How Baby Boomers Influence Travel, Part 2

Here is the second installment on Baby Boomer Travel:

7. Boomers think they are special. Always been a force to be reckoned with, they are very demanding consumers. "Whether they go budget or luxury, boomers tend to want the best," said Day.

What boomers definitely do not want is herding. To many boomers, group travel has the faint aroma of a cattle drive. This has prompted some operators to drop tours from their names. Others have pared down group size, either by forming smaller groups or breaking larger groups into subsets which engage in different activities simultaneously.

Day suggested tour operators offer products that provide group transportation and accommodations, but impose a less rigid structure on travelers' daily movements. "I can see a much more à la carte approach that allows more independence," she said. The experts also recommended promotional materials down play the group aspect of tours and emphasize the benefits to individuals.

8. Boomers like creature comforts. This fact, according to Malott, actually keeps boomers from booking the exotic locales they profess to like. Day puts a slightly different spin on the issue. "A tent is OK," she said, "but it better have a great view and great food. Even if you're in the wilderness, luxury is being served a delicious meal without having to lift a finger."

9. Boomers are time deprived. To get relief from their stressful schedules, boomers vacation at spas where they can do absolutely nothing but be pampered. Or they may go to the opposite extreme, choosing adventures that are physically or mentally challenging - or both.

When booking travel, boomers also need time-saving devices. They like 800 numbers, the Internet, videos and virtual reality because they offer convenience and interactivity. Their predilection for technology can reduce travel suppliers' costs for agents' commissions and printing and mailing brochures. However, it also means call centers must be staffed to meet whenever boomers call.

Internet use is so common among Mature Traveler readers, editor Malott automatically lists website addresses along with phone numbers. Day pointed out that boomers use the Internet more for information gathering than booking. "It's human nature to want to feel connected to what you're about to sign up for," she said. However, she added, boomers also like the freedom of not involving other people when they are exploring a subject. Their attitude is, "When I've decided, I'll initiate the next move."

10. Boomers will pay for luxury, expertise and convenience. ATM fees, nannies and bottled water prove boomers are willing to pay for what they want. Mancini noted, "Boomers are willing to do things for themselves, if it's a hobby or if they think it won't require too much effort, but they really like to hire others to do it for them because it implies status."

Organized group travel becomes valuable to boomers when it's a physically or mentally challenging adventure, but they don't have the skill level to do it themselves. Or when safety and cost make traveling with a group more practical. "You get to an impasse where you need the experts to facilitate the experience," noted Day.

To attract boomers, tour operators must emphasize their expertise. They must add value boomers can't get on their own. Guides must become like personal trainers and demonstrate the skill and knowledge boomers will respect and pay for.

11. Boomers are skeptical of institutions and individuals. With Viet Nam and Watergate as touchstones, who can blame this generation for lacking trust? As a function of their distrust, boomers are not joiners. They are less involved with alumni groups, civic organizations and museum societies than their predecessors, so these traditional sources of group business may be less viable in the future.

Because they are skeptical, boomers actively research their travel options, so suppliers must expect a lot of information gathering before the buy decision. Public relations efforts that impart third-party or expert endorsement help break through boomers' skepticism. NTA focus groups in 1997 and 1998 said ads in local newspapers and word of mouth were the best sources of information and persuasion for travel products.

12. Boomers like to associate with people like themselves. As noted earlier, boomers do not identify with people older than themselves. According to Day, one of the questions uppermost in their minds when they purchase travel is, "Who is going to be on this trip? Is it going to be people like me or a bunch of stodgy, gray-haired people?"

Day said boomers look for outfitters or operators who "share my values,"so they are very selective about who they'll use. She added, "They want an interactive feeling with the outfitter . . . where there's equality between boomers and the leader."

13. Boomers are not homogeneous. While boomers identify themselves as boomers, they are not a single group. In terms of life stages, boomers may be the least homogeneous generation to date. There are childless-by-choice boomers, others with new babies, others with grandchildren and some with both. Fifty year olds who are retiring and others starting new careers or returning to college. Empty nesters downsizing their lives, parents who can't get their Gen Xers out of the house and others raising their grandchildren. These variations affect spending habits, the amount of time available for vacations and with whom boomers travel.

There is also a dichotomy between older and younger boomers. For those born between 1946 and 1955, Viet Nam was the defining event of their lives. For those who came later, it was Watergate. When older boomers finished college, jobs were plentiful and interest rates low. Younger boomers faced recession and 21% interest. The older group, the first to benefit from women's movement, tends to be more career-oriented. The younger ones experienced the down side of women's lib - the higher divorce rate. They also felt they never got as much attention as their older siblings, so they are more family-oriented. According to Mancini, older boomers, including himself, "thought our parents stuff was corny and stupid." Younger boomers, who watched Donna Reed and Ozzie and Harriet reruns on TV, he said, "unleashed this whole wave of nostalgia." All these factors too impact travel behavior.

