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Blog
Bridging the divide between business and leisure travel through personalisation
Tomás Monge
Senior Manager, Executive Communications, Amadeus IT Group
Raise your hand if you've ever heard of the ‘Bleisure Travel’ concept? Yeah, just like I expected, I can’t see many. Bleisure, the combination of business and leisure, is supposed to be one of the biggest trends in the travel industry during the next few years. After all, it makes sense that by putting together both work and entertainment in one trip, the traveller will be happier and the industry will make more money. But how do we make it happen? This is where personalisation comes in handy.
Take my case as an example. As I write this, I’m sitting in one of our providers’ offices in London, where I will stay for the next three days, until I fly back to Madrid late on Friday afternoon. When I booked my flights and hotels, using Amadeus e-Travel Management
, I got fairly personalised offers that complied with company policies, etc. All good and fine.
But what if my travel agency actually knew more about me? Then they would’ve probably found out that my eighth wedding anniversary was just yesterday. And they also would’ve known that I have absolutely no plans for any kind of romantic trip during the weekend. After all, I haven’t booked any flight with them for those days.
Personalisation
Now imagine that my travel agency knows a little more about me and they send an email two weeks prior offering me an extra flight from Madrid to London, on Friday afternoon, so that my lovely wife can join me in London. There, we would go to a nice, but still affordable (by London standards, that is) hotel somewhere near Leicester Square. And it has to be near Leicester Square, because by now my travel agency should know that I am a huge Beatles fan (and so is my wife), and they would also kick in two tickets for the ‘Let It Be’ musical just two steps from our hotel.
My travel agency knows my company policies very well, and they know I will have to pay all of these extras on my personal credit card…but you know what? Being the kind of husband that usually forgets about important dates (sorry honey), I would take that offer in a heartbeat and, for once, surprise my wife with a much deserved trip she would definitely enjoy.
Of course, all of this didn’t happen. So I’m going back to Madrid on Friday. The airline just lost the chance to sell one extra flight; that hotel by Leicester Square has one extra available room this weekend; and two empty seats wait for another couple in the theatre. And all of this revenue was lost by the travel industry because they didn’t use their abilities to personalise my trip and bridge the divide between my business and leisure lives.
Tags
Leisure Travel, Traveler Experience