Digital approach for business is critical: Expedia

Digital approach for business is critical: Expedia
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In order to move forward and stay relevant in the world of travel, adopting a digital approach is critical, Expedia Australia’s managing director George Ruebensal said.

“The connected traveller is already a reality,” he said, stating at last week’s ATEC Meeting Place conference that 42% of Australians make mobile purchases each week.

Ruebensal separated the target markets into two groups; the millennials, and everyone else.

And while everyone is getting more tech-savvy when it comes to searching and booking travel, it’s this younger millennial audience that is paramount to staying relevant, with four times as many booking travel on mobile devices.

“The internet will become like electricity,” Ruebensal said. “It will be less visible, yet more deeply embedded in our lives.”

But the future of digital is also changing, he says, and even more is needed to keep customers engaged in any company’s online services.

Ruebensal talked about the Expedia approach, which involves integrating its services into each part of the travel experience; from the initial dream stage through to the return and share stage.

“If we engage with customers in the early ‘dream’ stages, they will become loyal to Expedia,” Ruebensal said. “They will feel inspired by us.”

Tour operators traditionally have less involvement in the experience phase, however in order to remain relevant and integral to the traveller’s experience, this needs to change.

Ruebensal says the mobile app is a huge development here, with the Expedia app reminding customers about checking in to flights and telling them which gate to go to, right down to alerting them to the correct baggage carousel.

But we can do more, says Ruebensal, discussing intuitive ideas like suggesting wet-weather activities for travellers if they know their destination is experiencing rain.

TripAdvisor’s destination marketing manager Sarah Matthews agrees, stating at the ATEC conference that the future of travel comes down to digital expertise.

“Likes aren’t important anymore, it’s that engagement,” she says.

“What travellers are looking for is that early inspiration.”

“As a tourism business, you’re asking travellers to do more with you.”

Matthews says of all the TripAdvisor users in 2014, 31% actually followed through and booked holidays, pointing to a huge need in the industry to get involved in the inspiration phase.

Matthews states that for hotels and tourism industries, free Wi-Fi is absolutely essential.

“You’re doing a disservice if you don’t offer this,” she said, emphasising how important it is to allow travellers to connect with others and share their experience.

The ability to Skype home, for example, is a free kind of marketing tool, which plants the seeds of inspiration in those on the other end of the line, which Matthews says is a major part of tourism’s future.

“It’s about shifting from a pull, drawing customers to us, to a push, giving the information back to them,” Ruebensal said. 

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