Ms. Knutson

Sales & Marketing

Forget Gen X, Y, and Z... It’s Now Gen C

By Bonnie Knutson, Professor, The School of Hospitality Business/MSU

There are ten of us in our immediate family – me, my husband, our two daughters, two sons-in-law, and four grandchildren, who range from age 9 to 20. When we all get together at a hotel or resort for our annual sojourn, it seems as if we fill every electrical outlet in site. PCs, Macs, iPods, e-readers, Mobile Phones, multiplied by ten, equals at least 30 chargers that might need plugging in at any one time. That’s because we are all – repeat, all - members of Generation C.

We are no longer Baby Boomers or Gen Xers or Gen Yers. Those monikers defined us by the year in which we were born. We had no option in to which cohort we were place. We were described by our age. But no longer. Now, thanks to a myriad of converging forces, we can all become members of the same generation – one that is defined by choice. We can choose to be members of Generation C. And we have done so

The Gen C nickname had its genesis around 2004 when trend watchers began noticing a new type of consumer emerging – one that crossed age boundaries and defied traditional segmentation strategies. These individuals were not necessarily similar in age, but were in their attitudes, values, interests, and certain personality traits. And they all were digitally connected. In other words, they formed a psychographic or psychological cohort that required a totally different approach to thinking about consumers – one that could include every one of every age and could, in essence, stretch to every corner of the market.

To begin thinking about how your hotel can embrace the opportunities emerging from the Gen C trend, it is important to understand its five basic drivers:

1. Longevity. Simply put, there are more people living longer. By 2030, when all surviving baby Boomers will be over 65, there will be 72 million seniors, about 20 percent of the population. As this is being written, the U.S. population clock reads 311,332,287, while the world population is nearing the seven billion mark.
2. Mobility. There are dozens of statistics about how many people move every year, ranging from 10 to 25 percent. No matter what the actual number, however, even a small percentage represents a large group of people who leave friends and family behind to live in unfamiliar surroundings.
3. Resurgence of Family and Friends. The iconic Normal Rockwell images of families and friends have always been part of the American lexicon. But it seems that, since the tragic images of 9/11 were seared into our hearts and minds, there has been a renaissance in our need to stay in touch with those who are important in our lives.
4. Celebrity. Andy Warhol pointed out, “In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes.” If you ever doubt the truth of his statement, just look at the proliferation of TV reality shows and video clips on You Tube. I recently read somewhere that everybody has creative inclinations, but until now, we haven’t had the guts or the means to go all out.
5. Technology. Hardware and software companies have given us the technological and content-creating tools to leash this pent-up creativity with cheaper, yet ever more powerful technologies. We now have the ability to create, produce, and participate.

So what does all this mean for you and your hotel? First, if means that you have to rethink how you segment your markets. Gone will be the days when hotels just categorize by leisure, business, and group. As any traveler knows, the line between work and leisure time has been virtually erased; it’s just home-away-from-home time now. Gone, too, will be the days when age is the defining market element. Your 60-year old Boomer guest belongs to Gen C because she is heavily into Facebook and YouTube. Your Millenial guest is a member of the same generation because he constantly Tweets and is a mayor on FourSquare. Both of them Skype, look for their Groupon offer on their mobile phone, search travel options online, and use word-of-finger instead of word-of-mouth as their way of telling family and friends about your hotel. Remember when you thought that a happy guest would tell six to ten others while a disgruntled one would tell twice that many? In the Gen C world, that reach grows exponentially and it goes worldwide. Gen C also believes that connectivity is a basic human right; they want to be securely connected anywhere and anytime and at no extra cost to them. So having complimentary WiFi service throughout your property is considered a necessary, not a luxury.

As important as these elements are, however, Gen C is looking for a compelling hotel experience. Compelling experiences are memorable, they are what excite guests, and they are about which they tell others. But compelling is also the gestalt of the whole hotel experience – every guest touch point, from the décor to the service, melt into its totality. Therefore, if you ask guests about their dinner experience, and they say “the whole evening was wonderful”, they had a compelling experience. If they say, “the food was great,” or “the service was good,” they just had an experience. There is a big difference.

To be compelling, the experience must never be average or mediocre; it must never be the same-old-same-old. Compelling means that the experience is exciting, fresh, innovative, and powerful. It is one that inspires guests to talk about it – i.e. tweet for others to re-tweet and to put it on Facebook for others to “like.” Too often, hotels assume that they know what makes a compelling experience for its guest. To make sure you are attuned to what makes your hotel’s stay compelling, map out and understand every single touch point involved in the process – from a prospective guest receiving his first promotional message to his getting out of the shuttle at the airport. Look for any weak points and where the hotel is particularly strong. These insights are important in ensuring your property is delivering a compelling experience. And such experiences are contagious; it is what makes advertisers and recruiters out of your guests.

We are just starting to understand Gen C – to understand that it is a market cohort to which people choose to belong so they can conveniently and comfortably control when and how they connect to and communicate with like-minded communities throughout the world. They continually create customized content about compelling experiences that captures the curiosity of family and friends. And they can bring ca$h to your bottom line. (Whew! Do you know how long it took me to weave all those “C” words into these two sentences? :-))

In the movie, Dead Poet’s Society¸ Mr. Keating (played by Robin Williams) has his students stand on the desk to see things differently. This is what the hotel industry needs to do. Gen C holds tremendous potential for each and every property if we, like Mr. Keating’s students, look at things differently. As the American social writer and philosopher, Eric Hoffer, said, “In a time of drastic change, it is the learners who inherit the future. The learned usually find themselves equipped to live in a world that no longer exists.” You are the learner for your hotel; through you, it can inherit the future.

Your REVPAR will thank you.

P.S. One more thing: Be sure you have plenty of electrical outlets in every guest room when my family visits.

Bonnie J. Knutson is a professor in The School of Hospitality Business in the Broad College of Business at Michigan State University. She is an authority on emerging lifestyle trends and innovative marketing. Her work has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and on PBS and CNN. She has had numerous articles in industry, business, and academic publications. Bonnie is a frequent speaker for executive education as well as business and industry meetings, workshops, and seminars. Dr. Knutson is also editor of the Journal of Hospitality & Leisure Marketing. Ms. Knutson can be contacted at 517-353-9211 or drbonnie@msu.edu Extended Bio...

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