Hospitality Market Report: Analyzing Trends and Opportunities

This report examines the hospitality industry, focusing on the impact of mega and emerging trends such as virtual communities, memorable local experiences, sustainability, technology, big data, and direct bookings. It analyzes how these trends influence the interaction between organizations and customers, highlighting the role of AI, smart rooms, and sustainable practices in enhancing customer experiences. The report also identifies entrepreneurial business opportunities arising from these trends, including online review platforms, travel blogging, adventure tourism, eco-friendly transportation services, bike rentals, and virtual communities. It emphasizes the importance of understanding and leveraging these trends to build profitable businesses that offer memorable experiences while adhering to legal and ethical standards. The document is available on Desklib, a platform offering a range of study tools for students.

Business Opportunity
Report
1

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
Mega trends and emerging trends in hospitality market........................................................3
Impact of the above stated trends on the Hospitality market.................................................5
Entrepreneurial Business Opportunities.................................................................................6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9
2

INTRODUCTION
The hospitality industry comprises of various fields like accommodation, transportation,
food and beverage service, lodging etc. The hospitality market is among the fastest growing
across the world because people frequently travel either because of business reasons, for leisure
etc. The hospitality market has been facing tremendous changes that are reshaping the way in
which it functions (Alpar and Schulz, 2016). The industry is majorly concerned with providing
services to the customers and gaining their satisfaction through memorable and lasting
experiences. This report is based on the hospitality market and assesses the impact of various
mega as well as emerging trends on the same. It also identifies the various entrepreneurial
business opportunities that arise due to the impact of these trends.
MAIN BODY
Mega trends and emerging trends in hospitality market
The hospitality market is very competitive which makes it important for it to keep up
with the latest trends in the industry that can impact its overall functioning. The various major
trends as well as emerging trends currently prevailing in the market are explained below -
 Virtual Communities – Various social networking sites like TripAdvisor etc. are among
the major trends in the hospitality market today. This has resulted in more transparency
and an overall improvement in the services provided to customers. Guests can easily
access various online communities where they can read reviews posted by other people in
order to get an idea about which hotels are better as compared to others.
 Memorable and Lasting local experience – One of the other major trends in the
hospitality industry is that organisations know the requirements and demands of their
guests and thus make sure that they get a lasting as well as memorable experience when
they stay with the hotel (Beckwith, 2018). Hotels focus on providing local products as
well as an experience of the local culture to the guests.
 Sustainability – Customers are increasingly becoming concerned about the environment
and want to know more about businesses that follow ethical practices and also contribute
to safeguard the environment.. Keeping this in mind, organisations are working towards
building a sustainable business. They promote eco-friendly practices to build an image of
3

a business that is contributes towards safeguarding the environment from any kind of
harm.
 Technology – Technology advancements have led the organisations in the industry to be
able to provide customised services to the customers. Technology has also transformed
the way in which guests interact with various hospitality brands, both before as well as
during their stay with them. Artificial intelligence, robots, chatbots etc. are some
advancements in technology that provide the users with relevant information on their
demand (Top 5 hospitality trends in 2019, 2020). Facial recognition as well as AR/VR
are some other technologies that are changing the face of hospitality industry. There are
various hotels that offer their guests and option of staying in smart rooms that have
connectivity of Internet of Things and allow guests to personalise their experience with
their voice or use of an app.
 Big Data – The process of data collection has grown tremendously across the world and
in across almost all industries. It can be used by the hospitality organisations to provide
their customers with much more personalised experiences (7 Technology Trends in the
Hospitality Industry, 2020). This is where Big Data comes into picture, for example, the
data that is collected can be used by various travel agents to recommend customers a list
of destinations based on various attributes like age, price, locations visited previously,
budget, gender etc. Organisations in the hospitality industry can identify various trends in
the market that can be implemented in order to generate revenue and increase
profitability.
 Direct Bookings – This is one of the most recent emerging trends of the hospitality
sector in which organisations are focussing on building websites that are well designed,
responsive and provide users an easy to browse experience (Burke and Clark, 2016).
They can incorporate a booking-engine that will help them in converting online visitors
into their hotel guest as well as gain direct bookings. Apart from this, hospitality
organisations promote themselves through many ways in order to gain attention of people
make them book directly with them. Methods like online campaigns and email marketing
will help them in strengthening their presence in the market among audience.
4

