Leaders of by
FORUM Leaders of Luxury 2019:T ravel Weekly sister title Aspire hosts its third annual
Where is the Netflix of travel, asks Google head
G
oogle’s industry head of travel called for the sector to beter harness digital personalisation
to drive customer loyalty and boost sales. Jayan Chauhan highlighted
the “brilliant” customer profiling techniques used by the likes of Amazon and Netflix, both of which give the user tailored recommendations based on similar paterns from its subscriber database. Chauhan said digital
personalisation had the power to accelerate customer loyalty in the travel sector, an industry where it is historically hard to capture. “Where is the Netflix of travel,
where you’re using data from existing customers and looking at trends for the rest of your customers?” he asked. Tis, he added, allowed businesses “to be even more
If your site takes
more than five seconds [to load], it raises your blood pressure more than a horror movie
personalised with recommendations”. Chauhan cited research from
social media monitoring service Digimind, which found that 69% of travellers were more loyal to brands that gave them a personal experience. He added that while some aspects of the industry, such as reps in resorts, travel agents and concierge services, had a “very personalised feel”, travel brands were “struggling a lot more” when it came to digital. “People look for a destination
first, they’re not thinking about the brand first,” he said.
Golds: Brexit uncertainty hitting even the well-off
Affluent travellers were said to be holidaying less frequently because of Brexit. Abercrombie & Kent managing director
Kerry Golds labelled the luxury sector “more resilient” than the mass market in dealing with factors such as Brexit, but urged agents and suppliers not to dismiss its knock-on effects entirely. “A lot of our clients are entrepreneurs,
chief executives and business owners, and although they may still have the wealth to travel, they want to be around their businesses and they’re not travelling as frequently,” she said. “Anyone in this room who says they
haven’t been impacted by the uncertainty in the UK in the last few years is probably lying.”
12 4 JULY 2019 “Driving and gaining [loyalty]
is very hard and personalisation is absolutely one way to be doing it.” Chauhan also urged suppliers
and agents to optimise their mobile websites, claiming they were at risk of losing half of their customers if their mobile website loaded slowly. Google itself has seen a dramatic
pace of change since vowing to become “mobile first” across all platforms in 2010, when mobile made up only 1.5% of the firm’s web traffic. Today, more than 50% of all Google queries come from mobile. “I was going to name and shame
a few of you, but I was told I’m not allowed to,” Chauhan said. “So go and check your mobile speed – there’s a free site we offer called Webpagetest. org. If your site takes more than five seconds [to load], it raises your blood pressure more than a horror movie. Please go and sort that out.”
Belmond boss lauds luxury agents’ product knowledge
Belmond’s chief executive admited some luxury travel agents know his product beter than his own staff. Roeland Vos paid testament to agents’ comprehensive
knowledge of luxury product as he revealed “40% to 50%” of the group’s business comes from the travel trade. “Tat is because the experts in luxury very often know our
suites and our trains beter than our own people,” he said. “Because they can read their customers, they know their
customers so well that they can actually tailor what is needed for their customer base. “I believe that’s a true opportunity for every person who
works in the travel trade if you want to be in luxury.” He added: “I see lots of opportunities in this growing market that will outpace the rest of the travel industry by a long shot.”
Jayan
Chauhan, Google
travelweekly.co.uk
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