Postponed vacations, cancelled flights and less-than-satisfied travelers just about sum up the past year and a half. It’s indisputable that the travel industry took a major hit in 2020, as the entire world shut down before our eyes. In fact, domestic travel spending went down by 42% year-over-year, along with international travel dipping by 76%.
After patiently waiting more than a year, people are itching to leave their homes and vacation again. Based on a recent Vrbo study, 65% of Americans plan on traveling more in 2021 than they did pre-COVID. Whether consumers are rescheduling long-awaited family reunions or planning their comeback dream vacation, airline and hospitality brands must prepare themselves for a surge of the travel bug, also known as revenge travel.
As the world reopens, people are ready to explore
Aside from the immediate loss of industry jobs and revenue that occurred during lockdown, the long-term effects of the pandemic on many businesses are bubbling to the surface. According to McKinsey, the world experienced three to four years of digital transformation in the past year, and those changes are here to stay.
For the travel industry, this means being hit with a wave of new consumer expectations for check-ins, questions answered and trip changes - without having to talk to anyone. Brands that can provide this experience will ride this wave to success.
A recent survey by SuperOffice discovered that 45.9% of business professionals said that customer experience is the number-one priority for their brand throughout the next five years. But there is still plenty of work to be done. In fact, businesses underestimate how often customers have poor experiences by an average of 38%. In order to prepare for revenge travel and secure long-term brand loyalty, we recommend the following digital CX implementations:
1. Facilitate omnichannel communication
A vital component of digital CX is allowing customers to interact with a brand across multiple platforms. Given the current climate, travel companies will face a flood of incoming questions and concerns from apprehensive travelers. Thus, brands must equip customer care agents with digital resources that will aid in successful omnichannel communication, which can help decrease response times, increase the volume of requests handled and capture consumer trust.
Businesses underestimate how often customers have poor experiences by an average of 38%.
Kahlil Dumas
For the airline industry, this means anticipating high call volumes with flyers inquiring about travel vouchers they received during the pandemic, asking questions about sanitation and safety protocols and other related queries. Through leveraging omnichannel communication, airline companies can provide consistent communication to more customers, in half the time. For instance, Hawaiian Airlines was able to streamline their communication by utilizing digital CX platforms, resulting in a decrease in customer service response times by 60%, and an increase in the volume of requests responded by 45%.
Similarly, revenge travel will likely have a major impact on the hospitality industry as hotels start seeing a steady increase in reservations. With this anticipated influx of guests comes the need to leverage multi-channel communication to maximize convenience and efficiency for customers. For example, this will play a critical role in streamlining and expediting new processes like virtual check-in and answering an onslaught of questions online before, during and after guests’ stay.
2. Leverage online brand communities
Being able to reach as many customers as possible is another essential element to achieving successful digital CX. Online brand communities, for instance, are branded, interactive sites that provide a space for travelers to ask detailed questions to other travelers, taking the burden off customer care agents to manage all customer queries. As airline and hospitality brands see a spike in customer questions, these communities are a terrific way to combat infinite wait times and inconsistent communication.
For example, Southwest leveraged their brand community to direct all customer inquiries about travel to a frequently updated blog page - that also included comments from users and responses from appropriate company representatives. Over the last year, Airbnb also invested in their brand community to create a space for their hosts to interact with and learn from each other during a turbulent time. As a result, Airbnb saw 30% membership growth and more than doubled revenue for member hosts.
3. Keep communication consistent
With safety being a top priority for consumers around the world right now, the travel industry must provide transparent communication when conveying ever-changing safety guidelines and restrictions. This also includes allowing customers to interact with a brand anywhere, at any time, while still fostering a personal connection. Whether that’s via social channels, asynchronous chat or mobile messaging, digital communication must remain clear and consistent to capture traveler trust. By tapping into digital CX to ensure adequate dialogue between a brand and its customers, hospitality and travel companies can ease traveler stress and optimize customer experience.
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For the airline industry in particular, this might mean implementing a digital-first strategy to educate travelers on safety precautions the airline is taking such as sanitization between flights, mask mandates and operating at a reduced capacity to decrease the transmission of COVID-19. Boeing, the world's largest aerospace company, utilized a multi-channel approach to highlight new safety enhancements and protocols on their planes in an effort to combat the pandemic.
Ensure a seamless customer experience with digital CX
After living through a tumultuous year and a half, consumer preferences may never be the same. Although revenge travel means the world is beginning to heal itself, the quality of a brand’s digital CX will determine upcoming travel experiences and can ultimately make or break brand loyalty. By optimizing customer experience and streamlining communication, your brand can pave the way to the industry’s revival.