*GUEST BLOG* How travellers will use technology in 2020?

By Fiona Shanley, Chief Customer & Marketing Officer, Travelport 

If you’re a member of Generation X, as I am, you probably remember making phone calls from your hallway at home and only sending emails from the office. We read travel inspiration catalogues and reserved our trip on a Saturday morning trip to the local High Street. While it’s easy to take for granted the devices almost all of us now carry 24/7, the continued advancement of mobile connectivity in the last few years means more of us than ever are now being inspired, planning, booking and managing travel through our mobile phones.

With this in mind, we’re looking at the trends shaping mobile travel at the start of a new decade and the traveller behaviour that’s shaping how our industry works. Here are the findings of our recent research and the 9 things you need to know about consumer-facing travel technology as we start the 2020s.

Researching your trip

Peer to peer recommendations remain the most influential source of information for consumers. The same behaviour occurs in the travel industry with review sites (such as TripAdvisor) the ‘go-to’ research resource for over 80% of travellers.

We’re also using the capability of our mobile devices to find new ways to research travel options, including voice search, which will increasingly be available within your favourite travel apps through the next decade:

1. Voice search continues to gain traction as a research method with 40% of travellers using it, up from 23% in 2018.

2. Voice search is even more widely used by business travellers, with almost 60% using it in 2019.

Booking on mobile 

Booking travel is quite a fractured experience for the majority of travellers. Only 36% of respondents said they booked their whole trip through one website or mobile app. When you factor in research the number of touchpoints grows. A clear trend we are seeing is a willingness to book on mobile if the content is right for the traveller.

3. The vast majority of travellers (~75% of Leisure and ~80% of Business) have booked and paid for travel on their mobile.  

This trend is unlikely to change. Over the next 10 years, mobile will become increasingly prevalent as a travel booking method. Our research highlighted that the over 55s are the only age group not to have embraced booking on mobile. As the population gradually gets older the majority of travellers will be the digital natives of today (current 18-40-year olds) and more likely to continue their current behaviour of booking through their mobile

4. 84% of Gen Z and Gen Y respondents have booked and paid for a trip on mobile versus only 40% of the over 55s.

Communication creates connection 

As we’ve shown, lots of travellers are already booking online and through their mobiles. What their travel agencies do after a person has made a booking will be the key to building loyalty with that customer. Offering a discount or sending special offers is the minimum consumers expect from any retailer. Added information and relevant, timely customer service are likely to take that relationship a lot further. 

The biggest frustration travellers have is getting access to new information once their trip is booked. Our research shows many travellers are open to hearing about opportunities to enhance their travel experience through adding ancillaries like in-flight wi-fi or checking an extra bag after making their original booking.

5. 56% of travellers want to see the availability and cost of extras such as the ability to choose your seat, look at the menu, check if wi-fi is available and what the baggage allowance is  

Over 80% of travellers using apps said an update on the trip status is the most important notification they could receive. However, push notifications can play a role in the sales process too.

6. 82% of app users want to receive push notifications about changes to the price of a flight they had been considering and reminders about flights they had left abandoned in their cart.

This shows travel brands that travellers are always open to relevant communication while they’re planning their trips, before and after booking. 

Time to get personal 

We live in a world of big data. Our ability to understand huge data sets in order to gain insights about the people represented within them is growing thanks to AI and machine learning. Personalization as a trend will continue to grow in importance, whether it’s tailored offers or the ability to self-serve, travellers want more control over their trips.

7. 82% of respondents said they were in favour of receiving a shortlist of branded offers, being able to purchase add-ons, and to give airlines more access to your data to facilitate more personalization.

8. 35% of travellers said they get annoyed if companies they use regularly do not remember their preferences.

While a little over a third might not seem that significant, in an industry the size of ours that is a lot of people and these people are likely to be regular travellers. Think about a CFO who travels first class to regional offices every quarter, who likes to stay in the same suite in the office-adjacent hotel and prefers to drive themselves to and from the airport in 7-series BMW. This is a high value traveller and well worth remembering. If you can communicate with her before she comes to you and let her know these preferred services have been booked and confirmed, you make her PA’s life easier and her trip less stressful. 

App, app and away

As you may expect, younger travellers are more likely to use apps. The range of activities covers all aspects of the trip including flights, accommodation, car, and bleisure. Regardless of how the booking took place, approximately 40% of travellers want to be able to manage all aspects of their flight from an app.

9. 87% of travellers have the same or more travel apps on their smartphone in 2019, a 5% increase on the previous year.

