Every travel company is now a technology company. But sometimes travellers don't know about the technological advances in this industry and travel is quick to criticise itself in comparison to other sectors.
Last week Sabre shared results of a survey during London Tech Week that gave an indication of what consumers think about travel and technology. It found 30% of 2,000 UK respondents think the entertainment industry is the most innovative when it comes to new technology, followed by finance (26%) and online retail (24%). Only 11% thought airlines were the most innovative and 2% chose hotels.
We have to factor in that travel in general has less exposure; we may be thinking about travelling while we're sorting our finances or watching a film but most people aren't on a trip every day.
But it got me thinking, what has really changed when you get to a rail station or airport? Other than décor does anything look different on a plane or in a hotel (if you're even in a hotel)?
Generally, no. It's partly because we're using our own devices but also because the bulk of the technological change have been in the back end or in the booking process. A techy but non-travel panel at Sabre's TTX event said travel has easier access to data [than other industries] and believes it is using it relatively well.
While I was listening to the speakers at TTX I thought about Lufthansa. The German group has made headlines for DCC and API connectivity but when it comes to consumer-facing technology one of its latest press releases was to announce that customers can now pay for ancillaries at check-in desks. Others have been doing that for years. Even the accompanying image (right) that came with it looks outdated. No wonder that the sector isn't seen as very innovative.
Where suppliers have focused a lot of their consumer-facing energy is in apps and more recently chatbots. If done well, these tools provide the value that travellers are looking for.
Who's doing that well? As you'd expect, it's those that are doing things differently. The below is where travel brands rank in the iOS top app chart from App Annie on 20th June 2017 — I've only looked at the top 300. I've not included local rail and bus apps as these were by far the most popular when it comes to travel. Notice particularly how national airlines are behind LCCs and in Germany it is Eurowings that comes out higher than Lufthansa. As a recent Marketing Week post says, the digital user experience is now an important differentiator just like product and price.
