What is search?  It’s a quasi blank page on your screen, with a few graphics and a small field box into which you insert your key words.  The world of search has a lot of similarities across the various geographical markets, yet is also very localized, especially in Asia.

 

A new concept in search today, which is redefining the landscape, is the concept of human powered search utilizing engines such as Facebook and Twitter.  For the first time, these engines allow us to answer the following question:  ‘where should I go next weekend?  I need a little weekend getaway.’

 

In finishing his opening remarks, Timothy Hughes, the blogger behind BOOT – The Business Of Online Travel, explained to us the circular pattern of the modern online traveler.  I’m back >> I dream >> I plan >> I buy & book >> I’m there … we’re all situated somewhere in this circle.

 

Next on stage was Carl Griffith who tells us why he dreams of search.

 

He’s quick to mention that he’s actually dreaming of not searching.  Can’t someone else do most of the searching for us?  Years ago, if you went on a long trip, you would pick up a few travel guides, find the info you were looking for, planned your itinerary and off you went.  Today you have a whole library of information that you have to sift through.  The task can be daunting.  Today’s search functions take you through a funnel effect where we’re taken from inspiration to point of transaction, filtering information for us to bite sized chunks in a matter of minutes.

 

The problem though is that the filtering is done by someone other than you, someone (often an algorithm) who pretends to understand what you’re looking for.  So shouldn’t we be asking our friends for recommendations instead, for they at least know what kind of destinations we’re interested in?  How can we get search to function and think like our friends?  Perhaps the aggregation of info from Google, Facebook, Twitter and Trip Advisor comes closest to our friends’ knowledge of us.  Or perhaps this aggregation knows more about our demands than our friends actually do.

 

This is when all the panelists walked on stage to chime in on their search dreams.  The panelists were:

 

> Martin Symes, CEO, Wego

> Sajith Sivanandan, Head of Travel, Retail & Automotive, Google South East Asia

> Olivier Dombey, Chief Information Officer, Hoteltravel.com

> Wee Hee Ling, CEO, CTC Tourism Holdings

> Hrush Bhatt, Founder & Director, Cleartrip/Small World

> Mark Inkster, Managing Director, Search Alliance, Microsoft

 

Comments at this point turned very technical.  Meta searches, regional variations, processes.  This is when you realize how complicated the technology is behind all these search functions.

 

The fundamental question is how can we help the consumer find what they’re looking for?  The first step would be to start grouping us together before tailoring information to our individual needs.  Most customers don’t have much time to browse the internet.  And given that customers are loyal, if you continuously provide them with the correct search results, once you know their patterns and lifestyles they become fully open to your suggestions and will trust your recommendations.