The internet is becoming increasingly ‘mobile-first’. The amount of traffic from mobile has overtaken that from desktops in recent years and smartphone sales have been a multiple of PC sales for a long time. In the eyes of Google, how your websites look on mobile is more important than how it looks on a desktop.

A lot of the stats uncovered in our research back up the move to mobile by consumers and particularly travellers. Creating a digital travel experience through mobile communication should be a priority for travel agencies in 2020.

To find out more, download our Consumer Trends Report. You can also download our Mobile Trends Report 2020 and our Online Trends Report for even more information.

Visitors can reserve a meeting with the Travelport team or request an NDC demo at BTS here: https://marketing.cloud.travelport.com/bts-2020 

Register for FREE and visit the team on stand B1400 now www.businesstravelshow.com

*GUEST BLOG* Ifs and Bots: Demystifying artificial intelligence and its applications in travel

In recent years, artificial intelligence (AI) has become one of the most talked about trends in corporate travel. But while travel managers are showing increased interest and curiosity in AI, there is still much confusion about what the term actually means and how it can be applied to business travel.

In a survey of travel buyers conducted by Business Travel News (BTN) in 2018, only 16% of respondents said they had “good” or “excellent” knowledge about AI. The majority admitted to having limited awareness about the subject. The same survey also found minimal adoption of AI solutions in corporate travel programs thus far.

What is AI?

“Artificial Intelligence” is a marketing term rather than a single technology suite, according to Dr. Eric Tyree, Chief Data Scientist at CWT. “Broadly speaking, AI is computers doing things that people thought only humans could do, and so that definition evolves over time as computing capabilities become more advanced.”

When English computer pioneer Alan Turing developed his test for AI, he was looking for a machine that behaved in a way that was indistinguishable from a human. The infamous Turing test, which is 

seen as a hallmark of AI, investigates the ability of a machine to execute tasks such that a person cannot tell if the task is being completed by a human or a machine.

There are various technologies that are talked about as “AI”, with differing methodologies and levels of sophistication used to execute tasks.

Towards the less sophisticated end of the spectrum there is “robotic process automation” (RPA), which uses technology to automate simple tasks. Because processes repeated by a machine are faster and more accurate, RPA can be used to automate tedious and repetitive tasks, allowing people to be more productive. Whether this constitutes ‘true’ artificial intelligence on the part of a machine is a philosophical question, but RPA is undoubtedly a powerful task automation technology.

Then you have “machine learning”, which uses examples to learn the underlying patterns and drivers in data or a task. It improves processes by referencing previous or example interactions. When there is a decision that the technology needs to make, it makes it based on the patterns it has seen and its ability to extrapolate from the patterns to new ones it experiences. For example, the past ten times you called a travel consultant, you booked with airline X. On your eleventh call, even though you do not have this specific information in your profile, machine learning will infer you will most likely be booking airline X. However, if you travel to a new destination not served by airline X, if the training data is rich enough, the machine learning algorithm may correctly infer your preference for airline Z which is similar or is an alliance member with airline X.

More sophisticated machine learning techniques can be even be overlaid on RPA to ‘teach’ machines the more subtle or complex elements of a task, rather than explicitly programming it.

But while RPA and machine learning do enable computers to display some human-like characteristics, there is of course much more to AI.

Really well-implemented AI is the ability for a computer to apply human-like intelligence to a task – or series of tasks – to ensure the best outcome. This is often accomplished by combining process automation, machine learning, expert logic and other techniques to solve problems and complete tasks that previously required human intervention.

The aim here is to use a variety of technologies to give the system the ability to learn and adjust its processes to improve outcomes over time. This enables AI to redefine and re-align processes by developing an understanding of the business at hand. It is able to apply this understanding to a particular process to make decisions, even if it has not undertaken this specific process before. 

Consider facial recognition as an example. When beginning to recognize faces, an AI-enabled engine might have a low success rate at first. However, with larger, richer data, explicitly logical enhancements and other modifications (both human and computer implemented), it will become more and more accurate, quick and sophisticated in recognizing faces – like learning to ignore glasses, beards and makeup to more accurately recognize the true underlying facial characteristics of people.

How May I Help? There are myriad ways AI can be applied to business travel

How is it being used in travel?

In the travel context, a wide range of AI techniques and technologies are being leveraged to enhance or automate traditionally human-executed tasks, to the point that we are unaware whether it is a human or computer conducting it. Travel AI is starting to pass the Turing test.

