In a pioneering move, Cinnamon Hotels & Resorts commissioned the first-ever independent research survey on domestic travellers to gain insights into their needs and behaviours, so as to be better equipped to customize its services to meet the varied needs of a diverse and growing domestic traveller segment. The independent market research was carried out by Quantum and Pepper Cube, two leading consumer research firms in Sri Lanka. The detailed research will enable Cinnamon Hotels & Resorts identify customer behaviours, making it the first survey of its kind focused on genuinely understanding emerging trends amongst domestic travellers. The meaningful insights into behaviour patterns and preferences that were garnered through the research will assist Cinnamon Hotels & Resorts to explore hitherto unexploited market opportunities to move closer to customers. Research on domestic travellers has never been undertaken on this scale in the past within the local tourism industry. 

The research was conducted by Quantum and Pepper Cube for a period of 6 months using mixed methodology (a combination of both qualitative and quantitative methods). The qualitative research helped to identify the different domestic travellers and their key travel drivers, while the Quantitative research helped to validate these segment sizes and behaviour traits. A sample size of 1,000 respondents was used in the research, comprising of those who regularly frequented hotels.

Over 100 in-depth interviews were conducted and the research findings gave rise to segmentation of the travelling market into 8 key categories, namely, Red carpet seekers, Privacy seekers, Family indulgence, Nature lovers, Action seekers, Experiential seekers, Destination bound and Uninhibited ‘My way’ seekers. Cinnamon Hotels & Resorts considers domestic travellers to be as important as foreign tourists and this pioneering research has demonstrated what the company believes, that even within a small country like Sri Lanka, there are many different types of travellers with varied interests. The research has enabled Cinnamon Hotels & Resorts to understand the needs of the new age, commonly known as “Millennial” travellers.

Ajit Gunewardene, Deputy Chairman at John Keells Holdings commented: “Cinnamon Hotels & Resorts greatly values domestic travellers and this research is a demonstration of our commitment to offering more focused and superior levels of services for our own people. Furthermore, the hospitality industry is highly competitive and customer satisfaction is essential to generate consumer loyalty and sustainability of our operations. At Cinnamon Hotels & Resorts, cutting-edge strategy always begins with good research - because we believe that good market research and analyses will always throw light on new commercial opportunities. Rightly so, this research too has enabled us to come out with a meaningful segmentation, whereby we can be more focused when offering our services to local travellers keeping in mind their profiles, interests, lifestyle and degree of travel exposure as indicated through the research survey. This research is extremely valuable for Cinnamon Hotels & Resorts as it is helping drive our current brand enhancement strategy, while pointing the way in which we can satisfy unmet needs and expectations for each segment, in order that new product ideas can be formulated accordingly.”

Chitrangani Heratgunaratne, Senior Vice-President at Quantum Consumer Solutions pvt Ltd , added, “Cinnamon Hotels & Resorts are aspiring to become a lifestyle brand that embraces customer needs and provides experiential and enriching stays. In this light, it is essential for the company to understand the importance customers place on individual components of a hotel’s service experience. Therefore, this research conducted by us identifies the needs & expectations of the different customer segments through understanding consumer behaviour thus   providing insights for Cinnamon Hotels & Resorts to deliver the best product and service offerings, Further, this survey will help the leisure company to gauge its brand positioning in the minds of customers as well as potential customers across all properties and also where it stands against its competitors.”

For the first time in the history of tourism in the country, a landmark research survey of this scale has afforded valuable insights and analyses into the minds and hearts of domestic travellers, thereby helping Cinnamon Hotels & Resorts to strengthen its unique brand positioning further.