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The hotel industry has recently been on a journey of recovery around the world, despite political and economic issues in many countries. Tourism, for many countries, is the way of life for many people residing in them, with locations such as Greece struggling economically on an everyday basis but still enjoying a strong tourist reach and a strong hotel industry.

The US in particular has enjoyed a strong 2015, with 2016 looking to continue raising the bar high; in its last quarter for the year the industry saw a 1.7% increase in occupancy, as well as a rise in the average daily rate of 5.1% and 6.8% increase in revenue per room. Amanda Hite, President and COO of hotel chain STR, said: “The next couple of years will be great unless there’s an unknown factor we can’t anticipate. We keep saying this won’t continue, but it keeps continuing.”

India is another country enjoying great success within the hotel industry, the domestic hotel industry there is estimated to reach $1.8billion by 2016, with online bookings expected to be the reason for this boost. Booking online is having a huge impact on the hotel industry, even as it competes with the likes of Airbnb who offer cheaper alternatives and more varied locations.

The customised holiday is a huge trend currently, as people want to tailor their trips away to their needs and interests and this is something hotels will need to consider in the future. However, the customisable hotel is a thing, with the Tune chain for example, offering hotel packages that you can remove or add extras on to, from windowless rooms to save money to popping Wi-Fi and TV services onto your booking for an extra £10.

Hotels are also listening to consumers more in a bid to boost sales and interest and social media is playing a huge part – a study released earlier this year discovered that there was a direct link between a hotel’s response time on a social media platform and its occupancy rate with establishments that responded to more than 50% of their reviews enjoying a growth in occupancy rates by 6.4%.

Many hotels are also offering apps to help customers manage and make bookings more quickly and easily which could help contribute to growth, as well as working through third party sites such as Tripadvisor where people go to read reviews and can then book straight through the site. The hotel industry is seeing growth because it is expanding on ways of reaching out to people and receiving their bookings.

It’s an exciting time for the hotel industry, as it stands strong amongst political issues around the world and continues to offer work for those living nearby, with everything from cleaning to caterer jobs. 2016 should continue to be a lucrative year for the industry as it expands and grows to accommodate the consumer’s growing range of needs.

Author

Founder of Paisley.org.uk in 1998 and constantly strives to change peoples attitudes to the town, Brian is a self described Paisley Digital Champion who promotes Paisley via any means necessary. You can also follow me on X