In setting up digitaltravel.io, we married our deep travel trade knowledge with our extensive technical expertise to help improve the customer experience precisely because we predicted the way that the sector was moving.
Like almost all industries – the future was being radically reshaped through digital.
Three years on from our inception, we are increasingly seeing bigger steps being taken to improving the impact of customer engagement throughout their journey – from initial inspiration to enduring loyalty. The big question that all travel businesses are wrestling with though, is how to use new digital technologies to sell more holidays, over and over again?
That human touch
The digital revolution is in full swing and will continue to evolve at a rapid pace, but even with the rise and increasing adoption of Artificial Intelligence (AI), don’t be fooled that humans are becoming obsolete.
From AI-powered travel itineraries to VR tours that allow travellers to preview destinations ahead of arrival, tech is transforming the way people plan and experience their trips.
However, travel is one of the few areas where that ‘emotional transaction’ will continue to play a big part, no matter where digital takes us. AI and apps may be convenient, necessary and helpful, but customers still want personalisation, and brands must deliver.
It means that human touch will remain a big part of the customer journey, because there is clear recognition in the market about the need to engage with them in a very personalised way.
Using AI in the right way
The trick will be achieving the right blend of that human intervention and using AI when appropriate at each customer touch point.
The answer is by using the AI tools out there to plug-in to apps and websites to provide the experiential content, pulling ready-made information through for the travel agent to use to burnish their reputation and capture the attention of the customer. That is then elevated by the travel agent’s own personality, namely those ‘lived’ recommendations for the added value that will keep the customer coming back.
That is where we see it playing out and reflects some of the product development that we are doing to use appropriately for our clients.
The bespoke app that we developed, alongside Traveltek, in 2024 for the biggest holiday name on the UK high street, Hays Travel, is proving very successful in helping them to cement their customer relationships and win that brand loyalty.
This centralised, user-friendly platform has streamlined customer experience, enabling users to manage bookings easily, while the interactive features have boosted customer engagement and app adoption. Working with us, Hays now has a roadmap in place for 2025 for further developments and additional functionality that will improve customers’ experience and journey.
Personal AI
Not everyone is as big as Hays Travel of course, others are in different markets or focus on different products and are looking at the general benefit of an app versus other digital channels. To date it has usually been the travel supplier with their fingers on the digital button who have utilised this tech, meaning that it their brand on the smartphone and it is they that have that all-important emotional relationship with the customer.
In 2025, it’s now about travel agents stepping up and looking to have that level of AI-based technology, brand presence and subsequent customer engagement themselves, plus that extra personal polish differentiator based on actual destination experience.
While many travel firms are still not quite sure how to use the technology nor have the expertise to build that app, digitaltravel.io does and knows the opportunities that app and AI tech present to sell more holidays.
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