How Travel Agencies are using smart technologies to enhance traveller experience

As a technology company, Amadeus believes that East African travel agencies that adopt smart technologies, putting the traveller as the focal point will be the ones who succeed regardless of their business model.

Greater traveller sophistication is driving increased demand for seamless, more customised, intuitive and flexible solutions meeting the traveller’s personal preferences. Now that more knowledge is available about travel options, new generation travellers are more demanding in terms of the offered services and products. The continuing shift to digitisation and the increasing complexity and personalisation of the travel offer have placed further pressure on travel providers to access advanced, scalable technology solutions.

An online survey carried out by ICM Research for the second edition of Amadeus Business Travel Insights surveyed 411 people from large companies (with 250+ employees) who travel regularly for business. The following are the results:

Efficiency emerged as the top priority with 21 per cent saying that they value getting the job done as efficiently as possible and they would like end-to-end experiences from their travel providers.

Ancillary services are highly valued by many business travellers and 62 per cent of travellers value the ability to book added extras (such as extra legroom, meals and lounge access) as part of their corporate booking process.

Lack of information about delays came up as the business traveller’s chief source of frustration. Customer communication and real-time updates need to be prioritized by travel providers.

Kenyan Travel companies are just beginning to leverage all the data they have on customers. The use of this data will offer personalised travel offers to consumers by addressing individual customer preferences, priorities and frustrations. It is important for local travel agencies to stay updated with travel trends and know what their customers want so as to retain customer loyalty.

As travellers become more fluent in the language of digital technology and interiorize technology, they become highly adept at interacting with it, always-connected. This has had a great impact on how travellers organize their trips, as well as on the manner in which local travel agencies interact with their clients.Mobile and social networks have become normal part of their lives and many travel agencies are utilizing these platforms to reach out to travellers.

Amadeus’ study “From chaos to collaboration” foresees most people will have adopted 4G technology by 2016. With the recent arrival of 4G to Kenya, travellers will be able to access a greater number of more efficient and sophisticated mobile services in a simpler and faster manner. Being permanently connected to their customers will in fact translate into new business opportunities for Kenyan travel industry providers.

It’s difficult to recall the days of travel before smartphones were ubiquitous – but mobile has changed the way the travel industry operates on all levels. For corporate travellers, mobile apps are fundamentally altering the way in which they work and being able to manage their travel requirements at anytime, anywhere with speed and ease are what these travellers expect.

New possibilities are emerging to integrate various components in the travel value chain and provide genuine end-to-end solutions.