As customer expectations evolve, hotels, airlines and intermediaries recognise that CX is the only way to truly differentiate, and they are not willing to sit back and watch as their customers (and revenues) slowly move to innovative, customer-centric solutions.
One Connected Community‘s (OCC) Breakthrough Customer Experience across the Travel Journey research, shaped by executives at Airbnb, Starwood Hotels, Emirates and Heathrow Airport, highlights four strategic priorities to boost the bottom-line with a customer centric approach in 2016.
OCC’s latest travel research places digital platforms, thinking and practices to drive customer engagement as mission-critical at every level and department to drive revenue in 2016.
As the proliferation of mobile devices and innovative models continue to disrupt and shape the way customers travel, one thing is clear – customer experience (CX) matters more than ever.
As customer expectations evolve, hotels, airlines and intermediaries recognise that CX is the only way to truly differentiate, and they are not willing to sit back and watch as their customers (and revenues) slowly move to innovative, customer-centric solutions.
In this setting, key travel stakeholders are searching for new ways to create seamless, meaningful and personalised customer experiences across the entire journey.
The goal is to target customers in the moment at every touch point, taking advantage of digital platforms and innovative models, with personalised content and offers to improve loyalty, direct channel bookings and ancillary revenues.
Those that take advantage of such capabilities stand to gain against competitors that don’t.
It’s an exciting time for travel, but there are significant challenges associated with the innovation models behind engaging customers across the entire journey.
To win in the customer-centric world, travel brands must adopt next-generation digital thinking and practices to move away from the traditional product approach to a customer journey approach. It’s no longer about selling a room or a flight, but selling a personal service.
This requires a considerable investment of time, money and resources as well as a willingness to experiment and make continual improvements.
OCC’s Breakthrough Customer Experience across the Travel Journey is designed to help hotels, airlines and intermediaries strengthen their strategy in this complex and rapidly developing shift. Shaped by leading execs at Airbnb, Starwood Hotels, Brussels Airlines, Heathrow Airport and Emirates, the research identifies four strategic priorities to help define a seamless, personalised strategy, and provide a benchmark to execute transformation.
Vicky is the co-founder of TravelDailyNews Media Network where she is the Editor-in Chief. She is also responsible for the daily operation and the financial policy. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Tourism Business Administration from the Technical University of Athens and a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Wales.
She has many years of both academic and industrial experience within the travel industry. She has written/edited numerous articles in various tourism magazines.
