As restrictions continue to ease for the hospitality sector, we at Customer Perceptions felt it was an opportune time to conduct a survey across our nationwide base of consumers. We wanted to determine consumers’ opinion on ‘Staycations’ (Yes, we also don’t like that word) and what their intentions were in utilising the Hospitality sector. We have discovered some interesting hospitality trends for 2021.

The data and results uncovered were engrossingly insightful. Overall, the survey affirmed that the past 18 months have had an impact on consumers’ intentions of holidaying in the future and when they intend in returning to the Hospitality sector.

Where are people holidaying?

Unsurprisingly, the majority of respondents were keen to holiday this year. Not exactly breaking news that people enjoy holidays. The surprise was the willingness to trade in sun holidays and travel agents for staycations this year. In fact, 87.2% of respondents are hoping to holiday in Ireland. Of the 12.8% of respondents that are not holidaying in Ireland this year, the main reason was the price of staying in Ireland, or that they were planning on travelling abroad.

Would you consider holidaying abroad in 2021?

With the updates on Covid Certs, Green Lists and a slow opening of foreign travel, we examined how respondents would feel about holidaying further abroad this year to a foreign destination. Almost 40% of respondents said “No” that they would not be travelling abroad this year. The remainder were more open to this, with some citing Yes, but only if certain criteria was filled. 35% were happy to travel abroad if the restrictions were eased, travel was permitted and they were vaccinated. 9% of respondents were happy to travel if restrictions were eased and travel was permitted. However, only 4% of respondents were happy to travel abroad regardless of vaccine status or restrictions.

Uncertainty is a big part in the reason people are wary of travelling outside of Ireland. It is important to realise that restrictions could change on a whim if your holiday destination has a spike that moves it from the Green list to the Red list. Evidently the global vaccine rollout reduces the possibility of rapid circumstance changes. This will potentially alleviate some peoples fear of travelling. This could lead to a shift in the hospitality trends coming into 2022.

Biggest Hospitality Trends for Travelling In Ireland

The number one factor when deciding where to travel to in Ireland is the price. Followed by the location and journey time. Only 22 respondents determined destination popularity to impact their decision on where to travel in Ireland. The majority of people in Ireland would usually stay in a hotel with 196 respondents typically staying in a hotel. Compared to the second highest (101 respondents) choice of Self-Catering. Bed & Breakfasts were third most popular but with another large drop in popularity with only 43 people opting to stay if given a choice.

Even though destination popularity isn’t likely to influence destination choice, the location of the hotel is the most important factor for when choosing where to stay for the desired destination. However, when asked about why they stay in a particular hotel or B&B comfort was the number one option.

Hotel Statistics In Covid-19

48% of our respondents have stayed in a Hotel since the start of the pandemic in March 2020. Customers had an even split on whether Covid-19 restrictions had impacted their stay. 31.5% felt that the restrictions had a positive impact on their stay opposed to 34.3% of respondents found it negative. The remaining 34.3% felt the restrictions had no impact on their hotel stay. A surprising 48.7% of respondents said they would regularly write an online review for accommodation, restaurants and pubs after a visit.

21.6% of the respondents said they would visit a pub monthly this year while 15% would visit weekly. Another 12.5% intended to visit the pub at least once every two weeks. One of the main factors impacting dining habits of our respondents is that they did not want to eat outdoors. 63.4% of people were satisfied with the restrictions of 6 people per table. Although the respondents were far more likely to go to a restaurant than a pub. 19% intended to visit a restaurant weekly while another 19% intended to go every two weeks. However, 38.1% planned on visiting a restaurant monthly.

Impacts on the Hospitality Sector in Ireland

The tourism in Ireland has plummeted with travel restrictions and quarantines putting international tourists off travelling. However, in the same vein Irish tourists have decided to explore the beauties of Ireland opposed to jetting off to Lanzarote to get a tan. Inevitably international tourism will see a rapid rise in the near future as restrictions continue to ease. However, having a positive experience holidaying in Ireland may see an increase in Irish residents holidaying within the country. Hospitality trends for 2021 look positive for internal travel across Ireland.

Combine this with fact that destination popularity isn’t an important factor in the majority of respondents’ decision making process. This could see quiet areas of rural Ireland receiving a boost in the hospitality sector if the act of going on a “staycation” remains popular after all travel restrictions are lifted.

