EyeforTravel Blog
Nominations now open for EyeforTravel’s Start-Up Travel Awards 2017
Does your travel company have what it takes to succeed in travel? Is your app or product a key weapon in your battle to win and engage travel consumers? New travel brands will find out as they battle it out as part of EyeforTravel’s Start-Up Travel awards taking place in San Francisco, April 24th – 25 as part of EyeforTravel’s San Francisco Summit.
Research showed us Travel startups attracted billions of dollars in funding last year, and the travel booking sector attracted some of the most investment — more than $650 million.“Start-ups represents a fundamental shift in innovation in travel. At EyeforTravel we believe that the brands investing and innovating in mobile and new offerings deserve to be recognised”, says Tim Gunstone, MD, EyeforTravel Ltd.
As Charles Ralston from TripStreak said on the previous EyeforTravel Awards “The Start-up Village is a really great value for money, especially for start-ups that can’t typically afford to spend thousands on conference. Bravo to EyeforTravel for pioneering this!”
Travel is being changed by mobile, the sharing economy social media and that constant drive to deliver the best customer experience. Technology is transforming the way travel is sold – providing exciting opportunities to enhance the customer experience, grow loyalty and ancillary revenues.
EyeforTravel’s Start-Up Awards seek to recognize the young brands who are making significant progress for travel – trailblazing the way for others to follow.With new apps, services and devices hitting the travel market and extra capabilities coming to devices, travel brands cannot sit still and must continue to innovate. EyeforTravel are offering new brands a stage to shout about it!
Previous finalists include FLYR, Seatwizer, Flitways, Stiya, Biz Airlines, spacebase, tripstr, Grabr, wellobox and more!
The Start-up awards is a day-long event
To get involved and see if you make the cut you can register today to pitch or just attend the day – learn more here
All entries must be received by February 28th. Find out how to enter your brand and for full terms and conditions, visit –http://events.eyefortravel.com/san-francisco-summit/startup-village.php
For all awards enquires contact: -
Shreya Ganapathy Project and Content Director | EyefortravelW: +44 20 7375 7150 shreya@eyefortravel.com
Research showed us Travel startups attracted billions of dollars in funding last year, and the travel booking sector attracted some of the most investment — more than $650 million.“Start-ups represents a fundamental shift in innovation in travel. At EyeforTravel we believe that the brands investing and innovating in mobile and new offerings deserve to be recognised”, says Tim Gunstone, MD, EyeforTravel Ltd.
As Charles Ralston from TripStreak said on the previous EyeforTravel Awards “The Start-up Village is a really great value for money, especially for start-ups that can’t typically afford to spend thousands on conference. Bravo to EyeforTravel for pioneering this!”
Travel is being changed by mobile, the sharing economy social media and that constant drive to deliver the best customer experience. Technology is transforming the way travel is sold – providing exciting opportunities to enhance the customer experience, grow loyalty and ancillary revenues.
EyeforTravel’s Start-Up Awards seek to recognize the young brands who are making significant progress for travel – trailblazing the way for others to follow.With new apps, services and devices hitting the travel market and extra capabilities coming to devices, travel brands cannot sit still and must continue to innovate. EyeforTravel are offering new brands a stage to shout about it!
Previous finalists include FLYR, Seatwizer, Flitways, Stiya, Biz Airlines, spacebase, tripstr, Grabr, wellobox and more!
The Start-up awards is a day-long event
- Starting with learning sessions – quizzing travel entrepreneurs on their secrets of success
- Meet the investors – and see what they look for in a travel start-up
- Start-up Pitches for the companies that are shortlisted
- Finalists and Winners announced
To get involved and see if you make the cut you can register today to pitch or just attend the day – learn more here
All entries must be received by February 28th. Find out how to enter your brand and for full terms and conditions, visit –http://events.eyefortravel.com/san-francisco-summit/startup-village.php
For all awards enquires contact: -
Shreya Ganapathy Project and Content Director | EyefortravelW: +44 20 7375 7150 shreya@eyefortravel.com
How Is Data Changing Travel?
Data is the driving force behind the changes being felt in the travel industry and its effects are being applied everywhere, from flight searches to hotel front desks. The pace and level of this change can seem overwhelming but we want to help guide you through this with our new State of Data in Travel Survey.
Take just five minutes to complete the survey and we will send you the results, so you can see how the industry is changing, where the challenges are, and how you compare. If you work with data at all, whether as a CEO, marketer, revenue manager, analyst, or data professional, we would love to hear from you. Completing the survey will also get you access to a host of free content and a chance to win a pair of Luxe Edition Beats Solo2 headphones!
We want to use the survey to figure out where the opportunities and the barriers are, such as:
- How are budgets changing?
- What are the most popular data sources and where are the gaps?
- What is driving investment into data?
- What channels are working well for marketers?
- What is holding the industry back? Staffing & skills? Attribution issues? Poorly-defined KPIs? Data quality & cleanliness?
We will be analysing your answers alongside hundreds of other travel professionals to create a comprehensive report.
This report is part of our Smart Travel Data Series, which you will also receive for completing the survey. You can access the white papers we have already released as part of this series through the following links, with more content to come:
- Improving the Airline Experience
- EyeforTravel Smart Travel Data Summit 2016 Round-up
- Airport 3.0: The Technology and Data Transforming Airport Operations
Alex HadwickHead of Research, EyeforTravel
Boeing puts down vote of confidence in European travel
Source: Pixabay
Boeing has announced its long-term forecasts for aircraft demand out to 2035 and has given Europe a bill of health, expecting strong demand from the market despite ongoing uncertainty. In Boeing’s estimates the European market will increase from a fleet of 4,610 aircraft in 2015 to 7,920 aircraft in 2035, creating a market for nearly 7,600 new planes.
Boeing’s projections make it the largest market it assessed at a value of $1.12 billion in sales to 2035, although it should be noted that Asia-Pacific was broken out into several regions. By way of an example, the forecasts are favourable when compared to the US, where the fleet is expected to grow by 42% compared to the 72% growth that will occur in Europe over the period.
This confidence is welcome news given the economic and political concerns that are currently facing the continent. Overall, the Eurozone is performing well against admittedly low expectations but substantial issues remain. European banks continue to struggle with non-performing loans and fines, such as Monte dei Paschi and the lightly-capitalised Deutsche Bank. The Greek economy continues to experience recession in 2016 and Italy’s long travails don’t appear to have an end in sight. On the political side, upcoming German and French elections are troubled by the rise of populist parties on the right who are making gains through migrant concerns, Italy heads towards a major referendum and of course there is the potential dual economic and political quagmire of Brexit.
If Boeing is right, then the vast majority of European growth will be in single-aisle, smaller planes. They expect this class of plane to account for 78% of new planes with Low-Cost Carriers (LCCs) being the key customers. It is thought that LCCs will continue to grab market share, with the analysis noting that they already control nearly 50% of Europe’s traffic. Boeing commented that “LCCs dominate short-haul, point-to-point service and large network carriers and their alliance partners exploit the cost advantages of mega-hubs for long-haul traffic.” This is something of an issue for Boeing, who bet big on the 787 Dreamliner, an expensive, medium widebody, twin-aisle plane. Airbus, on the other hand, have focused on their line of single-aisle planes and are consequently ahead in the order race.
This single-aisle focus sugests that Boeing is expecting intra-European travel to be the main growth market, rather than log-haul routes. That being said, the single-aisle planes of the new generation can fly further than preceding generations, as they use 20% less fuel.
They also have lower running costs and the combined savings should pay dividends for the European consumer. They can expect a competitive market driven by LCCs that pass costs savings down and have agressive expansion plans for both intra-European and transcontinental routes.
