As interactions within the travel and leisure industry become increasingly digital, expectations of smart and sophisticated experiences rise higher. Today’s consumers demand personalisation, effortless self-service and immediacy. Their changing behaviours are impacting the customer journey.
Travel and leisure brands must adjust their strategies to capture consumer intent outside of classic performance channels. Therefore building more direct relationships with their audiences.
Responding to new consumer priorities, behavioural changes and rising expectations will be key to unlocking new potential for innovation and growth. With travel being a sector where consumers are keen to continue their digital adoption post-pandemic, there are valuable opportunities to create unrivalled seamless end-to-end journeys.
Ultimately, companies must develop a more customer-centric way of doing business to recapture the joy of travelling and socialising. How can they do this?
Becoming data-driven
While the human connection is essential for supporting travellers, technology can also play a huge role. One way to meet customer service demands in 2023 is through the use of data. There are ways that companies in the travel and leisure sector could be better using the data available to them.
Booking information helps to explain each trip – it indicates if the traveller has a young family, is on a business trip, or has mobility issues. Currently, service providers do not share data and agencies can’t monitor a trip in real time to minimise issues.
Historical data is usually lost because customers switch providers while on vacation and data isn’t shared. So, when a flight delay affects hotel check-ins or car rental availability, it’s hard to help a traveller with all the information needed on their journey. This affects the customer’s overall experience.
Meanwhile, customer feedback is very important for AI and machine learning to help predict and analyse trends. Services would be improved if they used customer information from similar types of travellers. This could help divide customers into groups for flights and show travellers which flights are best for them. Whether it’s a family booking that includes information about the traveller group so that services can be improved to meet their needs, or a business booking that includes information about the upgraded services that business travellers would like to see on planes, in hotel rooms, or lounges the information can be a huge help.
And so, when all of this information is put together, it makes a personalised experience that can include services and products that can help the traveller on their trip. This can bring in extra revenue, improve services and products, build brand loyalty, and enhance the company’s reputation.
Going beyond being personal
Talking of personalisation, consumers increasingly want to be treated as individuals. But for today’s travel and leisure customer, personalisation doesn’t go far enough. What they demand is hyper-personalisation.
Hyper-personalisation uses technologies like real-time data, predictive analytics, AI and machine learning to tap into individual consumers’ wants and needs. But to get more personal, companies need to know more. And travel and leisure consumers are increasingly willing to share their data to receive the improved support and experiences that they crave. Organisations can capture this using behavioural insights related to, for example, location and destination, food and drink orders or preferred dining and room choices. This way, a company can personalise every aspect of the customer’s experience, making them feel recognised and appreciated.
But though many companies already have large amounts of data available to them, not all have complete control. Addressing this should be a core focus in the move towards harnessing the power of hyper-personalisation.
Customers’ values are paramount
The impact of the travel and leisure industry is something that consumers are becoming more concerned about, from air travel emissions and over-tourism to food miles and waste production. Though the cost-of-living crisis is currently the immediate priority for many, sustainable values are starting to exert more of an influence on decision-making. This trend is set to rise in the coming years.
Expectations of sustainable travel and leisure are rising, with 54% of people saying the travel industry should operate in a greener way than before the pandemic, according to ABTA. Yet research by Booking.com reveals that 49% of global travellers believe there are not enough sustainable travel options available. A study by Nutritics shows that only 35% feel they have the right information to make sustainable food choices when eating or drinking out.
Businesses must therefore not only develop sustainable practices, but also focus on how best to convey this information to consumers. Sustainability should be a transparent and easily identifiable part of the decision-making process, so that it becomes an easy choice for all.
As the sector is recovering – and travel returns nearly to the pre-pandemic level – it will be important for the travel and leisure industry to take steps that embed a smooth customer journey. This will feature long-term inclusivity, sustainability and resilience, as it continues to face evolving challenges and risks. Despite positive trends, the sector will still face many hurdles on its way to recovery. These include constraints, labour shortages, supply chain disruptions, industrial actions and more.
Just like any other customers, users of the travel industry have evolved with time. They are well informed and demand total value for their money. Therefore, customer-centricity will stay as one of the industry’s main differentiators – and in an industry that is so highly dependent upon customer loyalty and word of the mouth publicity, a customer-first approach, assisted by latest technology and AI, will always be crucial.
Capita has published a series of reports on key industries to understand more about customers – including how businesses can best connect, support and transform their CX.
This article was written by Capita, in partnership with CXM.