Exclusive Views: Over the last few years, we face a major shift by global lodging brands towards what we commonly refer to as the 'Millennial Generations' and faced with growing alternative lodging offerings from the 'Sharing Economy', Hostels, 'Poshtels', Individual boutique hotels, many of the global hotel chains with established brands portfolios decided to move in full-force to catch the Millennials.

In the past, I wrote several articles in which I have suggested, if not to say, implored global hotel groups to adopt their products and marketing in order to attract their fair share of Millennials.

Clearly it is the right move, and if I would be sitting now as a C-Suite/level executive or a non-executive board member, I would have probably recommended to do same thing.

However, having said that, let’s examine our solid customer base.

The “Baby Boomers” generation started in 1946 and ended in 1964.

In 2014, just 3 years ago, the last group of “Baby Boomers” celebrated their 50th birthdays. In 2016, the first group of “Baby Boomers” celebrated their 70th birthday. Let me make a small confession: if you ask yourselves to which generation I belong, my answer is yes, I belong to the “Baby Boomers” generation!

In the US alone, roughly 80 million people belong to the “Boomers” generation and in Europe the number is higher - well over 100 million.

This year, in the US, 50% of the adult population is aged 50+.

Fact 1: the “Boomers” are the world’s no. 1 travelers in terms of actual number of trips taken per annum

Fact 2: the “Boomers” intend on boosting their travel budgets… big-time.

Fact 3: the “Boomers” aren’t old people who want to stay-put, they actually want to have fun

Fact 4: “Boomers” regularly go on Summer-breaks and weekend getaways

Fact 5: “Boomers” have their travel “bucket list” set well in advance and these destinations do include exotic destinations

Fact 6: the “Baby Boomers” generation is the richest generation in the history of the world, certainly the richest generation since the end of World War 2. 

Let’s dive a bit deeper and look at the “Boomers” spending behavior. The “Boomers” were born into a post-war culture of affluence and optimism. These were formative years, and the values that were forged then have stayed throughout their lives. Their growing incomes and the availability of plastic credit launched an era of spending and consumerism that endures today.

Looking ahead, as more “Boomers” age out of their prime income earning years, they will move from a life dedicated to making money to one that is dedicated to SPENDING MONEY. This form of lifestyle requires two simple ingredients:

• Money to spend
• Time to spend it

Conventional wisdom claims that as older consumers, they are brand loyal and set in their ways. But on the other hand, “Boomers” are often portrayed as: “Youthful, open-minded” consumers who are eager to discover new things. Still, others are living on fixed income, and may have no choice but to abandon life-long brands in exchange for new ones at a better value.

I would have loved to see the confidential data the global lodging giants such as Marriott, Hilton and Accor have on the age spending patterns of their loyalty club members. My guess is that by percentage and transaction volume, “Boomers” are leading the charts by a large margin.  

Once we move to the luxury and Uber-Ultra Luxury brands, the likes of Four Seasons, Mandarin Oriental, Peninsula, Aman, Kempinski, Belmond and others, my hunch is that the ratio will be even strongly in favor of the “Boomers”. 

So, friends and colleagues, I guess some of you are actually part of my generation, in which case you probably know what I am talking about. “Boomers” are the most valuable generation in the history of marketing and they are too valuable to ignore. If “Boomers” are your base and they are loyal customers, you must stay loyal to your own base!

“Boomers” are not the largest generation in terms of sheer numbers but they are certainly the Most Valuable Generation.    

Joseph - Yossi - Fischer the CEO of Vision Hospitality & Travel - international lodging & Travel Solutions

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