Noreen Henry, CEO
Hotel brands, travel technology providers, airline vacation
packaging groups and other suppliers use WayBlazer’s AI-powered recommendation
engine to help travelers find the best destinations and products.
Noreen Henry joined WayBlazer as CEO nearly 18 months ago,
bringing more than 25 years of experience in leadership roles at DHISCO, Intent
Media, Travelocity, Sabre and Netscape.
Artificial
intelligence has become a buzz phrase that’s thrown around by a lot of
companies – how does WayBlazer differentiate itself?
We’ve seen a lot of travel brands interested in leveraging AI to
transform the overall travel customer journey and make it more personal and
streamlined.
At WayBlazer, we use a combination
of natural language understanding and machine learning to deliver an effortless
and personalized travel search experience.
What makes us unique is our intelligent recommendation engine that understands user
intent and context and our travel-centric chatbot that can interact directly with consumers through messaging apps, voice platforms, websites and even display
ads.
With these solutions, we are able
to help brands deliver a far more personalized experience that enhances every
stage of the travel journey.
Our technology provides the travel consumers the
most relevant and contextual recommendations which helps to drive brand
conversions from the first search to final booking.
How does natural language
search fit into customization?
Where the travel search and
discovery phase was once impersonal and cumbersome, AI technologies like
natural language processing (NLP) makes the travel customer experience much
more seamless, relevant and convenient.
Natural language processing allows
brands to interact with customers in real-time and then gather additional data
from these interactions to identify intent and automatically serve the most
relevant results based on their search criteria.
It makes the travel search and
discovery process more seamless for customers because they don’t need to enter
all of the nitty-gritty details -- like dates and type of hotel -- to begin
their search.
Instead, they can simply type in or speak “looking for
family-friendly resort with guided tours for Memorial Day weekend” and receive
recommendations based on their intent.
Earlier
this year you debuted an AI-powered chatbot in an online ad for Emirates
Vacations. Will that model become more common?
Yes, we partnered with Emirates
Vacations on a campaign in which we integrated
our chatbot and recommendation engine into a display ad unit. While this type of chatbot ad unit is first-of-its-kind
in the travel industry, we see it as the natural progression of search and
digital advertising in the travel industry.
How consumers browse, search and
interact with brands is evolving rapidly.
Given the growth of mobile, social
networks, digital assistants, voice search and more, consumers now have a
variety of channels available for researching packages and booking trips, and
they’re getting used to innovations in the search process, like voice-assisted devices
and chatbots.
Cutting-edge travel brands see the
potential here and are adapting to these trends in consumer behaviors to meet
customers where and how they shop.
As we see more travel brands placing digital
transformation and the customer experience as a top priority, what is
innovative now will become the norm.
What
problem in the overall consumer travel experience could be best solved by using
AI?
AI can be especially helpful in
alleviating the pain points and inconvenience that often hinders the travel
search process.
In the past, travelers have had to do a majority of the legwork to plan
a trip.
AI offers solutions for simplifying the entire process, especially when
it comes to initial research and planning but also while a guest is in-trip.
Basic tasks such as making reservations for a hotel or restaurant can now be
completed automated.
And for travel brands, AI
algorithms can give them more insight into consumer intent and behavior,
empowering them to provide quality experiences and recommendations.
Are
certain sectors of travel more suited to AI – for example hotels or tours and
activities?
AI is no stranger to the travel
industry. In our experience, AI has applications across the travel industry,
from hotel brands, airlines, travel agencies, vacation packages and even vacation
rentals.
In fact, it is becoming increasingly valuable as travel brands look
for ways to gain a competitive advantage and enhance the overall customer
experience throughout the entire travel journey.
Most consumers are now going
online to begin their search experience, and this is where WayBlazer offers AI
solutions to provide more relevant results upon initial interaction and to
enhance the overall search and booking process.
Subscribe to our newsletter below
AI technologies are also
driving some exciting innovations for in-trip experiences from facial
recognition to speed up baggage check or passenger boarding to smart hotel
rooms with voice driven interfaces.
And of course, we’re seeing a lot of travel
brands utilizing bots to help with guest services such as concierge, managing
reservations and frequently asked questions.
In
order for AI-powered customization to function effectively, travelers need to
be willing to share information about themselves. Do you think they are
becoming more open to that or are privacy concerns still a big issue?
We recognize that there is
heightened concern over how and with whom customer information is shared.
Consumers will always set the
threshold for what’s acceptable. While recent research
shows many consumers are willing to provide
information about themselves for better online experiences, brands must take
care to convey value in personalizing experiences while protecting customer
data.
In our case, we’re focused on understanding the user’s current trip
intent, which is discovered through NLP by what the traveler declares in a
chatbot conversation in order to provide the most relevant recommendations to
deliver an enhanced shopping experience.
How consumers browse, search and interact with brands is evolving rapidly.
Noreen Henry - WayBlazer
Transparency is key here.
Privacy will always be a concern for consumers, but if brands remain
transparent about what data they collect and how they collect it and offer a
value in exchange for this information, then many consumers will be willing to
share.
What
are some of the biggest roadblocks to adoption of AI by travel brands?
We often see two primary
challenges many travel brands encounter when adopting AI technology. First is
having the data needed to train the AI systems, and second is needing to make
significant investments before reaping the benefits.
Much of AI is about
training systems with large amounts of data so they can answer questions,
identify patterns, and leverage machine learning.
