floors.👎 Why are we giving away high-value experiences for free? 👉 Quiet floors 👉 Corner rooms 👉 Bathtubs with a view 👉 Early check-in 👉 Late checkout These aren’t just “nice to haves.” 📊 According to McKinsey, 76% of consumers expect personalization, and many are willing to pay for it. Oracle's latest hospitality study shows nearly half of hotel guests would pay more for quiet rooms or high floors. So why don’t most boutique hotels offer them as upgrades? 🛑 Because until now, the tech made it too hard. Too many systems. Too much manual work. Not enough control. Today, you can offer that with just a few clicks. With #Hypercommerce boutique hotels and independent brands can turn their signature touches into curated, bookable experiences: ✅ Rooms that reflect the way your guests want to travel ✅ Extras that feel personal, not packaged ✅ Memorable stays, made-to-order This isn’t (just) about upselling. It’s about letting guests shape their stay, and fall in love with your hotel even more. Because to a guest, that quiet corner room isn’t just an upgrade. It’s the difference between a good night’s sleep and an unforgettable stay. For those asking whether guests really pay for this... Yes! In fact, boutique hotels using GuestCentric’s tools have seen up to 15% more revenue per guest from personalized add-ons. The best part? No renovations needed, just better packaging. 💬 What would you love to see guests being able to select at booking time? #HotelTech #BoutiqueHotels #DirectBookings #BookingExperience GuestCentric #Hypercommerce

Low ADR isn’t the disease—it’s a symptom. And too many hoteliers keep treating it like the actual problem. Push harder on sales... Tweak dynamic pricing... Add a clever campaign or some fancy new tech... Sure, these might help in the short term. But they’re band-aids. Not a cure. It’s like taking ibuprofen for heart failure. It might dull the discomfort… But it won’t fix the blockage. If your brand is forgettable, your story unclear, and your guest experience uninspired—no pricing tool will save you. And chasing higher ADR by sacrificing occupancy? That’s a race to the bottom, too. Want to treat the cause, not just the symptoms? Try this... 1. Design for Desire, Not Demographics Don’t target “millennials” or “business travelers.” Design for feelings: escape, nostalgia, connection, adventure. People pay more when they *feel* more. 2. Curate Hyper-Specific Experiences Generic doesn’t sell. Unique does. If it’s rare, it’s valuable. 3. Elevate In-Room Merch & Upsells Create immersive, brand-aligned moments. Amenities that create stories. 4. Make the Lobby a Destination Lobbies shouldn’t be dimly lit ghost towns. Make it buzz: coffee, cocktails, culture, art. A vibrant lobby gives you permission to charge more upstairs. 5. Lead with Your "Onlyness" If you’re not different, you’re forgettable. Boldly claim what makes you the only—and price accordingly and confidently. 6. Design Outdoor Spaces That Linger Fire pits, hammock groves, garden paths. Landscape is experience. The longer they linger outside, the more they’ll pay to stay inside. Invest outside, returns inside. 7. Nail the F&B It doesn’t have to be fancy or complicated. It just has to be on brand. A killer breakfast sandwich or signature cocktail can elevate the whole stay. Remember.... You don’t fix ADR with discounts. You fix it by becoming irresistible. Tell a better story. Build a better experience. And watch the numbers follow. #hospitalitybranding #ADRstrategy #boutiquehotels #guestexperience #hotelmanagement #hospitalitydesign #storydrivenbrands #experientialhospitality

How to make spaces guests actually remember (goodbye copy-paste aesthetics) Most hospitality spaces feel the same. Because we’ve normalized “pretty” over unexpected. But in 1917, literary theorist Viktor Shklovsky introduced a concept called: Defamiliarization His main idea was that the purpose of art is to make the familiar seem strange — to disrupt automatic perception and make people feel the world anew. When applied to design, it turns routine spaces into moments guests notice — and never forget. Here’s how to use defamiliarization in design: To surprise the senses. To shift perception. To unlock deeper emotional connection. 1/ Reposition the ordinary ❌ Don’t place a chair in the corner just because it’s “functional” ✅ Instead: Float it in an open space with dramatic lighting → Suddenly, it’s sculpture. 2/ Break the expected layout ❌ Don’t follow the default “bed, nightstand, dresser” combo ✅ Instead: Rotate the bed, sink it into a platform, or layer rugs under odd angles → Guests pause. They notice. 3/ Reframe everyday objects ❌ Don’t use generic wall art ✅ Instead: Mount antique tools, a shadow box of local soil, or handwritten recipes from past guests → It turns decor into story. 4/ Use contrast where comfort is expected ❌ Don’t keep everything smooth, beige, and safe ✅ Instead: Add something rough, reflective, or asymmetrical → Emotional texture creates curiosity. 5/ Leave room for wonder ❌ Don’t explain every detail ✅ Instead: Add a mystery — a lock with no key, a book with no title, a secret drawer → The brain loves an open loop. And when you use defamiliarization well, Guests don’t just take photos… They start asking questions. They remember the feeling. They carry it home. P.S. What’s one way you’ve made something ordinary feel unforgettable? — ♻️ Repost to help more hosts and designers rethink their spaces. 📌 Want to craft stays people talk about for years? → Save this post ♻️ → Revisit it when you're stuck on your next design decision → Share it with someone building something bold

Designing Community Tourism That Honors Local Ways ✨ One of the most valuable lessons in building authentic, ethical community tourism is this: Meet local people on their own terms. This means resisting the urge to "improve" or modernize a community for the sake of comfort or convenience—especially when those changes erase traditions or disrupt the rhythm of life that has existed for generations. True community tourism isn't about curating a polished experience for foreign guests. It's about offering something raw, unscripted, and real—where hosts welcome visitors in the way they always have, in their own language of hospitality, pace, and place. 💬 In nomadic cultures, for example, life isn't run by the clock—it flows with the rhythm of the animals, the seasons, and ancestral knowledge. Trying to mold this into rigid itineraries or Western expectations of “efficiency” misses the point of what makes the experience meaningful. Through our work at Khusvegi English & Nomadic Culture Camp, we co-create experiences with local nomadic families—not for them. We let their traditions lead the way. Guests learn to live in rhythm with the land, sleep in gers built by hand, and engage in a style of hospitality that reflects centuries of Kazakh wisdom—not hotel standards. 🧭 Tourism should bend toward local ways, not the other way around. Let the community lead. Let traditions breathe. Let the culture be the guide—not the guest. 🌍 When we design tourism rooted in respect, patience, and reciprocity, we don't just preserve culture—we learn from it. Learn more about Khusvegi Camp via https://lnkd.in/gZJbJfxX #DecolonizeTourism #KhusvegiCamp #CommunityLedTravel #RespectLocalCulture #NomadicWisdom #SlowTravel #EthicalTourism #EquityInTourism #CulturalPreservation #ListenFirst