As an insights-driven company, Hilton always works to advance alongside travelers’ changing preferences and desires. After another year of strong travel demand, the Hilton communications team wanted to revisit the trends shaping the global traveler experience to understand how they are evolving among different generations, offering a new and unique perspective, amplifying the framework of previous reports. To strengthen the narrative, Hilton commissioned external third-party research with Ipsos, with 10,000 global travelers in nine countries, to uncover the trends anticipated to define travel in 2024 and dig deeper into generational insights driving industry innovation. Shaped by the results of the survey, online video diaries with 60 U.S. travelers and in-depth interviews with dozens of Hilton travel experts across categories, the 2024 Trends Report, crafted by the Hilton communications team, uncovered unique data across four themes: sleep, connectivity and personalization, culture and experience and business travel trends.

The creation of the annual Trends Report provides Hilton – and the industry – insight into the changing trends in traveler expectations and priorities. It also showcases the ways that Hilton is innovating to meet those changes. Hilton understands that trends do not change drastically year-over-year, therefore took advantage of the opportunity to take a new lens on storytelling. For this year, the Hilton communications team capitalized on rising interest in generational angles, and to drive conversation in Hilton’s innovation story among media, the team structured the narrative around generational insights. Hilton took a deeper look at how each generation views and prioritizes travel – from the digital-native Gen Zer to the experienced Baby Boomer – and partnered with generational expert Jason Dorsey, who provided additional expertise and generational insights to aid the overall report.

Hilton’s communications team developed a global communications strategy to launch the report. To double the number of embargoed media Hilton could reach in year three, Hilton hosted in-person and virtual preview events ahead of the report launch. The events brought the trends to life, spotlighting priority Hilton properties and key executives, both live and virtually, to inspire top-tier and trade media to craft engaging stories on the report’s storylines and data. Hilton’s regional teams also created launch strategies to bolster the report within their own key markets. For instance, the Asia Pacific (APAC) team leaned into the identity of the ‘GenerAsian traveler,’ Asian travelers inspired by self-discovery who desire a deeper understanding of their own cultural and ancestral heritage through travel. The EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Asia) team championed key narratives including solo travel, increased consumer spending on travel and the return of travel confidence across regions.

Each year, the report serves as an earned media generator from launch until the introduction of the next report. This year’s findings were shared under embargo with U.S. top-tier media at the newly opened Tempo by Hilton New York Times Square, then previewed to trade media during a virtual event. After engaging with more than 60 journalists under embargo, the report launched within Hilton’s newsroom, and a global press release was distributed simultaneously, honing in on the top trend of traveling to rest and recharge. Widespread outreach followed, with amplification on @HiltonNewsroom social channels, through a USA Today editorial partnership and regionally by APAC and EMEA. Hilton leveraged Jason Dorsey for a Satellite Media Tour (SMT) in November, executed a content series focused on wellness in January and held another SMT with sleep expert Dr. Rebecca Robbins to share the news of Hilton Sleep Retreats in March.

Efficiently and effectively showcasing the company’s business objectives, the media results surpassed expectations, with 2,496 global placements and a potential reach of more than 5.4 billion between October 2023 and April 2024, including media outlets such as The TODAY Show, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, MSN, Thrillist, The Points Guy, Skift, LODGING, TravelPulse, Essence, The Sun (UK), Zawya (UAE) and The Hindustan Times. Based on Google performance for the first 27 days of the report launch, the 2024 Trends Report Stories From Hilton page generated 1,486% more impressions and 1,086% more clicks than the 2023 Trends Report page. Earned coverage quality was high, with 47% of coverage containing feature mentions and 24% of coverage involving Hilton executives. Overall, coverage represented a 157% increase in placements and an 81% increase in potential reach from the 2023 report.

Hilton’s embargoed in-person event hosted 16 top-tier NYC-based media, and the U.S. virtual media event garnered an audience of more than 40 media attendees from outlets including Bloomberg, Skift, The Points Guy and NerdWallet, representing a 33% increase from 2023. Leaders across Hilton used the report as their narrative for interviews, such as with Forbes, Fortune, AARP and Food & Wine, customer meetings and speaking opportunities. Hilton looks forward to inviting even more media to experience the trends for themselves at an upcoming international press trip to Italy in May.