Savills Hotels Asia gives insights into the major trends that will shape the future of hospitality

August 2017 – Savills Hotels and Onxy Hospitality hosted the second event of the “Meet the Experts” series, where hospitality experts are invited to share their valuable insights with Vietnamese Developers. The event was held in HCMC and Hanoi with almost 80 senior industry attendees in total.

Rudolf Hever, Director of Savills Hotels and Ms Trang Vo, Senior Manager, Consulting, Savills Hotels analysed the major trends and new opportunities for developers. Whilst Nigel Harris, EVP - Chief Growth Officer, Onyx Hospitality and Ms Nhung Pham, Senior Manager, Business Development, Savills Hotels presented the Midscale – Select Service Hotel model.

Mauro Gasparotti, Director of Savills Hotels Asia Pacific, explained the motivation for hosting the event: “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.”

During the course of the event, four major trends were presented. One of the major trends is the rapid growth and rise of the middle class, especially in the Asia Pacific region. This is driving urbanisation and the emergence of megacities. More than 55% of the population in Vietnam will be living in cities in the next decade. The increase in population density will lead to escalating land prices and affordability issues. Increasingly we will see smaller unit sizes, and more attention paid to smart design and space utilisation.

Another trend is the need to serve Millennials, a challenge and an opportunity for hoteliers. Millennials are those born between 1980 – 1990 and accounts for approximately 40% of population in Vietnam. These people form a very important demographic for hotel and residential real estate developers due to a combination of their spending power and spending habits. Millennials are health-conscious and environmentally aware. To capture the attention of this demographic, developers and hoteliers must provide healthy food selections, as well as outdoor activities, yoga programs, and cutting edge fitness technology. They are not so concerned with hotels having multiple F&B outlets because they are often preferring to try and experience local and authentic food which lets them take advantage of the limitless possibilities on offer.

The final trend is the inexorable advance of technology, with biometric recognition, virtual reality and robotics all finding roles in the industry. New technology will drive operating efficiencies as hotels will increasingly rely on automation, biometric identification and driverless transport.

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Savills Hotels Asia Pacific provides a full service platform for hotel and resort developers, including:

• Hotel & Resort Market Research
• Feasibility Studies
• Operator Selection & Hotel Management Contract Negotiation
• Asset Management
• Investment Brokerage & Advisory Service