Sabre takes a journey into the future

Eric Hallerberg, Sabre’s managing director UK & Ireland, and fellow industry experts speaking at Travel Technology Europe (TTE), discuss how the industry can work together to provide seamless, personalised and contextualised travel experiences 

The recent Travel Technology Europe (TTE) event saw travel technology provider Sabre focus on the theme of transformation.

On day one of the event (February 24), Sabre’s managing director UK & Ireland, Eric Hallerberg, led a panel discussion entitled ‘The journey to the future: How does the travel industry actually get there?’

Sabre brought together experts from across the travel spectrum to discuss what moves the travel industry needs to make now in order to reach to this promised future, and how it can turn emerging trends and nascent technology into action today.

“It’s a future where travel is a truly seamless, personalised and offers contextualised experiences, opening up endless possibilities for both travellers and the industry,” said Hallerberg.

“But in order to make this transformation, we need to work together now to address challenges faced today across the entire travel value chain.”

The panel featured Paul Wait, CEO, Guild of Travel Management Companies (GTMC); Monica Stott, founder of top 10 UK travel blog, The Travel Hack; Joanne Thompson, CEO of mobile solutions developer Penrillian; and Andy Owen Jones, CEO of travel technology firm BD4Travel. Each provided insight into what transformations were either taking place, or needed to take place, to cater to future traveller demands.

Stott revealed she travelled extensively and used her mobile phone “non-stop for various purposes” throughout her journey.

She said she didn’t mind sharing personal information if it meant she received targeted personalised offer that would make her travel experience easier.

“I wish there was an app that could bring everything together into one place and suggest things for me based on my preferences and personal information,” she said.

“For example, I want my technology to suggest what car I should rent, what excursions I should book and what hotel I should try. I’d love it if technology could predict what I need and then book it for me.”

Thompson stressed the challenges the travel industry faced in keeping up to speed with technology evolution and therefore the traveller’s online behaviour and demands.

“Technology is now moving at such a rapid pace, by the time something has reached the market, newer technologies are already in development,” she said.

“This leaves large and non-specialist organisations at a huge disadvantage when they attempt to develop and innovate alone. Investing in proprietary technology for your own use should be viewed as a thing of the past.”

The key to staying ahead of the game, said Thompson, was to become part of a “community of users” and “leveraging good partnerships to implement up-to-the-minute technologies that can deliver against strategic objectives”.

“This enables companies to focus on developing their own product offerings, brand and differentiators while using partners to obtain products and services outside of their core expertise,” she explained.

The key was for travel firms to view technology as a “facilitator to their deliverable, rather than a deliverable in itself”, she added.

Jones highlighted the urgent need for personalisation, stressing that travel sites need to “start understanding their users as individuals, not as averages, segments or personas”.

“No one likes to be treated as an average and price changes or non-availability or wrong offers don’t happen to averages, they happen to individuals,” he said.

“To offer the right thing to the right person requires a commitment to understanding what each individual wants. The upside for travel sites is that it is easier to close the sale if you have put the right thing in front of a customer”.

Wait urged TMCs to get themselves up to speed with travel technology and how their corporate clients use it to manage their travel plans.

“As technology advances, TMCs should look to automate more elements of the booking process,” he said.

“This is critical as it will enable them to invest more of their time in delivering expertise and newly designed products and services, extending and innovating their businesses.”

In an interview with TDUK following the TTE panel session, Hallerberg outlined his thoughts on what emerging technologies could eventually impact the travel industry.

He tipped wearable devices with voice recognition as one technology to watch, with travellers using them to make or change travel bookings, for example.

But smartphones will remain the most popular mobile device travellers use, he said, because “we all have a serious personal relationship with our phones and they know everything about our behaviour”.

“The industry needs to invest in mobile in order to communicate with its customers,” he said. “If they want to book on their mobile, you need to offer that.”

The travel industry should also look to other sectors such as retail for examples of personalisation best practice, said Hallerberg.

“You need to give clients options that suit their preferences – a compelling and relevant offering,” he said. “We’ve been cross-selling and upselling for years, but now you need to do that via mobile devices.”