Young Travellers And Price

I liked this piece from HotelInteractive. I’ve shortened it a little. I’m also happy that at Chanters Lodge we have newly introduced low and high season rates, special rates for Zambian travellers and have resisted the temptation/need to raise rates in line with increased costs. In Livingstone we are in a very competitive environment, and yes, Customers are shopping on price.

“Here’s confirmation of what many of us already knew: Millennial travelers don’t express hotel brand loyalty like their older brethren when it comes to booking leisure travel. And that could be a problem in the coming years for hotel industry executives trying to pin down this increasingly important group. Leisure travel makes up more than 75 percent of all hotel bookings in the United States, says U.S. Travel. So this emerging trend has the potential for massive upheaval of the status quo in the coming years.


Millennials are becoming an increasingly critical part of the hotel room buying mix, and at some point during the next decade will supplant the importance of Gen X travelers and Baby Boomers to the hotel industry’s bottom line. Millennials currently drive billions of dollars in spending decisions with many of those dollars going to hotels and travel related activities. And they have yet to reach peak spending!

And their travel buying behaviors are way different than the aforementioned older groups. Remember, this is the first generation that has never known a world before the internet and the way they have integrated technologies into their lives is wholly different than older generations. That’s going to make it tricky for hoteliers to capture Millennial’s loyalty for the long term, but they are trying! Worse yet, the problem seems to be seeping into the Generation X mindset as well which is making online bookers inherently less loyal as they are increasingly driven by factors such as price more than loyalty.

The new study “Who’s Sleeping with You? A Detailed Look Into the U.S. Online Hotel Guest,” reports that 123 million travelers researched hotel options online in 2013, with 92 percent subsequently booking rooms online. And by looking at an incredible one billion monthly travel transactions per month over a three month period, the study determined that because of an “expanding array of hotel options”, a “let-the-best-deal-win” mindset is now in place among the younger class of travel consumers.

This confirms a study earlier in the year from Driftwood Hospitality Management that queried the general managers of its managed hotels. In that survey released in September, 43 percent of Driftwood general managers believe price is the number one concern of millennial travelers when choosing where to stay for leisure travel.

Separately from this study another recent study released last month and conducted by
Harris Interactive and commissioned by Expedia.com and Egencia, said to book business travel, 32 percent of Millennials report using a smartphone, and 20 percent report booking on a tablet. Just 12 percent of those older than 45 used a smartphone, and even fewer used a tablet to book travel. Millennials are also much more likely to use mobile devices to enhance their travel experience, the study concluded.”

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Rates

At Chanters Lodge we are happy to announce, for the first time, low season (now until March 31st) and high season (April 1st 2014 – October 31st 2014) room rates!

Our room rates are all inclusive of taxes, service charge, English breakfast, free transfers within Livingstone on arrival and departure if required, as well as free wifi (subject to availability).

Low season rates are here
High season here

We do give discounts for groups or for long staying Guests, and also grant commission on these rates to bona fide travel agents.

There are special rates for Zambian Guests whatever the season!

We believe our well established and recommended lodge represents great value for money in Livingstone and hope you agree!

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Room Renovations

 During the course of 2012 at Chanters Lodge we are proud that we have managed to renovate 3 of our 11 rooms and some pictures of the renovated rooms are shown.

The first room to come under the hammer was room 3. This room was one of the three original rooms with which we opened the lodge in 1998, and at that time was the best of the lot. It is a standard sized double room with one double bed but with enough space to pop in an extra three quarter sized bed if required. The bathroom was stripped and a new bathroom suite installed followed by complete re-tiling of floor and walls. The bathroom contains a separate shower cubicle which was also re-tiled. New taps and plumbing were installed throughout. The rate for this room next year will be a very reasonable US$75 per room per night including English breakfast, free transfers within Livingstone on arrival and departure if required, as well as free wifi (subject to availability). Single rate US$59 per room per night, inclusive as above.

We have also renovated two of our spacious rooms which back on to Lukulu Crescent. These rooms were the first additional rooms we constructed, built in 2004 they have had a lot of wear and tear as they are often used by families with young children. The rooms are spacious enough to accommodate one and sometimes two extra beds and all that moving furniture takes its toll! The rooms renovated are numbers 4 and 7 on either end of the block, each have a double and a three quarter bed as standard. These rooms have shower and wc but no bath. They are ideal for Guests travelling with their own vehicles as cars can be parked right outside the rooms, motel style.

We have replaced the old wash hand basin with a new pedestal basin with matching toilet and cistern in the shower rooms, as well as installing new taps and plumbing fittings. The shower rooms have been retiled throughout. In addition we have completely re-tiled the expansive bedroom floors.

The 2013 rate for these rooms will be as follows:

2 persons           ZK445 (US$89)
3 or 4 persons   ZK495 (US$99)
1 person             ZK350 (US$70)

All rates are per room per night and include English breakfast, free transfers within Livingstone on arrival and departure if required, as well as free wifi (subject to availability). The rooms can comfortably accommodate 2 adults and at least 3 children in which case the rate will remain at US$99.

A big thank you to Mr Turner (plumbing and electrical), Mr Benson (tiler) and Mr Andrew Phiri (carpenter and painter) who undertook the work for the lodge. As a matter of interest the total cost of renovations has been about US$10,000.

During 2013 we hope to complete the renovations of the remaining two Lukulu Crescent rooms.
We also hope to tile the floor of the restaurant terrace and install new furniture, fans and light fittings.

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“Dollarisation”


Well, I don’t agree with the bankers that we should stop quoting in US$! Imagine if we were to start quoting in Kwacha on our website! It’s hard enough for tourists to get their head around the Kwacha value to the US$ when they arrive, never mind trying to work it out before they’ve even booked. The bankers should think again. Mrs Melu is however right that the cost of doing business in Zambia remains high – check the cost of fuel and electricity for starters! This from Lusaka Times.

“The Bankers Association of Zambia (BAZ) is lobbying regulators to put in place a law that will deter businesses from quoting in United States (US) dollars as the tendency increases transaction costs. BAZ vice chairperson Mizinga Melu said dollarisation is also a serious issue since it increases costs of doing business in Zambia.

“Dollarisation is an issue because quoting in dollars translates in cost of doing business. We are lobbying the regulators to put a law to stop quoting in dollars,” she said. Mrs Melu, who is also Standard Chartered Bank managing director, was answering a question on what the financial market was doing on dollarisation during the bank’s second quarter performance media briefing in Lusaka yesterday.

Recently, the Bank of Zambia (BoZ) conducted a survey whose findings were outlined in a publication entitled ‘Issues on the Zambian Economy’. The findings noted that the Zambian economy has been highly dollarised. BoZ recommended the introduction of measures to cushion commercial banks from some of the effects of dollarisation.

According to the study findings, the major contributing factor to dollarisation is volatility in the exchange rates and the high levels of inflation. The study also found that dollarisation has also arisen due to uncertainty about donor inflows and balance of payment support. Mrs Melu, however, said there is need to develop infrastructure as it has been identified as a major contributing factor to the cost of doing business. “The cost of doing business remains high. It is important to continue to develop infrastructure, hence diversification in other sectors thereby create jobs.”

On the recent fraud activities that affected some banks, Mrs Melu said although confidence has been affected, the players in the market remain vigilant and those affected were reimbursed. “Although it was a very small quantity of people affected in our market compared to other markets, it is not acceptable but not unusual. We remain vigilant as a bank,” she said. Recently, BAZ issued a notice advising customers to be watchful when using debit cards especially abroad.

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