5 drivers accelerating mobile travel in 2017

• The majority of travellers’ digital moments are now mobile – nearly 90%, according to a Google

  study. Last year, Phocuswright reported mobile’s share of online page views increasing by 20%. In contrast, desktop’s share of online views sunk by nearly 10%.

• When it comes to branding power, mobile packs a powerful punch. In a study by the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB), mobile was found to be over 2.5 times more effective in lifting purchase intent as well as brand favourability and likelihood to recommend.

We’re seeing rapid changes in consumer behaviour and technologies that are fuelling the evolution of a more sophisticated mobile lifestyle. I recently sat down with my colleagues at Amadeus and asked them to share their views for the remaining year. What follows is a first of a two part series of Amadeus leader perspectives. This post, along with video highlights, showcases five drivers expected to accelerate traveller’s mobile lifestyles in 2017.

Make or break merchandising

“Mobile enables merchandising at the right moment, in the right place, throughout the journey. Location awareness through mobile devices is allowing for more relevant destination information and services to be pushed and consumed. Travel disruption creates a make or break moment in the relationship between the traveller and their providers. Mobile plays a pivotal role in delivering specific recommendations that are helpful in delivering assistance when it matters most.”– Renaud Nicolle, Head of Specialty & Networks

Mobile delivers the expense goods

“I believe we will see mobile emerging much more as a service as opposed to an information interaction with travellers. By this I mean mobile becomes much more personally connected with the traveller along his journey thanks to intuitive data capture and seamless communication experience with other systems. Mobile expense capture is going to be absolutely unique in this regard. Recognition of characters on an invoice, capturing via your smartphone camera and having the receipts flow into your expense reporting systems will be a fantastic service for travellers. This will fundamentally change the business traveller’s experience between pre and post-trip management."– Arlene Coyle, Global Head of Corporate IT Sales & Marketing

Hotel packages get the swipe & tap treatment

“Smartphones allow hotel guests to act on any impulse anywhere, anytime. Travellers who book one-night stays are beginning to consider and book more expensive packages on their mobile devices. Building a consistent offer with user-friendly booking flows and high responsiveness across mobile and other channels is still fundamental. However, mobile will be the predominant immediacy channel that hoteliers and other travel brands must master in order to compete for what Google calls “traveller micro-moments” in the overall journey.” – Peter Waters, Head of Hotel Distribution

Ground transfers change the game

“Traditional point-to-point transportation, mostly servicing travellers from the airport, has evolved into a highly competitive, app-driven, on-demand and pre-scheduled transfers sector. Car rental companies likewise are enhancing their services with more flexible pick-up and drop-off rituals. The trend in ground transportation is to become an essential part of the customer’s total trip experience by using mobile platforms to offer more relevant, contextual, intuitive and itinerary-related services.” – Vasken Tokatlian, Head of Land & Sea Distribution

Business travel gets serious about consumerisation

“I think business travellers are tired of switching between different apps on their phone, calling different players that they need to interact with during their trip. Rather than being disrupted where they are stuck calling the travel agent along with the airline and/or hotel, their mobile phone will soon propose an alternative journey that you can accept with one tap. Travellers now expect the front of screen design, user-generated content and other intuitive conveniences from their private consumerised travel experience to be delivered in their corporate life as well.” – Axel Mueller, Head of Corporate IT Sales for EMEA

Check back next week as I share Part 2 of this series, with additional perspectives on the next emerging set of technologies that will further shape the traveller’s mobile-first lifestyle in 2017.