All marketing strategies involve demographics. It seems however that hoteliers should primarily focus on women consumers. Women’s main influence is their spending power even under rough economic circumstances.
Amongst the busy schedule of all women, they still plan family vacations. They figure out every single detail such as transportation, food and of course, hotel accommodation. Thus, women should be the primary target of marketers in the hotel industry.
Euromonitor International, a market-research firm, released their annual survey where disposable income per capita for women from all over the world increased in the past 2 years. In addition, those increases are higher than males’.
The traditional role of women has managed to make a complete turn around and this resulted to women having buying powers. Despite the income gaps between sexes, roles of women have definitely made them the primary subject for all marketers.
According to Michelle Grant, Euromonitor’s travel and tourism research manager and Daphne Kasriel, Euromonitor’s consumer research editor, one of the reasons why women influence the travel industry is because they are largely involved in all spending decisions within the household.
Women seek value and feel that hotels should be of value before booking a room. Aside from this, 47% of women from a sample of 1,000 are actually traveling for business purposes. This is according to the vice chairman of MMGY Global, Peter Yesawich, who also said that years ago the statistics were a lot lower. In addition to this, female travelers are splendidly concerned on what complimentary amenities a hotel can offer. Hotels with perks such as flexible check in and check out times, value promotions and the like will be fully booked during holidays as compared to those that don’t have such giveaways.
Since women have a more flexible income nowadays, it is important that there is a special segment in marketing that is dedicated to them. Women base their travel decisions on leisure, most especially if this is for their families.
Hilton’s first ventured on marketing women year 1963 by establishing a department of women’s services. This department was called Lady Hilton by 1965 which had various amenities dedicated to women. This trend which was founded by Hilton is making its comeback. Nuami Hotel Singapore and Dukes Hotel London, among others, have women-only floors filled with things “all-women” such as hair styling equipment, women’s magazines and the like.
Furthermore, various roles of women regarding childcare, career and others should be considered when creating these amenities. Hilton Hotels and Resorts are exerting their best efforts for female travelers by offering packages that include a day in the spa, fashion weekend accommodation and the like. To make it even more appealing to the target market, Hilton uses catchy names for the mentioned packages such as “Girlfriends Getaway” or “Feast for Fashion.”