If they keep these 13 truths about boomers in mind, marketers will be more successful in pursuing this large, but complex market segment.

Tradeshow Success!

If you’re attending a marketing event, the work can begin well before the event and isn’t finished when the trade show exhibits are packed away. Follow these tips for beforehand and afterwards and you can help ensure that you have a successful trade show, whether you’re a complete newbie or a veteran marketer.

Make Sure Your Display Is Being Shipped To The Correct Place

Having your trade show exhibits shipped to the right location is vital.  If any of the shipping details are incorrect, such as the zip code or city, or even which hall at the convention center, you could be stuck at the event without your trade show exhibits. Additionally, check that your company’s name or booth location is clearly labeled on the boxes so that the staff knows exactly where it should be placed for installation.

It’s also a good idea to make sure that your company’s name is clearly labeled on the inside of each box or shipping crate.  These crates can sometimes become damaged in transit and it could be a disaster if the container is damaged and no one knows where the contents belong.

Think About What You Want To Accomplish With Your Trade Show Exhibits

Make sure that you understand what you want to get out of the expo. Many businesses set vague goals — that is, if they set any at all.  If your goals are something like “capture more leads,” sit down and think about what this really means.  How many leads to you want to capture?  Do you want to get 10?  Or is 200 a more reasonable number?  Also consider the strength of the leads.  It’s not enough to capture leads without qualifying them first.  A cold lead is as good as no lead so make sure that your leads actually have a reason or a need for your company before you spend hours following up once you get back into the office.

Make Good On Your Promises

If you’ve promised to send an attendee information about your company, make sure that you actually do it once the event is over and the trade show exhibits are packed away.  If you promise to send something and don’t actually do it, many customers will assume you don’t want their business and will move on to your competitor.

Even if you didn’t promise information, you should still follow up with people you met at your trade show booth.  If someone filled out a lead card, but it didn’t seem like they were a hot lead, make sure that you call to check in every once in a while.  They were interested enough to visit your booth at the event so it’s possible that their needs could change in the future. Take care to not seem over-aggressive, however, since aggressive tactics can turn customers away.

While these tips aren’t complicated, they are extremely important if you want to maximize sales from a trade show marketing event.  Use these, but realize that they’re not the only things you should be doing.  Sit down with your staff and see if you can come up with other tasks that can help ensure your event is a success.

Reaping the Benefits of Vacation Packages

For travelers who like to plan ahead and manage their costs, vacation packages represent an easy way for travelers to book a flexible combination of flight, lodging, rental car and local attractions at one rate, on one website with a few clicks of the mouse.The benefits to hotels of offering vacation packages, however, often go unrecognized:

• An average booking window that is more than double that of a standalone hotel reservation;
• An average length of stay that is more than 120 percent longer than a standalone hotel reservation;
• 50 percent fewer cancellations than standalone hotel bookings
• Increased opacity to preserve rate integrity

In Jacksonville, a market that is driven largely by its submarkets, hotels were unaccustomed to utilizing packages because they assumed they were too far from the airport for their offerings to be effective.  By experimenting with the package path, one hotel ultimately grew its business by 20 percent and became one of Jacksonville’s top producers.   While packages are not the lion’s share of this hotel’s business, you can be sure they’re not interested in giving up those incremental room nights either.

It’s imperative for hotels to use market-specific demand data, like that offered by Expedia market managers, to identify and address any unfulfilled demand that could be best-served with vacation package offers.

For example, if 15 percent of shoppers in a given market are looking for four-night packages, 15 percent of any area hotel’s bookings should be for four nights.  If a hotel’s booking metrics don’t reflect market averages, the hotel can adjust their package offerings to capture that lucrative guest.  Offering discounts on a fourth night might convert three night shoppers into a four-night guest and capture the four-night shoppers along the way. 

Need help designing your package? Contact the sales staff at the Kankakee County CVB for more information.

Buses are booming; are you ready?

The number of people riding buses continues its recent upward trend, the American Bus Association said in its "Motorcoach Census 2013" report out recently. Despite the name, it actually looks at 2012 figures, and finds a 1.7 percent hike in passenger trips on buses, making it nearly 6 percent higher than three years ago. Read the full report or a chart of the basic figures. 

But how can you be sure your event or attraction is motorcoach friendly? In order to draw more of this business, see if you can answer these questions about your attraction or event:


ATTRACTION CRITERIA

• Do you have motorcoach parking? 
• Is there somewhere for the driver to rest away from the motorcoach?
• If an on-site lounge is unavailable, do you provide complimentary meals or drinks for the drivers? 
• Is it easy for motorcoaches to maneuver in and out of the parking facility? 
• Will the group have to walk far? 
• How many bus parking spaces do you have? 
• How is this communicated? 
• Communicated through a greeter, available online, or via telephone hotline? 
• Can you provide directions to nearby fueling, dumping or maintenance facilities?

