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Research
GO Technology: More Than a Meal
More Than a Meal
Consumers are going out less often, but when they do, they want it to be special.
The research, produced in partnership with CGA by NIQ, surveyed 5,000 British consumers to find out what consumers want when dining or drinking out.
With the rising cost of living and tighter budgets, many people are cutting back on how often they eat and drink out and instead choosing to treat themselves with more special, memorable experiences.
From tasting menus, bottomless brunches and interactive activities, discover how you can encourage guests to book, spend and return by offering more than a meal.
What's in the report?
Key findings:
- The reasons why elevated experiences appeal to consumers
- The top 10 experiences guests want when they go out
- How hospitality businesses can get elevated experiences right
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Why 6:12pm is the new 8pm
Exclusive research from Zonal and CGA by NIQ reveals a shift in consumer behaviour towards going out earlier when visiting pubs, bars, and restaurants, as well as the factors influencing this shift.
Consumer behaviour is shifting towards going out earlier, with the new preferred start time for consumers’ bookings at pubs, bars, and restaurants now sitting at 6:12pm.
This marks a continuance of a trend that started post-pandemic, with consumers increasingly favouring convenience when it comes to their visits to hospitality venues. But what are the key factors that are influencing this shift towards earlier booking times? Which consumers are seeing the biggest behavioural shifts? And what are the biggest priorities for guests when choosing to visit hospitality venues earlier?
This research, produced in partnership with CGA by NIQ, surveyed 5,000 British consumers to find out these answers, and more.
What's in the report?
- Guests’ preferred booking times when going out
- The top reasons consumers are choosing to go out earlier, and why they may choose to go out later
- Which groups of consumers are seeing the largest change in behaviour
- Consumers’ top priorities when choosing what time to go out
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Pub Accommodation Review 2025
Exclusive research into consumer and operator sentiment towards the UK pub accommodation sector, produced in partnership with CGA by NIQ, Stay In a Pub, and VisitEngland.
Amidst high demand for UK accommodation, there’s huge growth potential for UK pubs to boost revenue by making rooms a core part of their offering.
Whether it’s a friendly welcome, high quality food and drink, or a more relaxed, welcoming atmosphere, a stay in a pub holds broad appeal for many consumers. But what are the key factors that influence guests in choosing to book a stay in a pub? How can pubs with rooms reach more guests? And what are the potential barriers causing guests to choose to stay elsewhere?
This report, produced in partnership with CGA by NIQ, Stay In a Pub, and VisitEngland, provides an in-depth exploration of current guest sentiment towards the UK pub accommodation sector from both guests and businesses; identifying where the opportunity lies for pubs that invest in accommodation, as well as the view from pub accommodation operators.
What's in the report?
- What guests want from their stay in a pub
- How are guests choosing where to stay?
- How operators can capitalise on the pub accommodation opportunity
- The top challenges facing pub accommodation providers
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Hotels and consumers: Guest expectations and how to meet them in 2025
This exclusive research report explores consumers’ engagement with the UK hotel market, what they expect during their stay, and how hoteliers can make the most of the opportunity.
Both domestically and abroad, the demand for accommodation remains high, with 78% of consumers having stayed in a hotel in 2024.
But guests’ engagement with hotels is evolving. With more discovery tools at their disposal than ever, and plenty of choice when it comes to the type of accommodation they want to stay in, it’s vital for hoteliers and operators to understand guest behaviour to stay ahead of the game.
This report, produced in partnership with CGA by NIQ, surveyed over 3,000 British consumers to provide a deep dive into what it is guests are looking for when booking a stay in a hotel; including how often, and for what reasons, guests are staying in UK hotels, their engagement with F&B during their stay, and the factors that influence their choice of hotel when booking a stay.
What's in the report?
- The top five visit trends for UK hotels
- The top reasons guests are visiting hotels
- How guests are deciding where to stay, and factors influencing their decisions
- Guests’ engagement with hotel F&B during their stay
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Consumers and hospitality: 2024 in review
Discover the key industry issues identified in our consumer research series this year in this in-depth 2024 review.
