SiteMinder, the world’s leading open hotel commerce platform, has released its global consumer research, The Dynamic Traveller: A New Era Of Hotel Guest, which looks into the plans, behaviours and perspectives of travellers from around the world. The report’s launch, which coincides with World Tourism Day, identifies an emergence of the ‘workation’ globally and Australians’ lack of interest in taking advantage of this growing trend.
According to the survey of approximately 7,000 travellers internationally, including 804 in Australia, over 60% of Australians plan to travel either the same amount (35%) or more (25%) than prior to Covid. Less than 2% say they will never travel again, which is down from around 8% this time last year.
Alongside this upcoming bounceback in travel, roughly a quarter of Australian travellers see themselves adding working hours to their holiday time this year. This was comparable to travellers in the UK (21%), though was significantly lower than counterparts in the United States (41%) and Thailand (51%).
Not all Australian professionals are looking at ways to combine their personal travel with work obligations, however. More than half (54%) said they definitely do not plan to work during an upcoming trip. This was again similar to British travellers (61%), higher than American travellers (39%) and much higher than travellers from Thailand (15%).
With the recent growth and normalisation of remote working due to the coronavirus pandemic, the survey results reflect the way Australian professionals are seeking to separate their holidays from their work to strike a work-life balance. Flexibility is likely to remain high on the agenda for professionals, though business leaders would be hasty to assume new broad-sweeping policies related to workation would be well-received by everyone.
Mark Renshaw, Chief Marketing Officer at SiteMinder, explained, “The biggest learning from the pandemic when it comes to business leadership and people management is that we need to do away with the rulebook and how things have traditionally been done. Our teams now expect flexible workplaces and options to define work-life balance in their own unique ways.”
During the pandemic, SiteMinder introduced its own Open Working @ SiteMinder policy, whereby staff were able to select from three different ways of working, including working completely remotely, from the office, or a blend of the two. This initiative, among various others that aimed to increase communication and collaboration across the business, led to an increase in employee engagement.
Renshaw continued, “In the last 18 months, every industry, including the travel and hotel sectors, experienced changes. We saw shifts from international travel to local road trips, a rise in last-minute bookings, and a transition from corporate travel to leisure staycations. The next travel trend for hoteliers and business leaders to understand is the ‘workation’, which will require a new way of thinking to ensure employees feel heard and their expectations of flexibility are met. Importantly, it will require business leaders to understand that, while their people may have sought to tack leisure on to their business trips prior to the pandemic, they’re not as keen to bring business with them as they holiday.”
Beyond workation other findings from the Australian survey include:
- Nearly four out of five Australian travellers are very supportive (9%), supportive (33%) or indifferent (37%) about their personal data being used to better their stay, such as through personalised marketing or experiential efforts. Only 7% of Australian travellers are strongly opposed to their data being used in this way.
- When sharing payment information, only 12% of Australian travellers trust accommodation providers with their data a lot, while over a third either don’t trust accommodation providers much (24%) or at all (10%).
- More than a quarter (27%) of Australian travellers still intend to book via an OTA and 10% via google or other search engines for their upcoming trip, highlighting the ongoing importance of being listed on digital channels.
Click here to download the full The Dynamic Traveller: A New Era of Hotel Guest report.
Click here to download the Australian report.
Australian report methodology: In mid-June 2021, SiteMinder digitally surveyed more than 800 members of the Australian public who were 18+ years of age, located in Australia, and had travelled at least once a year for leisure prior to Covid.