Investing in Technology to Keep Digital Travel Fresh

Digital transformation has been a hot topic across all industries for some years now, but many are still in the nascent stages of its implementation.

It seems a big part of the problem is knowing which technologies are the most appropriate for your business and how best to implement them. The vast number of different innovative technologies available can often lead to a paralysis of choice which leaves brands electing to do nothing – or at least, only dip their toe into the digital transformation pool – rather than risk pouring investment in the wrong direction.

On the other hand, some brands go all in on digital transformation and invest in everything – usually leaving them overwhelmed and unable to implement their strategies effectively.

Both eventualities are clearly suboptimal – so, what’s the best choice for digital travel brands looking to keep things fresh for their customers?

Digital Transformation

The first thing a travel brand needs to ask itself is what it is actually trying to achieve with digital transformation?

The answers to this will usually include some combination of trying to gain a competitive advantage and increasing market share, improving system reliability and scalability in order to better prepare for future environment and market shifts, and to increase profitability through reduced operational costs. More likely is that brands investing in digital transformation will be trying to achieve all of these to one degree or another – although the proportion of focus assigned to each will differ from company to company.

And, of course, digital transformation doesn’t occur in a vacuum and must always consider the greater context in which it finds itself. And in 2021/2022, that means we have to talk about COVID-19. Again.

The COVID-19 crisis actually provided a really sound opportunity for travel brands to think about their digital transformation. With airports closed and commercial flights grounded, businesses operating in the travel space had the room to breathe a consider how they were going to operate once things returned to some semblance of normality.

The customer experience was the first thing which came to mind and how travel companies could meet their needs once borders reopened. The likelihood was – and turned out to be so – that international travel was still going to be quite a fragile thing to try and plan ahead for which means travel brands would need to be more flexible when it comes to cancellations and the rearranging of trips.

Automation technology can help here as it can help make the cancellation process much less stressful for the customer and ease the workload for travel agents as well. Automated form filling and transferring files from one location to another can all be handled by AI. Once installed, these algorithms need to be stress tested to make sure they are adequate for the job of handling potentially large numbers of cancellations.

The recent outbreak of the Omicron variant of SARS-COV-2 in South Africa saw many travel corridors suddenly shut off, which only serves to further demonstrate how quickly the environment can shift – as if we weren’t already aware.

Investment in Technology

Further options for handling COVID related cancelation or rescheduling queries can be found in AI powered chatbots.

Digital travel callcenters are seeing a significant surge in the number of contacts they receive from customers concerned about travelling to certain parts of the world, which countries require testing on entry, vaccine mandates, mask requirement in airports and on transportation, and many more besides.

With AI chatbots however, many of these repetitive queries can be answered by a digital assistant. This will reduce the pressure on your call center teams and leave them free to deal with more complex queries and lessen the stress on customers by letting them avoid waiting in long queues to get simple generic questions answered.

Chatbots can often be integrated into widely used mobile chat apps such as Messenger and WhatsApp as well, adding another layer of convenience to the process.

Final Thoughts

While the optimum time to invest in digital technology may have been during the darkest days of the pandemic, there is still plentiful opportunity to get on the train now. Those travel brands which do will be most ideally positioned to make the most the new normal.

"Companies that had already reengineered themselves as digital-first are now in a strong position to identify and satisfy the demands of the post-pandemic traveler," reports SkiftX Content Studio. "However, late adopters don’t need to throw in the towel. The enterprise technology ecosystem continues to evolve in terms of what products and services are on the market and the payment options to access them. Seizing the opportunities available now will help those companies begin to embrace the digitally transformed future that lies ahead."

Digital Transformation is certain to be a hot topic at Digital Travel 2022, taking place in April at the Hyatt Regency, Indian Wells.

Download the agenda today for more information and insights.