With the summer holidays now upon us, many hotels are scratching their heads as to why their family bookings just aren’t reflecting the huge demand that this time of year brings. One of the hardest markets to successfully attract, the ‘family’ market can also be one of the most lucrative with excursions popular and extra mouths to feed.
Most families when looking for a hotel will pick one that can satisfy each family member’s needs, including their teenage daughter or son. With the rise in technology, teenagers are constantly glued to either their phone, laptop, computer or PlayStation. A report, by the Education Policy Institute (EPI) says that “37.3% of UK 15-year-olds use the internet for over 6 hours a day.” Attracting teens with a strong Wi-Fi signal may be easy enough, but parents are keener than ever to digitally detox their kids so exciting alternatives are required to satisfy their needs to.
1. Teen Clubs
Sitting around a pool all day can often get boring for teenagers, the implementation of a teen club could significantly boost the increase in families with teenagers visiting your hotel. We all know from our former years that travelling with your parents is not always ideal, allowing teens to socialise with kids their age while also giving the parents some alone time can be appealing to both parents and teens at the time of booking.
2. Fun Activities
Hotels must not forget that teenagers are still kids at heart and whilst social media may be their main priority, nothing is more appealing to them than being able to share a unique experience with their friends at home. Whether its water sports, swimming with exotic animals or a climbing wall, any sort of adrenaline filled activity will grab their attention. You don’t need to have the facilities for this on site, research local activities and team up with the activity provider to offer exclusive discounts to your guests.
3. Wi-Fi Connection
Even parents looking to digitally detox their kids know that some battles are best left unfought, and a peaceful holiday for them may just mean their teen gets a little time online. Although most hotels today have a Wi-Fi connection it can often be very slow and difficult to access.
With many teenagers suffering from FOMO (fear of missing out) the assurance of having a stable internet connection and being able to keep up to date with all their friends and the new online trends will make your hotel much more appealing. Dimitriss Frossinis, Managing Director at HotelFeedback approves this statement. “(Guest) experience is the speedy internet, it’s the satellite TV or the video games, not the spa and food,” he says.
Written by acomos ™ intern Luca Georgiou, photo by rawpixel.com from Pexels