OK, many of them aren’t kids anymore, but they’re young, they’re coming on strong and they’ve already managed to completely transform the way many companies do business, including those in the travel and meetings industries. They’re the Millennials, or Gen Y, born roughly between the early 1980s and the early 2000s. And Central East Florida wants them.
“All of our properties welcome this age group, and the venues near our trendier areas are thriving,” says Shawn Abbatessa, director of market development for the Daytona Beach Area CVB. “To speak to this audience, we also employ a robust social media program with plenty of lively, fun messaging about everything from eateries to events. We’ve now got around 91,000 Facebook likes and 5,000 Twitter followers.”
A scant few years ago, many of us wouldn’t have known what that last sentence referred to; now we all nod in recognition. Because when it comes to information dissemination, time delays are effectively a thing of the past. Due in large part to Millennials, we learn things in real time and pass them on accordingly.
“Millennials are definitely big on social media; that’s the way of the future,” says Jennifer Sugarman, director of the Cocoa Beach Regional Chamber of Commerce CVB and a Gen Yer herself, who made a new Twitter account and blog for the CVB her first order of business when she joined in May. “I’ve really beefed up our social media usage. I’d like to use all of what’s out there.”
Plenty of industry vets would agree with Sugarman’s tactics.
“We are all doing business digitally, no ifs ands or buts about it,” says Bonnie King, deputy director of the Space Coast Office of Tourism. “Millennials like to share their experiences immediately. It could be bad for the speaker who’s facing a room full of people tweeting, but good in terms of reaching people more effectively, because the speaker can set up a blog and start interacting with attendees before the meeting even begins. Millennials don’t want to just sit and listen to a speaker. They want to interact and self-serve their needs.”
With instant, interactive information and connectivity topping the Millennial wish list, hotels are rushing to accommodate them. The Courtyard by Marriott Cocoa Beach/Cape Canaveral, for one, revamped its lobby to include “media pods” with individual TVs as well as a communal table with seating and charging stations for six, all steps away from a Starbucks, naturally. Nearby is a “Go Board” boasting a 60-inch touch screen where guests can get everything from driving directions to flight information, while a fleet of computers is on hand to print boarding passes.
“When you think about it, Millennials have never known a time when you didn’t have cellphones,” notes Emma Richard, the Courtyard’s e-commerce manager. “They’ve never known a time when you couldn’t scan your debit card at a gas station. They’ve only ever known these conveniences.”
Keeping the Millennial need for speed in mind, media pods and the hotel’s 10-seat boardroom can be reserved in advance via the website liquidspace.com, while the entire Marriott network is rolling out check-in by smart phone this December.
“One of the reasons my job exists is because of Millennials, to make sure our information is out there any way they want to see it,” Richard says. “It’s all from the palm of their hand.”
