Market research dashboard — Photo by Daniel Diosi & Partners

Food trends change every few years. The 2010s brought us quinoa, the Millennial-staple avocado toast, imitation meat products, and keto became a lifestyle for some people.

We are only two years into the 2020s and it seems that the food trends have speeded up even further, which means travelers expect hotels and resorts to keep up with those. To name a few gastro trends that are increasingly popular in hospitality around the world:

  • “Conscious consuming”
  • CBD cuisine
  • Meatless meat
  • Non-alcoholic drinks

There is too much blah-blah online about trends, so we decided to share some raw data with you. In partnership with Market Sampler, we just finished extensive 2,000-response survey research to understand the dietary expectations of Millennial travelers today.

First, we will discuss how data was acquired, go through the important findings and see how to implement any of this in marketing and advertising.

Research background

As mentioned, we worked with Market Sampler to conduct this market research. In market research, sampling means getting opinions from a large number of people, chosen from a specific group, to find out about the whole group.

The tool does exactly that. It enables researchers, marketers, and practically anyone to define a segment by detailed targeting criteria, specify the number of responses they want and ask questions in any language.

We have targeted potential travelers between 26 and 38 years old, both male and female, budget, mid-range, and high-end travel style - in the US, UK, Germany, and France.

We received responses in equal proportions from the US, UK, Germany, and France.

The question we asked is what dietary expectations do they have while traveling? Market Sampler reaches respondents on various audience networks like Google, Facebook, Microsoft, and more, which enables users to make use of very particular targeting features, such as:

  • Highest education
  • Career level
  • Work industry
  • Personal interests
  • Political interests
  • Income level
  • Social interest
  • Marital status
  • Has kids or not
  • Lifestyle

We did this research as part of their free pre-launch beta testing program. The price estimates for our market research configuration were ridiculously low, like $590 for nearly 2,000 responses.

We have been deeply impressed by the results that we will share in the next section, so read on.

Key findings and insights of the research

Before highlighting insights, I would like you to take a look at the below link. The interactive dashboard summarizes all the 2,000 responses from the market research. You can use the filtering control panel to select and combine any sub-segments to drill down into details. It is a fully functional beta dashboard from Market Sampler, included with every research besides raw data.

https://datastudio.google.com/reporting/9ffc7186-8c59-4410-b46a-7fd1d3b00187

Around 50% of budget travelers said that dietary things do not matter to them. They eat anything. Among the rest of 50% budget traveler respondents from the US, UK, France & Germany combined, vegan, halal, and vegetarian diets are the most popular. Although the results in the budget segment are sort of homogenous, it is US budget guests who care the least about diets.

Among budget travelers, those who travel rarely or occasionally care less about eating than frequent travelers. If you filter frequent travelers within the budget segment, you will see a big difference compared to other traveler types.

In mid-range and high-end travel segments, halal and vegan diets dominate. Especially among high-end travelers, halal food dietary requirements are the most common.

Among all travelers, except budget ones, halal diet is the most common, followed by vegetarian and vegan diets. Flexitarianism is a relatively new trend but it is already nearly as popular as veganism.

Observing by age, halal eating is especially popular among young people aged between 26 and 30 years old, and decreasingly less popular as age increases.

Across all segments, it is clear that male respondents care less about their diets compared to females.

Female travelers from the UK & US seem to be the pickiest for their diets, meanwhile, German people are the least particular among all segments.

There is a wealth of information hidden in the data, and the interactive dashboard makes it super easy to analyze and make sense of it.

https://datastudio.google.com/reporting/9ffc7186-8c59-4410-b46a-7fd1d3b00187

Can you use this information to improve your marketing?

Please keep in mind that this research was done with participants from the US, UK, France & Germany, aged between 26 and 38 years old. Any of the insights that we discussed only apply to these particular segments and might not be applicable to your hotel guest segments.

To use market research data to improve your hotel marketing, it is imperative that you use responses from a sample from your very own target market. Using data from samples that do not apply to your business does not make sense.

Such data can be used to target select segments of your target guests with specialized advertising, PR campaigns, and other forms of marketing communication. Specialized campaigns are proven to return significantly better results than general ads.

Conclusions

From our experience, we know that most hotel managers react with a "meh-meh" to the idea of market research, as in most cases they do not have any, or any positive experience with it.

The most successful brands and businesses in all industries are using market research as a part of their business intelligence.

Be it food trends, room features, booking policies, or any other travel preferences, identifying and aligning to what guests like is the way to make your property more attractive, and your sales & marketing processes more lucrative.

In case you wish to try Market Sampler to configure your own similar market research, you will be able to do so from December 2021 when their system will become open for the public. Meanwhile, it is possible to apply for free testing.