Labelled as the biggest disruptor in the travel industry, the short stay sector has boomed over the past decade and shows no sign of slowing down. In London alone, City Hall acknowledged that the 2.2 million guests who stayed in short-term rentals in the year to July 2018 generated £1.3bn for the local economy, but what does the industry have in store next?
Industry giant, Booking.com, the largest travel e-commerce website in the world with 5.6 million vacation rental homes, apartments and other unique places to stay predicts that 2020 will be a year of travel exploration like never before fuelled by technology.
Ahead of its show in London next month (12 March), the Short Stay Show, the leading event for the short stay hospitality and accommodation industry, has asked its partners to reveal the trends that they believe will take the industry from strength to strength in this new decade, and beyond.
Trend 1 – Tech-spect the unexpected
Booking.com also says, in 2020, we will see travellers put key aspects of their decision-making process even more firmly in the hands of technology. Smart, trusted tech-led recommendations will connect us to a myriad of new experiences that might not otherwise have crossed our path, while also saving time (as well as screen-time) and enabling us to max out every minute of ‘now’ while on vacation.
This will be music to the ears of the almost six in 10 (59%) people who say they want tech to offer them ‘wildcard’ and surprise options that would introduce them to something entirely new in the coming year.
Trend 2 – Attracting the business traveller
Quality in Tourism, which works with hospitality, tourism and leisure businesses to provide expertise and advice, explains that the industry will need to adapt to accommodate the business traveller properly. Many will have to prove much more robust process to engage with this audience and to satisfy companies due diligence and duty of care programs, alongside the new wellbeing programs that many are adopting.
Trend 3 – Immediate responses
Gone are the days of long booking processes. In 2020, missed calls mean missed bookings and a staggering 69 per cent of enquirers will never leave a message. Moneypenny, the UK’s largest provider of call answering and live chat technology, says that more and more bookers expect an immediate response to their queries from accommodation providers and will go elsewhere if they don’t get it, particularly as the market becomes more competitive.
Trend 4 – Built-to-rent boom
Guesty, a software that simplifies the complex operational needs of short let property managers, is tracking the built to rent boom and has identified it as a key industry trend for the next 10 years. According to Savills’, the build-to-rent (BTR) sector is set to grow the most in value of the UK’s stock of residential operational real estate, rising from today’s £9.6 billion to a potential £543.6 billion, providing homes for more than 1.7 million households. In response to the challenges of getting on the housing ladder, millennials are embracing and demanding flexible living sans any commitments. This so-called “NOwnership” generation fits incredibly well into the short-term rental ecosystem as they provide landlords with income during periods where long lets are not feasible. The additional stock also adds much-needed lodging options in busy cities and attracts travellers to less typically ‘tourist’ parts of a city.
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For further press information, please contact:
Baillie Horwood | Emma Arthurs
T: +44 (0)20 3440 8930
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About the Short Stay Show
Established in 2019, the Short Stay Show is the leading event for the short stay hospitality and accommodation industry in the UK. It is the only event in the UK dedicated to highlighting the opportunities that are arising from the high-growth short stay industry and its disruption to the wider travel market.
The show welcomes entrepreneurs, technologists, national and local government representatives, property specialists, innovations, radical companies as well as owners, managers and investors of short stay accommodation who are looking to stay ahead of the ever evolving short-stay accommodation trend.
The Short Stay Show is delivered in partnership with Quality in Tourism, The STAA – Short Term Accommodation Association and the European Holiday Home Association – who are committed to bringing the industry together to overcome industry challenges and seize growth opportunities.
The Short Stay Show is owned, managed and operated by Quartz Smart Events; specialists in high-growth hospitality, travel and tourism events, both in the UK and internationally.
In October 2019, the event achieved award-winning status after it claimed ‘Best Trade Launch Event 2019’ at the Independent Event Organisers Awards.
About the 2020 Short Stay Show
The 2020 Short Stay Show will take place on 12 March and is exclusively presented with Booking.com as well as being supported by industry leaders Expedia and HomeAway, Cottage.com, Sykes Cottage, Guesty and Rentals United.
The show is set to welcome over 2,000 visitors, 100+ exhibitors and 100+ speakers to the London ExCeL.
For information on how to get involved with the show, please visit: https://shortstay.show/partner/
