A new era of digital marketing in travel

Online search is now the first step for a majority of travellers, with some consumers visiting up to 38 sites before booking a ticket. Yet the travel industry must adapt to newer digital marketing strategies to win over potential customers.

The key to success is delivering ultra-precisely targeted content, leveraging personalized re targeting combined with AI and deep learning.

A single customer looking to book a trip can visits hundreds of travel pages each day. The search often takes weeks before the final purchase is made. This means there’s a ton of data flying around that digital marketers need to make sense of.

The number of digital travel touch points grows rapidly, as travellers look for better offers via search engines, booking apps, online travel agencies, and deal sites. However, 39% of leisure travellers and 45% of business travellers believe that they use too many websites to find flights. In addition, 43% of leisure travellers and 51% of business travellers apparently want to spend less time searching for flights.

Airfare, hotel and car rental providers can reduce this overload by serving brand awareness and personalized offers at precisely the right time. This moment is where AI and deep learning can change the game for digital marketers in the travel industry.

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The Evolving Travel Agent

A major chunk of revenue continues to come from commissions and service fees. But the source of these commissions has been changing over the years.

When airlines stopped paying high commissions back in the 1990’s, travel agents started to lean heavily on add-on services such as hotel and transport for commissions.

With services such as Airbnb and Uber now available in almost every major city, commissions from these services too are likely to dwindle in future.
At present, travel agents depend on two categories of travelers for their revenue. A good number of corporate business travelers still rely on partner agencies for their tickets.

In the consumer segment, holiday packages and custom itinerary planning services have been taking off with an increase in international holidaying. The drop in commissions is mostly made up for by the corresponding rise in the scale and value of such bookings

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Expected Changes in Biz Travel – 2018

The travel industry is being heavily disrupted – The rise of the sharing economy, changing demographic expectations, big data, political turmoil, AI, and currency shifts are just a few of the many forces that are putting pressure on the industry. Here are some changes we can expect in 2018.

Travel growth expected: According to the Global Business Travel Association report, expected business travel spending is to grow by 6.1 percent in 2018, up from the expected 5.1 percent in 2017 and this optimism in the business travel industry is driven by accelerating global trade, despite echoes of the recession, in recent memory. Growth in manufacturing and in emerging markets is also major factors. There will be an increase in travel costs, with airfares expected to rise by 3.5 percent and hotel prices 3.7 percent.

The sharing economy completes its transition to business mainstream: In 2014, small business owners chose taxis over Uber by a factor of 3 to 1, but by late 2017 that number has flipped, with small businesses choosing Uber over taxis by 3 to 1.

Airbnb may also be approaching saturation. In 2014, small business owners chose hotels over Airbnb by a factor of 16 to 1. By late 2017, that lead is down to 6 to 1.

Clearly, there is some resistance to embracing the sharing economy when it comes to sleeping arrangements, but even those going the hotel route are likely to see changes in a more casual direction. This is part of a larger trend towards the “consumerization” of business, which is likely to become increasingly important for business travel, especially for businesses hoping to hold top talent in recruitment, negotiation, and other travel-heavy positions.

Self-driven cars begin to play a real part: Uber surprised everybody in August of 2016 by launching a fleet of self-driving cars in Pittsburgh. While humans in the driver seat monitored the cars, it was much sooner than anybody thought a major company would be going commercial with self-driving cars, in any capacity.

The gravity of how quickly this shift could take place hit home in late November, with the announcement of a deal that would put 24,000 Volvo self-driving cars in Uber’s fleet. The cars will begin to hit the streets in 2019, but the fact that this major deal was brokered should have important implications for the direction of the business travel over the next year.

AI hits the industry in a big way: While the influence of self-driving cars is more likely to be on the horizon in 2018 than on the front doorstep, the broader world of AI will likely be making a big impact. According to an IBM report, more than a third of travel industry leaders will have four or more cognitive projects underway in 2018, and 41 percent plan to launch a cognitive project. Most of the investment is currently going towards chat bots to assist with customer service, whether in the form of messaging or call centre service.

IBM’s report found that the most cognitive-ready businesses in the industry considered personalization of the traveller experience one of the most important points to focus on. The report stated that an unnamed global airline was investing in a Siri-like AI that would communicate with travellers in natural language to put together a personalized travel plan. That personalization would be bolstered by analysis of interactions with other travellers and large data sets about preferences.

Meanwhile, Quantas Airways is already using self-service tech to cut check-in times by 90 percent, the Watson Virtual Assistant is improving call centre performance, Hipmunk has rolled out an app you can talk to like a person, and Amadeus is building custom offers for people based off of their social media profiles (with permission, it should be noted).

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Tried & Tested Hospitality Advertising principles

In the same breath as the mantra ‘new is always better’ seems to make sense, it also unearths the realisation that it may at times be the wrong advice to be following.

In the lightning pace of today’s society, it may seem like guests are shouting at you to constantly provide something new, something upgraded, or something that excites them. And only a fool would fail to listen to their customers.

