Globalization, cost pressures, and digital technology are revolutionizing both consumer demand in tourism and how products and services are delivered.
The industry must transform how it conducts business to meet shifting customer expectations while keeping operations lean. The leading players combine a deep understanding of international markets and modern consumers, including how to build customer loyalty with innovative digital strategies. Companies should also be on the lookout for profitable collaboration opportunities.
As digital disruption gives more power to consumers, companies in the lodging industry are being challenged to adapt to new market realities.
:China’s rapidly growing travel market offers enormous opportunities for players that can build their brands and gain the loyalty of Chinese travelers. The path to success in China involves identifying the most profitable segments of the market and understanding the country’s unique travel needs.
Mobile is just getting moving. According to TripAdvisor’s most recent Trip-Barometer survey, 4% of travelers worldwide now book their trips using mobile devices. The percentage is higher in many emerging markets, where mobile technology is leapfrogging PC-based access.
While most travel companies recognize the rapid ascent of mobile, they’ve yet to develop a full understanding of its reach and impact. Mobile rearranges the relationship between a travel company and its customers, much the way the original wave of digital disruption did, scrambling established patterns of behavior in different phases of the travel journey.
Companies in the global lodging industry that collaborate with their owner-manager partners to provide a high-quality experience will win the battle for more customers and higher rates. The delivery of brand basics is critical to the customer value proposition.
The value of a loyalty program can be determined by its “loyalty margin”: the benefits that the program offers to customers relative to the cost of those benefits to the company. The design of a rewards program can have a substantial impact on three critical factors: loyalty margin, incremental share, and program size. These three factors can be calculated in the following ways: