Read the Best Tweets from our Travel Analytics Conference in NYC

Ever felt like creating a world beating Travel Company in 48 hours?

I believe that to create any new business you need to know what your customers want to buy. What makes travel even harder is that many travel companies have to serve the traveller but get paid by the travel supplier.

So you need to know not only what the traveller desires but you also need to know it is something that travel suppliers are willing to finance.

This May 23-24 at the Travel Distribution Summit London I am offering 16 people the unique opportunity to try and use the combined brains of 300 online savvy travel suppliers to create a travel company that customers will want to use and vitally the travel suppliers will be willing to pay for.

16 sponsored individuals will meet the day before the Travel Distribution Summit. Once put into 4 teams and briefed by our innovation experts, they will use the unbeatable networking this event provides to create a business that the industry wants.

After 2 days of meetings, briefings and brain storming, the teams will present their ideas to our audience (which always includes serial travel industry investors) and a winner will be announced.

Then it’s up to the team.  At the event they have a unique opportunity to test the demand for their product and meet some very influential investors.  Post event they can either take the idea and use it or just use the great experience and contacts they have created to do something new.

If you are interested in joining as new company Creator please fill in the form here. We are looking for 16 applicants and we want a wide range of skills, so both experienced experts that have done this before and motivated graduate types alike are all welcome!  There is no cost involved but you will be expected to work on creating a new product rather than attending all the conference sessions. Networking will be key!

Why distribution is so key?

Has Booking.com has reached the levels of Google......  over the last 3-4 various senior of travel execs have said to me (off the record) that although Google advertising works and is cost effective they are not expanding their Google spend  as it puts their organisation into too much risk… The same is now being said about booking.com

This is why a travel CEO’s and MDs as well as heads of distribution and marketing take such a keen interest in the age old problem of the evolving travel supply chain. As customer buying behaviour changes the whole industry has to respond. The internet, search, social media, mobile and big data have been at the forefront of the evolving travel industry over the last 15 years and if the head of the travel company ignores these trends they lose market share.

If they get it right the company booms.

2012 has been a roller coaster but as yet the Euro has not collapsed we have not jumped of the cliff and China is still growing. 2013 should be “fun.”

Hope you have a great Christmas break and look forward to seeing you at one our event in 2013

Is there too much emphasis on Mobile solely as a booking channel?

Last week I was fortunate enough to be invited to speak at BTO (www.buytourismonline.com) in Florence, Italy to present findings from EyeforTravel’s recent Travel Consumer Report.

The event brings together online travel professionals from across Italy to discuss how to drive forward travel sales across Italian travel and hospitality brands.

I presented a closing keynote presentation on Mobile in Travel.  The presentation was actually entitled ‘Mobile reservations’ however, EyeforTravel research has found that there is a lot more to mobile than just bookings.

46% of travel suppliers (B2C providers of travel eg. hotels, airlines, cruise etc) and 38% of travel intermediaries agreed that mobile has increased customer engagement.  

From a consumer point of view, when asked how they would like to engage with travel brands via mobile, information on local activities, deals as well as maps, and consulting user reviews were the most popular responses.

We found that consumers want to engage with travel brands not just before their trip but during their travel experience.  Indeed, 64% of Brits said they would like information on local activities and deals whilst at their destination.

 Using social media whilst travelling is popular and is fuelling the use of smartphones.  14% of Americans always share their travel experience via social media during their trip and 23% of Americans stated they do this frequently.

Mobile should of course still be focused on as a booking channel (41% of travel suppliers agreed with the statement that mobile had increased direct sales).   However, I feel that those brands who truly understand how mobile can enhance the travel experience from start to finish will be the winners in 2013 and beyond!

You can view my slides below (don't worry, the presentation is in English after the first slide!): - 

Mobile in Travel, BTO presentation, Gina Baillie - EyeforTravel from Gina Baillie

Fighting for inventory – It’s not only your customers that need to trust you but suppliers

To run a successful online travel marketplace you need two skills. On top of the obvious - knowing how to sell to the consumer, you also need to be even better at fighting for inventory.

