NB: This is a guest article by Brian Beard, executive technology consultant and solutions manager at Amadeus.
Succeeding as a technologist in the industry demands keeping up with the “new things”, evolving social trends and where they intersect with the business models for planes, trains and automobiles.
And cruise liners.
And hotels.
The best part? People ask all the time: “What’s next?”
While I don’t foresee in the next decade a new Starship Enterprise-type app capable of beaming an iPhone user anywhere on the planet, there are some significant tech “power tools” poised to profoundly change the travel experience and the businesses that create it.
Automatic transit
Travel and travelers will always confront security. Checkpoints and passports are here to stay, but advances and wider integration of biometric technologies may render today’s check-in processes obsolete.
Facial recognition software, capable of continuous scanning of crowd flows, can automatically check you in and allow you to proceed to the gate – even board your Dreamliner – without ever having to show an ID to an agent.
The system will know who is supposed to be where, and who is not, keeping lines moving quickly up until the flight attendant closes the cabin door.
Other technologies, such as Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), that have a proven track record in other industries are starting to show up at airports.
With its ability to transmit data wirelessly using radio waves through a simple, attachable tag, just think of the implications of RFID for lost baggage.
The accurate and immediate tracking and identification of luggage can greatly reduce baggage handling errors, eliminating millions is costs to air carriers and millions of frustrations in weary travelers.
The key, of course, is integrating personal identification, biometric and PNR data into check-in and departure control systems, an endeavor that will keep technology consultants busy and potentially will sound privacy alarms.
The phenomenal growth of smartphones, location-based apps and social networking, however, suggests that the privacy hurdle is one the travel industry can overcome… in time.
Payment with memory
Payment with memory is an evolving concept that will better inform everyone participating in the travel value chain. But haven’t we seen this somewhere else?
Did you use a loyalty card the last time you bought groceries? If so, the store may have given you a nice discount in exchange for a wealth of data on your buying patterns. The data drives a stronger business through customized offerings and more efficient shelf stocking.
Now apply it to travel. If all of the travel providers serving the same customer on a trip – airline, rental car and hotel, for example – have access to the trail of “digital bread crumbs” travelers leave with every purchase on a trip, every link in the chain can personalize offers to create a better travel experience and streamline operations for better business.
A wealth of data is already available, but travel’s fragmented nature and privacy concerns prevent widespread sharing.
Customer demands, better cloud computing and evolving privacy attitudes and protections will break down the walls over the next decade to reinvent how travel sells and serves.
Travel corporations are already realizing that sharing data and forming collaborative relationships will be a key to success in this evolving digital world.
Intelligent recommendations
Social media will continue building the travel landscape and experience, too. As smartphones and other connected devices become ever more ubiquitous, more and more travelers will tag photos, share reviews and otherwise document the experience of their trips.
Technologies will evolve to make better use and presentation of all user-generated content data so that it is more easily accessible and useful to travelers visiting new locales or seeking new experiences.
Corporations will also benefit from this information. Understanding traveler behaviors and preferences will help travel managers and procurement specialists tailor travel policies that meet with higher traveler satisfaction.
Savvy travel managers have known for years that traveler satisfaction is directly linked to corporate productivity.
Better organized and integrated recommendation content presents opportunities for travel agents, too, potentially giving them an expertise edge when building out and serving niche markets.
Information from intelligent recommendations will help change the role of the travel agent from an “order taker” to an information specialist, consultant and trusted advisor.
NB: This is a guest article by Brian Beard, executive technology consultant and solutions manager at Amadeus.
NB2: A recent report from Amadeus, From Chaos to Collaboration, explores these and other technologies and concepts that will shape the future of travel. You can download it here.
NB3: During the webinar on March 27, Tech Power Tools – Changing the way we travel, you can join us as a panel of experts takes a deeper dive. I look forward to getting your thoughts on “what’s next?”.
NB4: RFID image, digital journey and ideas-inspiration images via Shutterstock.
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About Special Nodes
payment is interesting because one thing is food shopping habits (three four times a month) compared with travel shopping – maybe three times a year (business travel excluded) to different destinations and very often for different reasons
Great point Linda – and for (most) business travellers choices are so constrained by policy that there may not be so much that can be deduced from the “digital breadcrumbs”.
As for tailoring corporate travel for higher traveller satisfaction – that just makes me laugh! Most corporate travel policies are increasingly driven by one thing – CHEAP – even if that means a 9 hour journey with a 3 hour layover in some hick airport instead of a 4 hour direct route. Maybe Amadeus’s current internal travel policy is not quite at that point yet and this misdirects the writer’s perception??
For me privacy is the issue. I have no wish to be tracked, watched and automatically processed, indeed I want the very clear ability to opt right out of such things. And this raises a potential issue of festering customer discontent…………. because some parts of travel leave you little choice – which airport you use for example.
If airport X really goes for that type of technology on a large scale, so as to make it near unavoidable, there is not a great deal of consumer alternative choice – result, festering discontent.
Of course, we have less control that we ought to have over government implementing such intrusive systems, but maybe there is novel approach here – for the travel industry to be active in COUNTERING these things rather than just lying down and accepting them?
Agree with the Intelligent Recommendations – especially for complex travel purchases such as a cruise (and shore excursions), recommendations can help consumers narrow down from the thousands of options. And at that point, a travel agent can help the consumer make a decision.