Bryan Dove, CEO
Bryan Dove joined Skyscanner as chief technology officer in 2015. He took over the reins as CEO from co-founder Gareth Williams in May 2018.
Scotland-based Skyscanner was founded in 2001. The company was acquired by Trip.com Group in late 2016 for $1.74 billion. Last year the company laid out plans to become a marketplace.
You’re more than 18 months into the CEO role at Skyscanner - what has surprised you about running the company during that time?
Since I was already on the team prior to moving into this role, there haven’t been many surprises on the product or strategy front.
We had a strong strategy and we’ve been able to stay the course.
What has surprised me is how different the CEO job is from any other on the leadership team. I get the privilege of being able to work with so many talented people across all of our global offices and skillsets.
Knowing that the buck stops with me to ensure that everyone has the best environment and best opportunity to succeed is more self-imposed pressure and challenge than I could have imagined.
I can now confidently say that a CEO job is both the most challenging and the most rewarding job I could ever have.
The other surprise is to see how strongly the company has rallied behind our mission statement – to lead the global transformation to modern and sustainable travel – even to the point where our infrastructure team includes their environmental footprint as a headline within their regular status updates.
It’s an important mission, one where I believe Skyscanner can have real impact globally, and it’s exceeded my expectations to see our team rally to support a single ultimate goal.
Location
Edinburgh, Scotland
Skyscanner recently pivoted to become a marketplace with bookings. Can you update us on progress and how the three-pronged approach is working?
Our primary focus has and always will be on doing what’s best for the traveler. As is no surprise, consumers continue to move towards mobile. However, mobile adoption in the travel industry has been slower than in most other consumer categories.
We see travelers demanding to access all of their services on mobile and we will do all we can to bring them the best possible experience.
Our three-pronged approach as you’ve put it, is to ensure travelers don’t lose choice, while also getting the best experience possible on a mobile device. We continue to support the classic model of metasearch – directing travelers to other travel websites.
We introduced direct booking a few years ago, where the traveler is booking directly with the airline or the hotel chain, without leaving the Skyscanner environment, so we are able to offer them an easier, native mobile checkout experience.
The most recent announcement this past fall was that travelers can purchase directly from Skyscanner in key markets. We’ve seen great results so far and the additional options are resonating with our travelers.
For example, we see that travelers who purchase through one of our integrated booking options are 52% more likely to come back and book another flight compared to the classic metasearch model.
Our focus for 2020 will be to continue to improve the customer experience and expand our offerings to additional markets so we can serve more travelers.
At the time of announcing the pivot, you said the changes had been inspired by your parent company Trip.com Group, what other inspiration has Skyscanner acted upon from that quarter?
Each of us is consumer first, and inspiration is all around us. Given mobile travel shopping has lagged behind other consumer areas, we’re frequently looking at other sectors to see what’s working there and find opportunities where we can take inspiration and then innovate on behalf of our travelers.
I can think of examples where we’ve seen something in other categories like food delivery or games and then used that to create something new.
We’re building a few new innovations right now from some of this work, but nothing to announce just yet. As me again in a couple of months…
The idea of the funnel now being a sphere was discussed during the Phocuswright Conference in November, do you support that view?
I agree that the concept of a linear funnel is too narrow a view and unrealistic. It’s appropriate when someone is ready to buy their travel right then, but it’s not how people really plan a trip.
They’re constantly comparing options, texting their friends or family to get agreement on their plans, and sometimes spend months thinking about where they want to go before they’re ready to shop.
Modern shopping is really about providing the shopper with value throughout their journey; from when they’re dreaming about where they might go, to when they’re comparing a few final details, to making the big purchase, and then planning what they’ll do when they get there. As well as a number of steps in between.
And on mobile, the frequency that people will dream or research or confirm before they’re ready to purchase increases significantly. I think the best travel shopping experiences in the future will embrace the entire experience and support all of the different ways that travelers want to plan and purchase their next adventure.
Sustainability is on everyone’s minds right now and Skyscanner was one of the companies to form the Travalyst initiative last September - how are Travalyst’s goals progressing?
Travalyst wants to demystify the current options out there, helping travelers make more informed choices that can benefit the planet and the local communities they visit.
It’s also about engaging the industry, which is absolutely fundamental in the face of the environmental challenges and targets we all want to achieve.
Our initial goals are to help drive consistent standards and alignment across the largest digital travel platforms in the world and we’re making good progress in that regard.
It’s been great to collaborate with our other founding members and to align on the same goals. We look forward to sharing more specifics about the Travalyst progress very soon.
What specific actions is Skyscanner taking on 1) raising awareness of climate change and 2) reducing carbon emissions?
Skyscanner has an important role to play in enabling travelers to make informed decisions.
In 2019, we started labelling "Greener Choice" flights, to highlight the flights with less emissions than the industry norm.
I don’t think the answer is to travel less. Air travel is an incredible catalyst for bringing people together from all over the world, exposing people to other cultures, and enabling people every year to see a world they had only read about previously.
