There is a dangerous myth circulating in European hospitality boardrooms right now. It goes like this: “Luxury is about people. Our guests want to talk to us. That is our differentiator.”
So, hotels keep their booking engines simple and gate the real experiences—dinner reservations, spa bookings, special requests—behind a phone number or an email address. They call this “High-Touch Service.”
But as a Digital Performance Marketer analyzing guest data, I call it what it actually is: friction.
And in the digital economy, friction is the number one killer of conversion.
We are witnessing a massive demographic shift that traditional hoteliers are ignoring. The “DIY Traveler” (a cohort that now spans from Gen Z to Gen X) isn’t asking for more human interaction. They are asking for control.
When you force a digital native to leave your website and pick up the phone to complete a transaction, you aren’t “servicing” them. You are giving them a chore. And usually, they won’t do it. They will just bounce to a competitor who doesn’t make them work for the privilege of spending money.
Look at the data of modern professional life. Your target guest is bombarded by Slack notifications, Zoom calls, LinkedIn messages, and WhatsApp groups for 10 hours a day. We are not socially starved; we are socially saturated.
When a guest is booking a hotel at 9 PM on a Tuesday, they are usually exhausted. They want Silence and Speed. If your website makes them talk to a human to find out if the pool is heated or if there are vegan options at breakfast, you have failed the user experience (UX) test.
From a performance marketing perspective, your digital ecosystem (Website, Social, CRM) has one specific KPI: To answer 90% of the guest’s questions without human intervention.
If a guest has to call your front desk to close the sale, that is not a “lead.” That is a content failure. It means your funnel leaked.
✅ The Modern Winner: “Hotel Flow”
1. The Hook: Instagram ad.
2. The Frictionless Funnel: The website is a Self-Service Engine. The FAQ is dynamic and searchable.
3. The Conversion: When the user selects a room, a pop-up asks: “Enhance your stay: Add a Wine Tasting?” They click “Yes.” They pay.
4. The Result: A higher Average Order Value (AOV) and a confirmed booking in 3 minutes without a single staff member lifting a finger.
If you want to capture the DIY Traveler, you need to stop thinking of your website as a digital brochure and start thinking of it as a Transaction Engine.
For the modern consumer, convenience is the ultimate luxury.
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Big thanks to Max Starkov. His thoughts on the blend of humans vs. technology were the catalyst for this post.
