HB
Capturing the Millennials market seems to be super hot with hotel companies right now. Is there a specific consumer group Choice is trying to get?
SJ
We represent the 99% of the traveling public out there, so we need to be relevant to lots of different classes, as we’re doing. For both Sleep Inn and Comfort, we know those packages resonate highly with Millennials, but we also know they resonate with our core client that’s currently staying at those properties. Now, depending on whose ‘chart’ you’re looking at, in five to seven years, the bulk of the traveling public is going to drop from being Baby Boomers and move into being Millennials. And Millennials have some particular characteristics that you have to pay attention to.
HB
What are they looking for that Boomers are not?
SJ
A lot of them are about control and having choices, not necessarily that their design tastes are dramatically different. They are continuing the movement of: ‘I want my hotel to be more of an experience: more regionalized, less cookie-cutter.’ And for a lot of them, they have a very different view of what they want in a hotel during the week versus during the weekend. We’re very aware of the size of that group and we want to make sure that we are relevant to them. At the same time, we need to make sure we’re relevant to the core set of customers that we’ve got. But based on what we know today, there’s not a dramatic difference.
HB
Don’t you think there’s bound to be some paradigm shifts hotel companies will need to address—for example, the check-in process?
SJ
We know we’re going to have to do that. We will have to provide people the option of bypassing the front desk and being able to check themselves into their room with their smartphones; it’s going to happen. Now, everybody’s got to replace his or her locks to do it, but it’s going to happen.
HB
Where does that leave the front desk and that “hospitality hello”?
SJ
That’s the question: How many people are going to bypass the front desk? It’s still the most popular place in the hotel. My sense of it is we’ve had kiosks for 30 years and they never took; nobody used them. People may not want to wait in line at the front desk, but people like talking to the front-desk person about what should they should do that night or what’s going on in the area or is there anything to know traffic-wise. Most people, in my experience, want some hospitality and service.
HB
It does seem that technology is the divide, with younger consumers wanting each iteration out there and expecting hotels to support, if not offer, it whether in the guestroom, the now omnipresent lobby/lounge or the other public spaces. How difficult is it to plan for the future?
SJ
One of the key differences between them and Boomers—although Boomers are getting there, too—is the rapid acceptance of new technology. I think it’s going to be disruptive for the foreseeable future as to what devices they’re going to use. That’s one of the things; we could decide it’s Droids and iPhones to open the doors and three years from now it could be totally different. I mean, Blackberry, okay? If you were working on this two years ago, you would have made Blackberry the key product to open doors. We all had them; a lot of people still do. Clearly, no one would make anything for Blackberry at this point. Part of the issue when you make this decision about which smart device you’re going to use to open the door and you go buy 500,000 new locks to do that, one, it’s not an insignificant expense and two, you’ve got to make sure that technology is not going to be changed to the point where, when the next greatest thing comes out, it means your locks are irrelevant.
HB
Beyond operational technology, what else is of concern techwise?
SJ
We’re not going to be able to get away with box televisions for five years when LCDs are out there. Whatever is in their homes is what they’re going to demand in their hotel rooms. Part of that is going to be portable so it isn’t necessarily the hotel having to have things in it versus having conduits. The movement, if you look at it over the past few years, is all about personal portability. They don’t want to rely on anybody else having something for them; they want to be able to take it with them.
HB
What else do you see this type of technology affecting?
SJ
The rapid change in technology is going to continue, which also means booking patterns and how consumers chose to book. Someone said the other day, ‘such-and-such hotel is taking reservations by Twitter. Will you do that?’ I’m like, ‘Well, of course, if that’s what the customer wants.’ We don’t have a big demand for customers wanting to us for reservations, but if that’s what they want to do in the long run, of course, we will. We are resigned and challenged to the fact that we’ve got to accept when and how the consumer wants to book and we’ve got to provide a platform for it otherwise you’re irrelevant. If you’re not in the device or on the first page, you might as well not be.
HB
Do you think Millennials have the same mindset regarding hotels?
SJ
There are some people who like to be ‘ghosts,’ (inconspicuous and shunning the increased interaction now found at many properties) but our sense is you’ve got to pay attention particularly to the ability of the Millennials to craft their stay in their own view. If they want to have food available to them 24 hours, you’ve got to figure out a way to do that. If they want to have a choice of pillows, you’ve got to figure out a way to do that. Everything that we’ve done and what we’ll do going forward with our packages, we’ll make sure they appeal to our core customers as well as Millennials. They are a force to be reckoned with.