With the gradual easing of travel conditions at the borders, Moroccans, deprived for the past two years of traveling freely due to the Coronavirus (covid-19) pandemic, seem more and more seduced by the concept of “revenge travel”. (in French voyage of revenge).
This concept is based on the fact that the feeling of frustration and the desire to make up for lost time have created in some people an appetite to travel further, for a longer period than usual and to spend more, as soon as possible.
Invented by McKinsey & Company, this trend first appeared in Asia, particularly in China when restrictions were eased and travel resumed.
Moreover, several studies show that thousands of people would even be willing to give up some of their favorite activities (attending concerts, going to the movies, enrolling in gyms and going to restaurants) in order to be able to travel.
This was stated by Smail Ouiddad, university professor at the National School of Commerce and Management (ENCG) in Settat and expert consultant.
According to him, these travelers plan for 2022 to “think big” on their next trip, opting instead for those of openness and discovery of new experiences.
An observation confirmed by Mohamed, a 23-year-old young man, who liked to travel solo. This “revenge traveller” reveals that he now prefers to live an enriching tourist experience with the program of activities and group games in the great outdoors.
What about adapting the offer to “revenge travellers”?
For Smail Ouiddad, hotels will have to focus on increased personalization of the entire customer journey to attract “revenge travelers” and are called upon to create a hyper-personalized and seamlessly integrated customer experience.
Certain technological innovations would make it possible to achieve this objective, while collecting very interesting data, starting with contactless check-in, the automation of upgrades, the maintenance of customer relations through the hotel’s mobile application, adding anything that can connect restaurants or living rooms to interactive art installations, the expert explained.
In this wake, he noted that the Internet of Things (IoT) is a perfect fit for hospitality and promises a world where an increasing number of objects and touchpoints are customizable and connected.
And argues that tech-savvy hotels are already offering guests in-room tablets that allow travelers to customize everything from thermostats and motorized shades to mood lighting and mobile entertainment. .
So a cloud-native property management system (PMS), for example, can unify data from all these touchpoints into a complete guest profile, which is then used to inform hotel staff and other technological platforms, detailed the expert.
A cloud-native PMS, he continued, can also integrate with a customer relationship manager’s (CRM) artificial intelligence (AI) to help predict and optimize business spending habits. a guest and the future revenue of a hotel.
In addition to the accommodation trades, all the trades and activities of the tourism sector are called upon to identify the expectations and needs of this clientele, which sets out a very specific objective with the ambition of giving meaning to its days of relaxation. .
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