Using Digital Channels To Calm The Angry Traveler

August 4th, 2009

Henry Harteveldt

With contributors:

Carrie Johnson , Kate van Geldern , Elizabeth Stark

Summary

Travelers are fed up. There are 15% fewer travelers who enjoy using the Web in 2009 than there were in 2007. Just one in three US online travelers feels that travel Web sites do a good job presenting travel choices, down from 39% in 2008. Travelers feel that they, and their business, are taken for granted. To reverse travelers' dissatisfaction and avoid having them abandon the Web in favor of other, more expensive offline channels, travel eBusiness professionals must rethink their approach to travel eBusiness. To reverse this trend and re-engage travelers, travel eBusiness professionals must recognize that travel eBusiness is comprised of four continuous phases — not isolated, unrelated processes — supported by the five pillars of merchandising, context, engagement, value, and customer appreciation. Expect travel eBusiness professionals to be asked to become more involved with customer data strategy and for global distribution systems (GDSes) to evolve into more useful global merchandising systems (GMSes).

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