Hotels will need to cater for a new breed of traveller that values life experiences and being connected with people over luxury items, according to a new report published by Global hotel consultancy firm HVS London.

A New Breed of Traveller concludes that hotels face the risk of failing to adapt to the effects developing technology and globalisation have had on the expectations of younger travellers.

The report features interviews from leading hotel executives and outlines that a new generation of travellers see luxury more in the storytelling of having an experience, rather than in the abundance of luxury items featured during their stay at hotels.

For example, young travellers are much more satisfied with a hotel lobby they can sit in and drink coffee while surrounded by other people, as opposed to having a coffee machine in their room.

The findings also suggest that hotel services will need to become more intuitive and casual to cater for this new generation, albeit with the same level of respect, while some hotels are abandoning uniforms and putting an end to scripting responses to visitors.

“You can buy status symbols, but buying an experience is much harder,” says Veronica Waldthausen, co-author of the report and HVS associate.

“Whereas leading hotels used to be equipped with gadgets and technology, the new breed of traveller wants the confidence of places that understand them, and to be surrounded by a community of like-minded people, wherever they go.”

Though many hotels are changing to meet these requirements, a large number are still failing to modernise to meet these new expectations.

To fulfill the needs of this new segment of travellers, hotels will also need to change their structure and physical appearance too, with those hotels already making these changes being dubbed as lifestyle hotels.

For example, some lobbies are becoming larger, while there are more open social hubs and gathering spaces, with a mix of comfortable couches, communal workstations and places to meet.

Formal divisions between the lobby, restaurant and bars are also disappearing.

Rooms are changing too, with hotels having smaller rooms as guests spend more time in social places. People also prefer to sit on chairs or on beds to work, as opposed to using desks in their rooms.

“The new era is about participating in an experience, rather than flaunting wealth,” says Arlett Oehmichen, HVS London director.

“The new-breed of ‘lifestyle’ hotels have adapted, differentiating themselves in both style and service and are offering a new kind of product that is comfortable and simple, a place where guests can become part of an experience by interacting with the people that live there as well as staff.

“There will always be a market for wall-to-wall luxury, but it is lifestyle hotels that are prompting change throughout the industry.”

A full copy of the study is available here