Impact of the above stated trends on the Hospitality market
The trends that were discussed above have impacted the hospitality market significantly.
The way in which organisations interact with their customers and vice versa has changed.
Artificial intelligence and the concept of smart rooms has made it easier for the companies to
provide their customers much more personalised experiences The customers can use voice
commands for room service, house keeping, setting alarm etc. Thus technology has impacted the
hotel industry positively (Chorafas, 2016). Sustainability has become important for all
organisations in order to attract customers as well as retain them for a long time. Companies are
adopting various innovative practices like incorporating solar-based inters in guest rooms and
offering toiletries that are environment friendly in order to make their services as green and
sustainable as possible.
Another mega trend, Personalisation has become one of the biggest trends over the recent
years. Virtual communities like Trivago, TripAdvisor etc. have led to transparency and an
overall enhancement in the quality of services that are offered by the companies in hospitality
industry. Digitization on the other hand, has impacted the market in the sense that the managers
of organisations in the industry can now control the experience of their guests (Wang, Pauleen
and Zhang, 2016). Big Data, on the other hand, has impacted the industry positively and helps
companies in identifying important trends as well as patterns. Thus, as a result, they can make
changes in their products as well as services accordingly and improve revenue. This has also
helped in increasing productivity of the employee as well as their performance in order to gain a
competitive advantage over others in the market.
Personalisation is another aspect that has had a huge impact on the hospitality market as
this ensures that guests within a hotel get a memorable and lasting experience from the time they
check in to the hotel till the time they check out. Also, each guest that visits a hotel has his own
specific desires and requirements. Organisations in the hospitality industry have understood this
and now treat their customers more efficiently in order to gain their loyalty. Direct bookings
have led to growth in the number of review sites (Costa and et. al., 2016). This is because before
booking their stay with a hotel, they first look out for reviews posted by other people about their
experience at the same hotel as well as the rating of organisation on various online platforms.
Sustainability has become one of the most important issues in the world today and
hospitality is among one of the quickest ones to adopt to the change. Companies adopt various
5

practices like recycle, reuse, reducing carbon footprints etc. Like people, companies have also
become concerned about the environment and the impact that various activities have on the
same. Sustainable businesses within the hospitality industry will attract people from different
parts of the work and also help companies gain their trust in order to stand out in the market.
Therefore, apart from remaining updated about the various major as well as emerging
trends, companies should also study and analyse the kind of impact they can have on their
overall productivity as well as performance in the industry (Grayson and Hodges, 2017). Also,
the rise in the number of trends emerging in the market, has improved the way in which
customers as well as organisations interact with each other. The impact can either be positive or
negative depending on how organisations incorporate the same in to their systems. Thus, trends
play a major role in shaping the way companies conduct their business operations.
Entrepreneurial Business Opportunities
By analysing the impact of various trends in the hospitality industry, different
entrepreneurial business opportunities have been identified. Small online businesses can be
started that can incorporate reviews as well as feedbacks that are shared by other people based on
their experience at a particular hotel which can either be positive or negative. Another business
opportunity is that of a travel blogger or vlogger because people are now increasingly becoming
tech-savvy and have access to smartphones as well as a high speed cellular network. This is a
great idea for people who like to travel frequently to different innovative places.
The hospitality industry can offers its customers an experience of adventure tourism
which will also promote the idea of them being a sustainable business. The visitors can be
explained about the importance of safeguarding the environment and the various consequences
of not doing so. For an adventure tour, kayaks or environment friendly boats and taxis can be
used that also support the main idea. With the use of technology rising day by day, it has become
necessary for companies to adopt themselves to all the latest technology introduced in the
market.
In order to offer guests a lifetime and memorable experience, there can be a rise of small
hospitality businesses that focus primarily on providing the customers innovative and unique
experiences. This will help them grow and expand in a highly competitive market (Mills, 2019).
An environment friendly shuttle service for transportation can also be started because tourists
always look out for cheap transportation ways to travel from one place to another. This will help
6

