Ancillaries are the powerhouse growing travel brand revenues
around the world and the industry has only just got started.
Technology is powering a massive growth in partnerships
across the travel industry as brands race to enhance their offering to
customers and also their bottom lines. Application Programming Interfaces (APIs),
AI-powered personalization and streamlined booking processes are helping travel
brands to cross-sell a growing amount of inventory and make the customer’s
journey easier.
Ancillary sales are expanding to cover more and more
inventory. From trains, ridesharing and buses, to dining, to an exploding tours
and activities sector that has drawn the attention of all the largest online
travel players. In TripAdvisor’s latest set of results from Q1 2018, its non-hotel
revenues soared 36% and it is banking on tours and activities to push up
results further this year. Clearly their strategy of focusing on the area after
acquiring Viator, who are speaking at Eyefortravel’s
Europe Summit in London this June, is beginning to pay off and indicates
the growing importance of new revenue streams.
Elsewhere, rail travel is becoming one of the biggest
focuses in travel, with digital giants like Expedia jumping in with their
acquisition of SilverRail Technologies, Skyscanner launching a train booking feature
for mobiles (both brands are speaking at EyeforTravel
Europe), and major existing players stepping up their online presence.
As Cameron Jones, chief commercial officer at SilverRail,
who will be speaking
in London, puts it: “Rail’s time is now. Expedia, Rail Europe, Rome2Rio,
Trainline, GoEuro and more are raising the profile and relevance of rail as a
key product line in a comprehensive retailing strategy. Rail gives travellers
greater choice and flexibility when trip planning and, being a high frequency
product, drives traffic and loyalty enabling retailers to lower their customer
acquisition costs. And Skyscanner/Ctrip’s recent move into rail in Europe
highlights the momentum.”
The growing realm of potential partnerships means that
travel brands can cater to more aspects of the customer’s journey, even if they
are only a small player – both generating more revenues and greater customer
satisfaction.
If you would like to find out more about the expanding role
of partnerships across the industry, there’s only one place to go – the EyeforTravel
Europe Summit 2018.
The Summit features a host of speakers from across the
spectrum who can help to transform the ancillaries you sell from a variety of
diverse sectors, such as tours and activities, ride sharing, transportation.
These include
- Viator
- The Trainline
- Blablacar
- Eatwith
- Withlocals
- SilverRail Technologies
- Hertz
- Amadeus
- Checkmybus.com
- routeRank
- Eurail
- Rail Europe
- Insight Guides
- Urban Adventures
- TripCreator
- Livn
Join four cutting edge travel conference under one roof and
change how travel is sold. Get your ticket to the EyeforTravel
Europe Summit 2018 today!
