Mobile & data: two strategic pieces in the online travel game that C-level execs cannot live without

As the founder of a company that runs 12 conferences a year, Tim Gunstone could justifiably suffer from conference fatigue but sometimes really important insights are uncovered. He shares insights from this week's analytics event in Amsterdam

If a show about analytics sounds like a dry event, that couldn't be further from the truth. Not only did Smart Travel Analytics take place in the vibrant and edgy European city of Amsterdam, but the brainy and the switched on from across the travel industry were present. And trust me, some of the insights to emerge were strategic and revealing!

Between speaking, running mics, battling with audio-visuals, making sure the coffee was hot and the beer was cold – so, no I didn't hear every speaker - this is what I took from the event:

• With soaring mobile usage, data analytics is vital: The days of the Ryanair-style billboard website are over. If you can't provide a contextualised mobile message to your customers, watch the door – it's going to shut on you. The future will see travel companies having to sell core and ancillary products on just three to six phone slots. To secure those all-important conversions you'll need to know how to analyse social, location and transactional data to push the right product to get the sale.
• Mobile has destroyed the direct booking channel for hotels. Figures abounded in Amsterdam, but the scariest was that 60% of the direct channel has been snaffled by mobile savvy OTAs. This could explain why earlier this year Booking.com bought the property management system (PMS) Hotel Ninjas. If this PMS grows and its data is harnessed (and with booking.com's financial clout, that seems par for the course), this could pose a real threat to hotel brands. Do we really want a situation with one such powerful player?

PULL QUOTE: 66% of consumers want you to engage with them on trip

EyeforTravel Mobile in Travel Industry Report 2014

• Travel suppliers have to focus on loyalty and mobile should be at the core of this. Brands seem resigned to the fact that the OTAs are doing such a good job selling travel via mobile, that there is no real reason to put up a fight. What travel suppliers can and must do is to build the relationship after the point-of-sale; the mobile device must be a core part of the service, serving to build consumer trust in the offering. Not only will this help travel suppliers control their supply chain better, it's also the path to financial success. Which brings us to…

...the opportunities: They are huge! Words that stick in my head come from a speaker who caught me as I was rushing out to ensure the beer was cold. "It's time we stopped looking at ancillary as an ancillary," he said. The successful equation will look something like this: Mobile + Real Data Led Customer Insight + On Trip Inventory that's now coming online = A Threesome Made in Heaven (Okay so this was Amsterdam). EyeforTravel research tells at that 66% of you consumers want you to engage with them on trip. So, travel suppliers need to partner with anyone that can provide them with a bookable database of restaurants, pubs, tours, taxis, activities and so on, so they can provide their customer with the services they really need. Lets face it who will the customer trust the most… a faceless OTA or an hotel or airline that keeps them alive, warm and welcome? To be honest, the OTAs may have a head start with data but it's not too late.

All this provides plenty of grist for the next event that I am running on March 2 in conjunction with Mobile World Congress. In Barcelona, one of Europe's most exciting cities, just for a day, 16 board level execs from airlines to hotels, rail companies, metasearch, OTAs, tour operators and AirBnB will meet to discuss the two hottest, industry shaking trends – data and mobile and how the two are intricately linked.

Media Contact

Tim Gunstone

Managing Director [email protected] +44 (0)207 375 7557