At Edit and Kitewheel's customer experience in travel marketing breakfast seminar Edit's Head of Strategy, Toby Brown, discusses a piece of research we recently conducted into the use of technology in the travel sector. He delivers the core insights from the research, looking at how consumers interact with AI when it comes to booking a holiday.

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Customer Experience
in Travel Marketing.

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One consu m e r . One conv e rsat ion . One age ncy .

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The rise of voice.

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Voice 2020.
“50% of all searches will be
voice activated by
2020”**
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21.4m voice assistants in
use*
*Activate**Comscore

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The rise of voice .
It’s estimated that 40% of
adults are using voice
search each day.
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Where voice meets
commerce.
Social Media Today states that
nearly 50% of people are using
voice search when researching
products.
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AI in the travel sector.
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H o w c a n A I b e u s e d t o i m p r o v e c u s t o m e r e x p e r i e n c e s i n t h e t r a v e l s e c t o r ? .

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The research.
- Undertaken to identify the
‘sticking points’ and the
benefits of AI and Tech in
the travel sector.
- Fieldwork details 500
completes 24th – 27th April
2019
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What is A.I?
39% of respondents “know what it
is”…
… but can’t define it
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“Artificial Intelligence can be defined as
self-learning programmes solving
problems. Developments in AI are
enabling computers to make decisions
through interpreting data, text, speech
and images. Chatbots on websites are
an example of AI.”

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The headlines.
- People are still sceptical about
using AI to perform tasks such as
taking payments and making
bookings.
- Concerns about data privacy
sky rocket when personal
information is being
accumulated from multiple
sources.
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R&R
People are happy to use chatbots to research holidays and
receive recommendations

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The benefits.
- Over ½ of surveyed felt
comfortable using chatbots
for holiday searches and 46%
for travel queries.
- Over 1/3 of people have
used a chat bot on site and
found it relevant.
- And 60% found this an easy
process
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When asked about their
holiday booking habits…
60% stated that they booked their holidays online...
… which means 40% don’t.

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The customer journey.
Ok, Google The price is right
In the initial stages there is a
heavy reliance upon Google
when researching destinations.
Sites such as TripAdvisor and
Trivago follow once a
destination has been chosen.

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No reservations?

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The concerns of the
customer.
Our research revealed a number of pain
points when it came to AI:
- Where there are concerns, people are
worried about their ‘gut feelings’
towards AI rather than the facts
- 2/3 of people would be more
concerned about their data security if
speaking to an AI compared to a
human
- Participants become less and less
comfortable with chatbots when we
move from searches and queries to
gathering booking/payments
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The concerns of the customer:

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Summary: 6 key sticking
points:
Overall, there seems to be some hesitation when it comes to the adoption of AI in the travel
sector.
• Awareness of AI
• Discomfort with AI handling more than data
• Data privacy concerns
• Data security worries
• Nervousness about data being accessed
• Inferiority of AI empathy
‘Fear without knowledge’ - our participants are worried about AI.
Limited knowledge on the topic leads to an aversion to it, a degree of uncertainty on how it
can be used and whether it can be trusted.
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What should AI be used for? Our
recommendations.

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AI for recommendations.
- Over 50% of those sampled believed
AI can be used to read and interpret
online reviews and using sentiment
analysis can make a holiday
recommendation.
- But 70% said they would prefer
recommendations from a human.
- The hotel chain Dorchester Collection
recently used AI to analyse guest
reviews to update its breakfast menu
by offering customised options.

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Using AI to keep customers informed.
2/3
Interested in the use of
AI for updates on flight
delays and gate
changes.
More than half
Welcomed the use of AI to
reduce call centre waiting
times.
Over half
Think introducing AI to
handle simple travel
queries is a good idea.

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The “Functional First” Era.
According to the DMA’s
Customer Engagement
research, which brands are
consumers most loyal to?

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Join the Empathy Economy.
- 27 emotions
- A.I is better at recognising them
- Use A.I to augment human skills at key
points of the consumer journey.
- “It's something based on advanced
computer technology that is there to
supplement human activity.”
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The future is personal.
- Customer journeys
- Experiences
- Products
- Content
- Customer service
- Pricing
- Recommendations

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Final thoughts.
- There is a need to implement AI within
customer experience, but you should
tread carefully.
- Potential to boost awareness of how
chatbots can assist customers, and to
explore locations that might not
previously have been considered.
- AI can create more personalised and
frictionless customer experiences – BUT
holidays are deeply personal, so steps
should be taken to ensure that we
don’t get the balance wrong.
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Thank you.
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