EVENT CRITERIA

• Does the event have a history of drawing groups? How many? 
• Is the event motorcoach friendly? 
• How does the event treat bus drivers and group escorts—free admission? 
• A dedicated driver area?
• Prize drawings for drivers bringing the most groups? 
• Do you have dedicated parking areas for motorcoaches? Free? 
• Are embark/disembark points close to the event entrance? 
• Can nearby hotels accommodate a motorcoach group? 
• Can the event handle passengers being dropped off 55 at a time?

Keeping these things in mind can help make you more attractive to motorcoach groups. For more ideas, contact the Kankakee County CVB.

Get Creative

Smart hoteliers pay attention to what’s happening outside of their own markets and comp sets to identify emerging travel trends and opportunities. Our last article focused on trends for 2014 and now let's look at packages. 

Packages don't have to offer a discount to be attractive. Consider some of the trends on the rise and incorporate them into your packaging. For example, making a creative hands-on package  to include a cooking or art class. Offer a unique opportunity with a behind-the-scenes tour of a factory or business. You could also work with an event to offer a VIP experience. None of these have to provide a discount, just an experience travelers want to try.

In Jacksonville, a market that is driven largely by its submarkets, hotels were unaccustomed to utilizing packages because they assumed they were too far from the airport for their offerings to be effective. By experimenting with the package path, one hotel ultimately grew its business by 20 percent and became one of Jacksonville’s top producers. While packages are not the lion’s share of this hotel’s business, you can be sure they’re not interested in giving up those incremental room nights either.

It’s imperative for hotels to use market-specific demand data in addition to trends when creating packages. For example, if 15 percent of shoppers in a given market are looking for four-night packages, 15 percent of any area hotel’s bookings should be for four nights. If a hotel’s booking metrics don’t reflect market averages, the hotel can adjust their package offerings to capture that lucrative guest. Offering discounts on a fourth night might convert three night shoppers into a four-night guest and capture the four-night shoppers along the way.

Major vacation markets are naturals for package offerings, but with a little creativity and some solid trend data from experienced market managers, hotels in markets big and small will find that when it comes to packages, there’s something for everyone. Please contact the Kankakee County CVB sales department for package ideas and to post your packages online.

Six Travel Trends to watch in 2014

The Travel Market Report has sent out surveys an the results are in for what they say are the travel trends to watch in 2014. Not only are baby boomers still going strong, but indulgence and adventure travel is on the upswing. Check out these trends:

Trend #1. Impact of millennials
Trend #2. Seniors are unstoppableTrend #3. Rise of conspicuous leisureTrend #4. Growth of ‘creative tourism’Trend #5. Strength of luxury travel Trend #6. More multigenerational travel


Please visit their website for more information on these emerging trends. Contact the Kankakee County CVB for more information.

Responding to RFP’s

Electronic RFP’s are a standard in the event planning industry. Meeting planners can contact several potential properties with the click of a button, resulting in overloaded in boxes in the sales department. As a result, the vast majority of sales offices fall short on response times, even when it is a hot lead for low demand dates.

More often than not, those who inquire about dates that are sold out, or those that have needs that cannot be met at this time by the property, fail to receive any response. This leaves the meeting planners hanging and leads to frustration and complaints, not to mention a loss of any future business from that client. It seems that at most booking properties, no one responds anymore to say, “We are fully committed for your requested dates, but if your plans are flexible we would welcome a chance to look at other options.” Few if any respond to say “Since your meeting space cannot accommodate a group of this size, we do hope you will keep us in mind when you are planning smaller meetings.”

Here are a few tips to help get more mileage from RFP’s – even if your property is not available:

1.    Respond promptly to all inquiries, even those for which you have no inventory or otherwise cannot meet their specifications. Plans change as meeting details are finalized, and many planners are involved with multiple meetings. A well worded response indicating those dates are not available that provides the planner with alternate dates and a description of what you can offer may make the difference for another meeting date. Utilize your word processing software or brand resource tools to develop templates to streamline the process so every planner receives a response, whether you can accommodate the proposed dates or not. 

2.    Never assume that your property isn't right for a prospective client or that your rates will be too high. Limiting yourself to this mindset could result in missing out on potential future business if the planner coordinates multiple events with different requirements. 

3.    Even if you have hosted an event or group in the past, don’t assume they will choose your facility without receiving a response from you. Perhaps the planner’s objectives for the event have changed or they are not aware of a recent upgrade to your property. Taking the time to send an appropriate response such as “since your last event we now offer (new item) and look forward to continuing to serve you needs.” 

4.    Just because you did not win the bid for an event in the past does not mean you shouldn’t respond to future bids. Consider that although you may not have gotten business in the past, you don't know that organization didn't recently have a problem at the hotel that did get the business. So, always respond.

Need more ideas? Contact the Kankakee County CVB for more information on responding to RFP’s.