A strong online and social media presence is really important if a hotel hopes to attract millennials, according to a new report.U.K. furniture maker Knightsbridge commissioned the survey to find out how the sought-after demographic group finds and selects hotels. The survey reveals where hotels and businesses should focus in order to appeal to the young demographic.The study, conducted with global data collection agency Viga, polled 1,000 18- to 34-year-olds who had booked hotels in the last two years. It found that 80% of millennials find a hotel using Google, and more than half wouldn't book a property if its website was difficult to use. Apparently impatient, 49% put off making a booking if they couldn't do it instantly online.A prospective hotel's social media presence is important to millennials, with 73% saying they check the company's social media feed before booking. In fact, 33% would be put off booking altogether if a hotel had no social media presence.

In today's competitive consumer-facing landscape, customers now have more power and options than ever before - and this is levelling the playing field. For every clothing brand, there's hundreds of other labels; for every hotel, there's another twenty that guests can stay in. Now, hospitality brands - ranging from hotels to food and beverage establishments - are under huge pressure to keep innovating in order to remain relevant in today's market.Challenger brands that previously couldn't compete on size are now focusing on customer-centric experiences as their business differentiator - which is helping these firms increase sales in a challenging market. In revolutionising customer service and improving the user experience, they are improving their chances of taking market share from older, legacy brands that haven't yet embraced a fully digital and immersive business model. As the market toughens, these legacy brands will ultimately risk being left behind.To avoid becoming a victim of today's technologically advanced times, established brands must enhance the user experience by embracing digital transformation innovations such as Augmented Reality (AR) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to improve their offering and increase profits and brand loyalty.

As we get closer and closer to Google planning entire trips for us, the tech giant announced upgrades to its Google Assistant today at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas that will make certain aspects of travel easier, and hands free.If you're unfamiliar with Google Assistant, it's the little helper on Android and iPhones (Google's Siri or Alexa, if you will) and Google Home devices. Ever since 2016, we've been able to work with Assistant to do certain aspects of trip planning. As Brad Rickman put it for Traveler: "Instead of doing what you do today -- pulling out your laptop and vanishing down a troll hole of Yelp commentary -- you just say, out loud, into the air of your presumably empty apartment, 'I want to go to Bali.' And a voice that's almost librarian-like, familiar but not intimate, friendly but professional, says back to you, "Okay. When?" Twenty minutes and a few exchanges later, you've reviewed your flight options, picked out an Airbnb, booked a seafood dinner for your second night on the island, and added the whole trip to your calendar without lifting a finger. The flight's on an airline with which you have status; the Airbnb has Wi-Fi because that's always non-negotiable for you; and the restaurant's gin game is strong. And it's all already on your phone, right beside a list of recommended sights built around your bookings in place and time."So what's new? Here a few prompts you can now give your Assistant.

If you like crowds, personalized travel experiences or talking to machines, then you're going to love traveling in 2019. That's because "overtourism," personalization and artificial intelligence rank among the top travel trends of the new year, experts say. And, as in years past, you'll also pay more to get where you're going.The roads, skies and railways will be filled to the point of gridlock, warns Mahmood Khan, a professor in Virginia Tech's Department of Hospitality and Tourism Management. Higher demand promises to make 2019 one of the busiest travel years on record."Domestic travel is bound to increase sharply," Khan predicts.Prices are also expected to rise. Hotels rates will jump 3.7 percent, and airfares will increase 2.6 percent in 2019, driven by a growing global economy and rising oil prices, according to Carlson Wagonlit Travel's 2019 travel forecast. Most of the other forecasts also call for moderate price increases across the board.