Despite 2024 remaining another challenging year for both consumers and the hospitality industry, it’s not all doom and gloom.
Consumers continue to recognise the important roles their favourite pubs, bars and restaurants play in both their social lives and their local communities, and are still keeping eating and drinking out on their list of priorities – despite cost-of-living pressures.
In this review of our 2024 consumer research series, we explore the top factors influencing guest behaviour amidst the cost-of-living crisis, as well as the opportunities, and challenges, these present for hospitality businesses; from the importance of avoiding points of friction during the customer journey, and getting your hospitality fundamentals right, to how loyal guests are to their favourite hospitality brands and the factors causing guests to not honour their bookings. Discover all of this, and more, with insights from 5,000 GB consumers.
What's in the report?
- Key findings from our 2024 consumer research series
- The three big hospitality challenges, and opportunities, of 2024 – loyalty, no-shows and service inefficiency
- Why hospitality still matters to consumers
- Five ways hospitality businesses can better meet consumer expectations in 2025 and beyond
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The truth behind no-shows
What factors are causing consumers to no-show? How does hospitality compare to other sectors? Find out in this exclusive survey of 5,000 hospitality consumers.
No-shows remain an ongoing challenge for the hospitality industry, costing UK hospitality a collective £17.6bn a year in lost sales.
Previous research in 2024 revealed that 60% of consumers want to support the hospitality sector in light of the cost-of-living crisis, however despite this the rate of no-shows has risen from 12 to 14% over the course of the year. With increased cost pressures already presenting a difficult trading environment for hospitality, it’s vital for operators to understand why these no-shows are occurring, as well as exploring potential solutions to combat the issue.
In this report, we reveal the extent of the no-shows problem, including current consumer booking behaviours and the factors influencing no-show rates, as well as how likely consumers are to show up for their booking in hospitality compared to other sectors.
What's in the report?
- Why consumers no show in hospitality
- 2024 consumer booking habits
- How no-shows in hospitality compare to other sectors
- Five ways to combat no-shows in your venue
“No-Shows is a really big problem for the industry. At our restaurant Faber, we charge a £20 per head pre-authorisation (the money is only taken in the event of no show) on every booking, as we have to protect our business. Hospitality is unique in the sense that unlike many other industries, you pay after you’ve received the service. When people don’t show up, not only is the money from the booking lost, but the costs incurred from the stock which was ordered in that we now have to waste and the additional staff which were put in place to support the booking, all add up. It all has a negative effect on business.”
Join the conversation and help us make no-shows a thing of the past
No-shows cost the hospitality industry an estimated £17.59 billion in lost sales every year. Join our group of passionate industry supporters to help spread the message far and wide and encourage customers to #ShowUpForHospitality.
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Brand loyalty in hospitality
How likely are consumers to switch brands? What types of loyalty schemes keep them engaged, and how do customers want to hear from hospitality brands? Discover the answers from 5,000 hospitality consumers.
With consumer spend tightening and visit frequency reduced, a loyal customer base providing that all-important repeat business is the holy grail for operators looking to succeed in today’s difficult trading landscape.
Our previous research in partnership with CGA by NIQ revealed that consumers, on average, feel loyal to 2.1 hospitality brands – but how likely are their choices of preferred venues to change?
In this exclusive survey of 5,000 British hospitality consumers, we reveal how likely consumers would be to switch their preference to a different hospitality brand, how hospitality stacks up against other sectors, and the role loyalty schemes play in ensuring customers keep coming back to you for more.
What's in the report?
- Which consumers are most likely to switch to a competitor?
- How does loyalty in hospitality compare against other sectors?
- Consumer communication preferences
- What guests find appealing about loyalty schemes
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GO Technology: Fixing people’s hospitality bugbears
Subscribe to get the latest news, product announcements and industry updates
Fixing people's hospitality bugbears
What are consumers' top frustrations in hospitality, and how can hospitality operators address them? Find out in this exclusive consumer research report in partnership with CGA by NIQ
Our previous GO Technology research revealed that hospitality still plays an important role in people’s social lives despite cost pressures, but with 49% of consumers saying they’d become less loyal to a brand after a few bad experiences, it’s incredibly important for hospitality businesses to deliver frictionless experiences that meet guests’ expectations, without any frustration during the journey.
