“The Reason Why We Travel Hasn’t Changed”: Google Head Of Travel

Google racks up more search queries for travel than any other vertical, or at least that’s the sneaky stat shared with Travel DAZE attendees by Google Australia’s head of travel Dougal Mckenzie.

Yes, he is Dougal from Google.

“Everything has changed. How we go about travel, all the dreaming and planning has changed. But the reason why we travel hasn’t changed,” Mckenzie said.

“We reach for our phone first thing in the morning and it’s the last thing we look at at night. We’re checking our phone 150 times a day.”

Mckenzie shared the ways our travel journeys have changed with technology, and namely the introduction of the micro-moment, that moment when people reach for a phone to act on a need.

We’re not going through the stages of dream, plan, book, experience anymore. Instead, it’s now the stages of ‘I want to know’, ‘I want to go’, ‘I want to book’ and ‘I want to do’.

Sixty-five per cent of people use their smartphone to find something seen on TV, and there’s an 88 per cent increase in mobile conversions in travel, with a 50 per cent increase in travel-related mobile queries, according to Mckenzie.

“If we fast forward to the year 2020 and we assume 90 per cent of the stuff done on mobile phones, do you feel your company or business is ready for that?” he asked the audience.

“The planning and research stages will increase on mobile device, pre, during and post trip.

“Mobile is the one thing people have on them from when they start their journey all the way through.”

A good example Mckenzie shared was Red Roof Inn in America, which while quite modest in its accommodation, was tapping into a genius gap in the travel market.

Responding to the fact that 90,000 people are stranded in the US everyday because of flight delays and cancellations, and Red Roof was there, and bookings went up 60 per cent year-on-year.

“What creates travel micro moments are intent, context and immediacy,” Mckenzie said.

“What are your micro moments? From an immediacy point of view, what we’re hearing from consumers all the time is, if you’re not there when I need you, then I’m never going to need you’.

It’s essential to tap into those early planning and dreaming stages, Mckenzie stressed, because that’s where you build relationships and loyalty.

“Think about measurement,” he said. “A lot of people say ‘I get lots of traffic to my site but I don’t get conversions’. The reality is a lot of that traffic isn’t there to be converted, it’s there to plan and dream, and bookings come later.”

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Email the Travel Weekly team at traveldesk@travelweekly.com.au

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