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Summer lessons, holiday season predictions

The season of endless vacation requests. The return of the roaring ’20s. The era of revenge travel. The age of vacci-cations. However you like to refer to the industry’s current recovery phase, there’s no doubt about it, travel and leisure are bouncing back.

Contributed by Geoff Ryskamp, vice president, sector head – Retail & Hospitality, Medallia Hospitality, San Francisco

And today’s top-performing travel and hospitality brands are achieving success during this summer’s travel boom – while also planning for growth during the upcoming holiday travel season ahead – by doing these five things to drive loyalty, repeat bookings and overall customer lifetime value.

#1: Optimize the guest experience based on a journey-based customer view

Hospitality and travel organizations’ customer experiences are made up of the totality of customer interactions with their brands. Unfortunately, however, many companies are set up in ways that create siloed views of the customer experience, with one department managing the company’s website, often a separate team overseeing operations, and still other groups may be responsible for the call center, mobile apps, and working out in the field.

When that’s the case, these disparate groups only end up seeing their own piece of the guest journey, maximizing solely for that specific experience.

The guest, on the other hand, doesn’t know or care what department they’re interacting with. If they encounter a challenge during the search and discovery phase while visiting a brand’s website, for instance, that carries over to the rest of their journey — on into the physical stay. Similarly, issues that come up on site fuel contact center calls post-stay.

While many organizations lack this essential cohesive, journey-based view and are unable to understand what’s happening at every step of the guest experience, many top-performing companies, however, have systems and organizational workflows in place to break down these silos and measure how different touchpoints along the journey are impacting customer loyalty.

#2: Create a seamless cross-channel experience, bridging the gap between digital and in person

Retailers pioneered in this area right from the start of the pandemic, working to ensure a seamless experience between buying online and picking up in store.

And some savvy hospitality companies are capturing digital signals to hear from customers in real time about what information they need upfront on travel websites to be informed enough to successfully complete transactions. This feedback loop is enabling brands to not only help customers book with confidence; it’s also enabling both digital and operations teams to listen directly to customers.

In a world where most brands are increasingly becoming distribution platforms, empowering customers to book stays, experiences and more on their websites and apps, this capability is all the more important. Otherwise, companies risk creating gaps between guest expectations and the reality of the guest experience.

#3: Use real-time insights to recognize and respond to shifting customer behavior and loyalty, in the moment

Before the current vaccine rollout, innovative properties were able to make some really interesting rapid changes at the start of the pandemic based on listening to and learning specifically from customers about their individual preferences for safety and cleanliness. While social distancing and cleaning protocols may no longer be the top topics of the day, prioritizing understanding and responding to changing customer needs and behaviors in the moment – through feedback – is still something that can set brands apart.

Innovative companies are leveraging timely insights to adapt their product offerings to meet the moment. Some brands have evolved to find the new work-from-anywhere business traveler wherever they are, offering more flexible travel dates and incentives to extend their stay beyond the weekend, using simple 1:1 messaging with guests while they’re on property, sending a note like: “We really enjoyed having you here. How about staying another night? Here’s a deal to get you to stick around.”

Others are adjusting their operations based on who’s in house, knowing that different segments take advantage of different amenities.

The strongest performing brands in this space understand what these different segments want and how they behave and are planning their operations according to these segment-level preferences.

One of the pitfalls of the hospitality industry is that we’re trained to look back at past trends. As a result, some are planning for this holiday season by looking back to 2019. But leading companies are differentiating themselves by adopting a forward-looking approach and positioning themselves to respond to customer preferences as they’re happening. Brands that are set up to execute this type of planning are going to be in better shape for the very busy holiday season ahead.

#4: Recognize that today’s leisure travelers are tomorrow’s holiday travelers and business travelers

Guests who are booking leisure travel now will likely be visiting their families – a recent study reports that 71% of respondents plan to travel to visit loved ones they hadn’t been able to see during the pandemic. And this will likely continue through the year. In many ways, the holidays are going to feel a lot like this summer, with travelers taking part in annual traditions with their families for the first time since 2019.

The other important thing for brands to remember is that the leisure traveler who’s dipping their toe in the waters, having their first big vacation since the start of the pandemic over this summer, is often also a business traveler, and business travel is forecast to increase by 66% in 2022.

That’s why getting steps one through three mentioned above right are so important – the impact you have right now across the customer experience can drive customer loyalty, repeat bookings and overall customer lifetime value in the future.

#5: Understand why event planners are (and aren’t) booking

Group business bookings are coming back for the fall.

Winning these transactions requires having a clear understanding of the event planner psyche and what drives buyer – and even more importantly – nonbuyer decision making.

Hospitality and travel organizations who are listening and prioritizing understanding why these planners don’t end up booking have the advantage, especially considering the share that business and group event travel represents within overall industry bookings.

Leaders in the hospitality industry have long been able to stand apart from the competition by being able to understand, anticipate, and cater to guest needs. In the digital age, brands have more data than ever at their fingertips to fine tune this critical skill — and organizations that take a forward-looking approach, rather than simply looking back at past trends, will be best positioned to keep up with changing expectations, moment to moment, whatever the approaching holiday season brings.

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