Growth Opportunities for Global Travel and Hospitality Customer Engagement

Growth Opportunities for Global Travel and Hospitality Customer Engagement

Customer service underpins success in the travel and hospitality (T&H) industry. Undoubtedly, more than in any other industry, the voice of the customer expressed in rankings and reviews takes a prominent role.

T&H organizations are streamlining several internal processes (including mobile and digital touchpoints) and empowering customers with automation and self-service solutions since, on average, more than 8 out of 10 hotel bookings are done without human intervention.

Frost & Sullivan recommends that employing virtual assistants, chatbots, user communities, useful FAQs sections, and interactive voice solutions is the place to start, given that one-third of consumers (even more among millennials and Gen Z) prefer to resolve issues themselves. Alternatively, AI and natural language understanding (NLU) technologies can simplify the journey by allowing users to share their intent in just a few words.

Even if T&H businesses are deploying the latest technologies and rationalizing processes, they must focus on employee training and coaching to delight customers and create an emotional connection. How agents behave and perform ultimately determines a company’s relationship with customers. Employee experience and empowerment are paramount to improving CX.

Needless to say, a guest’s first interaction with a location (including hotels and restaurants) is usually digital when exploring options that will meet their requirements. Thus, it is important that T&H organizations use the customer perspective to evaluate how their business or property is presented in the digital marketplace.