GDS executives may admire the likes of Netflix and Amazon but it appears the platforms are still a while away from emulating those user experiences in business travel.
Speaking at the GTMC's (UK's Guild of Travel Management Companies) conference this week Stephen Shurrock, EVP and CCO at Travelport shared that in a recent workshop one traveller was frustrated at booking a regular trip as if it was the first time. "It's like the trip has never happened" the frequent traveller shared with Shurrock, who went on to describe to delegates how Netflix is able to know what we've watched, what we might like and how important personalisation is. These functions are not yet available in most business travel tools.
Liz Emmott, UK general manager of Amadeus gushed in a similar fashion describing recommendations as "huge" to the online giants' successes. Three quarters of Netflix content is consumed based on 'you watched this, you might like this' and more than 30% of Amazon purchases come from advising what to buy with an item.
Yet neither could provide a time-frame for when we might see this user experience in business travel.
"You'll start to see a change in how content is consumed in Q1 2019 but it's ever evolving and not simple," Emmott said. "There will continue to be pain until the technology can be developed…there will be some time to get product to market."
On top of developing technological capabilities (from NDC to artificial intelligence) the GDSes will have to collect significantly more data from various outlets and work with supplier distribution strategies that vary around what content is, and isn't, shared within the channel.
It may have taken 30 years for these systems to be built but I'm sure many do not want to wait that long for the catch-up work, or indeed cannot afford to wait. But it's not just the GDSes innovating; just look at what some travel buyers, TMCs and suppliers new and old are able to bring to the table too.