Alistair Rowland, Midcounties Co-operative


Becky Power, Google


‘Business tweaks are not enough to keep up with tech’


Rowland says ‘awful’ travel technology hinders agents


Travel agency technology is limited as suppliers are failing to provide the systems that businesses need, according to Abta board member Alistair Rowland.


Rowland, group general manager


for specialist retail at Midcounties Co-operative, described the technology available as “awful”, suggesting it failed to meet the specialist requirements of agencies. He declined to name suppliers


but told Abta’s Travel Convention that technology is one of the biggest causes of staff complaints. Rowland suggested: “The lag [in the use of technology by agents] is the technology.” Derek Jones, chief executive of


Der Touristik UK, parent company of Kuoni, agreed with Rowland that complex bookings require face-to-face consultation and emphasised the expert knowledge of staff over the use of technology. He said 70% of clients who visit


a Kuoni store on a pre-arranged appointment make a booking and dismissed travel ‘concept stores’ featuring banks of iPads for placing


70%


Proportion of Kuoni’s appointment clients who make a booking


a “pointless” barrier between consumers and consultants. Jones also emphasised the value of ensuring staff and third-party agents experience destinations. Google travel director Becky


Power suggested the average book- ing involves 36 touchpoints with a consumer over 40 days and said: “Understanding what the consumer is doing is vitally important.”


Consortium to extend voice training tool


The Travel Network Group is poised to roll out voice-analytics technology to selected members in a pilot programme. The technology listens to and analyses conversations with


customers and can be used over the phone and in store. It has already been trialled with Ocean Holidays, but TTNG chose


The Travel Convention to announce a wider pilot programme which will involve 25 members. Group chief executive Gary Lewis said the technology would allow an agency to “view their business from a different perspective” and focus on lost bookings. He said: “This technology allows you to look at lost bookings and see and hear what has happened. “Instead of focusing on the final sales numbers, members can look


at their businesses in a completely different way.” The technology turns voice recordings into text which it analyses, allowing users to identify staff-training requirements.


Blockchain technology will “eliminate the need for powerful third parties” in travel and “challenge the status quo”, according to Philip Wolf, founder of travel technology analyst Phocuswright. Wolf told Abta delegates: “Google is the pre-eminent intermediary between you and the internet. Amazon is the biggest thing sitting between you and online suppliers. Blockchain can bypass all this.” Referring to cryptocurrency


Bitcoin and blockchain developers Ethereum and Winding Tree, Wolf said: “Bitcoin is endeavouring to replace PayPal. Ethereum will challenge Amazon Web Services. Winding Tree aims to replace the centralised GDS.” Asked about the


environmental challenges presented by blockchain’s big energy demands, Wolf said: “Let the experts navigate these challenges. Instead, think ‘How could this help my business?’” He warned technology would


continue to transform the sector. “Almost all the big brands in travel sat on the sidelines in the 1990s, ceding leadership to new digital brands,” he said. “Staying the course or tweaking are insufficient. It’s best to pivot. The pain of enabling a critical course correction pales beside the consequences of doing nothing.”


Philip Wolf, Phocuswright


18 October 2018 travelweekly.co.uk 21


PICTURES: ARIF GARDNER/AG STUDIOS


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