4 Key Hospitality Trends To Grow Your Business in 2022

Last year has once again shown us how adaptive the hospitality industry is when it comes to finding ways to keep up and running. New trends have emerged that will continue to play an important role throughout this year. Here are 4 key hospitality trends you should include in your strategy for 2022.

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Focus On Community & Engagement

The pandemic has taught us one important thing: community matters.

This year will see an even bigger focus on community building and customer loyalty. Social media is your go-to tool here for regular engagement. However, email marketing is equally important. Build an email list with your most loyal fans and nurture them with exclusive content and early access offers.

Companies should also adopt a social listening strategy to better understand their audience. Mentions and conversations related to the brand and industry can help to identify certain themes. Those can be used to tailor offerings and attract more customers. For example, anything around #Veganuary is prominent on social media at the moment.

Personalise Your Digital Customer Experience

Customers expect a personalised experience. This also applies to all things digital. Many common customer touchpoints, such as ordering & payments or menus, have shifted towards digital platforms. 

So, your digital guest experience (including all tech tools attached to it) should integrate seamlessly with your physical, in-venue, experience. Stick to your branding and messaging to make it instantly recognisable for a uniform customer experience. 

And don’t forget to pull together customer data from your digital tools to get insights on your customers’ behaviour. This allows you to create an even more personalised experience throughout.

Produce More Video Content

By 2022, over 82% of all online content consumed will most likely be in video format. No denying that TikTok is the big winner of 2021 when it comes to short-form video content. Though, many hospitality businesses categorise it solely as an e-commerce platform and struggle to see the benefit it might have for them.  

TikTok is a great platform to interact and engage with your audience. Take your customers behind the scenes and share tips and tricks with them. You could pick one staff member to take over the account or feature your different departments.

Big hospitality brands are already using it successfully. Check out this account with 2M followers and run by a Starbucks employee who shows how to prepare their bestsellers and more.

Keep Multiple Revenue Streams

Over the past two years, many businesses have pivoted their strategy as and when they had to. From delivery & takeout to meal kits, co-working spaces and selling groceries or merchandise. The idea is to have multiple sources available so that they can keep trading regardless of circumstances outside their control.

The big question often is whether to keep those parts alongside normal dine-in operations or to drop them. No doubt, they often require extra resources that are not always available.

However, it’s not just businesses that have adopted and changed, so have customers. Despite being keen to go out for a meal, the majority would like to have those additional offerings as a fixed part of their favourite venues. Get your customers involved and ask them what they want to see from your businesses this year.