Gen X Takes Over: Are You Ready?

This issue of Lodging Hospitality is a first for us. The entire feature package in the edition focuses on one topic: the rise of the Generation X traveler and how hotels can better serve this fast-growing market. By definition, this kind of shift in the marketplace only happens every 20 or 30 years,

That transition barely registered among hoteliers and their designers, f&b experts and marketers. The assumption was-and it generally proved to be true-that Boomer travelers wanted the same kinds of hotels and hospitality experiences as their parents preferred. Changes occurred but they were more subtle than the current shift in demographics has brought to the lodging landscape.

The hotel industry needs to congratulate itself on its quick, studied and nuanced reaction to the news that Gen Xers now or will very soon become the largest segment of both business and leisure travelers. Most of the major chains, and a fair number of smaller companies and independent hotels, took the time to study this group to determine what it wants in travel and how it differs from the generations preceding it.