Building Brand Loyalty and Retaining Trust in the Travel Industry
Brand loyalty and customer trust are both vitally important to travel companies, and they are becoming even more important in the digital age. Travel customers have more ways to book a trip than ever. A range of innovative websites and apps now enable travelers to book every aspect of their trip, from flights to hotel rooms and experiences, in a matter of minutes.
Recent research has also shown that travelers are booking longer trips. According to TravelPulse, much of the demand over the past few years for longer stays has been due to "pent-up demand” during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the rise of remote work and "digital nomads” has made longer stays more viable.
For many travel companies, success depends on the "quality of visitor[s] rather than the quantity of visitor[s],” according to Chris Kam, President of OmniTrak in a recent Forbes article.
Here, we’ll explore some of the ways travel companies can build brand loyalty and retain the trust of their customers.
Delivering Consistent, Exceptional Service
Travel companies must start by establishing clear customer service standards and expectations across all channels of communication. This applies to both messaging and face-to-face interactions with customers at locations.
Training staff in these best practices is critical but challenging. Companies that manage service locations or offices all over the world must be able to synchronize their training efforts using solutions like learning and educational platforms.
Travel companies must also incorporate customer feedback into their service operations to ensure they are delivering on their promises. Some technologies, such as CRM solutions, can make it easier to solicit customer feedback, organize it, and analyze it so that it can be integrated into the strategy.
Ensuring Pricing, Fees, and Other Costs are Transparent
Travelers hate hidden fees, whether it’s an extra cost they must pay for transporting their luggage or an unknown cleaning fee at a hotel. Travel organizations can no longer assume customers expect to pay additional fees on their trips. Instead, customers must be upfront about what fees customers must or may have to pay while traveling.
This may seem counterintuitive, as it could add to the advertised price tag of a trip. However, it could be an important strategy for building trust. Losing a loyal customer over a hidden fee could be considerably more costly than missing out on a new customer.
Providing Timely Updates and Notifications
Many travel customers are traveling on vacation, and they want the experience to be as straightforward and stress-free as possible. That all can change when there’s a service interruption or another unavoidable issue on their trip.
Travel companies can help mitigate some of the fallout from unexpected events by keeping customers informed about new developments directly. Enabling customers to opt-in to update emails or text messages is an easy way to keep them informed before and during their trip.
Travel companies should onboard customer communications solutions that deliver automated and personalized messages directly to customers. Not only can this help customers during their trip, but it creates an additional channel through which to engage customers in the future.
Maintaining Data Privacy and Enhancing Security
Hackers and cybercriminals target travel companies and travel customers in many ways, whether it's stealing payment data through a travel website or implanting malware on a traveler’s laptop while they are abroad. Travel companies must play a role in protecting both their customers and their networks to avoid data breaches, ransomware, phishing attempts, and other types of cyberattacks.
This process starts by creating an in-house cybersecurity team or partnering with a security firm that can continually monitor the company’s network. Like other companies, travel companies must train employees to identify and mitigate potential cyberattacks in their day-to-day activities.
To protect customers, travel companies should use effective security solutions like multi-factor authentication on customer accounts. They can also go a step further by keeping customers aware of potential cyber threats in their travels.
Offering Rewards Programs and Unique Experiences
Finally, travel companies must offer customers unique experiences, both in the form of travel packages and rewards programs.
Standard rewards packages include incentives like airline miles, discounts, and special offers. However, travel companies can even use customer data to deliver personalized packages to customers who are more likely to take advantage of them. Some companies may even consider expanded rewards programs that offer discounts with partner companies.
Don’t Miss the Digital Travel Summit
There is much travel companies can do in the coming months to improve customer loyalty and trust. If you’re interested in learning about other strategies, don’t miss the Digital Travel Summit, the conference destination for digital travel leaders.
The next Summit will be held on September 12th through 13th at the Westin Hilton Head Island Resort & Spa, South Carolina. Download the agenda today to learn more.