A recent Digital Business Travelers Research conducted in 2019, reveals that business travellers look for a combination of digital solutions and human intervention. As per the report 57% are looking for “hybrid support” via Live Chat services.
As per the survey, travel consultants have the greatest influence on travel decisions in the planning and booking phase and thereby 40% of business travelers in the United Kingdom take recommendations from them.
Around 66% of Business travelers claim that they have used digital services such as voice search to research a trip. Over a third (34%) say they have researched and booked a trip entirely via smartphone.
To avoid interruption 43% of business travellers, prefer face-to-face conversations or phone calls to sort things out. Now a days there is more acceptance of chat services like WhatsApp or similar, 32% saying they are happy to be serviced through the same.
A survey from the Business Travel Show reveals that more than 50% of the 134 European buyers surveyed believe emerging tech such as bots and blockchain will have no real impact on the industry over the next three years.
According to the research with more than half of travellers (53%) looking to access concierge services via their smartphone and a similar percentage wanting a digital key for their hotel room.
The bottom line is there is the need for a combination of digital and offline solutions as travelers are increasingly turning to travel agents when they have complex issues and digital solutions for more straightforward and immediate support.
Author: Anush Mathews
Anush works as QA Lead in Teknokraaft and works with our OTA team.