Japan and Thailand are top destinations for 2024
A new survey of its loyalty program members by Dubai-based Global Hotel Alliance - an alliance of 40 hotel brands with 800 hotels - finds that most desired 2024 destinations are Japan and Thailand, followed by Spain, Canada and Hawaii.
Most popular non-country-specific regional destination is Europe.
Respondents in China, Thailand and Malaysia were most likely to indicate a preference for domestic holidays.
Top drivers of travel decisions cited were:
- Predominantly leisure
- Quest for new experiences and destinations
- Social media (cited by 75%)
- Friends and family recommendations
- Travel magazines (Europe and North America)
Number of outbound trips planned for 2024 by residents of:
- China (6.8)
- Hong Kong (6.7)
- Thailand (6.4)
- Germany (6.1)
- Middle East and Africa (4.9 leisure, 4.0 business)
Destination preferences by region:
- Asia: Japan, China, Thailand
- Europe: Thailand, Japan, Spain, Italy
- Australia and New Zealand: Singapore, UK, Sydney, Portugal
- North America: Japan, Hawaii, Spain, Thailand
- Middle East & North Africa: Japan, Canada, Oman
Party size preferences:
- With spouse or partner, or intimate family trips
- Culinary travel has now overtaken wellness travel as most desired experience
Top resources for research and booking:
- Loyalty program websites and apps
- OTA websites
- Dedicated review portals
- Brand and hotel sites least popular
Top drivers of hotel choice:
- Quality of accommodation
- Benefits of loyalty program
- Location and price less important than in 2023
Most desired benefits of loyalty programs:
- Special rates
- Room upgrades (cited by 70%)
- Early check-in, late check-out
The loyalty program of the Global Hotel Alliance has 25 million members and in 2022 accounted for more than 6 million room nights and $1.4 billion in revenues for its 800 member hotels.
Comment: Be sure to read the related articles here and over at DavidHBoggs.com on how OTA loyalty programs and Generative AI are cutting into hotels' direct-booking revenues and margins.
