According to FinancesOnline research, 71% of the participating organizations and leaders perceive Artificial intelligence as a game-changer.
Precisely for this reason, a growing number of companies have implemented (or plan to implement) such technologies with the expectation to take advantage of the essential business benefits it provides.
In fact, AI has the potential to assist almost every aspect of the business management process: from marketing campaigns and customer service to operational decision-making and cost optimization.
Even though at first glance artificial intelligence is not commonly related to the travel industry in particular (instead, it's a popular choice in warehousing and industry 4.0), it can be implemented in very smart ways and as a result, has the potential to offer high-value benefits in terms of different business management aspects.
Now let's see how the benefits of AI impact the management decisions and processes:
Digital user experience
Interesting statistics show that, on average, 57% of users wouldn't recommend a business with a website, which is not designed to be user-friendly enough. And according to Google, 61% of the users are unlikely to return to a website, which troubles their "surfing" experience.
As a result, experts claim that UX and attractive layout design are key factors to attract, engage, and retain clients.
Artificial intelligence learns from the interactions with customers on the website, as well as from their digital experience. This way, it gives data-driven insights about possible website optimizations and helps to provide better digital and customer experience, engage the prospects, and optimize the flow of customers in the digital channels of the company.
For example, a travel business entity may use AI for changing the process of online booking with a purpose to make it more simple and easy to be followed. This can be achieved by understanding which step of the process is troubling, which are the most clickable buttons and search fields, and which step is trammeling for the prospects and make them lose interest.
Personalization
In travel and hospitality, customization of offerings, marketing content, promotional messages, and services is crucial because of the evolving customers' requirements and expectations. Personalization is a must for effectively using the interests, likes, and preferences of the prospects to engage them and persuade them to become our customers.
Artificial intelligence technologies track the buying behavior of our clients, taking into account past purchases and bookings, as well as related preferences. Such historical data gives a competitive advantage to the business entities to offer tailored services and products.
For airlines, this gives a great opportunity to target clients with relevant offers, achieve a more narrow segmentation process, adopt dynamic pricing policy, give timely discounts and send alerts when "favorite destination routes" are on sale.
What is more, AI enables companies to give relevant and personalized recommendations about new travel destinations, experiences, and means of transport, according to the past buying behavior of the customers.
This way, travel businesses enhance CX and satisfaction and motivate better engagement and loyalty in the long run.
Predictive analytics
Faulty demand forecasts are a big enemy of travel companies, as they lead to capacity issues and eventual financial losses.
AI technologies learn the patterns of demand and provide businesses with continuously self-improving automated demand-projecting algorithms based on the collected high-quality data.
Such trustworthy systems enable travel companies to make conscious decisions and achieve constant optimization of capacity: that's usually done by price changes or the creation of distinct offers.
For example, an airline company can use AI insights to achieve a fully booked flight by offering cheap tickets for basic service. This way, the particular plain will operate at optimal capacity, and the business entity will prevent disruptions related to poor occupancy, such as changed flight dates or canceled routes.
Customer service chatbots
The quality of customer service, which supports the buying process and the aftercare, is crucial for achieving high-grade CX, positive brand image, and high-rated reviews.
In that sense, clients significantly benefit from automated customer service, in terms of chatbots. Such AI technologies ensure the acquisition of competitive advantage by providing instant solutions to issues such as basic or frequently asked questions: "How much baggage can I take?", "When should I leave for the airport," "What is the arrival time of my flight at the end destination?", etc.
This way, chatbots reduce the time for receiving a comprehensible answer or help, compared to employee-based service. Besides, as nowadays, clients perceive “time” as a key variable, which shouldn't be wasted, chatbots offer 24/7 service availability. This means that customers receive high-quality support, care, and attention, even off-working hours and without the need of extra-working employees.
Revenue optimization
Another crucial aspect of business management is the maximization of profits. Artificial intelligence systems and algorithms have the potential to effectively assist by optimizing sales rates and reducing unnecessary or excessive costs.
In fact, all the benefits of artificial intelligence mentioned in this article together contribute not only to higher-grade business management but also to increased financial performance with enhanced end-result profits.
AI helps travel companies to deeply engage with their clients, provide them with better recommendations, products, and services, and increase the sales rates on a monthly and quarterly basis. Because happy clients equal better reputation, higher demand, and more purchases.
At the same time, those smart technologies manage to give travel businesses insights about cost-reduction opportunities, such as reallocating employees, freezing or foregoing marketing campaigns, detecting fraudulent booking attempts, changing offerings strategy, and others.
This way, companies are enabled to take full advantage of AI adoption and see the maximized results and benefits from a financial point of view.
Conclusion
Travel business management involves complex activities and strategies, which depend on tons of variable factors. Nonetheless, artificial intelligence is here to help in all of its forms, in order to provide smart advice and allow efficient usage of high-quality data for successful business purposes.