The growth of LCCs is typified by the rise of Norwegian Air. It has aggressively grown its fleet and used the lower costs to outmanoeuvre carriers using legacy planes. This has allowed it go from a regional player in Scandinavia to the third largest budget airline in Europe and now to fly across the Atlantic in a little over a decade.
Norwegian, Boeing and European consumers will hope that the forecasts come to fruition as they point to a robust regional air market powered by fundamentally strong intra-European tourism. Airlines will be able to make savings from the new aircraft, which should be passed on to grateful consumers helping to further boost trip numbers.
If you want to find out more about how airlines can make the most of future growth by improving their relations with customers, then download our latest white paper here.
Alex HadwickHead of Research, EyeforTravel
Boeing has announced its long-term forecasts for aircraft demand out to 2035 and has given Europe a bill of health, expecting strong demand from the market despite ongoing uncertainty. In Boeing’s estimates the European market will increase from a fleet of 4,610 aircraft in 2015 to 7,920 aircraft in 2035, creating a market for nearly 7,600 new planes.
Boeing’s projections make it the largest market it assessed at a value of $1.12 billion in sales to 2035, although it should be noted that Asia-Pacific was broken out into several regions. By way of an example, the forecasts are favourable when compared to the US, where the fleet is expected to grow by 42% compared to the 72% growth that will occur in Europe over the period.
This confidence is welcome news given the economic and political concerns that are currently facing the continent. Overall, the Eurozone is performing well against admittedly low expectations but substantial issues remain. European banks continue to struggle with non-performing loans and fines, such as Monte dei Paschi and the lightly-capitalised Deutsche Bank. The Greek economy continues to experience recession in 2016 and Italy’s long travails don’t appear to have an end in sight. On the political side, upcoming German and French elections are troubled by the rise of populist parties on the right who are making gains through migrant concerns, Italy heads towards a major referendum and of course there is the potential dual economic and political quagmire of Brexit.
If Boeing is right, then the vast majority of European growth will be in single-aisle, smaller planes. They expect this class of plane to account for 78% of new planes with Low-Cost Carriers (LCCs) being the key customers. It is thought that LCCs will continue to grab market share, with the analysis noting that they already control nearly 50% of Europe’s traffic. Boeing commented that “LCCs dominate short-haul, point-to-point service and large network carriers and their alliance partners exploit the cost advantages of mega-hubs for long-haul traffic.” This is something of an issue for Boeing, who bet big on the 787 Dreamliner, an expensive, medium widebody, twin-aisle plane. Airbus, on the other hand, have focused on their line of single-aisle planes and are consequently ahead in the order race.
This single-aisle focus sugests that Boeing is expecting intra-European travel to be the main growth market, rather than log-haul routes. That being said, the single-aisle planes of the new generation can fly further than preceding generations, as they use 20% less fuel.
They also have lower running costs and the combined savings should pay dividends for the European consumer. They can expect a competitive market driven by LCCs that pass costs savings down and have agressive expansion plans for both intra-European and transcontinental routes.
The growth of LCCs is typified by the rise of Norwegian Air. It has aggressively grown its fleet and used the lower costs to outmanoeuvre carriers using legacy planes. This has allowed it go from a regional player in Scandinavia to the third largest budget airline in Europe and now to fly across the Atlantic in a little over a decade.
Norwegian, Boeing and European consumers will hope that the forecasts come to fruition as they point to a robust regional air market powered by fundamentally strong intra-European tourism. Airlines will be able to make savings from the new aircraft, which should be passed on to grateful consumers helping to further boost trip numbers.
If you want to find out more about how airlines can make the most of future growth by improving their relations with customers, then download our latest white paper here.
Alex HadwickHead of Research, EyeforTravel
Brexit Blues or Brexit Beater? Why the UK Travel Industry Could Be One of the Strongest Economic Sectors
The dust has now cleared on Britain's vote to leave the EU but plenty of uncertainty and heated debate remains ongoing. Not least of which is the lack of clarity from Westminster. It is frankly absurd that we are none the wiser as to precisely when the UK will trigger the leaving mechanisms nor as to what any deal will look like three months on. However, we can at least begin to make some conclusions and it seems that one of the beneficiaries of the referendum will be the UK travel industry.
Firstly and most critically, the pound's fall is precipitous and, in general, bad for the overall UK economic health. As a net importer with a pretty parlous balance of payments, it is going to be more expensive for the UK to buy goods and services and therefore add to inflation. However, for inbound travel to the UK, it is a big boon, with travel becoming nearly 10% cheaper overnight for the Americans. Indeed for euro holders, they can buy nearly 19% more pounds at the time of writing than they could at a high point in November last year. It is unlikely that the pound is going to recoup many of these losses due to the economic environment and the Bank of England's potential to cut interest rates rather than raise them. A Bloomberg survey reckons that the pound will finish up this year at $1.28. With a competitive accommodation market and an increasing number of air connections, particularly across the pond to North America, the UK is looking good from a pricing perspective for international travellers.
This also plays well for the UK domestic tourism scene. Naturally, travel abroad is now significantly more expensive for UK tourists. Indeed, such have been the fluctuations that some UK holidaymakers were required to pay a surcharge after the referendum to cover the extra cost incurred by the travel provider. This is going to push UK tourists to consider holidaying at home this year and next.
Furthermore, the UK's economic environment is widely anticipated to worsen in 2017 due to Brexit, although if the UK government puts off triggering Article 50 past even that year, it might perform better. Consensus forecasts estimate that the UK will struggle past stagnation but struggle to grow by more than 1%. Given inflation and uncertainty wage growth is expected to be worse, as will the hiring environment. Well if that all seems bad, take heart as during the Financial Crisis and subsequent weak periods for the UK economy, domestic trips performed well just as international journeys fell.
Britain's aren't keen to give up their holidays, with research showing they take up all of their allotted holiday on average, and so largely substitute more expensive foreign travel for shorter breaks within the country. Companies such as Center Parcs performed well in the previous downturn and EyeforTravel's consumer survey - conducted just before the referendum - showed that 61% of consumers already planned some sort of vacation in the UK.
For both UK and international travel consumers there is also the perception of a terrorist threat in several mainland European tourist destinations. I feel that I should point out to everyone that is reading this at their desk that you are far more likely to die at your workplace than in a terrorist attack but nonetheless these actions do affect people's travel choices. Last year's Paris attacks negatively affected the city's tourism market and we have seen Spain and Portugal's bookings over the last 18 months benefit massively from instability in other Mediterranean destinations. The UK has many of the cultural attractions of France and Germany but has not seen a successful major attack inside the country for nearly a decade, meaning it will seem a more attractive destination in the medium term from this perspective barring a successfully prosecuted and substantial attack.
As any good analytics or data professional will tell you, the past is by no means a guaranteed predictor of the future. However, given all of the above I think we can be fairly confident of a strong domestic performance in the UK, especially as the Eurozone is cautiously growing, as is the US. Great British businesses have every right to be concerned right now but perhaps those in travel can look forward with more optimism than most.
To find out more about current and future trends in UK travel download our UK Consumer Report now. You can also get the pulse of the European travel industry face-to-face at EyeforTravel Europe 2017, our largest event on the continent.
Alex Hadwick
Head of Research, EyeforTravel
Firstly and most critically, the pound's fall is precipitous and, in general, bad for the overall UK economic health. As a net importer with a pretty parlous balance of payments, it is going to be more expensive for the UK to buy goods and services and therefore add to inflation. However, for inbound travel to the UK, it is a big boon, with travel becoming nearly 10% cheaper overnight for the Americans. Indeed for euro holders, they can buy nearly 19% more pounds at the time of writing than they could at a high point in November last year. It is unlikely that the pound is going to recoup many of these losses due to the economic environment and the Bank of England's potential to cut interest rates rather than raise them. A Bloomberg survey reckons that the pound will finish up this year at $1.28. With a competitive accommodation market and an increasing number of air connections, particularly across the pond to North America, the UK is looking good from a pricing perspective for international travellers.
