Personalising the travel experience for consumers when it comes to booking is essential, however, fears over data sharing across sectors is hampering development, key industry players warn.
The future of data sharing was debated at Travelport’s recent The Future of Travel Retail conference, where speaker Anand Lakshminarayanan, senior vice president, revenue optimization at Emirates, said: “Data sharing is important to try and give customers what they want.”
Consumers’ privacy fears and reluctance among travel players to share information are hampering travel development
He noted that in aviation, there has been a recent shift from price for seats to price for the customers. This can be seen in the introduction of bundle packages tailor-made for passengers.
“To achieve this, we need to know all of the information and data about that customer. This information also helps us to serve those customers during disruptions, like we’ve seen for the last two years,” he added.
Lakshminarayanan said the challenges caused by pandemic-induced flight cancellations, border closures and other rapidly-changing restrictions were further enhanced for the airline as they often only had agents’ details and not passengers’. This made it difficult to directly communicate and offer top-notch customer service during stressful times for passengers.
Raj Patel, chief operating officer at Sky Bird Travel & Tours, said trust was an issue, with customers reluctant to share their data. “Airlines and other travel operators want to understand their customers but more than 70 per cent of passengers don’t believe their data helps us.”
Fears over privacy is a huge hurdle that needs to be overcome. Lakshminarayanan said: “This is a big responsibility. We need to make it a priority to protect customers’ data and give them absolute confidence that their data is safe with us.”
Sharing data among travel sectors would also vastly improve the travel experience for consumers. Jennifer Catto, Travelport’s CMO, said it is essential the industry moves towards a more collaborative model to offer more personalised and seamless experiences.
However, she noted hesitancy. “There is a reluctance to share information for fear of competition, despite the fact everyone knows it would be for the best. I think this will continue to be a discussion that evolves.”
Personalising the travel experience for consumers when it comes to booking is essential, however, fears over data sharing across sectors is hampering development, key industry players warn.
The future of data sharing was debated at Travelport’s recent The Future of Travel Retail conference, where speaker Anand Lakshminarayanan, senior vice president, revenue optimization at Emirates, said: “Data sharing is important to try and give customers what they want.”
He noted that in aviation, there has been a recent shift from price for seats to price for the customers. This can be seen in the introduction of bundle packages tailor-made for passengers.
“To achieve this, we need to know all of the information and data about that customer. This information also helps us to serve those customers during disruptions, like we’ve seen for the last two years,” he added.
Lakshminarayanan said the challenges caused by pandemic-induced flight cancellations, border closures and other rapidly-changing restrictions were further enhanced for the airline as they often only had agents’ details and not passengers’. This made it difficult to directly communicate and offer top-notch customer service during stressful times for passengers.
Raj Patel, chief operating officer at Sky Bird Travel & Tours, said trust was an issue, with customers reluctant to share their data. “Airlines and other travel operators want to understand their customers but more than 70 per cent of passengers don’t believe their data helps us.”
Fears over privacy is a huge hurdle that needs to be overcome. Lakshminarayanan said: “This is a big responsibility. We need to make it a priority to protect customers’ data and give them absolute confidence that their data is safe with us.”
Sharing data among travel sectors would also vastly improve the travel experience for consumers. Jennifer Catto, Travelport’s CMO, said it is essential the industry moves towards a more collaborative model to offer more personalised and seamless experiences.
However, she noted hesitancy. “There is a reluctance to share information for fear of competition, despite the fact everyone knows it would be for the best. I think this will continue to be a discussion that evolves.”