businesses in collecting money and making profits. The service can be made available at bus
stops, airports etc. Business cards can be shared with the customers so that they can contact the
concerned person in case of need.
Renting bikes is another opportunity for an entrepreneurial business as guests need some
or the other way of transportation to travel from one place to another. The business can either be
started in the form of a free standing small shop or a tie-up with a hospitality organisation and
the profits can be shared (Sahai and Frese, 2019). Virtual communities are also a great
entrepreneurial opportunities that help customers with the reviews and other feedbacks about
different hotels and resorts during their decision making process of staying with a particular
hotel. Such businesses can be set up at a small scale initially but have potential to grow and
expand at a very fast pace so as to generate revenue as well as profits. This will help these
businesses in standing out from other players in the market as this is among the most innovative
and fresh ideas in the market.
Thus, there are several entrepreneurial business opportunities that can arise as a result of
the impact of various emerging trends in the market. These trends can either create a positive or a
negative impact on the hospitality industry. People should look out for different opportunities
and utilise the same to build businesses that offer solutions to various problems prevailing in the
market and also generate profits as a result of the same (St-Jean and et. al., 2017). Therefore,
trends can be analysed and appropriate opportunity should be tapped in order to start businesses
that are profitable as well as help organisations in offering their customers a long lasting and
memorable experience when they consider staying with them for either a short or a long duration
of time. Apart from this, various legal rules and regulations should be kept in mind so that the
business is carried out in an ethical manner.
CONCLUSION
From the above report, it can be concluded that hospitality industry is among the fastest
growing industries across the world. Also, there are various major as well as emerging trends
that prevail in the industry like digitisation, sustainability, providing customers a memorable and
long lasting experience etc. These trends can impact the hospitality industry either positively or
negatively depending on the way they are incorporated by companies. Also, due to impact of
these trends on organisations in the industry, various business opportunities are created for
entrepreneurs that can be utilised by them in order to build sustainable and profitable businesses.
7

They can create opportunities like a bike renting system, sustainable transportation business,
travel blogger, photographer etc.
8

REFERENCES
Books & Journals
Alpar, P. and Schulz, M., 2016. Self-service business intelligence. Business & Information
Systems Engineering. 58(2). pp.151-155.
Beckwith, N., 2018. Inclusive Business Financing: Where Commercial Opportunity and
Sustainability Converge. Asian Development Bank.
Burke, J. J. and Clark, C. E., 2016. The business case for integrated reporting: Insights from
leading practitioners, regulators, and academics. Business Horizons. 59(3). pp.273-283.
Chorafas, D. N., 2016. The Business of Europe is Politics: Business Opportunity, Economic
Nationalism and the Decaying Atlantic Alliance. CRC Press.
Costa, S. F. and et. al., 2016. The role of different opportunities in the activation and use of the
business opportunity prototype. Creativity and innovation management. 25(1). pp.58-72.
Grayson, D. and Hodges, A., 2017. Corporate social opportunity!: Seven steps to make
corporate social responsibility work for your business. Routledge.
Mills, K. G., 2019. Fintech, Small Business & the American Dream: How Technology Is
Transforming Lending and Shaping a New Era of Small Business Opportunity. Springer.
Sahai, R. and Frese, M., 2019. If you have a hammer, you only look for nails: the relationship
between the Einstellung effect and business opportunity identification. Journal of Small
Business Management. 57(3). pp.927-942.
St-Jean, É. and et. al., 2017. May business mentors act as opportunity brokers and enablers
among university students?. International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal.
13(1). pp.97-111.
Wang, W. Y., Pauleen, D. J. and Zhang, T., 2016. How social media applications affect B2B
communication and improve business performance in SMEs. Industrial Marketing
Management. 54. pp.4-14.
Online
Top 5 hospitality trends in 2019. 2020. [Online]. Available
through:<https://www.businessdestinations.com/relax/top-5-hospitality-trends-in-2019/>.
7 Technology Trends in the Hospitality Industry. 2020. [Online]. Available
through:<https://www.revfine.com/technology-trends-hospitality-industry/>.
9