Bryan Dove, Skyscanner
We’ve begun to run experiments to help travelers avoid crowded destinations at peak times with alternate location or alternate time of year suggestions.
And we’re also experimenting with offering more options for travelers who want to offset the carbon footprint of their flights. The early results are extremely promising, and we’ll continue to experiment and expand these offers throughout the year ahead.
As a global company, we also have a fair amount of travel internally for which we want to offset the overall air travel footprint. We’ve chosen to do this by investing in sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) through SkyNRG’s Board Now programme, promising up to 80% less emissions.
We believe it’s critical to invest in alternative fuels and future solutions, rather than only purchasing current offsetting techniques. If the industry is going to make a meaningful change in our collective footprint, then we’ll need a variety of techniques that are ready to be scaled globally. We’re proud that we can do our part to support the diversification of offsetting technologies available.
Can the travel industry create a balance between encouraging people to travel less and the growth and profitability goals?
I don’t think the answer is to travel less. Air travel is an incredible catalyst for bringing people together from all over the world, exposing people to other cultures, and enabling people every year to see a world they had only read about previously.
However, if the industry does not change, we face serious risks of future generations not having this opportunity. I think it’s our obligation to do all we can and improve as fast as possible to ensure that we’re able to preserve the planet for future generations to enjoy.
For Skyscanner, we’ve made it our mission to lead the transformation to sustainable travel because we believe it’s the right thing to do for travelers, partners, our business, and the planet.
I’ve been really encouraged by the level of engagement I’ve seen from the industry over the last year and I look forward to forging even stronger partnerships in the future so that we can all help solve this problem together.
For the travel sector to continue to thrive, we must act now in the long-term interest of both the planet and travelers, for this generation and the next.
What’s your take on the letter from Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock, saying the company would be putting environmental sustainability at the core of its investment decisions?
I thought it was great to see. It gives me a lot of hope when I see that investors are making sustainability a key factor in their decision making.
We’ve already heard about this trend from some of our airline partners, and I love seeing it replicated across the wider business community. It’s smart.
The financial risks presented by climate change are real. And this announcement is exactly the kind of incentive needed to reward companies who are adopting sustainable business practices as a default.
What role do you see technology playing in addressing travel sustainability and reducing carbon emissions?
I think there’s a huge role for technology and we’ve only just scratched the surface. Microsoft’s recent $1 billion innovation fund announcement – investing in the acceleration of carbon reduction, capture and removal technologies – is great to see.
The aviation industry is investing in the development of electric aircraft and supporting the commercialization of sustainable aviation fuels (SAF), but I believe there is more that technology can help us to do. It’s an area I am watching very closely.
Environmental initiatives were high on the agenda before the financial crisis of 2007-08, will the issue have real traction and make an impact this time?
It has to. It’s not a ‘nice to have’ anymore, it’s essential for the future. I’m pleased to see it right at the top of the agenda at this week's World Economic Forum – it's so important, not just the future of the travel industry but to avert the looming climate emergency.
What are the greatest challenges Skyscanner currently faces?
One of the biggest challenges for us is meeting travelers’ ever-increasing expectations on mobile devices. The world has moved to mobile across almost all sectors yet travel planning and shopping continue to lag behind.
Despite a lot of effort to adapt, there is still so much friction, confusing information and a lack of customer confidence. We have to meet travelers where they are and offer them the tools and information they need when and how they want it. It’s a challenge and it is core to the direction we’re going in and what we expect to achieve.
And a few questions about you... What do you do to separate work and home life?
On one hand, I love what I do and so even my “free time” is often spent reading about what’s going on in travel or sustainability.
I tend to think that if you’re fortunate enough to work on something you care deeply about, the lines can be less firm than if you want to fully disconnect and tune out.
I recognize how rare it is to get your personal interests to align with the work you do and so I appreciate that opportunity every day.
Other than that, I suspect my experience is fairly normal – planning nights out with my partner, trying to exercise on a regular schedule, and planning a few long weekends to stay fresh throughout the year.
If you were not running Skyscanner, what company, in any industry, would you like to be running and why?
Nike, but given they just brought on a new CEO, I doubt they’re hiring right now! As a number of my teammates at Skyscanner know, I have a strong affinity for shoes, and specifically Nike.
I have a ton of respect for what Nike has done over the last several years to nurture and expand a culture around sneakers that wasn’t anywhere close to mainstream a few years ago.
I also have a tremendous amount of respect for their approach to constantly challenge the status quo for what they believe is right instead of shying away from any controversy.
Regardless of what you think about their specific product and marketing choices, the fact that they are consistently unafraid to take a stand for what they believe in earns them a ton of respect in my book.
What was your “wow” moment in the past year where you saw or read something that really made you stop and think?
Probably the biggest “wow” moment for me was when I read Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker.
In today’s world, I think we’re all guilty of trying to squeeze more into the day by cheating on our sleep and it really opened my eyes to the necessity of sleep and the ramifications when we don’t give our bodies what we need.
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