To get an idea of how difficult sourcing the right inventory has been for major established online travel companies, type in Expedia to the www.eyefortravel.com search bar. We have been covering the battle for travel inventory for years now. You will see almost a decade’s worth of stories looking at how Expedia, one the world’s largest online travel distributors has fought an on-going battle to control inventory with their suppliers, hotels, airlines and other travel suppliers.

As collaborative marketplaces such as Whipcar, AirBnB , Wimdu to AiXunQi (a start-up aiming at linking Chinese travellers to Chinese speaking experience providers) continue to proliferate in our industry, I predict an ever fiercer battle for inventory.

None fiercer will be the battle for the inventory of suppliers of ‘on-trip’ experiences.  Tours and activity suppliers are happy to give you their inventory in order to sell pre-trip. However as an ex Zambezi river guide I know first-hand they won’t be keen to hand over inventory on the day, the time when people are most likely to decide whether or not to do a bungee jump, eat sushi or have a facial. Why should they?  - It’s a closed off market where the distribution system of flyers, signs, pretty young things and concierges already works really well.

Of course, what’s going to drive all this mobile commerce? Until now, online savvy travel suppliers and intermediaries have strived to sell at point of sale; now, we can do it on trip. It’s a huge amount of cash up for grabs and it’s going to go to the travel organisations that travellers trust, like and enjoy doing business with.

It’s going to be fascinating to discover how this battle for supply develops, especially when its independent entrepreneurs -who are often not big corporates - need to be courted.  Below are a few of the issues I feel the providers of marketplaces need to plan for:

Trust is Key: Right now the movement is going through what could be described as a global education program. Uneducated often means distrustful.  As suppliers and customers learn to provide and buy through marketplaces, you can become more closed.  Openness now however is key to finding inventory.

Money Counts: In the long term your suppliers will become more sophisticated. If you are not delivering them customers or are charging too high a rate for the service, you will lose inventory to your competition.

Ancillary Revenues Work! Ryan Air one of the biggest and most profitable European Airlines does not make money from flying people around. In fact, if it relied on that service it would be going bust. They stay incredibly profitable and continue to grow through the advertising of non-core products on their website. If you have a focussed bunch of people looking for a service or a product it means you have a targeted a crucially profitable market. This could allow you to subsidise the other side of your market ensuring your supply is good.

Adding Value: To be of value, every marketplace has to add value, be it through cheaper deals, safety through insurance or ease in language translation.

As a result, whilst making sure your customers hold a healthy business relationship with you, investing in maintaining a good relationship with the suppliers of your inventory is paramount. Whilst it may be painful spending time and money to allow people to make money through your market, if you don’t own the inventory, you are in a vulnerable position. 

Becoming a Customer-Centric Travel Company – The Key to Success in 2013?

Yesterday I went along to WTM and attended the opening presentation from Barry Gibbons, CEO, Burger King.   Barry was responsible for rescuing the ailing burger chain and did so by putting the consumer back at the heart of the business.

He mentioned the importance, (although he loathes the term,) of being a ‘customer-centric’ company.    In his view ‘only those who truly know how to make a connection with their customers will succeed in this hugely competitive space’.

So how can we apply this to the travel space?  Economic turmoil combined with new communication devices and social influence mean that customers are now spending more time in the research phase of the path to purchase.  If you can impress customers at this stage then it goes without saying that you will be more likely to win new business.

As customers become more and more tech savvy they can be harder to impress but according to EyeforTravel’s Travel Consumer Report 2012-13, 54% of intermediaries and 50% of suppliers do not even have a mobile version of their website.  With few brands having such basics, does impressing the travel consumer need to be so hard?

Whilst mobile bookings remain low, it is becoming more and more apparent that the customer is accessing travel sites via mobile and tablet devices at the research phase (and then purchasing via a desktop).   

