Direct bookings & your hotel’s guests: Are you attracting, reaching, and converting the energised baby boomers?

For hoteliers, identifying and attracting a specific target audience is a constant struggle.

There are many different groups of people who love to travel, and each particular group has their own set of desires and expectations when it comes to lodging. Every hotel brand needs to constantly evaluate their marketing efforts in order to attract new guests and visitors to their properties.

A recent reported titled ‘Top 10 Global Consumer Trends’ was published by Euromonitor International, and it identifies ‘The Energised Baby Boomers’ as a socio-demographic group for hoteliers to target in their marketing strategies.

Who are ‘The Energised Baby Boomers’?

The famed Baby Boomer generation, born between 1946 and 1964, are becoming increasingly active as they head toward their retirement years.

Many of them use their disposable income in order to spend big on luxury trips — both internationally and domestically. These holidays might include lengthy stays in cultural destinations and luxury cruise trips that last for several weeks.

Known in the UK as the ‘Grey Pound’, this group of people over the age of 50 are known for spending money while boosting the economy at the same time.

This group is accounting for the majority of travellers in the UK, which is why it’s important for hoteliers to attract this target audience.

How are hotel brands responding to them?

An increasing number of senior citizens will be travelling the globe in the coming years, as people continue to live longer and healthier lives.

‘The Energised Baby Boomers’ have money to spend, and hoteliers recognise that they want to enjoy this time of their lives in a way that they have not been able to before.

Some brands are creating entire properties that require guests to be over the age of 21, in order to appeal to adult travelers who want to escape the hustle and bustle of family holidays.

Others are creating specific marketing campaigns targeted at those over the age of 50 in order to tap into this motivated market.

How do you get them to book direct?

Give them local information and recommendations

Your hotel’s website should be packed with local information outlining some of the fun and interesting things your guests can do when they stay.

Ask your local tourist boards for help compiling the information to ensure it’s accurate and in line with any campaigns or promotions they might be running. Local information is great content and will boost your search engine optimisation (SEO) efforts.

Using a website creator, such as SiteMinder’s Canvas, is a great launchpad for your website’s well-structured pages that are cleverly-built if you don’t have the design or technical skills yourself. Good information will keep your visitors on your website for longer and subsequently more opportunity to convert them directly.

Package the extras and your hotel’s facilities

A big sell for the energised baby boomers is convenience and access in the form of packages.

Think about the extras you can sell to this demographic group. Tours and attractions are key here. Add in some facilities too such as a spa or early dinner options. Use your online booking engine to create packages that appeal to this group.