Hotel rooms: how to charm travellers... or scare them away!

King size or Queen size? Shower or bath? Parquet or carpet? These are just some of the dilemmas Coach Omnium surveyed more than 600 travellers, whether on business or holiday. The result is the 6th section of a broader study devoted by the firm to hotel guests. And offers an exhaustive and instructive insight into what travellers expect once they walk through the door of their room.

According to the study Coach OmniumWhen it comes to assessing the quality of an establishment, there is one point that is non-negotiable. cleanliness of places. 71% of travellers cite thehygiene and the good condition of the equipment as the key evaluation criteria. This figure has increased significantly over the years - this is the 7th edition of the study - since it was only 59% in 2017. However, as the authors of the study point out health crisis has come and gone. And it's highly likely that travellers will be even more careful than they were before about the hygiene of their hotel rooms...

Silence is golden

Another priority for customers during their business trips or holidays is to get some sleep, and especially to well to sleep. A legitimate expectation in a hotel room, but one that presupposes two fundamental elements: a good night's sleep and a good night's rest. bedding quality (45%) - a Queen size format is sufficient for the majority of respondents (61%) - and a sound insulation (39%) in tune. And it is precisely on this highly sensitive subject of noise that the majority of complaints are made. According to Coach Omnium, almost one complaint in two (48%) is about noise pollution.

As for the facilities most popular with travellers, the air conditioning is a must (52%), ahead of the television (31%) and the smartphone docking station (27%). Eco-responsible hoteliers will be reassured to note that travellers much prefer a shower (84%) to a bath (16%) in their hotel room.

What about the studious use of that hotel room? According to the Coach Omnium survey, it's hard to do without a desk or work surface: only 21% of travellers consider them to be superfluous. Does this mean that customers are systematically rushing to their room to work on their outstanding files? Not necessarily... One passenger in three uses this space to work, while 80% simply place their belongings on it, like a vast pocket! However, 42% of customers travel with a laptop. This includes business customers, of course (68%), but also the leisure segment (28%), who are clearly struggling to fully disconnect during their holidays.

Technology and design: the must-haves and the superfluous...

The Coach Omnium study also gives us a better idea of the importance attached by travellers to "fitness", and therefore to the look of their hotel room. The findings are clear: the decoration plays a decisive role. It is considered important by almost one traveller in two (47%) and even very important by a third of those surveyed. Conversely, certain investments that might seem welcome to a 'geek' hotelier will not be as successful as expected... This is particularly true of voice assistants such as Alexa or tablets to control the room's equipment. Two gadgets that arouse very marginal interest among customers: 5%. In the end, travellers prefer fairly basic criteria: a comfortable-sized screen, and a fairly extensive catalogue of channels, even supplemented by a video-on-demand platform.

Ultimately, the real question may be: would travellers exchange their home sweet home for their hotel room? No way... " All too often, travellers still find that the facilities and comforts at a hotel are not as good as those they have at home, which has been the focus of a great deal of investment by the French and Europeans over the last two decades. But hotels could surprise people by offering much more than they do at home. This would undoubtedly make people more inclined to opt for this type of accommodation. "sums up Mark Watkins. And the founder of Coach Omnium has this to say to hoteliers: " what's the point of sending out tons of e-mailings, newsletters and online questionnaires after stays (which end up annoying customers, so much so that it resembles commercial harassment), if you don't take care of the minimum hotel basics: (re)seducing hotel customers with an offer that is surprising compared to what they already have at home, beyond the simple design that no longer produces the expected "wow" effect?" . Let's hear it...