Gen Z Holds the Key to Next-Gen Travel
How hospitality organizations can deliver to experience-based travelers
By Clément Lacroix
The hospitality landscape has undergone continuous change in recent years, with the pandemic forcing organizations to adjust their approaches and make way for the future of travel.
While the industry has been shifting, a new generation of travelers has also seen a change in spending power. According to Forbes, Gen Z — those born from 1997 to 2012 — now has $140 billion in collective spending power. Combine this with the generation’s desire to gain new experiences after years stuck at home, and we’re witnessing a unique opportunity for hospitality organizations.
To meet the expectations of today’s young travelers, organizations must re-evaluate the connection between their products, services, customers and employees. It’s a crucial moment to invest in travel innovation—learn more in frog’s recent Future of Travel report, where we dissect new opportunity areas within the travel and hospitality space.
Read on for insights and actions points on taking brand engagement to the next level with this new generation of travelers. Let’s explore the customer pillars hidden within the name: G-E-N-Z...
Give autonomous power through reinvented customer experience (CX) and design. Research suggests that people born into Gen Z are consistently self-driven. This particularly applies to experiences they want as customers. Gen Z — projected to be one of the best-educated generations in history — knows that change is essential to their values.
Combining that fluidity, their self-starting drive and their embrace of Instagram to show off the results of their travels is a need Gen Z wants met: in short, they seek the power to curate their own unique experiences. Hospitality organizations have an opportunity to design flexible, self-guided experiences that allow travelers greater control over both physical and digital aspects of their travels.
Action point: Envision the autonomous customer experience of tomorrow by leveraging the power of behavioral science and human-centered design. These two approaches bring insights into the reinvention of experiences, ensuring that offerings relate to Gen Z travelers’ needs, wants and motivations.
Embed technology seamlessly by engaging at the edge. As the first generation to grow up immersed in social media and with continuously developing technology, Gen Z is full of digital natives who enjoy constant and convenient access to seamlessly embedded tech. A recent HospitalityNet study showed 79% of Gen Z respondents said that their everyday life and activities depend on technology and that they expect to be able to maintain connectivity when traveling.
Therefore, brands within the hospitality industry must be ready to bolster the guest experience beyond the basic elements of accessibility, convenience and efficiency to succeed with this generation. Travelers in this demographic require more personalization, authentic messaging and multiple digital touchpoints to streamline their journey.
This generation also looks to organizations to blend physical and digital worlds, allowing them to engage with their favorite brands in new experiences via Web3 and the metaverse. Exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, the integration of technology into everyday life is now a reality—and embedding technology into the fabric of the hospitality business is a necessity.
Action point: Begin engaging at the edge through technology activations, including connected devices and connected applications to capture the attention of the up-and-coming demographic.
Nurture social connection through data-driven user experience (UX) design. Gen Z’s ability to transform virtual relationships into in-person connections is one of its most remarkable generational characteristics. With Gen Z demonstrating the high value they place on autonomy, it’s no surprise that alongside millennials, they are the generation increasingly leading the way on solo travel. Traveling alone doesn’t have to remain a solo trip: hospitality organizations can cater to Gen Z by leveraging digital and physical experiences to create serendipitous connections between lone travelers.
One example of this comes from CosmoTrips, an initiative of Cosmopolitan magazine, launched in August of 2022. CosmoTrips is a curated travel agency that aims to give its selected clientele of millennial and Gen Z women who take long weekend trips a curated experience based on one of six different themes ranging from adventure to lifestyle. “These travelers want preplanned activities,” said Hearst’s Youth and Wellness Group Publisher Nancy Berger in an interview with Travel Weekly. “They don’t want to worry about where to eat, what to do — and we want to give that to them.”
Action point: Focus on gathering insights on solo travelers through cross-channel data and insight generation to inform the customer journey. This allows travelers to become the orchestrators of their own serendipity.
Zoom in on social responsibility by activating purpose. Since childhood, Gen Z has lived with messages about the importance of eco-friendliness and social responsibility. They expect travel brands to match their engagement with ethical and sustainable practices. For example, according to a study conducted by Frame, 54% of Gen Z travelers would pay higher rates to a service provider that is more environmentally responsible; in addition, an even larger 80% of Gen Z would refuse to buy from companies that are involved in a scandal.
Through this study, it becomes clear Gen Z is drawn to accommodations with sustainable practices and wants to be involved with travel companies that show a commitment to sustainability, ethical practices and socially conscious travel in their destination’s community. As Gen Z is a generation that does its homework, it will be essential for hospitality brands to zoom in on social responsibility should they want this generation’s business. Hospitality providers can pay fair wages, commit to on-property sustainability and give back to the local community.
Action point: Making social responsibility a reality means creating a long-term alignment of your brand with your social responsibility commitments, thus defining your Next Economy Brand. By integrating purpose and brand, your holistic business operations will have a North Star to build around—enabling social responsibility to become core to your organization’s products, services, employee experience and customer experience.
Next steps for new generations
Activating these four dimensions of Gen Z will enable hospitality organizations to focus on the customer and win the misunderstood hearts of this new generation. The journey will require flexibility and audacity to change, though the outcome will unlock unprecedented value for hospitality organizations.
Now the question is: where will your organization start? Get in touch with frog today to help as you activate the key pillars of the hospitality space, from G to Z.
Clément Lacroix — Senior Director, Customer Experience and Digital Strategy and Industry Lead, Hospitality and Services, frog
Clément Lacroix is a Senior Director at frog. He is the lead in North America for the Services and Hospitality industry. His expertise is in end-to-end digital transformation, from new products definition to customer experience reinvention to market launch.