This also plays well for the UK domestic tourism scene. Naturally, travel abroad is now significantly more expensive for UK tourists. Indeed, such have been the fluctuations that some UK holidaymakers were required to pay a surcharge after the referendum to cover the extra cost incurred by the travel provider. This is going to push UK tourists to consider holidaying at home this year and next.
Furthermore, the UK's economic environment is widely anticipated to worsen in 2017 due to Brexit, although if the UK government puts off triggering Article 50 past even that year, it might perform better. Consensus forecasts estimate that the UK will struggle past stagnation but struggle to grow by more than 1%. Given inflation and uncertainty wage growth is expected to be worse, as will the hiring environment. Well if that all seems bad, take heart as during the Financial Crisis and subsequent weak periods for the UK economy, domestic trips performed well just as international journeys fell.
Britain's aren't keen to give up their holidays, with research showing they take up all of their allotted holiday on average, and so largely substitute more expensive foreign travel for shorter breaks within the country. Companies such as Center Parcs performed well in the previous downturn and EyeforTravel's consumer survey - conducted just before the referendum - showed that 61% of consumers already planned some sort of vacation in the UK.
For both UK and international travel consumers there is also the perception of a terrorist threat in several mainland European tourist destinations. I feel that I should point out to everyone that is reading this at their desk that you are far more likely to die at your workplace than in a terrorist attack but nonetheless these actions do affect people's travel choices. Last year's Paris attacks negatively affected the city's tourism market and we have seen Spain and Portugal's bookings over the last 18 months benefit massively from instability in other Mediterranean destinations. The UK has many of the cultural attractions of France and Germany but has not seen a successful major attack inside the country for nearly a decade, meaning it will seem a more attractive destination in the medium term from this perspective barring a successfully prosecuted and substantial attack.
As any good analytics or data professional will tell you, the past is by no means a guaranteed predictor of the future. However, given all of the above I think we can be fairly confident of a strong domestic performance in the UK, especially as the Eurozone is cautiously growing, as is the US. Great British businesses have every right to be concerned right now but perhaps those in travel can look forward with more optimism than most.
To find out more about current and future trends in UK travel download our UK Consumer Report now. You can also get the pulse of the European travel industry face-to-face at EyeforTravel Europe 2017, our largest event on the continent.
Alex Hadwick
Head of Research, EyeforTravel
Last chance to showcase your start-up or innovation at EyeforTravel N. America 2016
The entry deadline for the Awards, which Terry Jones, Executive Chairman Wayblazer and Founding Chairman Kayak.com, has recently joined as a judge, is this Friday September 9th.
The travel industry’s hottest start-ups and innovators will have the chance to pitch to top industry investors at EyeforTravel’s Start-Up & Innovation in Travel Awards (October 6-7). Taking place as part of EyeforTravel North America 2016 at the Palms Las Vegas, successful applications stand the chance to receive much needed advice, funding and exposure against a backdrop of a new wave of innovation in mobile, data and technology.
Attracting capital and generating a buzz around a product are among the major challenges facing start-ups today and all successful firms will have the opportunity to pitch in front of the panel of judges and investors, which includes Terry Jones, Executive Chairman Wayblazer and Founding Chairman Kayak.com, Saad Siddiqui, Investor, Edgewood Management LLC,George R. Arabian, Co-Founder & Managing Partner, Steelhead Ventures, LLC and Tim Henstchel, CEO, HotelPlanner
"EyeforTravel runs the Start-up & Innovation Awards each year as we have seen first-hand what an unbeatable way it is for brands that are innovating and improving the travel experience to promote their product to investors, experts and the industry" says EyeforTravel’s Managing Director Tim Gunstone.
The lucky top two selected by the judging panel will have the opportunity to impress over 450+ senior executives from leading travel brands, including Priceline, American Airlines, Hyatt Hotels, TripAdvisor, Skyscanner and Southwest Airlines, during the keynote session on Day 2 of the event. Live voting by the conference attendees will decide the company to be crowned winner.
Not only have previous entries received funding as a result of the Awards, they have also had the opportunity to meet and do business with travel industry peers.
To enter costs $1295 and includes subsidized access to both days of the TDS N. America conference, as well as the networking opportunities. More information and details on how to enter can be found here - http://events.eyefortravel.com/travel-distribution-summit-north-america/awards.php
All entries must be received by September 9th 2016.
The Last Chance discounted rates for attendees not entering the Awards also expire this Friday, register today to avoid paying the full price – http://events.eyefortravel.com/travel-distribution-summit-north-america/registration.php
For all event enquiries contact:
Julia Heighton
Global Conference Director
EyeforTravel
The travel industry’s hottest start-ups and innovators will have the chance to pitch to top industry investors at EyeforTravel’s Start-Up & Innovation in Travel Awards (October 6-7). Taking place as part of EyeforTravel North America 2016 at the Palms Las Vegas, successful applications stand the chance to receive much needed advice, funding and exposure against a backdrop of a new wave of innovation in mobile, data and technology.
Attracting capital and generating a buzz around a product are among the major challenges facing start-ups today and all successful firms will have the opportunity to pitch in front of the panel of judges and investors, which includes Terry Jones, Executive Chairman Wayblazer and Founding Chairman Kayak.com, Saad Siddiqui, Investor, Edgewood Management LLC,George R. Arabian, Co-Founder & Managing Partner, Steelhead Ventures, LLC and Tim Henstchel, CEO, HotelPlanner
"EyeforTravel runs the Start-up & Innovation Awards each year as we have seen first-hand what an unbeatable way it is for brands that are innovating and improving the travel experience to promote their product to investors, experts and the industry" says EyeforTravel’s Managing Director Tim Gunstone.
The lucky top two selected by the judging panel will have the opportunity to impress over 450+ senior executives from leading travel brands, including Priceline, American Airlines, Hyatt Hotels, TripAdvisor, Skyscanner and Southwest Airlines, during the keynote session on Day 2 of the event. Live voting by the conference attendees will decide the company to be crowned winner.
Not only have previous entries received funding as a result of the Awards, they have also had the opportunity to meet and do business with travel industry peers.
To enter costs $1295 and includes subsidized access to both days of the TDS N. America conference, as well as the networking opportunities. More information and details on how to enter can be found here - http://events.eyefortravel.com/travel-distribution-summit-north-america/awards.php
All entries must be received by September 9th 2016.
The Last Chance discounted rates for attendees not entering the Awards also expire this Friday, register today to avoid paying the full price – http://events.eyefortravel.com/travel-distribution-summit-north-america/registration.php
For all event enquiries contact:
Julia Heighton
Global Conference Director
EyeforTravel
Turn Global Uncertainty on It's Head
This blog post was written by Julia Heighton, the organizer of EyeforTravel’s flagship event TDS N. America 2016, taking place in Las Vegas on October 6-7.
In times of global turmoil, the travel industry is often the first to be adversely affected. With Brexit, talks of another recession and unrest on a global level, there is plenty for travel brands to fear.
Fortunately, with uncertainty comes profound opportunities. Innovation in the industry is booming and consumers in the US are more likely to travel now than they were 10 years ago. Now is the time to ensure your brand is positioned to effectively win these customers and take valuable market share from your competitors, before they take it from you.
Here are 6 key areas travel brands should be focusing on to stay ahead of the competition:
· Customer experience – Gone are the days when the quality of your product was the key differentiator between you and your competitors. Now you are judged on the interaction your customer has with your brand at every touchpoint. It’s absolutely crucial to take advantage of the fast growing innovation in the industry and ensure you are providing a consistent, seamless, user friendly experience at every stage of the customer journey. True customer centricity starts with thinking what will make your customer’s life easier, not your own.