The fact is if you’re not there then your competitor will be.  If you have a mobile and tablet friendly version of our website (note that these are 2 different things!) then you are half way to wowing your customer.

Then there’s the issue of social media, not only does user generated content influence the consumer’s decision to purchase, it can also provide you with a wealth of data on what your customer really wants from your brand.

Take the example of KLM’s surprise, using social data to wow your customer is simple to do and definitely pays off.   With so much data available to travel brands there really is no excuse for not understanding your customers’ wants and needs.

Whilst you’re planning your strategy and budgets for 2013, have a think about whether what you’re planning will wow your customer.   For some free information on smartphone, tablet and social media consumer behaviour simply follow this link.

The Ten Biggest “Data” Questions Travel Organisations Are Dealing With Right Now

I've spent the last six months talking to business travel executives from across the spectrum- marketing, pricing, performance strategy, analytics, IT, CRM and more. Despite the breadth of job roles, they all have one thing in common. Every single one of the professionals I spoke to is dealing with copious amounts of internal DATA. Data management and analytics tracking is a growing part of every travel business- from loyalty to marketing, from pricing to CRM, from performance strategy to business intelligence and forecasting. In celebration of the rise and rise of data into our working lives, I have clustered together the ten biggest issues reported from major airlines, hotels, car hire firms, OTAs, destinations and tour operators working in this space:

1.   It’s Mine, Hands Off: Data sharing. Oh the woes. Who owns the right to the data within your organisation? This has been an issue since the cows left and never came home. Should everyone have access to pricing, loyalty and CRM data? Who is managing this and ensuring data is preserved and used correctly?  
2. System of A Down: System consolidation. We've been discussing this in revenue management and pricing for years. What happens when you try to integrate CRM with pricing, and is the technology even really there yet? Similarly, what happens in a coalition or partnership situation like for example with United and Continental last year?
3. Big (very, very, terrifying, huge, scary, why is everyone shouting about it) Data: Big data is splashed all over the news in every sector of business. Why so? Because in the last two years, the ability to capture specific types of data has moved along leaps and bounds. What’s the result? A huge tidal wave of data that only a fair few know how to fully use.
4. The Tech Check:   With a huge surge in data and analytics technologies now on the market, who can you trust and where should you put your dollars?
5.  If You Plan It, They Will Come: This issue looks at identifying key contributors and factors to help you plan better for the future. Where are the growth markets, who are the key customers and how can you maximize profit?
6. One Size Doesn’t Fit Them All: Our peers found that segmentation is back on the hit list. With the breadth of our data capabilities widening, our segmentation and targeting strategies should be more personalized than ever before, yet many travel businesses still don’t segment marketing data as efficiently as they could do.
7. The Tick-Tock- Real Time Data: The casinos have been at it for years, so why isn’t everyone else? The opportunities with real-time data are truly unreal- so how do you action it and reap the benefits? What is the technology and cost involved?
8.  The Social Commotion:  Learning how to effectively measure, react and respond to social customers. Plus, how do you legally pull data from Facebook, Twitter and more and use that information intelligently to make sales?
9. Ain’t No Data Up In Here: One of the points which many of our interviewees brought up is the internal struggle to ensure that data is at the core of the business. Getting the board level to wholly back forecasting, planning and performance strategy is an on-going problem, despite it being based on analytical fact.
10. Recruit if they know the word Hadoop? Recruitment of data and analytics professionals is one of the trickiest things we have to deal with in the travel industry. Finding someone who is a “power user,” or a “data scientist,” (when the interviewer is not) can be hard. What should you be looking for? Where can you find them?

So to conclude, it is safe to say there are a number of challenges and opportunities in the data and analytics space. One thing that is for certain is that the role of data and analytics is present in all the stages of travel: dreaming, booking, experiencing and reporting. I’m looking forward to hosting a group of travel analytics professionals in NYC next January to discuss some of these prevalent issues.  If you want more information, you can see www.eyefortravel.com/analytics.