Throughout the pandemic, the travel industry has yearned for
a return to “normal.” Now, with an impressive global vaccine rollout, loosening
global travel restrictions and a steady increase in daily travelers, the
industry has found a new sense of optimism.
However, as the newly vaccinated
begin to travel again, they are quickly reminded of how much friction there was
in the travel journey prior to the pandemic: long airport layovers, lost
luggage, customs paperwork, prolonged security checks, flight delays and extensive
lines for taxis, to name just a few. This has been exacerbated by COVID-19,
which has added new customer anxieties and concerns, operational complexities
and a variety of government restrictions throughout the travel experience.
Unfortunately, the industry is unfairly bearing the weight
of the post-pandemic travel experience. Governments have been unable to align
on a common framework for cross-border testing and vaccination, and as a result,
airlines are serving as the front-line of interaction with customers.
While shifting
government restrictions are outside of their control, airlines have the
opportunity to work together in solving this critical pain point for the
industry – whether in adoption and improvement of the IATA Travel Pass
initiative, adoption of a third-party framework such as the Vaccine Credential Initiative, or at a minimum, a
common set of standards within the existing alliance partnership programs.
Cross-border certifications are one issue, but the industry must find ways to
work together and remove friction from the traveler experience or customers
will be discouraged from traveling again, shift loyalty and spend elsewhere,
and ultimately, slow down the recovery.
Post-pandemic travel is ripe for disruption
In today’s environment, there are very few industries or
companies that are immune from the threat of disruption. The travel industry is
no stranger to this, as digital-first brands such as Airbnb and Uber have carved
out their own territories in the industry and have some of the largest
valuations in the industry. Major events and disruption are strange bedfellows,
as significant shifts open new opportunities for change.
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Industries that have accepted customer friction as part of
everyday processes are ripe candidates to be disrupted. Disruptors often begin
by seeing a customer problem and relentlessly focus on fixing it. In the
process, they change the industry around them and become irreplaceable to
customers. With so much friction being injected into the post-pandemic travel
experience, the industry is vulnerable as it steps into recovery with the
playbook, infrastructure and technologies of the
past.
At the same time, disruptors find advantage and scale in
technologies that help simplify these problems, creating new value in cost,
convenience or service interaction. While many parts of the world have shut
down over the past year, technology has expedited the pace of innovation.
Customers have gravitated toward contactless technologies,
adopted voice services and are increasingly adopting connected devices and
wearables. Artificial intelligence and machine learning application have accelerated
during the pandemic, unlocking one-to-one personalization and redefining
business processes. Workforce shortages and COVID-19 restrictions have boosted
the use of robotics and automation – with many airports using autonomous
luggage transportation or drones to assist with aircraft inspection.
Of course, these are just a few of the shifts underway as
much of the industry looks forward from the pandemic with both new
opportunities and challenges presented by the technological advancements of the
last year.
“Frictionless” is the key to the post-pandemic
recovery
There are several ways that the travel industry can reduce
friction to create a better customer experience that prioritizes new behaviors
and concerns that emerged during the pandemic.
- Contactless interaction: As customers remain
concerned about touching shared surfaces, technologies like QR codes and
contactless kiosks can be used. Southwest Airlines has been using a new drink
ordering system on flights using QR codes – the customer scans the code to look
up the modified drink menu, selects their drink and holds up their phone or
fingers to indicate their order. AirAsia has also introduced several
contactless procedures for essential travel including contactless kiosks,
Passenger Reconciliation System (PRS), contactless payments at the airport, as
well as enhanced features on its mobile app, Source.In a further example, Marriott recently rolled out a pilot program at select
hotels of contactless arrival kiosks to enable check-in with antimicrobial
technology and UV lights. This is an evolution of their already market-leading experiences,
with mobile check-in and checkout, mobile room keys and mobile service requests
through real-time messaging available through the Marriott Bonvoy app. - Wayfinding and queues: For many, one of their biggest
concerns post-pandemic are crowds and long lines, which are inevitable in
places such as theme parks, casinos and museums. Technologies such as beacons
and IoT can be used to monitor the flow and movement of people, providing ways optimize
operations or monitor distancing measures. Another key tool in mitigating these
points of friction is digital signage that can dramatically update, direct
traffic and provide guests with expectations on wait times. Digital signage can
be paired with mobile apps that provide turn-by-turn directions and interactive
maps or allow unique branded moments with applications such as augmented
reality or in combination with existing loyalty programs.In order to help with
long lines, virtual queuing can be implemented, and all of these technologies
will become increasingly more prevalent as new internet technologies, such as
5G, continue to scale. For example, Universal Studios has been using a virtual
line system that allows guests and others in their party to schedule a time to
go on specific rides, eliminating the congested queues of pre-COVID times. - Pre-trip planning and pre-arrival: As consumers
navigate the world of post-COVID travel, they are still unsure about constantly
changing rules and restrictions in destinations. For many, Google Search is the
first place they go when trying to find information about what they can and
cannot do on their post-pandemic trip, and as a result the most popular queries
related to “travel” are questions about “travel restrictions” or “COVID tests.”
Google Travel has been a leader in responding to this, as it integrates
localized information from a variety of sources into the pre-trip experience.
Google has been continually expanding its features set, such as COVID-19 alerts
next to hotels and flights to let customers know if that location requires
proof of vaccination or quarantining.To respond to the shift toward
road-trippers last year, Google integrated helpful safety alerts into Google
Maps to help travelers with cross-border checkpoints and restrictions. These
are just a few of the examples where Google has responded to new post-pandemic
points of friction and gone beyond the static pre-arrival email in assisting
travelers. - Biometric identification and health checks: For those
who have traveled internationally post-pandemic, many recall the new protocols,
checkpoints and forms as a series of new bottlenecks, contributing to
longer wait times, added operational costs and ultimately added stress for
travelers.Many leading travel companies have started to test and deploy new technologies
such as facial recognition, and health screening tools such as thermal cameras can
help to expedite traffic flow. Miral, the company behind landmark developments
and destinations such as Abu Dhabi’s Yas Island recently announced its
cutting-edge FacePass initiative that will see theme park guests able to access
the parks and attractions and make payments using facial recognition as well as
other methods, including mobile. This is facilitated by the Yas Island mobile
app and linked to the island’s parks and attractions’ ticketing systems and
turnstiles, which will allows guests contactless access at points of entry and
contactless payment via facial recognition across select retail and dining
outlets.Airports have accelerated their
adoption of temperature scanning technologies, in an attempt to monitor and
slow the spread of the virus. In Dallas,
London, Cancun and others, the airports have tested facial recognition thermal imaging technology to monitor temperatures of people as they flow
through the airport and security.
The pandemic has clearly accelerated the adoption and use of
technology in a variety of industries and has a vital role to play in getting
the world to travel again. However, it is important that travel companies not
try to use solutions to find problems, and rather to focus on ways they can
improve the customer experience.
The
travel industry should not consider a return to normal but rather rebuild itself
with the future in mind. As we emerge
from the crisis, consumers will increasingly be more willing to adopt
technology solutions that ultimately save them money, time or friction and will
shift brand loyalty to companies that seamlessly combine these physical and
digital interactions. Adopting such technologies will not only help regain
consumer confidence but will ultimately mean the difference between a slow or
elastic recovery for the industry.
David Taylor is global strategy and consulting lead, travel
& hospitality industry at Publicis Sapient.
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