Spending pennies

Through our work at travel locations across the world we have seen how the strategic integration of essential amenities such as toilets, and the presence of experiential areas such as gardens or playgrounds, can have a very significant impact on commercial performance. We have also seen how they need to be carefully programmed within the passenger journey, so that they work in harmony with, rather than distract from, the commercial offer.

The importance of dwell and flow
Amenities can attract people to a particular area of a travel location and can keep them there for significant periods.

The power of longer dwell time cannot be underestimated. In a study at a European airport, passenger retail spend per passenger with a departure lounge dwell time of 30-60 minutes was 118% higher than those with a dwell of less than 30 mins. Furthermore, those with a dwell of 60-90 minutes had a spend 76% greater than those with a 30-60 min dwell.

In the same airport, 77% of passengers used the toilet at some stage post security, whilst studies by Network Rail have shown that at the peak hour for Waterloo, Charing Cross and Cannon Street the proportion of people using the toilets ranged from 4.4% to 8.1%. This may not seem high but considering the large volume of visitors to these train stations it represents major footfall. For example, following improvements to the facilities at Victoria (seen above), the `arrival rate' at the toilets rose significantly such that the recommended assumed utilisation is now 9% for the network. This represented 7.2 million people in 2019. The use of toilets at motorway service stations is even higher, and again offers significant opportunities for adjacent outlets.  

These amenities are also paramount in maintaining passenger satisfaction, which in turn affects passenger spend. Passengers giving an overall rating of 4 or 5 (out of 5) for their experience had a spend 47% higher than those giving a rating of 3 or below.

Amenities can also be used in collaboration with commercial zoning, locating family-focused outlets close to a play area, or a high end offer near the executive lounges for example, to encourage self-segmentation and ensure that passengers are exposed, and dwell within the most relevant offer.

The power of innovation
Until recently, experiential amenities were somewhat limited, but today, particularly for airports with a high proportion of transfer traffic, where layovers can be very lengthy, they are becoming commonplace. These range from activity led swimming pools, (such as at Changi, Hamad International and Dubai among others), to Gaming Centres. VR Gaming is also very much on the horizon after the launch of Gaming Point, which offers VR escape room experiences in airports. Likewise free to use spaces for relaxation areas such as Changi's famous butterfly garden, or the transfer lounge at Charles de Gaulle Airport are becoming more usual.

The impact of having more experiential amenities is three-fold: first, they provide passengers having very long layovers with something to do, which creates higher levels of satisfaction. Second, they can directly increase non-aeronautical revenues through charge per use models. Lastly, they can help the transport hub differentiate themselves from the competition, and potentially effect passenger route choice and therefore increase passenger numbers. 

Ultimately, to maximise the commercial revenues within a transport hub, the full system including appropriate amenities need to be strategically integrated.

Ed Newton