3 keys for resilience in travel and hospitality 

HITTING ROADBLOCKS

The travel, transportation, and hospitality (TTH) industry has always been sensitive to economic downturns and geopolitical and natural events.

The way travel came to a halt at the peak of Covid-19 lockdowns highlighted the need for the industry to build resilience. TTH organizations must prioritize digital-driven business transformation programs to solve some of the challenges they face.

• Shifting customer base and needs: Traditionally, business travel has been a major contributor to the TTH economy. But business travel was hard-hit during the pandemic, with spend falling 52% in 2020, according to this report. While the sector is yet to fully rebound from that low, we are seeing a growing trend of people combining business and leisure travel, leading to an amalgamation of customer needs.
• Workforce shortage and rising labor cost: ‘The Great Retirement’ triggered by the pandemic has resulted in significant labor shortages across TTH industries. Rebuilding the workforce to pre-pandemic levels is going to take substantial time, effort, and investment in finding the right talent and training.
• Supply chain issues: We have seen how the lack of digitalization and dependence on traditional business operating model (think just-in-time inventory) impacted the global supply chain and had a cascading effect. For instance, a microchip shortage hit automobile manufacturing and subsequently the car rental industry.
• Macroeconomics: Macroeconomic factors, including fluctuating oil/energy prices due to geopolitical instability and concerns around sustainability, are some of the other factors impacting TTH industries. 

Each of these challenges demands digitalizing and transforming existing business models and processes from the bottom up. We suggest TTH companies consider the following approaches.

BUILD BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE

Make the most of technology to become data-driven, intelligent businesses.

Companies can leverage cloud, data, analytics, AI, automation, and IoT—or a combination of these technologies—to get a 360-degree view of their business, derive contextual insights, enhance customer experience, improve operational efficiencies, and offer more relevant services.

Hotels can elevate the customer experience with dynamic pricing and contactless check-in. Airlines can soar higher with predictive maintenance of their assets and intelligent operations like one of the leading North American airline did. Using an intelligent airline operations solution on cloud, the airline modernized its operations, gained real-time situational awareness of its global operations, and enhanced the flying experience for its customers.

Car rental companies can better manage their fleet and claims, and improve vehicle inspection with a combination of cloud-based connected mobility and machine learning solutions. So can ports get maximum value from their assets with predictive maintenance, while they also improve efficiencies with autonomous operation and terminal operation optimization. Cruise lines can offer more memorable experiences to customers with hyper-personalization and frictionless boarding using AI. And logistics companies can boost supply chain management and demand forecasting with cloud-based supply chain applications.

Data-driven, intelligent business operations are a journey rather than a destination, so continuous innovation and early technology adoption play a key role. The cost, time and complexity involved in data, machine learning, and AI can be managed by leveraging cloud offerings in this space. 

CREATE A CUSTOMER-FIRST CULTURE

Be customer-obsessed, put customers at the heart of your business.

To meet rising customer expectations, companies need to put them at the center of their business ecosystem and collaborate with ecosystem partners or even competitors. Driving a customer-obsessed culture requires greater empowerment at all levels. This is especially true for frontline staff and customer care teams, who are in the best position to drive a “customer-first” culture because of their first-hand understanding of ways to create delight and empathize with customer needs. With the right contextual information and technology for better collaboration among various divisions, employees can be empowered to make better decisions.