Hospitality Upgrade recently had the chance to interview Ray Carlin, vice president of solution and strategy management at Oracle Hospitality, about the key findings in Oracle’s new report, Millennials and Hospitality: The Redefinition of Service.
The report surveyed more than 9,000 millennials from around the world and discussed their use of technology in hotels, restaurants, bars and coffee shops – quantifying the impact mobile devices have on the hospitality industry. Millennials are projected to spend an average of $3,900 each on travel this year.
“It’s not a shock that millennials are interested in using mobile technology, but the reality is it’s a mixed-use environment,” Carlin said. “But for some people, mobile is a personal definition of good service.”
Some key findings of the study:
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52 percent of millennials want to manage loyalty on their mobile devices.
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Millennials want to use this mobile technology but on some level still want personal service and individual customer preference.
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39 percent of millennials have already ordered food via a mobile device, while more than half (51 percent) want to be able to order delivery and takeout from mobile.
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29 percent of U.S. millennials have already paid for food and drink by mobile device.
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Millennials want to use mobile technology for hotel services such as connecting to hotel Wi-Fi, checking in to a hotel, booking a room or browsing a hotel website. Out of those surveyed, 46 percent had booked a hotel room using a mobile device, and more than 80 percent said they used a mobile device to connect to the hotel Wi-Fi.
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There are potential ancillary markets to this group including connecting to room service and accessing entertainment. In the survey, 55 percent of millennials said they wanted to connect their mobile devices in hotel rooms to enjoy entertainment, and 36 percent of millennials said they wanted to be able to access their own entertainment and have the option of paying for music, films and TV programming.
“This study reinforces the need to provide solutions in an adaptive service model,” Carlin said. “It also validates an investment in cloud services and a focus on mobile enabling guest and employee-facing technology. It was an important effort for Oracle meant to communicate how cloud and mobile are inherent on how people want to be served before, during and after the visit.”
To read the full study please click here to sign up for the whitepaper section on our website.