Monetizing how the connected journey traveler is served
In this article...
Travelers want a frictionless, end‑to‑end experience, and this guest blog post reveals where some are willing to pay more to curate a personalized journey.
Amadeus’ traveler research puts a spotlight on the revenue implications and opportunities for sellers, retailers, and suppliers (and the tech ecosystem supporting them) in the connected journey.
When it comes to revenues, sellers, suppliers, and tech providers have been doing okay out of the traveler. Looking ahead, all indicators show the global demand for travel is growing, with no sign of slowing down. Revenue is there for the taking.
The conflict in the Gulf is having an impact on travel supply and demand, but the industry has resilience baked in. Short-term revenue expectations might take a hit for some, but looking ahead, the growth profile remains positive.
Revenues are but one aspect of the industry that is set for a sea-change. At the risk of over-simplifying, the revenue make-up of the industry has been based on discrete (or partly packaged) transactions. Across a single trip, the traveler generates revenues for the airline they fly with, the hotel they stay in, and the attractions they visit.
But travel sellers, suppliers, and tech providers are having to rethink this established - and often standalone approach - to revenue flow amidst demands for a connected journey. Travelers still want value-for-money and are not concerned with industry regulations, commercial arrangements, tech infrastructure compatibility, the under-the-hood issues that sellers and suppliers have to wrestle with to deliver the connected journey (while generating revenues at a margin that keeps them in the black).
Delivering a seamless and connected journey is not only a tech challenge but also a commercial one.
Servicing the connected journey for revenue
Customer service across the connected journey could become a revenue stream for sellers and suppliers, who in turn could consider allocating additional resources to surface these new commercial opportunities.
Raw data which didn’t make the final edit of the Connected Journeys paper shows what travelers are willing to pay extra for. At least two out of three said they would pay more on top of the total trip cost for 11 different customer service initiatives. “Refund guarantee services” topped the list, “with nearly four out of five (79%) travelers interested in paying for this. (Other services that travelers would consider paying for include: “24/7 access to a live travel agent support line” and an “AI-travel assistant for in-trip information and bookings” such as tickets to local attractions.)
Refund guarantee services sound like cancellation protection and there are providers already offering this (probably getting less than a 79% take-up). Sellers and suppliers could white-label a refund guarantee as a standalone add-on, although it’s worth noting that standard travel protection- for medical expenses and lost items - can be challenging to sell.
The connected journey world might inspire new traveler-centric insurance products with a greater emphasis on refunds. If we synch this with another trend – live tourism - can the experience and/or trip purpose be insured? If my flight is delayed or cancelled and I miss the Taylor Swift concert, do I get a refund for the gig as well? Or how about if the gig is cancelled, can I claim flight credit?
Unbundling service for additional revenue
Some of the customer service touchpoints that travelers said they are willing to pay for are already on the market. Meanwhile, the 74% of people willing to pay for “fast-track airport services” can do exactly that, and there are “dedicated concierge services” for the 69% of travelers interested.
But the findings also show travelers are willing to pay extra for services currently bundled within the total trip cost, such as “in-app messaging support while travelling” (64%), or “custom itinerary creation based on personal preferences” (69%). Sellers and suppliers seeing this could legitimately think “why are we offering X for nothing when two out of three of our customers would pay for it”?
There is a precedent. Back in the day, low-cost carriers changed the industry by realizing that there were even basic aspects of the flight experience and product that some passengers would pay for, some aspects others could live without in exchange for a lower base fare. Could the connected journey zeitgeist reanimate the unbundling mindset and apply it to customer service?
The Connected Journey paper notes that “if most of the customer service enquiries are easily anticipated, frequently asked questions, then handling these with Agentic AI frees up customer service teams to handle more complex and in-person enquiries…” So why not offer in-person service as a standalone upsell for those who put a premium on instant global access to a human agent, while bundling AI-enabled support as part of the total price?
Partnerships for revenue
The connected journey will only exist within a framework of commercial and technical partnerships. Over the past decade or so, working with other businesses, for the mutual benefit of both (and their end-users) has become a sign of strength.
Technology partnerships in travel have emerged from ongoing innovations in the cloud, APIs, fintech, and standardization, creating a playing field where different providers and suppliers can work effectively together and this is even more critical now we’re moving into the world of Agentic AI. As the Connected Journey paper points out, “journey orchestration means travelers no longer need to update all suppliers when their order changes, this will happen automatically, with the retailer keeping an up-to-date view of which services have been delivered to the traveler”.
The above quotation references one of the driving forces behind the airline industry’s move away from traditional PNRs to modern offer, order, settlement and delivery (OOSD). But OOSD – mainly the order component - will also make partnerships easier for retailers and suppliers to service and deliver.
OOSD will also help strengthen the commercial relationship between partners that contribute to the connected journey. Queries between partners around proration and revenue-sharing cost should be minimized with the move to a single customer order.
The terms and conditions – who gets how much and when – will be decided by partnership managers, but with a better tech-enabled settlement process in place, there should be an influx of new, innovative and revenue-generating partnerships to improve the end-to-experience for the traveler.
How the evolving needs of travelers helps reshape the future
The traveler is prompting sellers and suppliers to reconsider their traditional roles.
Suppliers are no longer a standalone product in their own right but one of a number of contributors to a connected journey.
Sellers (some of which are also evolving into retailers) as well as established retailers, need to work with the suppliers so that the traveler’s experience can be delivered seamlessly across all touchpoints on the journey
Like so many parts of the industry, the established routing of traveler revenues between sellers, retailers and suppliers is being shaken up. A connected journey is something which the industry is becoming increasingly capable of delivering and which could open up new partnership-based and customer service-oriented revenue streams.
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