HOSPITALITY
ONES THE
IKEA and Marriott have teamed up to create a new European hotel brand for the emerging millennial traveller. Moxy Hotels’ vice president, Ramesh Jackson, tells us why he’s so confi dent it will be a success
N 64
ever mind Baby Boomers or Gen X, it’s all about the millennial generation, according to many travel professionals.
Recent research by the Boston Consultant Group (BCG) claims that the millennial generation (16 to 34-year olds) will be the core cus- tomers of airlines, hotels and travel companies in the next fi ve to 10 years, making up almost 50 per cent of the total spending on business fl ights by 2020. Their leisure travel activity will have a major impact on the tourism industry, according to BCG, and travel companies need to be ready. Hotel giant Marriott and furniture manufacturer Ikea certainly agree. They’ve teamed up to create Moxy Hotels, a new three star economy brand aimed at millennials (as well as a few Gen Xs), and they’re so confi - dent about their target audience that
they plan to open 150 of these hotels across Europe over the next 10 years. “Millennial travellers are crying out for this,” says Ramesh Jackson, vice president of Moxy Hotels. “We’ve done very extensive research – we’ve sur- veyed consumers all over Europe to fi nd out what their priorities are.” The fi rst Moxy hotel is due to open in Milan’s Malpensa Airport in the fi rst quarter of 2014, with hotels following in the same year in Frankfurt, Berlin, Oslo and Munich, as well as a hotel in the UK in either 2014 or 2015. Hotels will have between 150 and 300 rooms; prices will start from E60 per night. They will be located near airports, train stations and in offi ce developments, rather than city cen- tres – presumably to keep costs down as well as take advantage of the large footfall. The plan is to open 50 in the next fi ve years and 150 in the next 10. So, what did the research highlight?
Read Leisure Management online
leisuremanagement.co.uk/digital
YOUNG
The hotels will be located near train stations, airports and major offi ce developments
What do millennial travellers want? “These are the kids who were born during the technology age,” says Jackson. “They want technology, but they don’t necessarily want to use someone else’s technology. It’s not that they want an iPad in their room – they’ll bring their own – but they want a tv that will interface with their iPad. “They don’t expect the full service that the Gen X expected. They are totally comfortable helping themselves – in fact it’s their preferred approach. Price is also very important to them. They want the style, they want the technology, but they don’t want to pay the price of full service hotel charges.”
HOW THE IDEA WAS BORN The idea for Moxy Hotels originally came from Nordic Hospitality, who approached Marriott and asked if the company was interested in getting into the economy sector. “We jumped at
ISSUE 3 2013 © cybertrek 2013
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84