DAMON TASSONE
CHRIS ROCHE
MANISH GAJRIA
Gajria said firms need to compel customers to stick with their
mobile app “otherwise it just takes two clicks to get rid of it”. “It is an expensive proposition so it has to be a really slick
experience,” he said. “There’s always that ‘Aha!’ moment. If your app can deliver that at whatever point that customer’s journey is at, even post-transaction, you’ll get brand recall. “As travel businesses we have a very strong customer
service proposition because we are selling a very interactive product. It’s really up to us to keep that experience as watertight as possible and to take responsibility for it. If you do that customers will always be loyal to you.” Jon Pickles, global director of 360 engagement at the Travel
Corporation, said: “From an app perspective and mobile it’s all about the user experience and how quickly you can book. “I probably use four or five travel apps. They are the ones I
keep going back to like Uber or Hailo. I use them because they are really convenient and the experience is so easy. “If you can get people to come to your app and use it time
and again that’s how you get loyalty.” However, Gajria said not all app users are after instant
bookability: “The mobile device plays two very different distinct roles in different points in time. In some cases they are a launchpad for a very rich experience the customer wants in the future, perhaps on desktop, and in others they want something right now. “I believe the travel experience starts when people start
looking for travel. If the customer is in that bucket they are likely to just want to browse around, and apps have to be smart enough to understand and take people down that path, perhaps not by guessing but by offering very simple initial experiences which can go one way or the other.”
THE CALL CENTRE CONTINUES TO THRIVE Harry Hastings, a director at Ocean Holidays, made the point that success in travel retailing isn’t all about online sales.
Ocean Holidays, a Florida specialist based in Essex, is run
by directors who previously founded Como Street Travel and its web discount brand
Beatthebrochure.com; however, they have recently switched to become a destination specialist. Hastings said: “When we first started in January 2004 with
a few people in a room and some pages on Teletext, we crossed our fingers and hoped for the phones to ring. “Two or three years later you needed a website and a PPC
budget, and that PPC budget has grown and grown, and year after year cost-per-click has gone up. “Now we have a niche in a destination we sell. Our
competitors try to treat PPC as Teletext once was, but to establish a brand in a market by chucking some PPC at it is very, very difficult.” Hastings said the firm does not offer online bookings
because it sees better return from doing business over the phone as well as improved customer relationship management. “It’s not because we haven’t got the technology to make that available but in terms of offering that personal service on
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