· Online reputation – Word of mouth is now the most influential form of marketing. Online reviews, social media posts and user-generated content are fast growing and a huge opportunity for travel brands to use what their customers are saying about them to further increase sales. Remember, even bad reviews are a chance to engage with customers, show the human side of your brand and hopefully turn a negative experience into a positive one which will result in a loyal, repeat customer.
· Partnerships - The changing world of ground transportation, corporate travel, group travel and property management companies means the travel ecosystem is becoming increasingly interconnected. Forming partnerships with other travel brands is now crucial to exceed customer expectations and cater to their needs throughout all stages of their trip.
· Distribution – The cost of acquisition is rising and the increasing amount of channels available is making your product’s route to market extremely complex. Now is the time to develop a distribution strategy which looks at the true value each channel brings to your business so you can optimize the most profitable ones and cut those that aren’t delivering.
· Revenue Management – The role of Revenue Managers is rapidly changing and the long-awaited innovation in RM systems means this function is now a central force in aligning departments and achieving the ultimate goal of increasing profits and driving growth. Ensure these teams are equipped with the systems and talent to really drive change and innovation throughout your organization and you will reap the rewards.
· Personalization – Treating your customers like individuals and catering to their personal preferences is a huge opportunity to increase engagement and drive loyalty. Investing in technology which will allow you to easily interpret your data and turn it into actionable strategies is crucial to deliver true personalization.
These might sound like good ideas and in an ideal world you would execute them all tomorrow but what is actually a good starting point when budgets and time are precious? At EyeforTravel we believe there is no better way to stay ahead of industry trends and learn how to implement innovative strategies than by meeting and benchmarking against your peers, which is why we launched TDS N. America almost 20 years ago.
The only industry event where you won’t just hear from strategy setting CEOs but executives who are doing the same job as you and share your challenges and interests. With 60+ expert speakers sharing real-life case studies and insights relating to the areas of opportunity we’ve outlined above, TDS N. America 2016 is your platform to turn global uncertainty on its head and deliver growth across your organization.
Download the event brochure now to find out how you can be a part the most informative and useful industry conference taking place this year - http://1.eyefortravel.com/LP=8156
In times of global turmoil, the travel industry is often the first to be adversely affected. With Brexit, talks of another recession and unrest on a global level, there is plenty for travel brands to fear.
Fortunately, with uncertainty comes profound opportunities. Innovation in the industry is booming and consumers in the US are more likely to travel now than they were 10 years ago. Now is the time to ensure your brand is positioned to effectively win these customers and take valuable market share from your competitors, before they take it from you.
Here are 6 key areas travel brands should be focusing on to stay ahead of the competition:
· Customer experience – Gone are the days when the quality of your product was the key differentiator between you and your competitors. Now you are judged on the interaction your customer has with your brand at every touchpoint. It’s absolutely crucial to take advantage of the fast growing innovation in the industry and ensure you are providing a consistent, seamless, user friendly experience at every stage of the customer journey. True customer centricity starts with thinking what will make your customer’s life easier, not your own.
· Online reputation – Word of mouth is now the most influential form of marketing. Online reviews, social media posts and user-generated content are fast growing and a huge opportunity for travel brands to use what their customers are saying about them to further increase sales. Remember, even bad reviews are a chance to engage with customers, show the human side of your brand and hopefully turn a negative experience into a positive one which will result in a loyal, repeat customer.
· Partnerships - The changing world of ground transportation, corporate travel, group travel and property management companies means the travel ecosystem is becoming increasingly interconnected. Forming partnerships with other travel brands is now crucial to exceed customer expectations and cater to their needs throughout all stages of their trip.
· Distribution – The cost of acquisition is rising and the increasing amount of channels available is making your product’s route to market extremely complex. Now is the time to develop a distribution strategy which looks at the true value each channel brings to your business so you can optimize the most profitable ones and cut those that aren’t delivering.
· Revenue Management – The role of Revenue Managers is rapidly changing and the long-awaited innovation in RM systems means this function is now a central force in aligning departments and achieving the ultimate goal of increasing profits and driving growth. Ensure these teams are equipped with the systems and talent to really drive change and innovation throughout your organization and you will reap the rewards.
· Personalization – Treating your customers like individuals and catering to their personal preferences is a huge opportunity to increase engagement and drive loyalty. Investing in technology which will allow you to easily interpret your data and turn it into actionable strategies is crucial to deliver true personalization.
These might sound like good ideas and in an ideal world you would execute them all tomorrow but what is actually a good starting point when budgets and time are precious? At EyeforTravel we believe there is no better way to stay ahead of industry trends and learn how to implement innovative strategies than by meeting and benchmarking against your peers, which is why we launched TDS N. America almost 20 years ago.
The only industry event where you won’t just hear from strategy setting CEOs but executives who are doing the same job as you and share your challenges and interests. With 60+ expert speakers sharing real-life case studies and insights relating to the areas of opportunity we’ve outlined above, TDS N. America 2016 is your platform to turn global uncertainty on its head and deliver growth across your organization.
Download the event brochure now to find out how you can be a part the most informative and useful industry conference taking place this year - http://1.eyefortravel.com/LP=8156
We’re changing!
Way back in 1997, EyeforTravel pioneered the Travel Distribution Summit, an event aimed at bringing together the breadth of the travel industry to discuss the impact of the internet on sales, marketing and distribution. A lot has changed in the past 20 years, from the early days of dial-up right through to the 4G smartphone era we all live in today.
The legacy of our ’97 Travel Distribution Summit has been a staple of the EyeforTravel calendar, but with our 20-year anniversary approaching, we are looking to evolve with the industry. As times have changed, so have we, so from now on our flagship European summit will be called EyeforTravel Europe.
EyeforTravel Europe will be our largest event outside of North America, and we will be aiming to be the one true EU meeting point for the travel industry. We also want to make sure that attendees can make the most of their time outside of the office.
With all of our lives getting busier and busier, especially our work day, taking the time to research the plethora of events out there is never straight forward. This is the basis for building EyeforTravel Europe into the flagship that it is now, to make sure that if you can only make it to one event, it can give you the key insight for the entire year.
We always aim to bring the high-level strategic leadership of the C-suite, mixed in with the in-depth knowledge of department heads from key brands to make the event truly inspiring and insightful. So, in 2017 we’ll be back with our most in-depth content yet and more senior execs taking to the stage in our brand new (and much larger) venue in central London on 3-4th May 2017.
To see what has changed, register for updates on the summit by following this link: www.EyeforTravel.com/Europe2017
Looking forward to seeing you at EyeforTravel Europe!
Gav
The Evolution of Hotel Metasearch
This is a guest post written by Prasanna Veeraswami, VP of Products at HotelQuickly
A decade and a half ago, when the first set of OTA’s(Online Travel Aggregators/Agents) were born, travel planners were all of a sudden empowered with tools that enabled them to do all kinds of Hotel/Flight bookings without going to a traditional travel agent, while still being able to secure the best deal via comparison shopping. However in a few years, this gave birth to a unique problem of having to search in multiple OTA’s to find the best offer since a deal you found in one aggregator might not necessarily show up in all others. So it was a big headache –esp. to deal-hunters – when it came to finding the best deal available.
Thanks to the constant craving for disruption in the tech world, the Metasearch was born. The metasearch platforms (like Kayak,SkyScanner, Trivago etc) started providing a consolidated view of search results that compared travel products across OTAs and hotel brand owners, giving a fast and comprehensive view of product choice and almost instantaneous purchasing option. That is wonderful right? All problems solved!
