To put it in a nutshell ..

Evolutions that drove and are still driven hospitality 

       As a statement, many external criteria directly impact our daily lives and habits. Innovation, trends arising from new culture or simply our needs, we, as individuals, are constantly evolving.  

Those changes affect the way we consume but also our expectations thus, every business has to be aware of that in order to remain competitive enough and not collapse. More importantly, companies must anticipate what is going to change customers needs and adapt their product/experience to attract and satisfy them.

       An industry such as hospitality deals with that. As related by Jean-Philippe Weisskopf and Philippe Masset in the given article, ten trends reshaped and are still reshaping the industry. As far as I am concerned, I tend to think that the coming of the new generation such as Y and Z and the raising of virtual communities and digitalization totally compelled hotels to redefine the core of their service and had the biggest impact on guests experience. 

       First of all, new generations point out that hotels must re-think their services to comply with new kind of expectations and upcoming way of experiencing life. These generations are more likely to be sensitive to authenticity and sharing. They want to discover a lot of things and see everything that could match with their values. Therefore, as hoteliers, you can not just sell a room any longer. This segment of customers needs more and wants true connexion with things. They are also demanding as long as they want to enjoy life, do as many things as possible, service has to be quicker.  

       In addition to that, virtual communities had such a huge impact on hotels business that, from now on, guest satisfaction is priority number 1 of any companies. Sure it was already the case but online reviews made it even more important as it can generate more revenues or, contradictory, lead to loss of potential clients. Customers value virtual communities and tend to trust them blindly. Indeed, millennials are very connected and relies on this collaborative sharing of information. Because they have no time to lose with something that could dislike, they want to know everything before. Nonetheless, it becomes more complicated for hotels to make their voice hear and a bad situation can easily come viral and destroy brand reputation. 

       Finally, digitalization is now part of our lives and hotels must be able to offer new kind of experiences based on digital innovation by using artificial intelligence through some items making customer life easier (domotic with lamps, Bluetooth, voice assistant ...) or with devices that will understand and personalized guest experience (booking engine). The latest trend is to implement robot inside hotels replacing concierge.  

       According to that, hotels are fully aware that changes are everywhere but some specific trends are really redefining the rules of the industry. Of course, not everyone would be interested in those evolutions but, in an upcoming future, many of them who refused to adapt their company may collapse as long as they will not be competitive anymore.

 Source : https://fr.depositphotos.com/175514076/stock-illustration-millennials-word-cloud.html

 Source : http://www.roderickfrenchcommunity.com/marketing-perspective-virtual-community/

Source : https://www.supplymanagementinsider.com/dos-and-donts-of-digitalisation

Think Piece of my upcoming future for Hospitality 

Source : http://www.megangoad.com/building-tomorrow-together/

Corporate Social Responsibility is a real stake for the upcoming years and remains a global priority because " the concept of corporate social responsibility however has evolved from the understanding that a company has should look after not only its investors and customers but also its employees, the larger society and community, and event the environment, thus giving rise to the triple-bottom-line approach of enhancing profit, people and planet."

• Share and learn: embrace local communities

It would be such an amazing project to use hospitality to integrate volunteering in activities/experience offered by the hotel. Indeed, I think that many people are interested in helping local communities but keep in mind that it requires a lot of organization and pre-research that can dispirit the less ready. 

What if hotels could allow people to do volunteering during their trip. Far from what we know, this experience would not deprive guests of amazing and exclusive accommodation. The purpose of which is to raise awareness and make affordable pro bono actions. 

(I.e: go to a local school and teach words of your native language, one of your skill such as traditional dance, cooking ...)

• Multiple eco-friendly approaches 

- look for direct suppliers and be able to do a partnership with local communities
- less powerful energy

- neutral and natural materials

- sustainable energy 

• Appeal customers with innovative and sustainable experiences

- Interactive activities that will sensitive guests to sustainability: make its own coffee by grabbing your own bean in the field next to the hotel, same for honey and other product that could be directly harvested inside the location

- Go on a tour to sustain animals lives 

Source : http://www.abeille-du-saleve.org/?paged=3

The purpose will be to enable the commitment of customers but also employees and associates. 

Here are two sources that keep pushing me thinking that way and believe that a more sustainable approach should be soon and widely implemented within the hospitality industry. 

Soul made Hotels, are hotels that advocate sustainability both from an internal and external perspective. 

This video underlines all the benefits bring thanks to an active RSE plan