NASHVILLE, Tennessee — Travelers are chasing experiences as they plan their trips, and hotels face competition from other lodging providers to deliver on these experiences.

Social media trends, wellness pursuits and popular television shows might spur inspiration for a vacation.

Silvia Camarota, senior director of North America market management and lodging at Expedia Group, said on a panel at the Hotel Data Conference that Expedia surveyed 20,000 users about their travel preferences and why they choose certain destinations.

“Is the hotel modern? Is it cool? Does it have an Instagrammable moment? Travelers are really looking at wellness. They’re looking at detox trips. They’re looking at choices [that are] not alcoholic beverages,” she said, adding that travel experiences must cater to different audiences.

Hotels' major competitors in lodging are investing big in delivering the experiences travelers want.

Kampgrounds of America manages more than 500 campgrounds in the U.S. and Canada and a glamping option called Terramor Outdoor Resort in Bar Harbor, Maine. KOA President and CEO Toby O’Rourke said 59 million U.S. households have camped or are planning an outdoor hospitality experience, a number that has risen noticeably since the pandemic.

“They might be recreating, hiking, fishing or canoeing, or they might just be trying to slow down, immerse themselves in nature and just unwind. We’re seeing people saying, I want to slow down, I want to immerse myself here in the outdoors and relax,” she said.

Some non-traditional campers might be more interested in booking KOA's glamping accommodations, O’Rourke said.

“We have a product type that competes with hotels — deluxe cabins. We’ve got kitchens and bathrooms, TVs, all the things you experience in a hotel, but what we have is the outdoors. … I sell the indoors by selling the outdoors,” she said.

The rise in camping that came out of the pandemic has leveled off a little, but KOA's guest demographics are changing, O'Rourke added.

“It’s bringing people that wouldn’t consider themselves campers to the outdoors, and these are people who stay at hotels,” she said.

Erica Lipscomb, senior vice president of revenue strategy at Crescent Hotels & Resorts, said hospitality providers at traditional hotels must look to see what outdoor space they do have.

“What are your people hearing your customers talk about when they’re looking for experiences? How do you now keep them in house and use all your open areas to be able to really create those curated experiences at your property?” she said.

One of Crescent's hotels created a unique experience and more breathing room for guests by building a floating pool in an on-site lake, Lipscomb said.

“I mean, how many kids can say that they were in a floating pool, right? And we have just seen our summer leisure travel increase year over year, just by having a floating boat,” she added.

But not all "experiences" have to break the bank for the hotel or accommodations provider. Experiences can be simpler, Lipscomb said, such as eating s’mores around a campfire.

“We sell them in the gift shop, and we can’t keep them on the shelf. What do you do with the kids? They are wired from the day, they’re not ready to go to sleep, put s’mores in your grab 'n’ go, and you have this perfect night,” Lipscomb said. "And it’s how do you look at ancillary revenue? Tie it into experience, and the pictures of such experiences go all over social media, another great way to get customers in your door.”

O’Rourke lives in Montana, which contains a small section of Yellowstone National Park, the inspiration for the modern Western TV show “Yellowstone.”

“It’s a big deal. Not only for tourism, but for people moving there, so it’s not going away anytime. And I see all sorts of hotels and campgrounds and all sorts of operators trying to create demand,” O’Rourke said. “The question is do you adjust your hotel permanently or ride the wave? … Is it long-term phenomenon or short-term pop?

“Cult classics have more staying power,” she added.

Joel Contor, director of sales and marketing at Chicago’s Kimpton Gray Hotel, said in Chicago, gangster-related tours remain in demand.

“But to capture that demand by then elevating that experience,” he said, referencing that interest in the city’s seedier side has been of interest for almost 100 years.

Such niche experiences often drive leisure demand, but it's harder to sell the same types of experiences to large corporate groups visiting for meetings or conventions, Lipscomb said.

“We were just loving the occupancy, but now we need more group. It hasn’t come back. And it’s not that we haven’t really been going after group. … We heard it earlier that leisure travel is going down, and they’re just traveling in different ways and going to different places. Group is coming back but not at the rate that we all needed to be able to make up for the loss,” she said.

Hoteliers need to home in on personalization to craft authentic guest experiences, Contor said.

“We have to lean into our demographics. The more information [guests] give us, the more we can actually really detail their experiences with us,” he said.

Lipscomb said it's crucial for hoteliers to understand why customers will pay more for the right experiences.

“If we can pull through on every touchpoint of the customer journey, rate is not necessarily always the issue. Our customers are telling us what they want. We use data from a lot of our vendor partners to understand what our customers want. We really should be focused on every touchpoint from the moment we target a customer. … We use our [revenue management systems] for setting rates, but what we try to spend more of our time on is having our revenue leaders focus on commercial strategies, understanding what are the type of customers that are coming in,” she said.

Lipscomb said tapping into trends, demand and experiences starts with the general manager. She added general managers need to know what the customer wants and then lead their teams. Doing that can only happen if hoteliers are a full part of their communities.

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