“Most AI today is very observational in that it looks at patterns and either tries to see those patterns in data it hasn’t seen before or tries to extrapolate from what it has seen in data in the past,” Dr. Tyree explains. “However, this is changing rapidly with the growing sophistication of AI applications in travel, where ensembles of technologies are being used to create human-like automation of tasks. Coupled with the growing power, increasing speed and decreasing cost of computing, the amount of data available is also growing exponentially, leading to the wider application of AI.”

There are myriad ways that AI could potentially be applied to change the way business travel is viewed, managed and experienced. Here are some of the exciting applications we’re seeing today, and a few that are around the corner:

Facial recognition to speed up airport check-ins: Several airlines and airports around the world are testing and implementing facial recognition software that can verify travelers with a “quick photo capture”, allowing passengers to board using a biometric self-boarding gate. This is expected to improve safety and security, while creating a faster and more efficient check-in and boarding process.

Robot hotel concierges creating a better guest experience: A number of hotels have been experimenting with AI-powered robots to manage guest services. A robot concierge named Connie, developed by IBM, has been deployed at the Hilton McLean in Virginia in the United States. It has been introduced in a pilot program designed to help guests figure out what to visit, where to dine, and how to find things they need. The idea is that it will reduce the need for guests to wait in line to ask a question, while freeing up employees’ time to focus on other tasks.

More relevant booking search results: Just as Amazon and Netflix suggest new products and movies based on your preferences and past selections, AI is being used to show business travellers more relevant search results – while ensuring they remain within their organization’s travel policy, of course. This helps reduce the time they spend searching and booking, allowing them to focus on their work and be more productive.

Quicker support with chatbots and messaging: If you’ve ever opened a chat box when contacting your bank or talking to a retailer online, you’ve likely experienced AI-enabled messaging. This is being applied to business travel too. 

CWT is rolling out a hybrid messaging model, which has an AI-powered chatbot supported by an experienced human agent. Travelers can ask for assistance by sending text messages via the mobile app, where CWT’s hybrid travel counsellor, Reece, responds immediately. Reece answers queries quickly because she already knows an employee’s name and travel information from the app. More complicated questions are seamlessly transitioned to a live travel counselor.

Easier and more actionable data and reporting: There is a lot of data in corporate travel. The sheer volume and complexity makes it hard to use effectively, especially if you’re not a data scientist. AI can help travel managers, business unit leaders and other stakeholders who may not be data experts, make sense of all this information. For example, CWT has a platform that makes searching data questions easier. You type in what you’re looking for into the search bar – similar to if you were using a search engine like Google – and the tool quickly visualizes the data and builds the reports that you need. It also has an underlying AI engine that improves its search capabilities, getting smarter and more personalized through use.

Upwardly Mobile: AI enables hybrid messaging

Text message alerts for missing hotel bookings: Systems can be designed to automatically identify trips with no hotel booked and proactively offer travellers program-compliant hotel options, even with last-minute bookings. This helps ensure they book in-channel and their accommodation data gets captured, allowing for them to be easily located in the event of an incident or emergency.

Predicting trip disruptions: Various solutions which use predictive analytics to identify delay patterns across flights to forecast disruptions are being developed. They factor in things like the historical on-time performance of an airline, seasonality, flight timings, flight paths and air traffic, congestion at various airports, and weather forecasts. With this information they can predict the probability of a delay occurring, as well as the length of the delay.

Enabling traveller wellness: CWT is using machine learning to analyse travel patterns and other data to provide analysis and feedback on traveller wellness and productivity. The aim to help travellers plan better and be more effective when travelling, and to help travel managers ensure their programs have the appropriate processes and feedback loops to ensure travellers are healthy and productive.

Are we ready for a machine takeover?

While experts agree that AI will deliver cost savings, a streamlined booking process, an improved travel experience on the road, enhanced duty of care capabilities, and many other benefits, it’s not going to completely replace travel counsellors or travel managers any time soon.

“Business travel is riddled with exceptions and complexity and it is surprisingly hard to automate a lot of functions,” says Dr. Tyree.

Andrew Jordan, CWT’s Chief Technology Officer, believes people think AI can do a lot more than it really can. “At the moment, AI mostly consists of pattern matching,” he notes. “Computers can be very helpful in supporting humans in some tasks; but we can’t simply put a robot in a call centre to replace humans.”

On Repeat: At the moment AI mostly consists of pattern matching

To what extent and how quickly these technologies will make their way into corporate travel programs will depend on several factors. Amongst these are the appetite of travel programs to try something new, concerns around data security, as well as an organization’s culture, demographics and booking patterns. For instance, an organization whose travellers expect very high-touch service or book a lot of complex itineraries might see fewer opportunities to deploy AI-enabled solutions than a company with a self-servicing culture and predominantly point-to-point trips.

