Hospitality Consumer Wants the Consumers

¶ … Hospitality Consumer Wants The consumers are changing, both in terms of numbers, origin and type. Therefore there are demography induced changes in consumer needs, which are based on change with the times and with the change in population, both in terms of numbers and ethnicity. For example the changing times have caused the Mayfair Hotel which was legendary for British hospitality to be taken over by an Indian company.

The Royal Bank of Scotland sold Grosvenor House, the luxury Mayfair hotel built on the site of the former London residence of the dukes of Westminster, to an Indian billionaire for £470m. (Bowers, 2011, p. 6) This could be the result of changing times and interaction with communities outside and tours abroad and many facets of globalization. It is also the result of the current depression that has changed the entire industry.

Changes for example, affect the consumer feeling about what is being given to them -- in other words the feelings of the customer on the service or product offered has changed. (McCabe, 2008, p. 100) Changes in the pattern of consumption can be seen in the way the British have changed their eating habits and demands for food. This change marks the differences in hotels, and the springing up of many new types of hospitality services, fast foods and kiosks. Eating out was a rarity that was earlier indulged on special occasions.

Surveys show that English urban populations have sense of pleasure and satisfaction from eating out. This is another change that has become evident in the UK which has brought about its own set of demands. This trend has affected the retail sector caterers and entertainment hosts. There are now many places where meals can be had in Britain. These include restaurants, cafes, steakhouses, brasseries, diners, bistros, pizzerias, and costly places for oriental food like kebab-houses, grill rooms, coffee bars, teashops, ice cream parlors and many more.

There are also the old tavern, or pub, and the old boarding house with the modern motel. (Warde; Martens, 2000, p. 21) Basic changes have been seen in the beverage section. In the wine preferences, Unoaked chardonnays are replacing the big oak wines of the past. The Champagne sales are down but the sale of Spanish Cava, Prosecco, French Cremant, are up. Today the major preference of the consumer is 'Craft beers' and 'Beer dinners' and there is a growing demand for local beverages.

(Hospitality trends, 2010) the changes that these preferences have brought about have shown a change in the pubs, a part of British social life. Pubs on account of operating costs, food prices, and the increase in minimum wages have therefore changed to the tenanted model. Some regulations have also curbed customer choice like ban on smoking in public places, and other interventions on customer freedom have resulted in the closure of two thousand pubs.

Changing customer habits have resulted in the decline of the UK restaurant by three percent as a result of poor consumer spending. (Deoitte, 2011) In England these different entities are representative of the fact that consumers have grown in variety and as well have begun to explore all that the hospitality industry has to offer. Apart from the changes in the eating habits of the natives, the demands from the tourists, and the peculiar tourist out for gastronomic experience has given birth to a new industry -- Gastronomic tour.

There are many types of consumers of hospitality including the current concept of 'food tourism'. Today food and gastronomy are important to the consumer and therefore the emerging trend is to provide good and well prepared food as part of their overall experience and a part of hospitality. Thus business now use the interest in food as a means of getting at a new niche market, and this is important to the UK industry because of the cuisine demand and changes have thus come about in restaurants and hotels.

(Hjalager; Richards, 2002, p. 115) Customers prefer new locations.