Generational Differences in Customer Engagement: Millennials vs. Gen Z in Travel Booking

Abstract

The emergence of the digital world and social media has altered the relationship of the consumers with the travel brands and rather to the young generations. The study is guided by describing the generational gap between the Millennials and the Gen z in the aspect of the online reservation of the travel. The paper analyzes the difference between the motivations, preferences and brand interactivity of such cohorts, based on the consumer behavior and digital interaction theories. A mixed-method research design was used, survey participants (n=400, survey) and qualitative interviews with regular flyers were analyzed and respondents (n=400) were intended to identify the behavior trends across digital touchpoints in terms of engagement. The findings indicate that Millennials will find pleasant experiences more convenient, boost loyalty to rewards and tailored messages to contact travel platforms. They would be particularly concerned with their contact, which is far less than the trust and reliability of the brand and which can be referred to as pragmatic in terms of online shopping. The younger Gen Z travelers are more authentic, peer-connected and better versed with online communication on the content of the influencers and user reviews. The interaction determinants dictating the Gen Z interaction are the values of social media interactivity, sustainability and instant gratification. The second factor, which is also of interest to the study, is that the two cohorts are respectively about to go digital, yet Gen Z have a worse attention span and are highly sensitive to the aesthetics and transparency of the internet. Travel marketers and online booking organizations are victims with strategic implications of this type of generational difference. Companies are to use varying strategies when addressing the Millennials and the Gen Z generations as they must be more personal and loyal when dealing with the former generation and utilize creativity, authenticity and ethical branding when dealing with the latter generation. The insights into such a dynamic digital behavior will enable the travel brands to establish closer customer relationships and will result in better engagement results in the online marketplace that is becoming more competitive.