“What travellers are looking for is ease and comfort in the travel experience,” says Anikesh Patel, CWT’s Director of Customer Management for India. “There is an expectation of personalization and intuitiveness – and while organizations are happy to see technology used to reduce costs, they are not prepared to compromise on the travel experience, whether it is supported by travel counsellors or booking tools.”

Blog author: Siddharth Singh, Global Communications, CWT. Register to attend Business Travel Show for FREE and visit CWT at stand B230 www.businesstravelshow.com

GUEST BLOG: Travel Technology Trends: 2020 and beyond from CTM Europe

Innovation and new technologies are changing the way we plan, travel and experience our trips. As a business traveller, it is ideal to stay up to date on the latest travel technology trends which can bring you heightened experiences. As we go into 2020, let’s look at some of the top technology trends from 2019, and what we can expect to see more of in the year ahead.

1. RADIO FREQUENCY IDENTIFICATION (RFID)

RFID or radio frequency identification is a form of wireless communication that can be used to track objects equipped with an RFID-embedded chip. IATA recommends the use of the RFID technology for baggage tracking which provides real time baggage information that allows airlines to efficiently track the bag through all airport processes.

British Airways recently launched a digital reusable bag tag that seamlessly connects your luggage to your BA app. The digital TAG allows travellers to keep track of where the luggage throughout the baggage handling process and help reduce mishandling. From January 2020 the standard price will be £80.

2. SMART DEVICES

A smart device is an electronic device, generally connected to other devices or networks via different wireless protocols that can operate to some extent interactively and autonomously. Travel industry players like hotels can make use of these devices to optimise guest experience and streamline operations.

Amazon has launched 'Alexa for Hospitality', designed to bring its voice assistant technology to hotel rooms. It simplifies tasks for guests like playing music, controlling in-room temperature or lighting, and even checking out. Alexa makes delivering a great customer experience simple.

3. KNOWN TRAVELLER DIGITAL IDENTITY (KTDI)

KTDI provides a frictionless travel experience for passengers while allowing them to have greater control over their personal data. The identity data that is usually stored on a chip on a passenger’s passport is instead securely stored and encrypted on their mobile devices. Passengers can manage their identity data and consent to share it with border authorities, airlines and other pilot partners in advance. Using biometrics, the data is checked at every leg of the journey until arrival at the destination, without the need for a physical passport.

The World Economic Forum and the governments of the Netherlands and Canada launch the first pilot project for paperless travel between the two countries at Montreal Airport. Still in its testing phase, the final project is expected to be rolled out at Montreal’s Pierre Elliott Trudeau and Toronto’s Pearson international airports by early 2020.

Image Source: World Economic Forum

4. VIRTUAL AND AUGMENTED REALITY

The travel industry has recently started to adopt virtual and augmented reality technology to increase customer engagements. Virtual reality provides travellers with guided tours of what they can expect which allow the travellers to digitally get into the virtual surroundings of the place they are going to visit, be it a hotel or a tourist spot.

Augmented reality is relatively handy and easier to access. By having a smartphone with the app and internet connection, travellers can find out more about the location, a building or a landmark they are in, in real time.

Hong Kong Tourism Board has joined hands with sky100 and virtual reality experience design house TimeLooper to introduce “VR Time Travel: Step into Old Hong Kong” micro films.

Google is launching its augmented reality walking directions feature for Google Maps. The Live View feature provides super-useful orientation by showing you arrows, and big street markers overlaid on the real scene in front of you.

5. 5G NETWORK

The 5G speed of data transfer will cause significant change and bring far-reaching benefits to your business trips. With 5G technology, the travel sector will become connected whether in transportation, culture or hospitality, this new generation of the wireless network will bring many improvements and technological advancements. The travel experience will become much more seamless and flexible than ever.

OPPO Australia has created the world’s first travelling 5G network powered smart hotel. The 5G hotel is powered off OPPO’s Reno smartphone with 5G network and packed full of the latest technologies, including 5G cloud gaming, an AR wardrobe and advanced smart home features.

CTM Europe is exhibiting at Business Travel Show 2020, which takes place on 26-27 February at Olympia London. Register now for free at www.businesstravelshow.com and pop by their stand B620. 

Guest Blog: Travel technology for SMEs must be right for their business needs

Does your company have an SME business travel spend of £50K to £2M? Have you thought about implementing an online booking tool or other travel technology solutions, but are not sure if they would be right for your business or type of travel?

