InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) on Tuesday launched its 2015 Trends Report, Building Trust Capital: The new business imperative in the Kinship Economy, which identifies the growing importance for companies to build both brand and organizational trust. IHG is publishing its report during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, which highlights the erosion of trust in public and private sector institutions as one of its key trends.
IHG said trust capital represents the confidence consumers have in the credibility, integrity, leadership and responsibility of an organization and its brands. Its report unveils a blueprint that organizations can follow to build trust with different demographics and across different geographies.
This insight is based on a series of related studies spanning a three-year period and involving nearly 40,000 interviews with international travellers.
“Our research has shown that building trust capital plays a critical role in delivering sustainable, high quality revenue growth,” said IHG CEO Richard Solomons. “To build trust, organizations must ensure they adopt a trust agenda, focus on personalization while being aware of the boundaries and develop a deep understanding of how guest needs are changing by demographic and by geography.”
Key demographic insight
The report states that the real opportunity for brands is strategically managing both Baby Boomers and Millennials at the same time. According to the research:
- Millennials prefer close, experiential relationships with brands whereas Boomers look for brand relationships that go smoothly, with no hitches or glitches: 23% of Millennials say they want to stay in hotels that say something about them, versus 11 % of Boomers.
- Millennials are more apt to be ‘invisible travellers’ than Boomers – people who can move through the guest journey without caring for people-enabled contact: 67% of Boomers say they would prefer to call a hotel and speak with ‘real’ people on-site for information, versus 56% of Millennials.
- Millennials and Boomers have different desires when travelling as a family. Millennials look for places that have family-centric activities where their children will be well taken care of and will have fun. Boomers prefer everyone to be together in a multi-generational way.
The report argues that the changing nature of the family is also impacting how the consumer builds trust. It reveals that the Kinship Economy now has two kinds of kinship: kin, those who are our true family and kindred spirits. Appealing to a person’s two “networks” in relevant and differentiating manners is a positive (and cost-effective) way to gain and retain consumers.