Unfortunately not. The advent of Metasearch did help the users by providing a one stop shopping portal, but soon they also started breeding like rabbits! Shortly, where were so many clones executing on a similar functionality, but with strong disparities in the prices they fetched. So, a user now had to look up multiple metasearches to pick the best offer! So, eventually they didn’t completely resolve the laboriousness of online travel booking, but rather made it more tedious – especially around the hotel/accommodation space.
Also, both the OTA’s and metasearch platforms that target cater to Hotel booking bewilder the users with an overwhelming list of choices. Adding to that pain is the fact that it’s not easy for users to carefully select and book an accommodation based on the overall experience the property offers but rather primarily restricted to comparison based on low rates or latest offers. So, in my opinion it is time for the Metasearch industry to grow up. Below are some of the areas of innovation I can think of that will lead to the next stage in the evolution:
Going Beyond Price Comparison
- Not everyone wants to book a hotel based on the best deal or the lowest rates. So add more focus on the comparison of the overall Product rather than Price alone
- Highlight the differences in the actual product in a better way – Not just as Filters!
- What this means in the hotel sector is start comparing the various aspects of the hotel( like suitability for business travelers, romantic travelers etc.) or their individual attributes like
- Compare attributes of the Property
Going beyond plain User reviews & ratings
- Evolve the Meta-reviews even further.
- Instead of just showing Raw reviews start comparing and ranking accommodations based on their meta-review aspects like Location, Amenities(Trust You already provides such ratings)
Adding more Personalization
- Understand the consumer behavior to boost hotel bookings.
- Present to the user only a targeted shortlist through which they can then systematically filter through to find a hotel that suits their specific taste. Replacing the completely impersonalized – and largely unorganized - list with highly relevant & recommended set would help in relieving the users from the typical decision making fatigue they go through.
Tap into the power of Machine Learning
- Understanding Natural language queries
- Example: when someone types in a request for a ”boutique hotel in Barcelona that’s great for families, close to the best tourist attractions and has in-room Wi-Fi”, the system should offer a perfect match that meets these preferences.
Integrate Personalization & Machine Learning
- Replace limited search filters with refined query-based system upon Accuracy& Relevance
- Focus more on Quality instead of Quantity – Don’t overwhelm the customer with too many choice
- This point is actually well articulated by Derek Halpern in his article Social Triggers, in whichhe demonstrates how offering too many choices can actually overwhelm customers and prevent them from buying.
Rating the provider/supplier
- Instead of just showing all the deals offered by various suppliers start informing the user on the rating of each supplier based on the overall experience they provided to the user for a booking
- Some Metasearches actually rank the offers based on the Supplier’s performance, but this is quite opaque at this point and more tied to the benefit of the Metasearch(like commission rate, liquidation prospect etc.,) than focusing on the user delight and experience. In any case there needs to be an indicator about how good a supplier is (like how AMAZON.COM does for their marketplace vendors, so that the users can order only from a trusted vendor though there might be cheaper deals offered by an unreliable vendor.
Partnerships in Travel Are Key to Growth
Disruption in the travel industry is the new normal. A rapid pace of innovation and consolidation is forever changing the travel landscape and it doesn’t show signs of slowing down any time soon. Now more than ever you need to understand key market trends to determine how you will be hit and how you can grow.
Travel brands need good relationships with all their partners but it’s not always the obvious players that will sell the product. Distribution execs need to work harder than ever to identify the owners of profitable niche communities and understand that whilst pricing is a key driver in our consolidated and competitive industry, innovative distribution strategies will make you profitable.
You need to provide your customer with an experience which genuinely enhances your product offering. You need to take advantage of innovations in technology that will enable you to partner quickly with new players, experiment safely and still provide a seamless and consistent experience at every touchpoint. You need to cut the rising cost of acquisition and understand the true value each distribution partner.
“It’s understanding which distribution partnerships work in our mobile age and then bringing together a heady manipulation of consumer insight, clever analytics and valuable products. This will make you useful and trusted and therefore profitable,” Says Tim Gunstone, Managing Director, EyeforTravel.
Recent research in preparation for EyeforTravel’s flagship event TDS N. America 2016 (Las Vegas, October 6-7) has revealed just how much travel brands are fighting to keep up with the rapid pace of technological change which is impacting the industry and which areas need to be addressed in order to drive growth.
50+ speakers will cover the biggest trends and challenges relating to distribution, revenue management, marketing, mobile and analytics. In addition, as customer experience has come up as a dominant theme in this year’s research there is a track dedicated solely to strategies which will engage and delight your customers. To ensure no stone is left unturned the new for 2016 Spotlight On track explores key innovations in ground transportation, corporate travel, property management companies, group travel and how travel suppliers can forge better partnerships with these vital areas of the industry.
Speakers include Dan Christian, Chief Digital Officer, The Travel Corporation, Bill Keen, VP Mobile & Guest Experience, IHG, Sangita Woerner, VP Marketing, Alaska Airlines and Todd Henrich, SVP Corporate Development, Priceline.
For more information about the event, check out the event website or get in touch with me at julia@eyefortravel.com
Julia Heighton
Global Conference Director, EyeforTravel
julia@eyefortravel.com
Consumer confidence or consumer caution? The changing face of travel spending patterns
Three weeks ago I opened our European Summit in London. On the downside this turned out to be quite nerve-wracking and stressful. On the upside, it got me thinking about the state of the travel industry and led me to some interesting conclusions. Essentially, I wanted to ask whether we should be hiding under our beds, fearful of the future, or rubbing our hands with glee?
Well, firstly, we travel professionals are almost inevitably industrious, intelligent and devilishly good-looking, so no worries there. However, on a macroeconomic level things seem a bit more worrying. Slowing global growth, weaker developing economies, market instability, plunging commodity prices, high public and corporate indebtedness, the fragility of the European Union – these are all causes for concern and I could go on. It is certainly a materially weaker outlook than in 2015. Several central banks have thrown everything in their arsenal at trying to stimulate growth and inflation, encountering mixed results at best.
Within this context, it may seem all doom and gloom but there is a subtext that is critical to travel i.e. consumer spending and the way it is changing. Although median incomes have remained relatively static since the recession, consumers are spending more and critically, they are apportioning more of this spending to tourism and travel. Indeed, consumer spending is driving much of the remaining growth in developed economies.
So, on to the data that demonstrates these trends. In both graphs I have plotted wider spending against travel spending. The top graph is for the US where spending on durable goods and the value of goods imported (measures of spending physical items) have increased – albeit at fairly pedestrian rates since 2011 – whereas tourism spending growth has accelerated each year to a high of just under 16% last year. Similarly in Europe, as shown in the bottom graph, total spending has risen 7.9% since 2011 but the combined travel and tourism spend has risen 13.2%. Some of the individual components for this are displayed here as well, with transport services (passenger transport by all means) performing particularly well.
Source: US Bureau of Economic Analysis
Source: Eurostat
I note the lack of rising incomes in particular because this should indicate a depressed outlook for the travel industry. Realistically, travel is a luxury good - or in economic terms an elastic good - to be put on the back burner in hard times. Therefore this potential trend is even more exciting because it is happening in spite of conventional wisdom.
It’s early days but this trend appears to be continuing into 2016. As I noted above, the growth outlook is weaker than in 2015 and consumer confidence is down, plus UK and US consumers are saving more of their income. However, travel spend remains robust.
So, hopefully this has given you a little bit of hope to ward off the negative sentiment bursting out of most news providers. Of course, we remain vulnerable to a recession but if this trend does continue to be supported by the data then we can expect tourism and leisure to be one of the strongest performing sectors over the next decade.
