In the news: Amadeus’ VR booking service, new premium classification for Salam Standard, Qualtrics’ survey on managing traveller experience
TRAVEL TECHNOLOGY: AMADEUS PILOTS FIRST VR TRAVEL SEARCH AND BOOKING SERVICE
The VR way to shop for travel
Navitaire, which Amadeus acquired in January last year, is testing a concept that would allow travellers to shop for and purchase trips with a virtual reality headset.
This is how the VR booking experience works: you spin a globe of the world to select the place you want to travel to, search for a flight and then walk through a plane to select your seat before booking. If you need to rent a car on arrival at your destination you can test-drive a few too – all without leaving VR. (see video below).
It took Justin Wilde, a user experience developer at Navitaire, four months to come up with this VR concept. He was inspired by the notion that as we live in a 3D world we could shop for travel that way too.
“I see a future in which the Internet will be a 3D experience, and everyone will have their own portable 3D headsets. This will be a much more natural experience for us, because the world we live in has three dimensions. I think technology, and the way we design user experience online should reflect that too,” he said.
Amadeus foresees the VR experience to include hotel booking features, and even social functions so the traveller could see where their Facebook friends have been as they spin the globe.
“We’re not just thinking of the next ‘big idea’, we want to execute ideas that help our customers to do things more effectively, more creatively and more easily to deliver value to their business,” said Rashesh Jethi, head of R&D in the Americas for Amadeus.
“Our internal culture of openness and experimentation means we can identify ideas for doing things differently from teams that work day-to-day with customers, and test different ideas across our base, and Justin’s project is a perfect example of that.”
Wilde completed the first booking using his VR search and booking web application on December 31, 2016 in the Navitaire offices in Salt Lake City. For now, it is still in a project phase, with a patent pending.
Navitaire has been providing technology and business solutions to the airline and travel industry since 1993.
HOSPITALITY: SALAM STANDARD ADDS PREMIUM CLASSIFICATION SCHEME FOR MUSLIM-FRIENDLY ACCOMMODATION
New classification scheme for Salam Standard
Salam Standard, a hospitality information tool dedicated to Muslim travellers, has launched what it terms as a “unique” Premium Hotel Classification scheme for Muslim-friendly accommodation.”
Salam Standard said the new system aims to “improve quality standards and transparency for Muslim travellers and enhance the visibility of accommodation that meets their faith-based needs.”
It will also ensure accommodation is assessed and rated in “a fair and objective way”.
The new scheme rates hotels according to four tiers – Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum – based on the number and standard of Muslim-friendly facilities and services they offer.
For example, in Bronze-rated properties all rooms have a shower and toilet or bathtub and toilet, as well as a prayer mat and praying direction (Qibla/Kibblat). Or they are available on request.
All Platinum-rated accommodation is alcohol free, and offers several additional benefits including halal food that is certified by a recognised body.
“The Salam Standard Premium Hotel Classification system sets new standards for Muslim-friendly accommodation across the globe,” said Faeez Fadhlillah, Salam Standard’s co-founder and CEO.
“It cements Salam Standard’s position as the number one go-to resource for Muslim travellers seeking accommodation that is sensitive to their faith-based needs, providing them with complete clarity and assurance on the facilities and services provided.”
He added this four-tier system would simplify the user experience for travellers searching for Muslim-friendly accommodation on Salam Standard or booking it online with sister company, Tripfez.
“It also provides them with clear guidelines on what is offered, safe in the knowledge it has been checked and audited.”
Any licensed accommodation provider can apply online for the new classification.
On acceptance of the application a team from Salam Standard will conduct an audit the property/properties. It will also conduct ongoing inspections of properties awarded the new premium classification to ensure standards are upheld.
Salam Standard was conceived after a survey of 50,000 Muslim travellers to find out what services and amenities were most important to them when travelling. It was launched in October 2015. More than 55,000 hotels are already indexed and display their Muslim-friendly amenities and services.
STUDY: MANAGE TRAVELLER EXPERIENCE TO DELIVER BETTER CUSTOMER SERVICES, SAYS SURVEY
Most travellers want to stay in comfortable, clean hotel rooms. (Image credit: rilueda/iStock)
What are the most important elements that make a positive travel experience?
Answer: Clean, comfortable hotel room is the top criteria with fast baggage pick-up and nonstop flights as the least important factors.
These were some of the findings from respondents in a survey carried out by experience management software firm, Qualtrics, among 1,700 travellers.
Some of the key takeaways:
- 32% of travellers expect hotel and airline brands to respond to their Facebook questions or complaints same day.
- 28% of travellers will drop a hotel or airline brand without notice if they experience a major service failure.
- 60% of hotel guests and 59% of airline passengers like a hotel or airline brand more than before if their problem is quickly resolved
- 71% of hotel guests and 79% of airline passengers blame the hotel or airline if one of their employees provides unfriendly or unhelpful service
“Companies are witnessing what we call an ‘experience gap’, which refers to the gap between the experience that companies believe they are delivering and the experience their customers are actually receiving,” said Bill McMurray, managing director for Asia-Pacific and Japan at Qualtrics.
They need to close this gap “through the use of an experience management solution, which makes it easy to capture, gain insights and take actions from experience data,” he added.
Qualtrics lists the data as operational data ‘O data’ and experience data ‘X data’. The latter is the human-factor data, the beliefs, emotions and sentiments that tell you why things are happening and that help predict what will happen next.
Organisations have only focused on collecting O data, and often fail by not leveraging their X data, said McMurray.
“To address the experience gap, shown in the survey results, the travel industry must improve the level of customer experience they provide. When they are able to do this, they will satisfy and retain their customers, generate increased revenues and grow faster than their competitors.”
• Featured image credit: leolintang/iStock
