“TMCs are now collating information on
traveller habits and using this to streamline booking processes by uploading individual preferences, covering everything from seat position to hotel floor,” says Gleave. “This level of detail is expected to become much greater in coming years, with TMCs using these preferences to make time- and cost- savings that can be passed on to clients.”
THE NEXT STEPS
While the speed of change in offering cus- tomised services has been sluggish, suppliers are beginning to introduce elements of per- sonalisation into their products. For example, hotel booking specialist HRS is planning to introduce a ‘recommendation engine’, which is currently being trialled, to ‘intui- tively match’ the needs of a traveller through the creation of a personalised shortlist of properties. This list will be created using an algorithm based on the individual’s online and offline behaviour, as well as taking their employer’s travel policy into account. HRS’s UK managing director, Jon West,
adds: “There is huge potential to person- alise business travel as travellers expect the booking process to reflect more of a consumer experience. This technology can ensure that business travellers are receiving the best rate at that point in time – even if it is lower than the company’s negotiated rate.” Carlson Wagonlit Travel (CWT) says one of the most important elements to success- ful personalisation lies in the creation of ‘smart profiles’, which include information from a traveller’s previous itineraries, app usage and their digital profile. This data goes deeper than just knowing a person’s airline seat preference, such as detailing how much sleep they like to get and what time they prefer to eat on a long-haul flight. The use of this type of granular data on
traveller preferences and habits hints at a wider debate that is already going on in the consumer sector. This concerns the fine balance between companies’ ability to hold huge amounts of personal data on an individual in order to offer them a more customised service, set against a desire for privacy and fears that data may be stolen and used by criminals. This is not always a straightforward
debate – even in the consumer world. For example, a Deloitte survey of UK residents last year found that only 22 per cent were
54 BBT MAY/JUNE 2016
happy for companies to use their data to offer them more personalised products, while 66 per cent said they were “con- cerned” about the amount of information that companies were holding on them. As the level of personalisation within business travel increases, the debate about data privacy may come to the fore over the next few years. But first, the industry has to start catching up with the kind of personalisation we already experience in our non-working lives. There are signs that this is finally starting to happen, with several TMCs and tech com- panies claiming to be on the cusp of being able to offer a ‘killer’ app that will render all other booking platforms superfluous. Amadeus’s head of travel intelligence,
Pascal Clement, says the increasing com- plexity of the way travel is sold, such as the use of unbundled prices and multiple channels, makes “data science” even more important. “Travellers are telling us what they want through each interaction but only now can we listen, interpret and respond in an instant,” he adds. This trend was also reflected in the results of CWT’s 2016 Travel Trends, Program Priorities survey, which found that 49 per cent of travel managers expected customisation to make a “high or very high impact” to their programmes this year, while 54 per cent said ‘big data’ would have a similar impact. But CWT stresses that personalisation
will “only be a success if we collaborate and share information”. This could end up being just as much of a challenge as getting the technology right when you consider the rumpus over Lufthansa’s decision to charge a Ð16 fee for bookings through the GDSs, or the uproar caused when hotel companies come up with new ways to entice business travellers to book direct on their websites.˜
SEARCH AND BOOK The online booking tool knows from the traveller’s profile that they are looking for a flight with extra legroom, an aisle seat, fast-track security access at the airport and extra cabin baggage, but no hold luggage. The profile also tells the system that a premium wifi connection is required at the hotel. All these details are included in a package that the traveller can just click to book.
PRE-TRIP
On the eve of their journey, the traveller receives an email offering them a taxi from the office to the airport.
MISSED
CONNECTIONS The traveller’s initial flight is delayed so they are going to miss their connection. Another flight is automatically rebooked using Amadeus Personal Disruption Companion, with a new boarding pass sent to the traveller’s smartphone.
CHECK-IN
After completing hotel check-in, the traveller is automatically sent details of recommended nearby restaurants through the agency’s app.
POST-TRIP
The traveller is asked by an automated email to rate the flight, hotel and restaurant, through clicking on some links within the message, and earns extra loyalty points by doing this.
BUYINGBUSINESSTRAVEL.COM
49 per cent of travel managers expected customisation to make a high impact to their programmes this year
Anatomy of a personalised
business trip Travel technology firm Amadeus has come up with an example of how a personalised business trip might look:
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