The hotel industry needs to adapt to Vietnam’s rapidly changing demographics.
As tourism continues to grow in Vietnam, the hotel industry is expanding too. There is a need for developers to be provided an insight on how the market is being shaped. A recent event hosted by Savills Hotels and Onxy Hospitality, “Meet the Experts”, revealed a number of hotel industry trends. Hospitality experts used this opportunity to explain how local developers should take heed of these in order to succeed.
Asia Pacific’s growing middle class is regularly in the news. Contributing to a hike in urbanisation and helping to grow megacities, it is predicted that over half of Vietnam’s population will be city dwellers over the next ten years. This will put pressure on cities in terms of housing, infrastructure and resources. For property, the result is expected to be smaller living spaces to counter balance the rising land prices. A common theme that has emerged in many cities already. Consequently there will be more emphasis on making sure units are efficiently laid out to maximise space.
Power of millennials
At the same time property will need to ensure that it appeals to millennials. Making up approximately 40 percent of Vietnam’s population, this demographic has considerable spending power and habits. They strive for a more flexible working life. Aspire to be more environmentally aware and wish to partake in exercise. Therefore hotels need to think about the facilities they provide to be geared towards this segment of the population. Plus they should consider reducing their food and beverage outlets as many millennials want to embrace the local cuisine rather than dine in.
As millennials utilise technology throughout the day, technology is continually having to advance to keep up with trends but also to maximise efficiency. For the hotel industry, there will be more reliance on automation, biometric identification and driverless transport.
Mauro Gasparotti, director of Savills Hotels Asia Pacific, commented, “We are seeing major industry trends taking place right now which will shape the future of hotel development. This excites us because it is bringing about significant new opportunities for our developer clients who are able and willing to innovate. We organised the events to share these trends and opportunities with developers in Vietnam.”
