Q&A: Andrew Cox, director of partner marketing, Asia Pacific at Travelocity
29 December 2011
What evidence is there that staycationing is becoming more popular in Asia?
ZUJI’s data reflects an increase in local hotel bookings for a property within the booker’s city or a neighbouring, easily accessible city. In fact, more than 20% of ZUJI’s hotel bookings across all our Asia-Pacific markets were for local hotels.
Another industry study found that Singaporean travellers were the savviest spenders on hotel rooms when they travelled abroad but the biggest spenders when at home. In 2010, Singaporeans paid an average of S$177 per night on hotel rooms overseas but S$244 on hotel rooms in Singapore. Additionally, South Koreans were right behind Singapore in terms of spending on hotel rooms within their home country, indicating that the staycation trend is definitely taking root here [1] in Asia.
Serving as a close alternative to overseas travel, short getaways in the form of staycations allow travellers to take a break and recharge at a lower cost. Staycations are a lot quicker and easier to plan, helping holiday makers get better rest and relaxation. At ZUJI, we are definitely seeing a larger pick-up in staycations and intra holiday bookings.
In which cities in Asia are people staycationing more?
Generally, this is trending in Singapore and other major Asia Pacific cities such as Hong Kong and Sydney where discounted weekend rates at hotels are luring more and more locals to experience their cities as a tourist would. Most hotels in major APAC hubs are seeing record occupancy during weekdays, thanks to a quick recovery of the corporate market, and to see their occupancies stay high are discounting their rates over weekends. They often offer deeper discounts for 2 night stays, discounts on Food and Beverage, Spa treatments and even upgrades.
Why do you think this is?
Singapore is one of the cities in which people are taking more staycations, especially with the growing number of attractions as well as the integrated resorts. These allow for Singaporeans to take holidays at home without having to worry too much about travel planning. Additionally, the increase in affluence makes it easier for Singaporean consumers to part with their money for a relaxing and luxurious stay in a domestic hotel.
Are there any notable trends around staycationing in Asia [ie. Frequency of visits to local hotels versus hotels in other countries; expenditure on local hotels versus hotels elsewhere]
Staycationers tend to gravitate towards high-end luxury, boutique or themed properties and booking lead times are becoming shorter. While pricing plays a part in the decision making process, consumers are more likely to pay for a room upgrade or enjoy more of the hotel services as a result. Of particular advantage are properties in strategic locations with easy access to public transportation and key city attractions.
Staycationers tend to watch the Zuji website snapping up deals as they become available, sometimes on the day of arrival, showing that they are willing to enjoy a spur of the moment weekend in Singapore.
What are people looking for from staycations?
Staycationers often have high expectations for superior customer service. During their stay, travellers simply want to rest, relax and be pampered and customer service plays a huge part in creating a memorable travel experience for the customer. Based on ZUJI’s insights, hotels with high customer service ratings provide above average amenities and services, which are more popular amongst travellers planning weekend staycations.
Our booking data also reveals that travellers look for hotels in locations with convenient access to transportation as well as entertainment and attractions. Excellent amenities such as a spa, club floor, swimming pool and entertainment venues, amongst others, will also contribute to the decision making process.
What can hoteliers do to attract staycationers?
To leverage on this trend, hotels can partner with online travel agents (OTAs) like ZUJI to increase their online reach and relevance. Research from PhoCus Wright[2] has shown that OTAs are in a strong position to drive hotel sales in the Asia Pacific region, due to the fragmented nature of the marketplace. OTAs serve as intermediaries that offer customers a complete view of hotel options and rates, with everything from the major chains or brands to smaller boutique hotels.
For the majority of hotels unaffiliated with major chains or brands, ZUJI’s reach of over 1.7 million unique users per month within the APAC region helps to create instant brand visibility for these properties. ZUJI’s strong network of 60,000 hotels makes it easy for travellers to find and book what they need, offering highly attractive rates for package deals. Frequent travellers looking for quick, reliable and cost effective platforms to book their trips, look to ZUJI for all of their travel needs.
With the greater exposure, hotels enjoy greater brand visibility in each market, as OTAs are often one of the first places users start shopping for travel. In addition, ZUJI continually undertakes marketing communications to speak to travellers. We invest significantly in creating marketing campaigns that utilises multiple media channels. This not only continues to grow our user base in each market, but provides additional value for hotel chains that choose to work with us.
I've found out about this new hotel marketing trend called staycation from my friend, Mr. Ryan Deiss. Instead of traveling a long distance for a vacation, people prefer to go to the closest tourist destination and check into a hotel for a couple of days. They recharge their batteries while enjoying the view and the sites but also the spas and services of the hotels.