The weather’s heating up, the sun seems to be always shining – and the ‘out of offices’ are turning on. We’re entering the travel industry’s busiest season – is your business ready to keep up with the mobile-first world?
Today, booking a holiday isn’t as simple as walking into a travel agent’s office, discussing budgets and browsing brochures. No, tech-savvy travellers are now researching reviews, comparing prices and hunting for deals on desktops, laptops and phones – making booking a holiday a 24/7 activity.
With holiday plans just as quick and easy to cancel as they are to book and customers looking for the highest quality customer experience from travel operators, the industry is in need of a digital revolution to tackle empty spaces and retain repeat custom – so we’ve put together our very own travel itinerary…
Click, Book. Click, Cancel.
Few things are more frustrating than unfilled seats and empty hotel rooms during the peak summer season. In order to encourage bookings, a flexible cancellation policy is key – but it does have its downside, leading to last minute cancellations.
Be A Traveller’s Best Friend
Once a holiday is booked, customer relationships can be enhanced by sending updates about their trip. There’s a whole host of useful updates which can be communicated to travellers: weather updates from their holiday destination; any roadworks near the airport, station or port which might affect their travel times; or the availability of nearby parking.
The Forgotten Ticket Panic
Passport – check. Local currency – check. Sun cream – check. Boarding pass – damn. It could be that customers forget to print passes in the excitement of the upcoming trip, or even that they printed them so far in advance, that by the time it comes to leave they’re at the back of the mind. The disappointment and panic that ensues when customers realise that they’ve forgotten their boarding pass can risk tainting the start of their holiday.
Keeping On Time
Whilst holidays are the highlight of everyone’s calendar, travelling can be an undeniably stressful time. Working back from departure times, allowing for any security checks, to check in, to parking, to leaving the house – all this planning can make you need a whole other holiday!
The Solution? A Simple SMS
Sending an SMS alert can help fill empty spaces. From plane seats, to ferry cabins to hotels rooms, bargain-hunters can snap up a deal in real time. After booking, sending customers SMS updates about their destination will help build excitement and, in turn, business relationships and brand loyalty.
As it gets closer to departure times, travel businesses can send links to itineraries detailing all the crucial timings in one place, at the tap of a screen. With customers knowing exactly where they should be and when, this should make the boarding process much smoother – decreasing the likelihood for final calls.
Finally, never again will customers be filled with the cold dread that sweeps through their body as they realise they forgot their boarding pass in the rush to lock up the house to get to the airport – not with mobile tickets, at least. Travellers can rest at ease in the knowledge that their online boarding pass will always be on hand on the one thing they’re never going to forget – their mobile phone.
Filled seats and stress-free travellers? Sounds like a dream trip to us – get in touch if you’d like to find out more.