Often, travel brands’ data is
either in disparate systems, incomplete, or worse, inaccurate and may require a
preliminary investment just to be able to leverage the data efficiently.
Once
the data is in good shape, companies often spend a significant amount of time
and money developing custom AI solutions on the hope that it will drive
measurable benefits to the bottom line.
At WayBlazer we recognize these
challenges and have done the heavy lifting on ingesting massive amounts of
travel data to developed a pre-trained travel graph that understands travel the
way people do.
The graph has learned the language and concepts associated with
travel and is able to identify what makes a destination romantic or a hotel
family friendly. In addition, we created easy-to-implement AI solutions that
have a track record of delivering increases in engagement and conversion.
Our
chatbot ads, for example, can be customized and implemented in as little as two to four weeks. This enables our customers to quickly leverage our AI solutions, measure
the impact, and experience the benefits.
How do
you advise a company to prioritize AI over other, established elements of their
business?
It’s less about prioritizing AI,
and more about incorporating it into your existing processes and
strategies. AI is more than technology, it is a pathway forward to a new,
immersive, rich, and provocative customer experience; one that the travel
industry is better positioned to deliver than just about any other industry.
AI
is also a pathway to improved business performance throughout your organization,
whether that be in the customer journey driving improved engagement, conversion
and satisfaction, or improvements on the operations side such as on-time
performance, reduced maintenance, or customer support.
The good news is there
are many companies that have been pioneering the way forward that brands can
learn from and partner with to be successful.
What is next for WayBlazer?
We are always looking for ways
to innovate the travel customer experience for our clients.
Currently we are focusing
on partnerships with established travel brands and exploring adjacent vertical
markets where our recommendation engine can provide value for brands.
Our goal is to transform the
discovery and search process and deliver more engaging customer experiences
across the travel, hospitality and leisure industry.
How
did your previous roles with DHISCO, Travelocity, Sabre and others prepare you
to be CEO of WayBlazer?
Since the start of my career
I’ve had a passion for the travel industry and the opportunity to bring to
market technologies that solve problems for brands and travelers.
I’ve been
fortunate to work in numerous roles from product, operations and sales for a
variety of travel technology companies, including large corporations and startups.
I also worked at Travelocity
during it’s massive growth years.
This varied background helped me experience
the challenges and opportunities that come with scaling a company, developing a
product, and the triumphs and occasional letdowns that come from working with
bleeding edge technology.
In these roles, our teams would
often strategize about how to improve the user experience with personalized,
relevant recommendations, but the technology at the time was pretty limited.
With the evolution of technologies such as machine learning, I’m finally able
to see some of these ideas from over a decade ago now come to life. We’re
living in remarkably exciting times.
What
are you personally wanting to learn more about in 2018?
AI technology and digital
marketing are advancing rapidly, so I’m constantly investing in ways to stay in
sync with the latest developments.
I’m also remaining close to our
customers to continue learning about how to best help solve their challenges.
The area where I’ve been spending the most of my time learning is in digital
advertising and advertising technology.
Our goal is to transform the discovery and search process and deliver more engaging customer experiences across the travel, hospitality and leisure industry.
Noreen Henry - WayBlazer
As we’ve integrated our chatbot
in a display ad unit, we’re now seeing some incredible response from our
customers and I’d like to focus on how we can continue driving value for our
partners.
What
can be done to create more gender balance in the C-suite of travel companies?
I’ve been fortunate to work for
companies with strong women and male executive leaders, and in my humble
opinion, this issue needs tackled on two fronts: at the company level as well
as the individual level.
On the company front, it starts
with a commitment to gender balance throughout the entire organization: from
recruiting to professional development and mentoring.
This commitment then
needs backed up by an honest assessment of gender balance in each department
and at each level, followed by a clear set of actions to build the leadership
pipeline accordingly. This typically includes investments in leadership
development, coaching and more leadership opportunities.
With that said, it also requires
commitment from the individuals. The women executives I’ve had the privilege to
work with truly owned their career.
They sought out role models, mentors,
education and opportunities. Once they were afforded leadership opportunities,
they leaned in and continued to grow their skills, build their network and take
on new challenges.
In turn, they committed to advancing the next
generation, by mentoring and helping their companies move the gender balance
bar.
Your
team at WayBlazer is relatively small – 20 people. How do you keep them motivated?
I have an amazing team that I’m
very proud to work with. They are passionate, curious and truly dedicated to
building great product for our partners.
Of course, when working with
smart people, there has to be something bigger in the work than what I can
offer. The challenge has to be worthwhile.
I think what motivates them more
than anything is when we can deliver great experiences for the end user which
drives real results for our partners.
When we do it right, we view it
as “magical.” My biggest role in that is keeping the team acutely focused.
There are a lot of things I have to say “no” to so we can say “yes” to the work
that matters most.
What
is your advice to young professionals just entering this industry?
The travel industry is warm,
welcoming and addictive. Once you work in this industry it’s hard to leave it. We
sell such a great product - memorable experiences.
My advice is to embrace travel -
experience the product you sell so you can be passionate about providing
exceptional experiences.
Also, network with industry
colleagues. People working in the travel industry are smart, collaborative and
always looking for ways to raise the bar.
Meeting and working with them will no
doubt make you better.
More from our In the Big Chair series
Content PhocusWire talks to leaders across travel technology and
distribution...
Click here to read
them all