What A Millennial Wants (In Amenities)

Photo by Casey Montz

Luxury vans and motorcoaches have taken the limo world by storm. They are spacious, can hold an entourage, and look more modern than the traditional sedan, SUV, or stretch limo. TNCs like Uber and Lyft have yet to breach that market. I’d argue multiple reasons why:

One, these are vehicles they can’t afford, and respectable limousine companies would NEVER partner up with them to make this endeavor a reality. Two, believe it or not, Millennials do care a lot about how people are treated. It doesn’t matter how much cheaper a service is, if they mistreat their “independent contractors,” young passengers will move to a competitor who does it better. And say what you will about Lyft, it at least acts more philanthropic than Uber.

Finally, this leads us to perhaps the biggest factor: They don’t understand or take the time to figure out what their clients really want. Millennials have been conditioned to the ease of an app. If you have one that’s great; if you don’t, you better at least have the ability to make reservations quickly and easily from your website.

At this point, people aren’t shocked if a TNC driver or chauffeur has a charging cable available for their phone or some bottled water and mints at the ready. In fact, they expect it. It’s time to raise the bar with amenities.

Photo by Casey Montz

In late July, I visited a start-up that plans to do just that. Swoop, a group transportation marketplace with headquarters in Los Angeles, partners with chauffeured transportation companies to provide reliable, easy-to-book rides through its website swoopapp.com. Here are a few stand out tips from my interview with Amir Ghorbani, co-founder and CEO:

• Connectivity to music is the number one amenity Millennials desire. That means Bluetooth, auxiliary cords, or USB cables are a must have, in that order. “It’s all about the customer experience, so if you have chauffeurs who are older and might not know how to work Bluetooth, take the time to help them learn,” Ghorbani says. This is especially important because smartphones like the iPhone 7 have gotten rid of the headphone jack, making the aux cord somewhat obsolete with each new generation. But Ghorbani suggests having a backup method ready in case the chauffeur struggles.
• Swoop has made connections with another LA start-up that has helped them provide their clients with refreshing beverages. It’s mutually beneficial for multiple reasons, including brand recognition and the image of supporting local businesses (which is very important to Millennials). It doesn’t hurt they are really tasty, either.
• Having in-vehicle Wi-Fi will set you lightyears apart from businesses who don’t. Millennials are very protective about the limited data supplied by their service provider; if you deliver a way to connect to the Internet to help them preserve their precious data, it gives them all the more reason to post photos and video of your ride to Snapchat, Instagram, and a variety of other popular social media sites.

“Social media is everything to us when it comes to marketing. The strongest platform for reaching Millennials is Instagram, and we use Facebook and Twitter as corollary channels. It’s important to create a personality for your brand that people can relate to."