We specialise in enhancing the customer experience across multiple sectors. You can view our solutions to improve your business. If you have any questions or need advice on improving customer retention rates contact us and we will be happy to help. If you require any staff training or upskilling our training programmes are available both online and in person courses.

By Lynn Carr and Jean Ragg, Senior Client Account Managers, Customer Perceptions

On Monday May 13^th, we were delighted to be invited to attend the 2019 Irish Restaurant Awards. Now in its 11th year, the Irish Restaurant Awards are arguably the biggest night of the year in the Irish hospitality industry. This year’s event garnered over 90,000 nominations from the public.

This was our 4^th year in attendance as the official mystery shop provider of the Irish Restaurant Awards and what a wonderful night it was.

Across a 5-week period in March and April, Customer perceptions conducted 450 Mystery Guest Inspections across Ireland. The results of these inspections held 40% of the weighting for the awards. It was no mean feat for the Customer Perceptions team, but as always, we were up to the task.

With 6 courses ahead, prepared by some of the best chefs in the country, we could not wait for the awards to begin. The starter, prepared by Ethna Reynolds of Nook Restaurant in Sligo, was a beautiful Tostada with Slow Roast Pork Belly, Beetroot Crema, Pickled Rhubarb, Salsa and Feta. This was followed by a Wild Garlic and Nettle Crumb Soup served with a selection of breads prepared by apprentice chefs.

The fish course was a beautiful Steamed Monkfish prepared by Paul Hynes of La Cote Seafood Restaurant in Wexford, while the main course prepared by Tom, Flavin of The Limerick Strand Hotel was Wild Boar with Free Range Pork Boudin and Mature Cheddar Colcannon.

To finish, dessert was a Velvet Cloud Set Cream with Valhrona Opalys, Strawberries and Highbank Balsamic prepared by Conor Mee of Courthouse Restaurant in Carrickmacross. This was literally heaven on a plate. The All-Ireland Cheeseboard followed this, and was divine, consisting of goat’s cheese, blue cheese and brie.

Loam Restaurant in Galway scooped the top prize of Best Restaurant in Ireland, while Graham Neville of Dax Restaurant was awarded Best Chef in Ireland. We were delighted for Eastern Seaboard Bar & Grill who won Best Restaurant in Leinster, a much-deserved prize for a local establishment.

It was a fantastic night. It was a true testament to the hard work of the Restaurant’s Association of Ireland and a great opportunity to celebrate the commitment, passion and skill of those in the industry. As we left, the Krispy Kreme doughnut wall caught our attention. A snack for the road, as if we hadn’t eaten enough already!

 

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Customer Perceptions are delighted to be exhibiting once again at the Retail Excellence Retreat and Expo, which is taking place at Citywest Convention Centre, Dublin, from the 21^st to the 22^nd of May 2019. This is Customer Perceptions third year exhibiting at this fantastic event.

We are located at stand N5, and will be on hand to have a chat about any Market Research services you may need.

We will have plenty of information available on all of our services such as Mystery Shopping, Customer Satisfaction Surveys, Audits, Social Media Monitoring, Focus Groups and much more. Drop by to see a live demo of our reporting dashboards. You will be amazed at how much insightful data you can have at the touch of a button.

We are also pleased to announce we will have demos available on the day of our instant customer feedback tool called TellUsFirst™. This tool gives you the power to talk to your customers before they leave feedback elsewhere.

This year, the Retail Excellence Retreat and Expo has a fantastic line up of speakers. We are really looking forward to hearing some of the speakers. Keith Rogers, Head of Operations in Ecco will give a talk about how to ‘Motivate Your Team To Motivate Your Business’ – a fantastic topic. We are also really interested in hearing Jean McCabe, MD of Willow talk about ‘The Willow Store – from Clicks to Bricks’. Jean and her team led Willow to winning the Retail Excellence Store of the Year 2019.

To organise a meeting with us during these two days, please email [email protected]. We would be delighted to chat to you on the day.

Alternatively follow our social media accounts for updates throughout the two days.

By Megan Clarke, Client Account Supervisor, Customer Perceptions.

