Introducing the Unpacking Travel Podcast

Alison Guillot

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In addition to the variety of resources we’ve published to support the hospitality industry since the start of COVID-19, we are building on the same great content in a brand new format. The Unpacking Travel podcast seeks to broaden our conversations and share even more insight about the industry at large. You’ll hear discussions about what Amadeus is doing to adapt to today’s challenges, advice from industry analysts, trends observed by leaders from around the industry, and much more.

What can you expect to hear and learn about?

Strategic Market Insights: To advise hoteliers on the latest trends and provide actionable takeaways, we consult two Amadeus team members and industry veterans – John Hach, Senior Industry Analyst, and Katie Moro, Vice President of Data Partnerships. As recurring guests on the podcast, they apply their decades’ worth of experience to analyze the latest travel news and trends. One such trend they cover is the shrinking booking window, as more and more travelers are waiting until the last minute – sometimes just 0-7 days – before booking their hotel rooms prior to a trip. This can have profound and lasting implications on hotel revenue and rate strategies unless the property has access to comprehensive, forward-looking market data.

“It’s so important to understand lead times and how your overall performance compares to your competitive set’s future occupancy so you are making very well informed decisions about what is going to be your rate strategy, really in every booking window, but most importantly in that 0-7 day,” said Moro.

 

Industry Thought Leadership: We are excited to have leaders from around the hospitality industry join us on the podcast to share their perspectives and COVID-19 challenges. In a recent episode with Holly Zoba, HSMAI board member and owner of Scout Simply, we chat about the shift to digital selling strategies and how sales teams can stay motivated without human interaction.

“There’s certainly business to be had but it’s not coming in like it was,” said Zoba. “One of the big things that’s transitioned is the way that people buy is online. Sellers should be focused on providing good information and really acting as a valuable trusted business advisor in front of any buying committee.”

 

The Amadeus Vision: In our inaugural episodes we interview the President of Hospitality at Amadeus, Paco Pérez-Lozao, who stressed the importance of supporting customers during this challenging time while innovating towards our larger goal as an organization.

“We need to get out of the traditional way of thinking and tackle complexities,” said Pérez-Lozao. “How can we overcome friction to serve our customers better? We are deep into the airline industry, the car industry, and hospitality. Now how can we connect these islands technologically speaking to offer smoother end-to-end experiences? We need to begin to think about interconnecting these travel ecosystems. One of our aspirations is to do this much better by building a platform that enables powerful and holistic traveler-centric experiences.”

 

 

The Unpacking Travel podcast is focused on delivering you the insights you need to build an effective business strategy as we collectively search for our “new normal.” To browse our current episodes or listen now, visit our library.

 

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