From candy floss-making butlers to drives around Buckingham Palace in a classic Rolls-Royce, The Dorchester hotel in London goes out of its way to create magical stays for Generation Alpha. Jenny Southan reports
Did you know that by 2025, there will be almost 2 billion members of Generation Alpha (children born between 2010 and 2024)?
According to McCrindle, they will be the the largest generation in the history of the world. For travel companies, this means there is a huge imperative to start catering to this demographic in ever-more thoughtful and imaginative ways – after all, if the kids are happy, the parents will be happy – and this equates to bookings. At Globetrender, we call this trend “Alpha Influence”.
With this in mind, I was interested to see that The Dorchester hotel in London has been making a special effort to respond to the needs and demands of Gen Alpha by launching a five-star “Family Time” package, so I checked in with my wife and our young daughter to see what the experience was like.
(Please note that most of the images here are generic ones supplied by the hotel – not of our own family.)
Options included a cooking class in the hotel kitchen; spending a day in the life of a prince or princess with a car ride to Buckingham palace in a classic Rolls Royce; or a picnic, treasure hunt, bike or horse ride in Hyde park.
This was on our list of experiences to try – although when we got there our daughter was so sleepy she ended up barefoot and falling asleep on the sofa after eating all the sweet things from her plate. The staff didn’t seem to mind though and returned to top up our champagne glasses while we enjoyed the remainder of our own delicious afternoon tea.
Those staying at The Dorchester also have special access to the spa at sister hotel 45 Park Lane opposite so in the morning we all went over the road to try it out. Children are able to use the 20-metre swimming pool 9am-11am and 3pm-5pm daily when accompanied by an adult.
VERDICT
Despite having links with Brunei, the Dorchester Collection is supportive of the LGBTQ+ community and, as two mums, we felt incredibly welcomed by all the staff at the property.
Our daughter had a brilliant time and although the hotel is very formal (which meant we felt anxious about her not being on her best behaviour) no one made us feel bad when she took her shoes off and ran down the corridor barefoot, which was a relief. (That’s not to say they’d endorse Gen Alpha rampaging around the public areas, I’m sure.)
Overall the team was incredibly human, good humoured and kind – which is essential when catering to Gen Alpha and their parents/caregivers.