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| Peronalised Cabins? I'll take this one thanks! (Image courtesy http://www.elakiri.com/forum/showthread.php?t=611197 - a cool trip through the 8 most luxurious aircraft cabins in the world.) |
First of all, I just wanted to thank everyone for reading and commenting on last week's Blogalogue regarding consolidation in global corporate programs. We'll keep that topic alive and well, as just because we have a new topic to tackle this week doesn't mean you can't still weigh in on last week's.
In keeping with the thought-provoking approach in the new look Cafe, I turned my attention this week to a hefty tome just released by Amadeus, in conjunction with Oxford Economics. The report, titled "The Travel Gold Rush 2020" is quite an interesting read, as it attempts to project trends and changes in the travel industry over the coming decade. I always find these reports fascinating to read through, as they invariably fall into a blatant promotion for whatever product/service the sponsoring organisation is fostering, or it's a thoughtful and useful review which just happens to be sponsored by an organisation who has parallel interests. Thankfully this one falls into the latter.
Although more oriented towards leisure and online travel, there was a very interesting theme throughout the report which has potential significant implications for corporate travel. And that is the idea that in the near future, air travel especially will see traditional classes (ie - First, Business, Economy, etc.) be replaced by "virtual classes." According to the report, "The future of the aircraft cabin is set to go through significant changes as customers are able to share their preferences with airlines and the airlines will be expected to meet their individual needs leading to the decline of traditional travel classes." The report later goes on to say that "In reality, what is likely is that traditional airline class structures will break down and there will be a multiplicity of travel classes in the near future."
Although I'm not altogether surprised by this prediction, from a corporate buying perspective it could prove worrisome. On the former, I'm not surprised by it as the individualisation of traveller needs and related product offerings is just a sign of the times. The "I want it now" generation coming up through the ranks demands smart phones with an infinite number of configurations to make it their own, websites and social networks with robust profile tools to allow for maximum individualisation, and an almost daily launch of travel websites devoted to allowing you to "book your travel your way."
On the latter, corporate buyers already faced with ancillary fee charges, travel application download costs, and new pricing schemes like dynamic hotel pricing are now faced with travellers who may (if you believe the Amadeus/Oxford predictions) ask for the airlines to create their own cabin class. How much will THAT privilege cost, I wonder? And will it be in policy?
Regardless of whether you believe this "personal cabin" will be a reality or not, if you are a buyer of corporate travel the message here is that if you're not already thinking about managing the growing personalisation of your company's travellers - you'd better start. And next week I'll have some suggestions on how to do this in Part 2 of this blog.
In the meantime - what do you think? Do you think travellers are headed down a no-going-back road to individual freedom of choice for business travel, or will the company win out as they do today via standardised program design? Not to worry - the Barista still makes all his shots of travel advice to order....
Personalisation of travel cabins is all fair and well, but TMCs & the technology they use having the ability to support this need? Now that's a whole different question!
ReplyDeleteAs airlines further segment their service offering it's clear that in the internet age we are lacking a standard for the loading and distribution of this content, and why would the airlines work with the GDS on a standard when they can segment their offering via their website, provide an API link, and push back on the booking tools to do the rest. Case in point - Air New Zealand, product launched in March, it's now October, and whilst local booking tools have managed to develop the necessary functionality to support this new, more "personalized offering" their US counterparts are lagging behind, significantly.
As this segmentation evolves, booking tools with global reach & limited resource will struggle to develop & maintain links across the globe to support this new personalized content. And local providers will no doubt become popular for being first to market with new development however as they become more popular and grow, they could find themselves in much the same position!
- TMC Online Product Manager
You are quite right that although the airlines' onboard products may evolve, the technology often doesn't evolve at the same pace, does it? Both GDS providers and online booking / online travel agency sites also will struggle with this concept, as I'm sure no two carriers will do this personalisation concept the same.
ReplyDeleteKurt, interesting topic (and thanks for plugging the report from my employer) - if fact, that is how I found came across your blog for the first time. No doubt at all that personalisation is becoming much more important in travel, and whilst I'm not sure the 3 (now 4) cabin classes will disappear, you are already seeing new quasi-classes with the sale of exit row seats, and quite possibly in future more seats will be sold according to the desirability of the individual seat characteristics, creating even more quasi cabin classes.
ReplyDeleteGood comment also from the earlier anonymous person on this post.
Hi Martin, thanks for discovering the Cafe and hope you become a regular! You're quite right that the idea of personalised cabins (and the associated level of fare cost) are already here today. It certainly then begs the question- if these personalised products are going to be the norm, are the airlines going to work collaboratively with the broader distribution / travel industry technology world to ensure full adoption of these services? Or will (to Anonymous' points) it end up being "here's my new product set which is available on my website, everyone else just has to figure it out on their own or not sell our product"? Interesting times ahead!
ReplyDeleteKurt, I think it is going to be really interesting to see how much influence the much discussed generation Y (or I want it all my way now generation) will actually influence how things work. Whilst I accept that most people like to have the same tools, technology and choice in the corporate travel world as they do for their leisure travel; I think that the managers of generation y for some time to come will not bend to their every whim. In the end for business travel it will come down to overall productivity. I see a future not too far ahead where the power will return to the corporation when it comes to travel policy. Whichever way you look at it though, mobile services are going to underpin so much of what happens with distribution of product and managenet of policy and information to travellers.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comments - one question that comes to mind, however, is what happens when the travel buyer/manager is actually a member of Gen Y themselves? Do you see them attempting to make radical changes due to the technological and social habits of this generation, once they are in an ownership role of travel within a company?
ReplyDeleteAh yes, now we are looking 5-10 years into the future. Really hard to comment on that given that 5 years ago mobile phones were sometimes used to make calles whilst travelling and not much else. The technology world is moving so quickly. I do think it is fair to assume that when generation y is in control things will change. They may also find a new level os responsibility that they were not familiar with before that makes havin exaclty what they want that much harder to achieve
ReplyDeleteThanks Anon for the comments - I certainly am not professing to be an expert on Generations (corporate travel is hard enough!) but no matter what opinions you have about Gen Y vs. Gen X and so on, certainly we are in for a fair bit of cultural and sociological shifts over the next decade!
ReplyDelete