You’ve probably heard about Generation Y - or Millennials as they’re more commonly known. They’re business travellers aged between 18-32 who are known to be both tech savvy and dependent on technology to manage their lives. Millennials are apparently freer with their company’s travel budget and look for better options than what are provided to them. Even though they’re value conscious, Millennials are deemed to care more about the service that’s best suited to their needs. To appeal to this demographic, certain areas of the business travel sector have adopted their strategy. Will remodelling current practice to suit Generation Y neglect the traditional business traveller? And, more importantly, does this generation actually exist?
Apparently, Millennials want it all. They want convenience and flexibility but also prioritise their wellbeing and promote a healthy lifestyle. If that’s true then room service alone isn’t going to be sufficient enough to whet their appetite. Recently introduced ‘grab and go’ services have replaced aspects of the traditional room service, which might not appeal to every business traveller. Having kitchen facilities to allow guests to cook whatever they want and when they want must be considered as on option for the guest. To choose whether to go out to a restaurant or cook in your own kitchen - what could be more convenient and flexible than that?
To target the value conscious Millennials, Premier Inn will soon open ‘Hub’; offering rooms half the size and at a lower price. This may be convenient but isn’t this neglecting a business traveller’s ideals of room to relax or work in their own space? The same premise goes for this ‘new’ idea of offering free Wi-Fi across the board – most serviced apartments have done this for years. Labelling a generation of business travellers may help companies develop their strategy, but stereotypes aren’t representative of the whole market. Most of us own a smartphone (even people above 32) and every business traveller wants flexibility and convenience. That makes all of us Millennials, doesn’t it?
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