How Hotels Are Targeting Millennial Travelers

Hotels are reconfiguring guestrooms to appeal to Millennial travelers. Desks are no longer as big as they would be at an office. Beds are now designed to accommodate sleeping and tapping away on laptops and tablets. And outlets and USB devices are as ubiquitous as light switches.

"The Millennial traveler doesn't seem to need to put everything on the desk," Nigel Hatcher, senior director of interior design for Marriott International, told USA Today.

Crowne Plaza Hotels and Resorts recently unveiled its "next generation" guestroom for the modern business traveler. The room, which will debut at the Crowne Plaza Atlanta midtown and other properties in the Americas in 2015, will be divided into three areas: a cocooned bed, a flexible nook and a streamlined workspace.

"Some people work at the desk, some people work on the bed, some people work on the floor," Anne Smith, VP of brand strategy for Choice Hotels International, told Macro Insider. "The flexibility of being able to work anywhere is important."

"Their technology is their oxygen," Smith said. "It's the air they breathe."

At Choice's Cambria Hotels and Suites, guests can access the television by Bluetooth. They can also play music right off their cellphones. There's a MediaHub plug-and-play station where they can connect their laptop, game console, digital camera and other devices. At Comfort Inn and Comfort Suites, also Choice properties, there's a multi-outlet recharging device on top of the desk with USB ports as well as traditional plugs. The Comfort brand is also adding recharge capabilities at all bedsides at properties across the USA.