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Unlocking an exceptional customer experience is critical to success in any industry, but especially in the dynamic world of travel. According to an expert at Saber, the key to making this happen is embracing innovative technologies that facilitate seamless collaboration and integration across the industry to create memorable journeys for travelers.
“When we look at customer experience in other industries, we see that they do a better job of understanding customer expectations and delivering on those expectations. There is a huge opportunity in the travel industry to leverage technology to provide consumers with a smart retail experience,” said Saber Global Agency Sales and said Andy Finkelstein, senior vice president of delivery.
Recently, Finkelstein spoke about smart retail and travel trends shaping travel during a panel discussion at the Arab Travel Market (ATM) 2023 in Dubai titled “Key Trends Affecting Travel to 2023 and Beyond.”
Speaking of TTN Ahead of the conference, he said: “We think Saber can lead the market for personalized travel by partnering with suppliers like airlines, hoteliers, car rental companies, and a community of buyers including travel agencies, whether it’s online travel agencies ( OTA) or travel management company (TMC) or company, all for the benefit of the consumer. With our solutions and technology, we aim to work together across the entire travel ecosystem to bring better benefits to consumers. the result of.
“Collaboration is critical to the industry, and as part of the Travel Tech Theater, we can share the stage with our partners, discuss insights and trends, and collaborate to move the industry forward. In terms of interactions with customers and potential customers, the past three days have been The performance at the ATMs has been excellent,” he said.
Excerpt from the interview:
What is Smart Retail?
Smart retailing is about understanding your customers and presenting them with a curated set of offers tailored to them. It involves understanding the context of their journey, including their travel history, preferences, loyalty programs, and what they want to accomplish. Smart retail simplifies the booking process by providing a limited number of easy-to-understand options. Plus, it offers suggestions for things to do while traveling, like booking shows or dinner reservations. The goal is to elevate the traveler experience and allow providers to offer trips and experiences that meet their customers’ needs. As a traveler, you get a curated range of deals that you think are just for you, and that you’re confident are worth the money.
The next key component is an easy booking process. Take Apple for example – when you browse their products, there are only a few options to choose from, which makes it easy to understand and book your purchase efficiently.
Another important aspect is how we enhance your travel experience when you arrive at your destination. For example, if you’re in New York City, how can I provide you with additional retail opportunities, such as venue-specific show tickets or dinner reservations? These extras can enhance your experience and allow travel suppliers to sell you a destination. These improvements are not limited to leisure travel, but can also be applied to the corporate travel experience.
How do you think the industry can work together to improve the travel experience?
Deliver what the industry is talking about and what travelers are looking for—a personalized experience! One of the challenges of travel is that there are multiple parties involved in delivering the experience in addition to the provider who ultimately handles the operation or fulfillment. If you’re booking travel, whether it’s for business or leisure, the experience goes from the inspiration you’re shopping for, through the booking process, to the gratification of actually consuming that part, until you get home — all of which are impacting the overall travel experience , especially destination activities. So how we approach these things to provide a seamless experience for travelers is critical.
I think vendors are trying to improve their products, but there are many ways the industry can collaborate in different areas. For example, if an airline’s schedule is disrupted, how does a hotelier know this and accommodate latecomers? Or maybe you came back late at night without dinner and they can arrange a meal for you? There are many ways we can look at the industry as a whole and illustrate how we should be sharing data or thinking about the end-to-end traveler journey.
What are the challenges of implementing new technologies in the tourism industry? How can Saber help?
Compared to other retail experiences where a consumer goods company may have end-to-end delivery of products, the travel industry is a more complex and fragmented ecosystem that relies on multiple parties. Collaboration between all these parties is critical, and as a technology provider we play a key role in facilitating this collaboration. However, technology, operational processes and other content in the technology stacks and internal systems of these ecosystem providers will be affected.
Ultimately, collaboration is key, and we’re passionate about helping to facilitate it. We put the traveler in the middle of everything we do and work towards the end by understanding what suppliers are trying to achieve, the impact on our agency partners and companies, and the end states and goals we are all striving to achieve Goal reached.
Can you tell us more about the importance of participating in ATMs and Saber’s growth ambitions in the Middle East?
Getting to the ATM is really important to us. This is a rapidly growing market and one of our key growth areas. We’ve been in this market for a long time and we see a lot of investment and growth ambition here. We are working with our customers and partners to help them digitally transform and stay ahead of technological developments.
As technology evolves, what changes do you think we will see in the industry in the next five years?
Five years is a long time horizon for forecasting, but we’re seeing the pace of change accelerate rapidly with things like artificial intelligence. I think we’re going to start seeing an evolution of search driven by tools like ChatGPT. We have embedded artificial intelligence into many of our products, which allows us to better understand our customers and provide them with relevant services to make their journey smoother.
How can Saber help the industry grow more sustainably?
Sustainability is becoming more and more important and we believe sustainable and responsible brands will be successful in the future. One way we help is by providing buyers and travelers with the right information. We run a marketplace business, and it’s about providing choice. There are different preferences for how buyers want to think about sustainability, and we want to allow customers to choose and bring them to our point of sale or through our API in a way that informs travelers and allows them to make an informed decision. – TradeArabia News Service
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