Skift Take
Multi-generational travel needs to be viewed with the same importance as the luxury travel market but treated with the definition it deserves so all generations walk away with an enjoyable vacation experience.
As summer inches closer in the U.S. so do the waves of grandparents and their families ready to relax and flex their spending power on vacations.
Multi-generational travel already has a strong showing at hotels and destinations around the world and if the 80 million people who will be considered older Americans by 2020 are any indication, this market will undoubtedly continue to flourish.
One Hotel's Strategy
Preferred Hotels and Resorts, previously Preferred Hotel Group, released the results of its national survey in December on U.S. multi-generational travelers. The findings emphasize that even though hotels need to think of this market holistically, the way properties communicate with the various generations should be differentiated.
"Millennials, for example, don’t want to feel like they’re being specifically marketed to," said Lindsey Ueberroth, president and CEO of Preferred Hotels and Resorts. "This market stays longer and spends more. Grandparents are the ones who are paying for these vacations but it's the millennials who are influencing where they’re going.”
"This is a loyal segment and I think hotels' successes with multi-gen travelers comes down to programming and asking yourself 'Do you have people on property that can make the trip seamless?' Are you making sure to outline how this is done on your website?' A trip can go sideways pretty quickly if these things aren't done."
Some 35% of respondents who were grandparents said they took at least one multi-generational trip during the previous year and that number is higher (41%) for "affluent" grandparents with combined annual incomes of more than $250,000. About 77% of all respondents said that these kinds of trips are "something they try t