SME-spend clients have very different travel and servicing needs compared to large corporates. Personal, offline service is frequently the best way to manage an SME client’s travel programme in order to drive cost savings. But a service-based business model can be complemented by technology in order to drive further efficiencies. However, that technology needs to be tailored specifically to SME clients’ needs. Complex systems and tools are worth little if they’re not adopted by your travellers, bookers and managers.  It’s about blending the appropriate mix of expert offline service, with technology solutions that are right for each client’s business.

If you’re considering use of travel technology or online booking tools, bear these five points in mind first:

1 Types of Travel – Every company’s business travel habits are different. The focus of your company’s business travel will determine whether an online booking tool is best suited for you, so you should discuss your requirements and preferences with your travel management company (TMC)

2 Adoption levels and usage –  use of an online booking tool by your bookers and travellers will be higher if your company books a large volume of domestic and European point to point travel. If your travel is predominantly worldwide or multi-stop, then you are likely to experience lower adoption rates because the booking tools aren’t yet flexible enough to process complex airfares. If this is the case, you’d be better off using the services of your TMC’s consultants to book your business travel.

3  Profile Management - creating staff traveller profiles, including passport details, frequent flyer numbers and dietary preferences, saves your travel bookers from requesting the same information each time they make a booking. When you work with a TMC, they’ll set up traveller profiles for you as standard. Think about how you’d like to keep these profiles up to date; perhaps it would be easier to allow your travellers to amend their own profiles online. Even if your business travel patterns don’t warrant having an online booking tool, ask your TMC if they can provide a technology platform that can just be used for profile management.

       4  Policy Management - when your staff travel for business, implementing a company travel policy is essential. This should include guidelines on the booking process, budget restrictions and booking permissions, as well as listing preferred airlines, hotels and transport suppliers. Once it’s been drawn up, the travel policy should be available to all staff – convenient access via your travel technology platform will help drive policy understanding and compliance.

       5  Duty of Care - Safety has always been an important aspect of business travel, but as terrorist attacks become more indiscriminate, traveller security has become even more of an issue for businesses of all sizes. In the event of an emergency SMEs need to be able to track their employees quickly. Real time traveller tracking technology, alert tools and traveller mobile apps can provide critical duty of care support. Ask your TMC for advice about whether you need to invest in this type of technology, depending on how many people you have travelling at any one time, and the type of destinations.   

It’s essential, even for SMEs, to keep abreast of the latest developments in travel technology, as these could be your gateway to arranging travel more efficiently and cost-effectively. But one size doesn’t fit all. Make sure the technology ticks the right boxes for your business.

This post was written by Andy Hegley, UK General Manager, Corporate Traveller, specialist TMC for companies with an SME business travel spend. Corporate Traveller is launching its new travel technology platform ‘YOUR.CT’ at the Business Travel Show.www.corptraveller.co.uk.   

The Business Travel Show, in association with Corporate Traveller, will also be offering the two dedicated workshops for PAs on the topic “Creating the Building Blocks for a Better Travel Programme” 

WITH DISRUPTION COMES SIMPLICITY

In Conversation With… Michael Reigel, Comtravo

Michael is taking part in 'The great BT Summit Pitch Off: Which start-ups are disrupting business travel?' at Business Travel Summit Amsterdam, which takes place at the RAI from 25-26 September. Book your free place now at amsterdam.businesstravel-summit.com

What is the single most important piece of advice/information buyers will take away from your presentation? 
The business model of classical travel agencies will shift in the next two to three years.

What’s the biggest challenge facing buyers now and why?
For SME buyers, there is no real one-stop shop to simply buying again.

What’s the biggest opportunity they should be taking advantage of and why?
Make use of the data they have! They receive so much data form their customers which can be used more wisely to get more business but its potential is often totally underestimated.

Why is it important to have a summit dedicated to buyers in the Nordics and Benelux?
It is important to have summits like this in any country/region. Dedicating it to a certain region may help to solve typical ‘problems’ within that area. Also it is good to make contacts and get an idea how others approach their challenges. 

Why are you looking forward to BT Summit Amsterdam?
We believe we can truly contribute and share knowledge on the BT Summit.

Should buyers embrace disruptive start-ups or be wary of them?
For sure! If they don’t - they will lose out! They should at least test and be aware of the capabilities and opportunities.

What good can they bring to a travel programme?
More simplicity!

Should buyers encourage travellers to use disruptive suppliers?
Again - I think it is important not to miss the trend and therefore test and try out.