Greetings, hoteliers! While RevPAR slipped 0.7%, marking the 19th weekly decline, the luxury segment surged with 26% higher hotel sales, and social platforms revolutionized booking paths. From TikTok's new direct booking feature to 51% of travelers following influencers over celebrities, the playbook for capturing demand is rapidly evolving.
Insights brought to you by Lights On.
Actionable Insights
1. TikTok Enables Direct Hotel Bookings Through In-App Integration: TikTok's Booking.com integration lets users book hotels without leaving the app, with each property getting a mini landing page showing prices, amenities, and reviews. Social inspiration becomes instant conversion as creators tag hotels in videos.
💡 Update your Booking.com profile photos and descriptions today to optimize for TikTok visibility.
2. Travel Influencers Now Drive More Bookings Than Celebrities: A new MMGY survey finds 51% of Americans are influenced by travel creators on social media versus just 41% by traditional celebrities. Younger travelers scroll TikTok and Instagram for authentic hotel recommendations from relatable creators.
💡 Host micro-influencers for complimentary stays in exchange for tagged content.
3. RevPAR Decline Signals Time for Fall Promotions: U.S. hotels saw RevPAR fall 0.7% year-over-year for the week ending September 6, with occupancy at 57.7% and ADR dipping to $149.52.
💡 Launch aggressive shoulder-season packages with value-adds this week to capture fall bookings.
Everything else in hospitality this week
Asset managers rank weak demand: 77.8% cite it as a top concern, up from 65% in spring.
Luxury travel sales jump 26%: Virtuoso reports fall bookings up 30% as affluent travelers remain resilient.
Smart TVs now in 72% of rooms: Guest satisfaction rises with streaming capabilities, up from 39% in 2019.
Improve your AI skill today
AI chatbots are now a daily essential. Learn a few prompting techniques, and you’ll get better results for work and life.
Key takeaway: Generic trend requests produce generic answers. The real power comes from structuring your prompt with a specific role, timeframe, and output format.
By telling ChatGPT to act as a hospitality analyst and requesting both data citations and behavioral implications, you transform vague market research into actionable strategic intelligence that directly informs your property's planning.
You are a hospitality industry analyst. Identify 3 major trends in the hotel/travel industry from the last 6-12 months. For each trend, provide:
a) a brief description with any data or stats available, and
b) analysis of how this trend affects guest behavior or expectations.
Present it as a mini report we can use for our hotel's planning.That’s it for this week.
Book your Revenue Growth Blueprint session and identify the 3 fastest ways to boost your RevPAR.