Naming the Top Three 2017 Resort Trends - Be Ready for Surprises

This year has to count as a transitional year in US hospitality. We can now see the end of the boom and that's not to say bad times are ahead but that guaranteed good times look to be coming to an end.

What that means is that those who succeed will have to work harder - and smarter - to claim their wins. Authenticity, commitment, passion and hard, focused work will be drivers of 2017 success.

And the fast track to those successes is knowing what is going to be hot before everybody has gotten the memo.

Here are the three mega trends I believe will be transformative to many resorts in the year ahead.

2017: The Year We Get Real About Fitness.
Wellness has been the word on many lips in hospitality for the past few years as, suddenly wellness has vaulted into a multi-billion dollars business. Indeed, some experts say it now is a $3.4 trillion industry and that is a tremendous amount of money.

Fitness and mind/body alone are said to be a $446 billion industry.

My advice: get prepared for very rapid growth in the fitness sector as Baby Boomers confront the reality that they are out of shape, often in fact obese.

Boomers still are an immense demographic cohort and many have money too.

But I believe they will be discriminating as they try to lose weight and get back into shape.

I have seen many spas casually throw together "fitness tracks" and word of advice: they won't succeed. Boomers will pay for thought-out programs that work. They won't pay for haphazardly constructed programs that reflect no real commitment or integrity.

In building fitness programs, focus on authenticity and integrity.

That is how to build profits in the fitness space.

The places that are sincere and good at this work - think The Ranch in California as a poster child - are primed for a good ride.

In fitness you will be known by the results your guests get. And that is an unforgiving report card.

Reinventing the Hotel Restaurant

For too many years, too many hotel restaurants have existed in a kind of comfortable mediocrity. But that era is over.

More and more start-ups now are looking to carve out their own profits delivering restaurant food from off- property establishments to hungry hotel guests.

What a diss!

But it tells you: many guests just are giving up on hotel food.

How many times have I looked in at a hotel restaurant and it has been a barren Siberia at 8 pm.

The antidote: make the restaurant better.

Make it local. Make it healthy.

Tap into those larger trends - the focus on local and also on good health/fitness.

Who isn't a food expert now? We live in an era of 24/7 saturation food coverage. Expertise is table stakes.

Your restaurant needs to satisfy the informed, intelligent consumer.

And think way outside the box? Do you offer breakfast smoothies? Why not?

Matcha tea lattes?

Chia seed pudding?

What dishes is your restaurant known for?

Get known for some and make them dishes that capture how you want to be seen. Always aim to be the best in town at the dishes you serve. Second best isn't good enough.

My prediction is that in the next five years many resorts will be downgrading their F&B operations, mainly because the ever pickier and more knowledgeable guest population has just said no. Mediocrity will fade away.

You don't want to be in that group.

Be in the winners circle with a restaurant that matters. That is local. Healthy. Fun. Where people want to eat, want to be seen, want to enjoy themselves.

Service Matters

When hotel business slacks off, the eye shade wearers in the industry start cutting back on service and staff. Do the opposite. That is where victory lies.

What do I remember about my own guest stays? Service successes. Also flubs.

Look at TripAdvisor. Mainly it's a catalog of service successes and flubs.

Service is critical to hotel success.

I believe that in 2017 we will see a resurgence in topgrade service at resorts and hotels that are determined to emerge winners. As others trim back, they will go the other smarter way and the timing is right because these efforts will find a guest cohort that thirsts for real service, that values staff with local knowledge and well-trained skills.

There you have it: the three-pronged roadmap for 2017 success. Fitness + authentic food + real service.

There is no mystery about how to deliver that trio.

And the resorts that do will be the winners.