This exclusive research of 5,000 hospitality consumers reveals the biggest frustrations guests encounter when engaging with venues, both in-venue and pre-visit, how these frustrations differ between demographics, and what actions they are likely to take following a frustrating experience.
What's in the report?
- Top 5 biggest bugbears
- Frustrations by stage in the customer journey
- How do these frustrations differ between demographics?
- Where and when consumers vent their frustrations about their hospitality experiences
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What makes people loyal to hospitality and how venues can maintain their loyalty
Discover the top reasons consumers choose to go out, the role hospitality plays in local communities, and what hospitality businesses can do to build and maintain customer loyalty in this blog – based on the findings from our recent ‘GO Technology: The value of hospitality’ research!
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Explore our virtual venues through the eyes of your customers
Visit our virtual pub, restaurant and hotel to discover how Zonal’s ecosystem of hospitality technology works behind the scenes to provide you with the intelligence and insights you need to improve customer experiences, boost loyalty, and drive revenue.
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Hospitality Tech Assessment: Improving the guest experience & driving loyalty
Answer a few short questions to identify how well your tech helps you to deliver incredible guest experiences that keep your customers coming back time and time again. At the end you’ll get personalised guidance which explains how you can leverage your customer data to offer personalised customer experiences.
Subscribe to get the latest news, product announcements and industry updates
The value of hospitality: Exploring consumer insights and perceptions
Why do consumers still love restaurants, pubs and bars? What is it that makes hospitality special? Our exclusive research in partnership with UK Hospitality and CGA by NIQ reveals all.
Despite many consumers tightening their purse strings, hospitality still has a vital role to play in the social lives of Britain’s consumers. But what is it about hospitality that consumers really and truly value?
This exclusive consumer research of 5,000 GB consumers, conducted in partnership with UK Hospitality and CGA by NIQ , reveals what aspects of the industry consumers love the most; from why people choose to go out instead of staying in, to what aspects of a pub, bar or restaurant’s offering would keep making them come back for more.
What's in the report?
- Why hospitality matters to consumers – top 5 reasons
- Why consumers choose to go out instead of staying in
- The top factors that would make consumers return to a pub, bar or restaurant
- Which consumers are still engaging regularly with hospitality despite cost pressures
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Loyalty schemes in hospitality: What top CEOs think
Loyalty is currently a hot topic in the hospitality industry but there remains a lot of confusion. What do consumers mean when they say they are loyal to on-trade brands? Is it the same as for other retail brands? How can the sector create and maintain customer loyalty? Does it genuinely add value to the bottom line – or does it really just boil down to discounting? To answer these – and more – questions, we gathered eight of the industry’s top operators for a chat about all things loyalty.
tools
Hospitality Tech Assessment: Improving the guest experience & driving loyalty
Answer a few short questions to identify how well your tech helps you to deliver incredible guest experiences that keep your customers coming back time and time again. At the end you’ll get personalised guidance which explains how you can leverage your customer data to offer personalised customer experiences.
Subscribe to get the latest news, product announcements and industry updates
Influence, loyalty and technology: Key guest trends from 2023
An in-depth end-of-year review of the key findings from our 2023 GO Technology consumer research series
Consumer expectations of the pubs, bars and restaurants they visit are ever-changing, and 2023 has proven to be no exception to the rule. This year, consumers have been quick to change their behaviours to match the tightening of budgets brought on by the cost-of-living crisis, and as more and more consumers become digital natives, the shift towards more digital-led touchpoints has continued to grow.
In this in-depth review of our 2023 consumer research series, we explore the three key themes identified from our surveys of 5,000 hospitality consumers; from the influential consumers who make the decisions on where to eat and drink, to when guests prefer digital touchpoints to human interaction during the customer journey, and how guest loyalty has changed as a result of the cost of living crisis.
Download this report to discover:
- 2023’s key hospitality consumer trends
- What factors most influence consumers’ decisions on when and where to go out to eat and drink
- What makes consumers loyal to a brand or venue
- How technology can help enhance the guest experience
