Hotels, restaurants, B&Bs, guest houses: the whole tourism sector could benefit enormously from installing electric charging points.
It is now clear: the e-mobility market is set to grow steadily. For anyone running a hotel or any kind of hospitality business, this means new customers with new needs. An opportunity to anticipate and seize, with huge benefits for everyone. The challenge lies entirely in the organisation.
“Can I also book a parking space to charge my electric car?” This is one of the questions that accommodation providers are increasingly being asked, and to which they have to reply, sometimes almost stammering, “let me check”.
The Italian landscape is still very fragmented, and tourism operators are still slow to grasp these interesting opportunities to modernise and to tap into new market segments that are set to grow rapidly.
While it is true that there is still a great deal of work to be done in the big cities and that charging points have only just arrived on Italian motorways, private businesses have the chance to get ahead and, if they work in tourism, to offer a service that is increasingly in demand among people who love travelling around Italy, perhaps from central or northern European countries where electric cars are already more widespread than they are in Italy.
THE ADVANTAGES
Having at least two electric charging points at your property, according to some people in the industry, offers huge advantages. First of all, you tap into new market segments. Tourists, especially from abroad, are very environmentally conscious, and being able to charge their electric car without wasting time looking for a charging point outside the hotel, or perhaps on the road, is an increasingly effective way to boost your bookings. It is also worth adding that car and motorbike hire services themselves are including more and more electric vehicles in their fleets.
THE COSTS
But how much does it cost to charge a guest’s car? Many people imagine sky-high electricity bills. The reality is quite different. Anyone who wants to offer their guests a full charge can do so at a very low cost. It is in fact estimated at around €4 for a full slow charge (3.7 kW) lasting about 5 hours, allowing the guest to travel about 130 km. These are therefore very modest costs, which accommodation providers often include in the parking fee, presenting the charging service as free.
WHERE ARE THESE PROPERTIES?
How can you find out where there is a hotel offering a charging service for electric vehicles? Obviously by phoning the property, or by checking the main online booking platforms (OTAs). But this information is not always clear or easy to find.
As is often the case, the answer comes from the grassroots, that is, from someone who faced this problem and decided to share useful information with all other users free of charge. One example is E-viaggio.it, a non-profit website born precisely out of its creator’s need to find accommodation that could guarantee him a reliable charge. The site provides valuable and detailed information.
There are 1,649 listed properties, of which 249 have been verified directly by their owners. Listings are in fact added in two ways: by travellers or by owners, who thereby gain visibility in specific market niches. A sort of Tripadvisor for electric charging points, reliable and safe.
As well as by location, the site lets you filter by charger type, kW and price. It also provides precise details of the various properties, so that you can contact them directly. The advice, of course, is to check for yourself by calling the property and asking for confirmation. It is also an excellent opportunity to practise disintermediation, so dear to hotels, and avoid paying the notorious commissions to OTAs such as Booking.com
Also very interesting is the project by Federalberghi Cervia, which in 2018, together with the Ministry of the Environment, launched the project “A Riccione ti ricarichi” (In Riccione you recharge): a plan for installing electric charging points at accommodation properties.
These are isolated examples from trade associations, but they are encouraging. Despite Covid, or rather especially because of Covid, people prefer to travel by car. And if the market trend is towards electric, offering the possibility to charge on site is a must.
[Source: “Eviaggio: a website for finding hotels, restaurants and campsites with charging points”, joinon.com https://www.joinon.com/it/it/e-mobilty/colonnine-di-ricarica-in-hotel–un-mare-di-opportunitatml]
