The answer to group travel complexity? Transparency

As many as 67% of Americans intend to travel this year, setting the stage for a significant rebound for the tourism industry. Live events such as festivals, concerts, professional sports are all coming back. Couples are planning long awaited weddings, bachelor and bachelorette parties once again.

Families, arguably one of the top group categories traveling over the next two months, are booking summer vacations. In fact, a recent survey from American Express Travel, states 71% of respondents are planning to visit loved ones they hadn’t been able to see during the pandemic, and 60% said that a 2021 family reunion was in their near future.

The common thread woven throughout these trends? The emphasis on group travel. People are traveling together again and, understandably, everyone is eager to get back out into the world. Yet, the question remains - Are we equipped to handle widespread reopenings?

Logistics within the travel industry has always been a nightmare, and as we stand on the precipice of a post-pandemic world, logistics have become even more complicated. It should come as no surprise then that recreational travel for groups has been the most impacted category.

COVID restrictions and regulations are changing almost daily across cities, states and countries. Additional complications are layering onto necessary evils associated with planning a trip such as comparing multiple online travel agencies (OTAs), understanding hidden costs and for groups, chasing invites and collecting money.

It's hard to envision how planning a trip might be even more challenging today, but welcome to 2021. These compounding factors make it near impossible for any hospitality or travel company to stay abreast of the latest and most accurate information.

A recent survey from Tripadvisor found that 29% of consumers are waiting for pandemic-related developments to unfold, and 22% are waiting to be fully vaccinated before traveling. Along the same lines, vaccination rates in America have plateaued, making it impossible to know who is actually vaccinated, and how to identify the best path forward: when to open, when to remove mask mandates and the impact these decisions will ultimately have on travel. Transparency - historically absent with OTAs and other travel companies - is emerging as the key to a clear and sustainable reopening strategy.

New York has already launched their own version of a vaccine passport. This is a first step toward implementing transparent guidelines. The keywords here are: New York. Resources available vary from state to state, there’s no OTA currently taking stock of vaccine requirements, distribution and passports when facilitating bookings (although, now you can “swipe right” on vaccinated daters thanks to the White House’s partnership with top dating apps) and independent hotels are inconsistent when it comes to regulations.

Tackling these problems is no easy feat. Fortunately, we’re already beginning to see disruptions within the travel sector from innovative new tech that’s supporting a sustained rebound through transparency. New York’s app is one example of a simple and straightforward solution that works in-state. Scaling and widespread adoption are the next big hurdles. We’re already using artificial intelligence and machine learning to better curate personal experiences and even understand someone’s safety and risk adversity, specifically in the travel sector. Leveraging this existing technology to find out what exactly travelers’ priorities are, what works best by region, and understand our communities will be crucial to a successful, widespread reopening as technologies, and therefore travel companies, will become smarter and more relevant with every use.

Being as transparent as possible in this evolving landscape means working hand-in-hand with key stakeholders - hotels, restaurants, airlines, to ensure we’re providing the best service to consumers and delivering the most accurate information. Today’s consumers, especially in the travel space, deserve a level of transparency that helps them determine value above and beyond monetary costs.

Transparency would improve their overall experience especially for group trips and in a world where travel will only get more complicated, stressful and expensive. Logistics in an industry like group travel are not easy, developing a solution for this is quite complex. This is the primary reason why no one has decided to take on the problem... yet. 

Technologies that emerge in a post-pandemic world will focus on bridging the gap between consumer and destination, and will utilize existing data to rebuild end-to-end honesty and trust. There is no industry that will come out of the pandemic unchanged, but together the travel sector will build a stronger way forward.