Alex Hadwick
Head of Research, EyeforTravel
Well, firstly, we travel professionals are almost inevitably industrious, intelligent and devilishly good-looking, so no worries there. However, on a macroeconomic level things seem a bit more worrying. Slowing global growth, weaker developing economies, market instability, plunging commodity prices, high public and corporate indebtedness, the fragility of the European Union – these are all causes for concern and I could go on. It is certainly a materially weaker outlook than in 2015. Several central banks have thrown everything in their arsenal at trying to stimulate growth and inflation, encountering mixed results at best.
Within this context, it may seem all doom and gloom but there is a subtext that is critical to travel i.e. consumer spending and the way it is changing. Although median incomes have remained relatively static since the recession, consumers are spending more and critically, they are apportioning more of this spending to tourism and travel. Indeed, consumer spending is driving much of the remaining growth in developed economies.
So, on to the data that demonstrates these trends. In both graphs I have plotted wider spending against travel spending. The top graph is for the US where spending on durable goods and the value of goods imported (measures of spending physical items) have increased – albeit at fairly pedestrian rates since 2011 – whereas tourism spending growth has accelerated each year to a high of just under 16% last year. Similarly in Europe, as shown in the bottom graph, total spending has risen 7.9% since 2011 but the combined travel and tourism spend has risen 13.2%. Some of the individual components for this are displayed here as well, with transport services (passenger transport by all means) performing particularly well.
Source: US Bureau of Economic Analysis
Source: Eurostat
I note the lack of rising incomes in particular because this should indicate a depressed outlook for the travel industry. Realistically, travel is a luxury good - or in economic terms an elastic good - to be put on the back burner in hard times. Therefore this potential trend is even more exciting because it is happening in spite of conventional wisdom.
It’s early days but this trend appears to be continuing into 2016. As I noted above, the growth outlook is weaker than in 2015 and consumer confidence is down, plus UK and US consumers are saving more of their income. However, travel spend remains robust.
- The ONS reported that international visits to the UK were up 7.2% in the first two months of the year and Barclays reported that UK consumers were spending 3.2% more on travel in Q1 2016
- Spain's national statistics agency estimates that tourism expenditure was up 7.4% in Q1 2016.
- Inbound tourism to Germany increased 6% over the first two months of the year.
- US outbound tourism was up 9.6% in January 2016 compared to the same month in 2015. Domestically, bookings and rates were also up, and indices are predicting growth.
So, hopefully this has given you a little bit of hope to ward off the negative sentiment bursting out of most news providers. Of course, we remain vulnerable to a recession but if this trend does continue to be supported by the data then we can expect tourism and leisure to be one of the strongest performing sectors over the next decade.
Alex Hadwick
Head of Research, EyeforTravel
Hear ye, hear ye - EyeforTravel has a podcast
We are pleased to announce that we are now running a podcast, which you can find here, or you can listen and subscribe over at SoundCloud. In these podcasts we aim to bring you the latest in thought from around the travel industry and beyond.
In episode one we talk to a petrochemicals expert about oil, which is a critical driver for airline profits and strategies. Also available is episode two, where our head of research gives an overview of what to look out for in 2016 across the global economy and the travel industry.
We will be following this up with a podcast at least every two weeks. In these the EyeforTravel team will be speaking to leading executives in the travel industry, presenting their own findings or just generally discussing critical topics in travel. We aim to bring you new perspectives and angles on the big stories in travel so you are best placed to make the changes that matter.
As a hub of the travel community we have been in conversation with the industry for 20 years.We are therefore always on the lookout for people to speak to and contribute to our podcast. If you would like to feature in one of our podcasts then please send an email to:
Thanks for reading and listening,
The EyeforTravel Team
In episode one we talk to a petrochemicals expert about oil, which is a critical driver for airline profits and strategies. Also available is episode two, where our head of research gives an overview of what to look out for in 2016 across the global economy and the travel industry.
We will be following this up with a podcast at least every two weeks. In these the EyeforTravel team will be speaking to leading executives in the travel industry, presenting their own findings or just generally discussing critical topics in travel. We aim to bring you new perspectives and angles on the big stories in travel so you are best placed to make the changes that matter.
As a hub of the travel community we have been in conversation with the industry for 20 years.We are therefore always on the lookout for people to speak to and contribute to our podcast. If you would like to feature in one of our podcasts then please send an email to:
Thanks for reading and listening,
The EyeforTravel Team
Pitch your startup to the biggest investors in the European travel space
Be the best on line travel start up in 2016!
Pitch to the biggest investors in the European travel space, including the founders of STA Travel, Holiday Autos, CEOs and heads of travel focussed investment funds – 1 week left to apply
London April 19-20: The Start-up and Innovation in Travel Awards, Tower Bridge Hilton, April 19-20 can change your business. It is the annual competition that allows innovators and start-ups to pitch their product is right to 10 of the biggest investors in European travel innovation and potentially 400 heads of marketing, distribution and ecommerce from the world’s top Hotels, Airlines, OTAs, Travel Groups and Ground Transportation providers. Exactly the people who will pay your start -up wages. See the attendee list here
Crucially our awards are subsidised by the Travel Distribution Summit. Unlike our competitors we don’t try and make struggling start-ups invest their valuable marketing dollars. We provide, at cost an unbeatable forum for you to talk about your innovation in front of 10 judges who have an unbeatable record of spotting the winners in this space.
The competition kicks off with a ‘boot-camp’ style session. Audience members will have the opportunity to quiz 10 of Europe’s top travel entrepreneurs including Clive Jacobs (founder of Holiday Autos), Dick Porter (founder of STA) and Jason Katz from Kings Capital,( the man that reunited the 2 Hilton Hotel groups). The judges, all entrepreneurs/investors with proven investment credentials will be on hand to share vital tips you need to succeed.
The next stage of the competition gives the start-ups and innovators a chance to pitch to these judges:
Our judges choose the 2 best companies to pitch again during the keynote debates of the Travel Distribution Summit, Europe’s biggest meeting of online travel, and distribution experts. This audience decides on the winner.
The potential for innovation in our sector is still huge. There may only be room for 2 really big, all singing and all dancing OTAs, but high growth companies such as Airbnb, Uber and Skyscanner are all the proof you need that travel start-ups and innovators can disrupt and thrive.
Since 1997 EyeforTravel has identified these companies. With mobile, data, and social media driving how we purchase travel at a frenetic rate, this year’s awards are once again set to reveal a future success.
“EyeforTravel’s Start-up & Innovation Awards are an affordable way for Europe’s travel start-ups and innovators to talk about what they are doing to a highly influential audience and get a foothold in the cut-throat online travel industry,” says Tim Gunstone, MD, EyeforTravel.The Summit is packed with networking and strategy setting opportunities. Marketing and distribution deals abound at the event and for decades travel start-ups and innovators have attended to get the advice, contacts and potentially the investment they need to succeed.
We have 2 spaces left. EyeforTravel’s Start-up Awards are open to all travel start-ups or existing companies that have launched a new industry shaking product or service. All entries must be received by April 10, 2016.
Find out more - http://events.eyefortravel.com/travel-distribution-summit-europe/awards.php
For all event enquiries contact:
Tim Gunstone
MD
EyeforTravel Ltd.
London, UK: +44 (0)207 375 7557US Toll Free: 1 800 814 3459 ext. 7557tim@eyefortravel.com
Pitch to the biggest investors in the European travel space, including the founders of STA Travel, Holiday Autos, CEOs and heads of travel focussed investment funds – 1 week left to apply
London April 19-20: The Start-up and Innovation in Travel Awards, Tower Bridge Hilton, April 19-20 can change your business. It is the annual competition that allows innovators and start-ups to pitch their product is right to 10 of the biggest investors in European travel innovation and potentially 400 heads of marketing, distribution and ecommerce from the world’s top Hotels, Airlines, OTAs, Travel Groups and Ground Transportation providers. Exactly the people who will pay your start -up wages. See the attendee list here
Crucially our awards are subsidised by the Travel Distribution Summit. Unlike our competitors we don’t try and make struggling start-ups invest their valuable marketing dollars. We provide, at cost an unbeatable forum for you to talk about your innovation in front of 10 judges who have an unbeatable record of spotting the winners in this space.
