Airbnb and its ilk have long touted their locations and hosts as providing a local experience that hotels can’t match, but hotel operators have challenged that notion and refined their positioning to level the playing field. No longer are many hotels, especially in the independent and boutique space, just a place to sleep.
Today, in Part 2 of this series on competing with short-term rental companies like Airbnb, HOTELS Contributor Megan Rowe reports about the experiences hoteliers are creating and marketing to outperform. Here is a link to Part 1 of the series and watch for Part 3 tomorrow on rates, fees and bookings.
Experiential at its best
At Proper Hospitality hotels, guests have access to electric bikes, daily wellness activities, fitness centers, and F&B and programming tied to the local community. “From the design—often in partnership with local artists—to our wellness, music and speaker series activations, to our F&B offerings, our hotels offer a guest a rewarding way to experience the best of a location’s culture in a way that an Airbnb never could,” said Brian De Lowe, Proper’s president and cofounder. “We’re big believers that a big part of the attraction is getting to see the city or the area in which we operate—through our lens.”
A prime example is Palma, an art-filled lobby lounge at the Santa Monica Proper, designed as an all-day living room where guests can work, dine, relax or entertain. While it was closed for about a year during the pandemic, it recently reopened and De Lowe expects it to come back to life quickly.
Dream Hotel Group takes a similar tack to helping travelers discover a destination. “We want you to feel like a local in the first 24 hours,” said CEO Jay Stein. “Our people are trained to know what’s going on in the city, what are the hottest stores and restaurants, and they often have local connections.”
Dream Hotels’ lobbies, which attract locals, add to the experience, and while COVID precautions have put a damper on that, Stein said some properties have expanded the atmosphere to encompass more outdoor spaces effectively, and local occupancy restrictions are gradually relaxing.
For travelers seeking local experiences, hotels often enjoy the best jumping-off point to explore those, being closer to the action instead of in a more remote residential neighborhood. Emphasizing the proximity of local attractions is a way to connect with visitors looking to soak up local flavor.
Personalized service is still important in some segments. “Particularly at the luxury end of the market, short-term rentals are not able to compete effectively from a service and experience perspective,” said Jeff Doane, chief commercial officer for Accor, North & Central America..
But with widespread staffing cuts, many hotels may have trouble providing expected levels of service. The question is whether that will matter to travelers. In some markets, especially where occupancies are extremely low, service has been so curtailed that hotels have lost any advantage that might separate them from short-term rentals.
“When you look at the big cities in Europe, there aren’t a lot of services offered anyway. Often, they don’t even have a concierge,” said Simone Puorto, CEO of Paris-based consultancy Travel Singularity. “Most of these hotels (as of late April) are working with a fraction of the staff they used to have. So, it’s not uncommon for hotels to only have front desk staff in the morning. If you check out in during the afternoon, you might have to check in by kiosk.”