When travel resumes, the new currency for loyalty will be trust, says Frank Trampert, managing director & chief commercial officer, EMEA & APAC for Sabre Hospitality Solutions.
“The new currency for loyalty is more around trust. In the past, people would collect points. Now, people want to be reassured that when they arrive, they will be ok and safe onsite,” said Trampert.
Revealing the findings from a recent survey of travel sentiment in Asia Pacific, Trampert said travellers are indicating they have “strong confidence in international branded chain hotels”. The survey results show that of the 57% that usually use branded chain hotels, 86% will continue doing so post-Covid. Of the 43% that patronised other forms of accommodation, 64% say they will now switch to international branded chain hotels.
This sentiment is particularly strong in North Asia, where 72% of respondents indicated that international branded chain hotels will remain their choice post Covid-19.
The biggest reason for this appeared to be trust in the international brands to uphold safety regulations and standards, enhanced sanitation and cleaning procedures as well as use of new cleaning technologies.
Trampert (left) pointed out larger chains like Accor that have taken the lead in the area of creating new standards for cleanliness, partnering with third party experts in this area to put together compelling programmes that they have implemented in their properties.
He also gave a shout out to Singapore who he feels is always “ahead of the schedule”.
“The Singapore government has put health programmes together and expect hotels to comply and has also assisted the industry in thinking through the systems that need to be put in place to make people feel more comfortable,” he added.
It appeared through the survey that travellers are also going to put their trust in travel agents, post-Covid. While the demise of travel agents has long been discussed, this crisis may breathe life back into travel agents. Of those surveyed, 68% said they foresee booking their next holiday through travel agencies to save the hassle of pre-travel research, although the results varied across markets in APAC. In South Asia, 96% of respondents indicated they will book through travel agents, while the figure was even higher in Pakistan, with 100% of respondents surveyed saying they will opt to book through travel agents. In North Asia, 67%of respondents indicated they will book their next trip through travel agents.
“There will be a lot more restrictions in place for travelling – are we going to need health certificates before travel, will you need to quarantine for a certain period of time – and that information can be used as additional value and service that travel agencies provide the traveller,” said Todd Arthur, vice president, Asia Pacific, Agency Sales Travel Solutions, Sabre.
“The travel agency community will play a really critical role moving forward,” Arthur added.
Other key finding related to airlines – travellers perceive air travel to be the riskiest mode of transport. More than a third (37%) of respondents believed air travel posed the highest risk of infection when travelling during the current Covid-19 pandemic, with cruise ships deemed to be the next riskiest mode of transport for travellers in APAC (34%). More women than men deemed air travel to be risky. Out of those saying air travel was the riskiest mode of transport, 62% were female.
However, even though respondents said they thought air travel posed the highest risk, more than half (52%) said they would still travel via air, provided that certain safety measures were put in place. 35% of all respondents said “safe social distancing with empty seats between passengers” was the most important measure to help them to feel safe to travel via air.
Other important measures for potential air passengers were a requirement for all crew members and passengers to wear a face mask, as well as enhanced cleaning for meal trays, seats and lavatories before boarding.
However, even with safety measures in place, 70% of respondents who said they would travel via air would prefer to cancel or reschedule their flight if they were informed that the flight was completely full.
Other observations reflected what industry pundits have been saying: millennials will likely restart travel first and that there is a pent-up demand for travel that will likely be unleashed soon after borders open, and prompted more by safety protocols rather than price.
Some 45% of respondents say they planned to travel within 6 months (following the lifting of relevant travel restrictions). Some 49% of millennials say they would travel within six months.Across all age groups, 11% indicated they would travel immediately after travel restrictions were lifted while 20% said they planned to travel within 1 to 3 months, and 14% said they would travel within a 4 to 6-month timeframe.
Out of the regions in APAC, South Asia has the highest percentage of travellers who indicated that they are keen to travel within a year (73%).
The country with the most positive travel sentiment was Pakistan, with only 10% of travellers saying they aren’t keen to travel soon. Those in Singapore also demonstrated a strong pent-up demand for travel, with just 14% saying they had no plans to travel. 18% of respondents in Singapore said they would travel immediately, with a further 18% saying they would travel within one to three months.
