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Travel Megatrends 2020: Smart Design Isn’t Just for Luxe Travel Anymore

Raini Hamdi

Photo Credit: Skift

Skift Take

There is no turning back on the transformation of low-budget hotels from the “uncategorized” class into a legitimate segment of the global hotel industry. Future technology and the rise of Gen Z will further fuel innovation and change in the design of economy accommodations — especially in Asia.

Series: Megatrends 2020

Skift Megatrends 2020

We recently released our annual travel industry trends forecast, Skift Megatrends 2020. Download a copy of our magazine here and read on for highlights online.
Upstarts across the globe led by Oyo Hotels & Homes, RedDoorz, Yanolja, and many other players are reviving faceless buildings, guesthouses, hostels, so-called love hotels, and budget vacation rentals into legitimate, respectable businesses. The trend is being driven by tech-focused entrepreneurship and points to a deepening democratization of travel. Whether or not these ventures are profitable eventually, what they’ve done is reinvent the category, giving it the distribution scale to wholesalers and online travel agencies. With this ingenuity, these previously dismissed hotels are making three-star hotels look too pricey and too old.

Get Your Skift Travel Megatrends 2020 Download Here

What’s Smart Design for Budget? The snowball effect is that traditional chains, such as Accor and Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, are also jumping in to redesign the budget space. In doing so, we can be sure the evolution of budget accommodations is not a flash in the pan. Accor’s lowest-priced category, Ibis Budget, sports new “snug designer rooms” and the chain has fielded a modern-day hostel version in Jo&Joe. Wyndham’s Super8 brand is reimagining the hostel with a new Room8 communal space that can sleep four individuals. Smart design

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