The competition kicks off with a ‘boot-camp’ style session. Audience members will have the opportunity to quiz 10 of Europe’s top travel entrepreneurs including Clive Jacobs (founder of Holiday Autos), Dick Porter (founder of STA) and Jason Katz from Kings Capital,( the man that reunited the 2 Hilton Hotel groups). The judges, all entrepreneurs/investors with proven investment credentials will be on hand to share vital tips you need to succeed.
The next stage of the competition gives the start-ups and innovators a chance to pitch to these judges:
- Jason Katz, Partner, Kings Capital
- Timothy Hentschel co-founder and CEO, HotelPlanner.com
- Callum Lee, Investment Analyst, Angel Capital Group
- Clive Jacobs, Chairman, Travel Weekly Group
- Sean Seton-Rogers, Partner, Profounders Capital
- Suzanna Chiu, Principle, Amadeus Ventures
- Charlie Woolnough, Hedge fund professional, Quorum
- Christopher Persson, General Partner, Recapex
- Stephane Cheikh, Ventures and Innovation Manager, SITA Ventures
- Dick Porter, Portfolio Chairman and Investor (founder and former CEO, STA Travel)
Our judges choose the 2 best companies to pitch again during the keynote debates of the Travel Distribution Summit, Europe’s biggest meeting of online travel, and distribution experts. This audience decides on the winner.
The potential for innovation in our sector is still huge. There may only be room for 2 really big, all singing and all dancing OTAs, but high growth companies such as Airbnb, Uber and Skyscanner are all the proof you need that travel start-ups and innovators can disrupt and thrive.
Since 1997 EyeforTravel has identified these companies. With mobile, data, and social media driving how we purchase travel at a frenetic rate, this year’s awards are once again set to reveal a future success.
“EyeforTravel’s Start-up & Innovation Awards are an affordable way for Europe’s travel start-ups and innovators to talk about what they are doing to a highly influential audience and get a foothold in the cut-throat online travel industry,” says Tim Gunstone, MD, EyeforTravel.The Summit is packed with networking and strategy setting opportunities. Marketing and distribution deals abound at the event and for decades travel start-ups and innovators have attended to get the advice, contacts and potentially the investment they need to succeed.
We have 2 spaces left. EyeforTravel’s Start-up Awards are open to all travel start-ups or existing companies that have launched a new industry shaking product or service. All entries must be received by April 10, 2016.
Find out more - http://events.eyefortravel.com/travel-distribution-summit-europe/awards.php
For all event enquiries contact:
Tim Gunstone
MD
EyeforTravel Ltd.
London, UK: +44 (0)207 375 7557US Toll Free: 1 800 814 3459 ext. 7557tim@eyefortravel.com
Congratulations to EyeforTravel's Startup Village Winners!
As part of EyeforTravel's San Francisco Summit (March 14-15 2016), we teamed up with Amadeus and Travel Startups to showcase the best up-and-coming companies in the travel space. The day saw successful entrepreneurs and investors take to the stage to face questions from the eager startups, culminating in the pitches in the afternoon.
The Entrepreneur panel included:
- Heddi Cundle, Founder, MyTab.co
- Jim Pickell, President, HomeExchange.com
- Gadi Bashvitz, Founder & CEO, OLSET
- Kerri Ann Zeil, Director, Amadeus for Startups
- Sara Margulis, CEO, HoneyFund
With the investor panel forming of:
- Nancy Hayes, Managing Director, Golden Seeds
- Saaed Amidi, CEO and Founder, Plug and Play Tech Center
- George Arabian, Co-Founder & Managing Partner, Steelhead Ventures
- Roopak Pati, Investment Banking Associate, Needham & Company
In the latter half of the day, startups ten had 10 minutes to pitch to our audience and our judges to be crowned the Startup of the Year. The judges marked each pitch on 7 criteria, including viability of the the company, uniqueness of the product and the innovativeness of the idea. 2016 turned out to be the closest year to date, with the top 4 being nearly indistinguishable, only separated by 2 or 3 points!
The 2016 runner up was Seatwizer, a service which allows users to compare like-for-like seats from competing airlines to see exactly what you are paying for and how you can get the most comfort for your money.
The winners of the day were the team at Grabr, the on-demand delivery service which allows users to get anything they want from anywhere in the world, delivered for by a traveller. The service has already delivered thousands of orders, and could be the best way to get your favourite items delivered from the USA, Europe and beyond!
Thank you to everyone who got involved with our Startup Village and the San Francisco Summit as a whole, we had a great time running the event and hope to see you next year!
GW
Should hotels be worried about Airbnb's business travel plans?
The hospitality industry has been one of the most vocal opponents of Airbnb's unfettered expansion. Industry bodies have regularly pushed for for increased oversight and regulation. This is not without reason, as it now claims to have over 2 million listings worldwide. To put that in perspective, the new Marriott-Starwood merger has 1.1 million rooms in its global portfolio. However, to date one of the key advantages hotels had over Airbnb was the business travel market. Convenience, facilities along with security of location and payment helped to differentiate hotels and convince business travellers of their value. However, Airbnb has announced a major assault on this last redoubt, so should hotels be worried?
Well just in our office, two of my colleagues are staying with Airbnb during our San Francisco summits. On a less anecdotal level though, there seems to be some strong evidence that Airbnb is making inroads. It has assumed an aggressive strategy, deepening its value proposition to business travellers with greater screening of listings, new search functions, and tools to make business travel easier to pay for and more accountable.
The end results seem to be an accelerating rate of growth. Certify, a travel expense software provider reported that US growth from Q1 2015 to Q2 was 143%. This has shot up to 261% growth in the US across the whole of 2015 and 249% internationally. Furthermore, they found that users were rating their stays higher on Airbnb than hotels.
A recent and comprehensive study from the University of Boston does give some hope though. It found that hotels with dedicated meeting and conference spaces were some of the least affected by the introduction of Airbnb. Overall, it found that in cities with at least 100 Airbnb listings, a "10% increase in Airbnb supply is associated with a statistically significant (p <0.01) price decrease of 0.19%." This may not seem a lot, but given Airbnb's growth, it quickly adds up. Hotels without meetings and conference spaces suffer a further fall in Average Daily Rate (ADR) when compared to hotels with these facilities. The paper calculates the loss at 0.15% per 10% expansion of Airbnb supply. If you haven't already read the study, you should definitely give it a read.
Given the lucrative nature of the business travel market, hotels should be concerned about this growth. However, business users are looking for a degree of reliability that Airbnb may never fully reach. Clearly, they also expect more facilities both in terms of convenience and comfort, with meeting and conference spaces creating a premium and also luxury hotels seeing the lowest negative effects from Airbnb. However, hotels will need to advertise these facilities better, maximise business loyalty rewards and pick up their game, particularly in terms of business guest satisfaction, to prevent haemorrhaging valuable business bookings.
You can hear directly from the Airbnb team at TDS Europe 2016, where James McClure, General Manager UK & Ireland, is speaking. This event is being held on 19-20 April in London. We also have presentations from Airbnb in our On Demand library.
Alex Hadwick
Head of Research, EyeforTravel
Well just in our office, two of my colleagues are staying with Airbnb during our San Francisco summits. On a less anecdotal level though, there seems to be some strong evidence that Airbnb is making inroads. It has assumed an aggressive strategy, deepening its value proposition to business travellers with greater screening of listings, new search functions, and tools to make business travel easier to pay for and more accountable.
