PSYCHOLOGY
the future the same way we trust SatNav. As people get used to AI and machine learning, and as these technologies become part of the consumer and household world, we will start to see this coming through in certain booking tools.” Baker points to tools such as Rocketrip
that are part of Concur’s app centre that aim to encourage the right behaviour through incentivisation as well as other means.
GUILT TRIP Another corporate travel start-up, Lola, has built in some visual guilt techniques to its booking interface. For example, in-built budget filters enable travel managers to set spend ceilings for hotels in particular cities. The same can be applied to flights but travellers can be given some “wiggle room” to allow for their particular circumstances, for example, getting their children to school before heading to the airport. If travellers exceed budgets, the system prompts them with a dollar sign. Lola’s whole mantra is about putting
“more joy” into business travel. It’s chief executive and founder Paul English says
travellers hate current systems because they’re too restrictive. By letting them book what they want within guidelines, they get a better experience. Baker says that technology will evolve to
get into the psychology of particular travel- lers, identifying who books well in advance and who changes their mind often or books late. These people can then be grouped and targeted with specific messaging. Elswood points to Capita research highlighting road warriors whose “per trip expenditure” performed well. Therefore, rather than targeting them with a message about saving money, the message was about could they avoid travel altogether, could they thinking differently? “For the newbies, the infrequent travel-
lers with the highest trip cost, the message was about education and understanding,” Elswood explains. In Cushieri’s experience, it is not just the
right message, it’s the use of channels to deliver that message. If everyone is overload- ed with email perhaps a chat tool is a better channel. Or, it could come down to different age groups and even cultures.
Travelport says that most companies are
still not using mobile technology to full effect and many still do not see its potential for engagement rather than transactions. The company says that a virtuous circle
can be created using push notifications to nudge behaviour in the right direction. When the traveller engages, travel managers can find out what is happening at various stages in the journey, and can nudge again. It points to the work Travelport Digital
has done with BCD in setting thousands of rules which trigger messages to travellers to influence and change behaviour.
EDUCATING EMPLOYEES All of this sounds like sensible stuff, but how can travel managers get started? For Cushieri it’s about educating employees from the get-go. He advises walking them through the travel programme and providing them with a quick view of how to make a booking. “It’s getting people to know what they
need to know, that there is a travel team to support them and why we ask them to do the right thing,” he says. “That has been very successful. The individuals that we find don’t do the right thing are those who are not frequent travellers and it’s because we have not communicated with them very well.” Both Elswood and Baker stress the role
of technology in prompting the right behaviour, such as asking whether video collaboration might be an appropriate alternative to a trip. Capita unveiled its Meetings Calculator at the Business Travel Show to understand the motivations behind meetings. The company says 80 per cent of travel relates to a meeting and a large proportion of those are internal meetings. Paul Saggar, Capita Travel and Events’
Factoring in geography
and context Much research is being conducted around context and geography. Concur UK managing director Chris Baker says he has noticed that US travellers arrive at European airports and opt for a taxi transfer. This is not the most cost-efficient means of transport, nor the most productive in many cases – for example, from London Heathrow the Heathrow Express is a faster and more economical choice. Now, alerts will prompt travellers to choose more cost-effective and productive options. “It would be nice to think all travellers are walking around paying attention to being a traveller,” says Baker. “They are not. It’s about attention. Essentially the currency of successful influence and change is attention. Disclosing the right amount of information and insight at that moment is helpful and captures their attention. That is the optimal way to do your good work.”
84 BBT May/June 2018
chief innovation officer, says one of the areas companies should consider is where the best place to meet might be. “It’s about factoring in the time spent travelling and the cost. If you can demonstrate that to people, they will consider moving the meeting. It is about stepping back a bit,” he says. But, even without the technology in place,
there are simple things travel managers can start with, such as what the priorities of the organisation are. Or as Elswood suggests, “don’t try and boil the ocean.” Rather, use the data you have to find the “outliers” and address messages accordingly. A final thought from the psychologist.
Martin says what happens at the end of a journey, such as a queue at hotel check-out or a delayed flight or taxi is “etched in to memory with greater intensity than any- thing else” so travel managers need to work with that, too.
BUYINGBUSINESSTRAVEL.COM
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