Redefining the Travel Customer Experience

Summary

Twenty years ago, the advent of the Internet and the browsable web radically transformed the travel industry. Today the industry is being transformed again, this time by mindset. The pressure to attract and retain customers in an ever-more competitive and fragmented landscape grows stronger every day. At the same time, travelers’ evolving expectations, public sharing and communications styles further change the dynamics. The travel industry – and many others – must now meet the customer where and how it matters most, and along the entire spectrum of their journey. The sum total of these interactions, whether interpreted by customers as good or bad, makes up their customer experience. In travel, “customer centricity,” the movement to focus on the customer experience, is no longer a nice-to-have; it’s a must-have.

This paper presents an overview of how and why the traveler’s expectations matter, the process of creating great digitally-transformed customer experiences, and mistakes that should be avoided. It also provides examples of digitally-transformed leisure and business traveler customer experiences, digital transformation leadership requirements, and considerations for the future of the customer experience.