The end results seem to be an accelerating rate of growth. Certify, a travel expense software provider reported that US growth from Q1 2015 to Q2 was 143%. This has shot up to 261% growth in the US across the whole of 2015 and 249% internationally. Furthermore, they found that users were rating their stays higher on Airbnb than hotels.
A recent and comprehensive study from the University of Boston does give some hope though. It found that hotels with dedicated meeting and conference spaces were some of the least affected by the introduction of Airbnb. Overall, it found that in cities with at least 100 Airbnb listings, a "10% increase in Airbnb supply is associated with a statistically significant (p <0.01) price decrease of 0.19%." This may not seem a lot, but given Airbnb's growth, it quickly adds up. Hotels without meetings and conference spaces suffer a further fall in Average Daily Rate (ADR) when compared to hotels with these facilities. The paper calculates the loss at 0.15% per 10% expansion of Airbnb supply. If you haven't already read the study, you should definitely give it a read.
Given the lucrative nature of the business travel market, hotels should be concerned about this growth. However, business users are looking for a degree of reliability that Airbnb may never fully reach. Clearly, they also expect more facilities both in terms of convenience and comfort, with meeting and conference spaces creating a premium and also luxury hotels seeing the lowest negative effects from Airbnb. However, hotels will need to advertise these facilities better, maximise business loyalty rewards and pick up their game, particularly in terms of business guest satisfaction, to prevent haemorrhaging valuable business bookings.
You can hear directly from the Airbnb team at TDS Europe 2016, where James McClure, General Manager UK & Ireland, is speaking. This event is being held on 19-20 April in London. We also have presentations from Airbnb in our On Demand library.
Alex Hadwick
Head of Research, EyeforTravel
User Generated Content and Travel in 2016
User generated content, or UGC, dominates the internet in terms of the volume of data being created. It encompasses all of our posts, blogs, YouTube videos, internet reviews and boastful holiday photos. With this in mind we have been investigating UGC as part of our new report, Utilizing User Generated Content. For a snapshot of some of the key stats, check out our infographic here: http://imgur.com/Vo7f9Nk
Or you can head over to Pinterest for more infographics from us and around the web at: https://uk.pinterest.com/eyefortravel/.
We also have sessions on UGC at our Social Media & Content Strategies conference, which kicks off on March 14 and is full of presentations from social media experts.
Or you can head over to Pinterest for more infographics from us and around the web at: https://uk.pinterest.com/eyefortravel/.
We also have sessions on UGC at our Social Media & Content Strategies conference, which kicks off on March 14 and is full of presentations from social media experts.
Mobile Innovation in Travel Awards Finalists Announced!
American Airlines, Alaska Airlines, Apteligent, Dohop, and Skyjet are just some of the lucky finalists announced for EyeforTravel’s Mobile Innovation in Travel Awards.
10 lucky finalists have battled it out to reach the final for the awards taking place in San Francisco, March 14th.
Reflecting the ever growing importance of mobile to travel brands, it’s been a really tough contest this year with nominations from hundreds of travel brands from all over the world.
We received over 3,000 votes for the awards which was a phenomenal response!
The lucky finalists are –
Best Mobile Travel User Experience
Best Mobile Travel App
Best Mobile Travel Solution
· Places to attend the Mobile Innovation in Travel Awards final are available as part of the 2 day conference pass to EyeforTravel’s Mobile & Innovation in Travel conference, March 14-15.
View the full program line-up for the event here
For all event enquiries contact:-
Gina BaillieDirectorEyeforTravel Ltd.
gina@eyefortravel.com
10 lucky finalists have battled it out to reach the final for the awards taking place in San Francisco, March 14th.
Reflecting the ever growing importance of mobile to travel brands, it’s been a really tough contest this year with nominations from hundreds of travel brands from all over the world.
We received over 3,000 votes for the awards which was a phenomenal response!
The lucky finalists are –
Best Mobile Travel User Experience
- American Airlines
- Dohop
- Alaska Airlines
- Skyjet
Best Mobile Travel App
- Dohop
- Alaska Airlines
- Hotelplanner
Best Mobile Travel Solution
- Apteligent
- FLIO
- RoamingAround
· Places to attend the Mobile Innovation in Travel Awards final are available as part of the 2 day conference pass to EyeforTravel’s Mobile & Innovation in Travel conference, March 14-15.
View the full program line-up for the event here
For all event enquiries contact:-
Gina BaillieDirectorEyeforTravel Ltd.
gina@eyefortravel.com
Voting now open for EyeforTravel’s Mobile Innovation in Travel Awards!
What do Alaska Airlines, HomeAway, easyJet, Hilton, American Airlines, TripAdvisor and Best Western have in common?
They are all nominated to win ‘Best Mobile in Travel App’ at EyeforTravel’s Mobile Innovation in Travel Awards, that’s what!
They join many other top travel brands in the battle to reach the awards final which takes place at EyeforTravel’s Mobile & Innovation Strategies for Travel conference, March 14-15 in San Francisco.
The initial nomination period closed December 31st, 2015. Now that the next round of successful entrants has been selected, the industry is now invited to vote to help determine who the 9 lucky finalists will be through casting their vote here.
Started in 2011, EyeforTravel’s Mobile Innovation in Travel Awards seek to recognise travel brands who aren’t afraid to experiment with mobile -finding new and exciting ways to engage customers and improve the travel experience.
The 3 categories are –
· Best Mobile in Travel App· Best Mobile in Travel User Experience· Best Mobile in Travel Solution
Don’t miss your chance to vote now!
Voting closes February 19th.
For event enquiries please contact:
Gina Baillie, Director, EyeforTravel Ltd. – gina@eyefortravel.com
They are all nominated to win ‘Best Mobile in Travel App’ at EyeforTravel’s Mobile Innovation in Travel Awards, that’s what!
They join many other top travel brands in the battle to reach the awards final which takes place at EyeforTravel’s Mobile & Innovation Strategies for Travel conference, March 14-15 in San Francisco.
The initial nomination period closed December 31st, 2015. Now that the next round of successful entrants has been selected, the industry is now invited to vote to help determine who the 9 lucky finalists will be through casting their vote here.
Started in 2011, EyeforTravel’s Mobile Innovation in Travel Awards seek to recognise travel brands who aren’t afraid to experiment with mobile -finding new and exciting ways to engage customers and improve the travel experience.
The 3 categories are –
· Best Mobile in Travel App· Best Mobile in Travel User Experience· Best Mobile in Travel Solution
Don’t miss your chance to vote now!
Voting closes February 19th.
For event enquiries please contact:
Gina Baillie, Director, EyeforTravel Ltd. – gina@eyefortravel.com
Video: What Technology Does Starwood Find Truly Enhances the Customer Experience?
Have you ever wondered how you can use technology to elevate your customer's experience of your brand? Do mobile, wearables, Whatsapp and keyless entry for example add real value?
Hoteliers are investing millions in new technology and yet according to Hospitality Technology magazine, nearly a third of hoteliers still find it hard to keep up with their guests' technological demands.
Presenting at EyeforTravel's inaugural Connected Traveller conference in London last month, Daniel Kerzner, VP Loyalty, Starwood Hotels shared:
For more videos and slide content from top travel brands, sign up to EyeforTravel OnDemand.
Hoteliers are investing millions in new technology and yet according to Hospitality Technology magazine, nearly a third of hoteliers still find it hard to keep up with their guests' technological demands.
Presenting at EyeforTravel's inaugural Connected Traveller conference in London last month, Daniel Kerzner, VP Loyalty, Starwood Hotels shared:
- What technology Starwood have invested in to enhance the customer experience
- From mobile to wearables to Whatsapp - his views on what's really worth investing your valuable time and resources in
- Insights into how to deliver an intelligent, personalized customer experience to drive loyalty
For more videos and slide content from top travel brands, sign up to EyeforTravel OnDemand.