What add-on services do customers in the leisure and business travel market really want?
We are seeing the beginnings of mobile internet combining with social networking to enable travel companies to offer an improved trip experience for business and leisure travellers.
‘Fuzzy logic’ travel planning tools will make it easier for agents to develop holiday experiences that answer their clients’ needs and more importantly, their imagination, rather than ones that happen to fall into the correct departure/arrival equation.
Social media is opening up an agent’s ability to converse with clients rather than purely sell to them and effectively engage with each other for the latest tips and advice.
Augmented reality tools and applications are developing to map user generated content on to locations all accessed through intuitive interfaces.
There is even talk of virtual reality transforming the way in which agents can give clients a mini-adventure on the high street.
And who doesn’t relish the idea of pointing your Smartphone at a restaurant to see diner reviews before deciding whether to open the door?
But this capability also promises to transform the business travel market, as it is arguably even more important to give clients the best experience when away on business.
All in all, travel has never been a more exciting industry to work in and if agents can embrace this new era of technological innovation we will all be going on much more experiential trips in the future, courtesy of our high street and online travel agents, or as I prefer to call them, travel retailers.
What add-on services do customers in the leisure and business travel market really want?
We are seeing the beginnings of mobile internet combining with social networking to enable travel companies to offer an improved trip experience for business and leisure travellers.
‘Fuzzy logic’ travel planning tools will make it easier for agents to develop holiday experiences that answer their clients’ needs and more importantly, their imagination, rather than ones that happen to fall into the correct departure/arrival equation.
Social media is opening up an agent’s ability to converse with clients rather than purely sell to them and effectively engage with each other for the latest tips and advice.
Augmented reality tools and applications are developing to map user generated content on to locations all accessed through intuitive interfaces.
There is even talk of virtual reality transforming the way in which agents can give clients a mini-adventure on the high street.
And who doesn’t relish the idea of pointing your Smartphone at a restaurant to see diner reviews before deciding whether to open the door?
But this capability also promises to transform the business travel market, as it is arguably even more important to give clients the best experience when away on business.
All in all, travel has never been a more exciting industry to work in and if agents can embrace this new era of technological innovation we will all be going on much more experiential trips in the future, courtesy of our high street and online travel agents, or as I prefer to call them, travel retailers.
NB: This How To is authored by Tim Russell, UK and Ireland MD for Amadeus.