At Customer Perceptions, we each set a quarterly goal that we want to achieve. For Q1 2019, my goal was to organise a team building activity for each quarter of the year. I knew great things would come from this as it would give us the opportunity to communicate with each other outside our normal day-to-day.

For Q1, I decided to incorporate fundraising into our team activity and increase our corporate social responsibility. Everyone on the team felt this was a great idea and jumped at the chance to do something for the community.

I came across an advertisement on the Women’s Aid Facebook page which gave me the idea of organising an event to help raise funds for this charity on International Women’s Day. The entire team donated, and we set out for our lunchtime walk on Friday, March 8^th.  We walked the length of the Navy Bank in Dundalk and back to the office where we enjoyed an organised lunch together.

This was a thoroughly enjoyable experience and at the end, we were so happy to send our donation off to Women’s Aid which is such a great cause. They have been working in Ireland since 1974 and channel their efforts into stopping domestic violence against women and children. This was a fitting charity to raise money for on International Women’s Day, a day when we celebrate gender equality and women’s achievements.

Happy International Women’s Day!

 

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by Ruth O’Connell, Account Manager, Customer Perceptions

“We arrived at the RDS for the third and final day of Catex 2019, we were super excited for what the day had in store for us. Our lovely neighbours in the UCC ensured our energy levels were kept up by supplying us with an endless amount of pizza slices. Coffee and Pizza, breakfast of champions.

We were again in awe at all of the interesting and eye capturing displays and stands. Each time we visited a new stand, our rubber arms were twisted to try a sample, it would be rude not to 😉 From pizza, to cakes, burgers, ribs, goujons, and ice cream, the options were endless.

The day began with the Declan Byrne, President of the Bartender’s Association hosting a seminar, it was followed by a question and answer session at the Chef Network Lounge on how to progress your career and succeed in the industry, which was also extremely enjoyable and interesting.

After a lovely chat at the Laura Ashley stand, I cannot wait for their tea rooms to come to Ireland, I will most definitely be visiting for an afternoon of tea and treats. An afternoon of sophistication and bliss, it will be something not to miss.

Later in the day, the Avonmore Irish Latte Art Competition took place, there were some magnificent creations. To end the day the results from the Barista and Latte Art finals were announced, well done to all involved especially to Wojciech Tysler who will go on to represent Ireland at the World Barista Championships in Boston in April. I personally struggle to make a nice cup of coffee never mind topping it off with a work of art.

The last day did not disappointment, we thoroughly enjoyed the experience and all the interactions with the different people we met from all industries. We also left Catex with a delicious Strawberry Gateaux from Patisserie Royale. We are excited to bring this back to the office for tea time tomorrow.

Thank you Catex 2019, it was a pleasure.”

 

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Catex Exhibition is Ireland’s largest foodservice and hospitality show, which takes place every 2 years in the RDS, Dublin. With more than 10,000 participants attending the last event in 2017, we were expecting big things, and Day 1 did not disappoint!

Catex 2019 kicked off at 10am on Tuesday 26th February, with the crowds appearing straight away.
Our stand was located just inside the main door on the right, so it was a lovely welcome face for all the crowds as soon as they started to arrive 🙂

We were located directly opposite the UCC Coffee stand (UCC Coffee – The Total Coffee Solution) which meant the wonderful baristas there kept us in coffee for the day. Along with our other lovely neighbour, Patisserie Royale, keeping us in cakes, we knew this was going to be a good event!

There were some incredibly impressive stands on display throughout the show and none other than Henderson Food Services, and it was so lovely to catch up with the Barista Bar team.

Also great to see so many people from the Hospitality and FoodServices Industry there – Laura from Butlers, Michael from Bujo, Dara from Insomnia and Charlie from JumpJuice, as it’s always a pleasure catching up with these guys.

At 11am the Chefs Network Masterclass kicked off and continued throughout the day with some of the finest chefs producing mouthwatering dishes!

The Avonmore Barista Championship was one of the main events for Day 1 where Ireland’s leading Barista’s put their skills to the test in this intensive challenge – and it was great to see one of the regional managers for Insomnia on the judging panel.

With companies going to such lengths with impressive stands, displays and innovation, it easy to see why this is classed as ‘Catering Inspiration’. We are looking forward to the next 2 day already.