However, the way in which you deliver what your guest wants doesn’t always have to be completely reimagined. New marketing strategies aren’t always the answer – and aren’t always necessary. Yes, new technology and data gives you greater insight and more potential to impact prospects, but there’s a lot to be said for sticking to tried and true advertising principles.

We’re talking about taking lessons from ‘Mad Men’, street vendors, and vintage travel posters. Here’s what you could do with your hotel advertising now – that worked perfectly in the past.

Give your brand a narrative: You need to recognise the need to tell your story succinctly. Make your brand statement clear from the outset of any marketing activity you employ. Humans love nothing more than a good story; one that makes them feel. Once they ‘feel’, they’re more likely to act which is exactly what you want – the action being a booking. Advertising of yesteryear was very much focused on this and it’s driven companies like Coca-Cola to global success. Have the time and patience to craft a story for your hotel brand that will ignite the imagination of your potential guests and make them familiar with your business. Think of ways to present your story with some originality and uniqueness so you can stand out from the almost literal wave of ‘oceanfront’ hotels, for example.

At the same time you need to recognise people nowadays have ever shortening attention spans, so you need to tell your story succinctly. Make your brand statement clear from the outset of any marketing activity you employ. Consistency is key. If people are only going to be looking at your hotel for a short time and catching glimpses here and there of your brand as they research, you need to make sure the picture you paint holds the same message. This way, travellers will more easily recognise you and have some confidence in your ability to deliver a great guest experience.

Be as visual as possible: capitalise on the sense of wonder and awe great visuals can instilin travellers. It allows them to imagine themselves in the destination. In the past, travel posters and billboards had to accomplish this when there was very little else to rely on. Examine some of the best examples you can find and take a similar approach to any design or imagery you use for your hotel. Always keep in mind what kind of brand you are and who you’re trying to attract – then match this to the visuals you use.

Whatever you do, don’t rely on stock images too much or poor quality photos that make your property look dated.

Don’t waste time on dead ends: The best marketers have historically understood you can’t be everything to everyone; they knew when to push and when something was a lost cause. A lot of people may show interest in your hotel while they research for a trip. You need to identify which of these look right for the markets you usually attract and convert at a high rate. If they fall outside of your criteria, your efforts may be wasted. For example, a business traveller might not be the right fit for your all inclusive package including surf lessons.

By the same token, if a guest’s interest is peaked and they match the profile of your usual clientele you need to nurture this relationship. Make contact with them through online remarketing or email (or whatever is most relevant to their initial interaction), giving them a little more information, highlighting your best features and solidifying your business offering. By maintaining a connection, you can stay top of mind when the traveller decides to make a purchase decision.

Zero in on your guest personas: Traditional marketers would often work towards a niche, targeting their products very specifically to a preferred segment. You need to do the same. How specific you are is up to you. You may simply identify millennials as your target or you could go further and target travellers who work stressful jobs if you’re a resort, people on health fads, or adventure junkies if you’re located in rugged terrain etc.

It doesn’t matter who your key audience is, just as long as you know who they are and develop a strategy to get their attention.

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Death knell for Room Service?

Traditional room service is becoming a service fewer travellers are demanding. Instead, they are looking to be able to order food the way they do at home. And hotels are responding by forming partnerships with food-delivery services.

Hyatt Centric has partnered with a food-ordering company to let guests order from restaurants selected by hotel employees. Orders can be made through a customized landing page. Residence Inn, part of Marriott International, leaves guests grocery-request forms in their suites. Employees will shop for the requested items, which are added to the final bill with no mark-ups. The rooms have fully equipped kitchens including refrigerators, microwave ovens and dishwashers.

Hoteliers say they are responding to travellers who crave an experience that resembles their home life. The popularity of cooking competition shows has also made many people enjoy the art of making their own meals.

Many travellers believe being able to cook in their hotel room would make them feel more at home while traveling. Millennials — those travellers in their 20s and early 30s — were more likely to want to cook. Growing up, they’ve been watching cooking competitions and they are into celebrity chefs. They view cooking as a form of relaxation and a form of entertainment.

At the same time, traditional room service has not been a money-maker for hotels, and many have decided to suspend it. Travellers, meanwhile balk at in room dining prices. According to the American Hotel and Lodging Association, 37% of hotels offered room service in 2014 vs. 22% in 2016. Meanwhile, 71% of luxury hotels offered alternatives to room service last year.

Some Hilton brands have moved toward pantry-style grab-and-go markets in their lobbies as an alternative. The shops offer hot or cold sandwiches, salads, snacks and sometimes beer and wine.

Even travel review website TripAdvisor has gotten into the food-delivery game, and has integrated Grubhub into its website in the USA and Canada. It recently also aligned itself with London-based Deliveroo to expand globally.

The food-delivery services are much more practical in extended-stay properties that have kitchens, which in general is a rapidly growing segment in the industry.

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