New Developments in Finnish Tourism & Digital Partners in China

Visit Finland told story via digital partners for Chinese tourism push, and introduced the market, local partners, WeChat marketing and future expectations.

China is the largest tourist spending market in Finland, especially in accommodation and shopping.At the same time, they are generally interested in outdoor activities such as dog sledging and aurora chasing tours in winter, and lakeside getaways in summer.Although Finland has a large number of innovative technologies, tourism services are in traditional methods.However, with more Chinese tourists opting for free independent travel (FIT),

Finnish tourism brands need to accelerate digital transformation.

In order to achieve this goal, from 2016, the Finnish Tourist Board has cooperated with China E-Commerce and launched its own tourism project.In addition to online cooperation, they also cooperated with traditional tourism operators. What’s more, Finland will launch destination campaigns with Utour in the next two years, leveraging the Chinese partner’s local resources to promote Finland’s summer and lakeside offerings.

Because of the importance attached to B2C and the popularity of WeChat in China, Visit Finland has deployed a strategy to leverage the influence of its partner agencies or influencers on WeChat’s subscription platform, meanwhile, concentrated on the stories told by their partners. Fortunately, the platform has a lot of views.

Finally, they think that they should not blindly pursue numbers in the future, but should pay attention to the latest needs of Chinese tourists.In addition, Finland has become a part of ITB CHINA 2018, a B2B travel trade show that focuses on China’s outbound sector.

The content mentioned in this article is related to the distribution strategy in our digital marketing course that according to the analysis of passenger data in previous years, Finland has discovered the great potential of Chinese tourists source market and accurately positioned and segment, cooperated with local online travel distributor Fliggy and Ctrip in China to promote local tourism and recreational projects. “going it alone” will become a thing of the past, the evidence is certainly stacking up in favour of considering a business alliance. As known that distribution decisions often interdependent with other marketing mix variables, Finland invested and built up a close relationship with Chinese digital partners matches the Millennial travelers’ needs, who have the highest purchasing power in the neat future, i believe it will brings huge potential consumption.

The capacity to line up business goals with the needs of customers, take an agile approach to decision-making and execute quickly and effectively can make or break the attempts at digital change. That’s why collaborating with a partner that can react swiftly to shifts in the market. With the increasing number of Chinese tourists opting for free independent travel in recent years, Finland speed up their efforts on digital transformation, including improvement in reservation systems, inventory management and distribution channels, for example launching its own tour product Aurora Project partnered with Fliggy (formerly Alitrip) which bundling flight, hotel and airport chauffeur services, to better service FIT consumers.
Besides, in the mix of its online and offline marketing strategies, Visit Finland highly value the importance of digital marketing on B2C channels like different social media and online platforms, particularly in the China market, so that it Fully exerted influence its partner agencies on WeChat’s subscription platform. Taking it as an example that Visit Finland worked on getting stories told on its partners to get greater exposure, and what Finland valued most in the partnership with Fliggy is their story-telling skills to increase direct customer engagement. Storytelling is probably best defined or understood through the impacts that it makes and the impressions it leaves, branding is storytelling as well, so that partnered with Fliggy now elevating brand awareness of the destination Finland and set the stage for success.

Source : https://www.tnooz.com/article/visit-finland-chinese-tourists

Hotel La Reserve in Paris implements HotelCloud, a digital concierge

The hotel La Réserve which is a luxurious five star hotel located in Paris, took the decision to implement a new kind of technology called Hotelcloud.  

Hotelcloud is a conciergerie free app created in 2011 which enables the guest to be informed about diverse activities available or to make a booking and to pay for a se

rvice. Hotel managers can use Hotelcloud as an interface between the hotel and the customers such as the hotel can promote the different offered services to their customers and even propose externals ones with the view to get some commissions. Hotelcloud is more and more implemented in the world of the hotel industry in France and even around the world with the view to satisfy the customers’ expectations with a personalize service.

The hotel La Reserve is the first hotel to offer a complete service to its guest with this new app.

Hotelcloud provides in the guestrooms the digital conciergerie accessible through touch screen tablets. It enables the guest for instance to order the breakfast, to book a table in the restaurant, or to interact in real time with the employees.

Plus, the customers can use it with the view to manage the various items available in their rooms such as the air conditioning or the lighting. The guest can also access the tool via his personal devices: smartphone, desktop or tablet.

Indeed, these 360° tools, by reaching the customer at every point of the booking process, allow a better engagement toward the brand and enhance the customer experience. For the hotelier it’s also a way to fidelize the client, by offering a more personalized service, and encourage the direct booking for next stays.

It can be a winning bet in front of giants like Expedia or Booking which cost hoteliers a lot to be distributed, or even Airbnb whose business model relies massively on digital. Indeed, Airbnb is at the moment working on a “local companion” which could help travelers finding the best addresses around to eat and go out.

More and more hoteliers choose to adopt these new technologies in order to modernize their service. Yet when you think about it it’s true that front desk and concierge in hotels are the very last features that didn’t change so much in the past century. When you walk-in you usually find a high desk and someone behind to welcome you and give you your keys, just like 50 or 70 years ago. This contrasts with most services nowadays: you’re used to buy your flight, your cinema ticket, or your mobile phone via digital tools and without human interactions anymore. Still the trend for concierge digitalization is recent. One explanation could be that people don’t want to be treated like a random client but want to feel that the hotelier actually cares. That’s why digitalization of concierge should not replace people at the front desk but help getting closer to each and every client and remove the barrier between the guest and staff.

And you, what do you think? Is digital concierge the key for hotels to stay attractive and competitive? Do you think clients will regret the real human being interactions?

-        Luczak-Rougeaux, J. (2015, August 06). L'hôtel La Réserve s'équipe de la technologie Hotelcloud. Retrieved March 31, 2018, from http://www.tom.travel/2015/08/06/lhotel-la-reserve-sequipe-de-la-technologie-hotelcloud/

-         : Les clés de la conciergerie digitale à portée des "petits" hôteliers. (n.d.). Retrieved March 31, 2018, from https://www.tourmag.com/Hotelcloud-les-cles-de-la-conciergerie-digitale-a-portee-des-petits-hoteliers_a67463.html

GOOGLE PIXEL BUDS: A POWERFUL TOOL OR JUST A GIMMICK?

Did you already have trouble to communicate with locals because of the language barriers? Google seems to have the solution with Google Pixel Buds, the new must-to-have for travelers, accordingly to Big G’s advertises. The new headphones set for Google Pixel enables travelers to talk everywhere with everyone through real time translation.

Adam Champy, product manager for Google pixel, reveals 7 things that users can do with this technology. With the Google pixels, users can connect with their phone by bluetooth, control the audio onto a touchpad on the right earbud, access to google assistant,  check their messages without looking their phones etc. The feature we are focusing on is “communicate through 40 language” (Adam Champy, 2017). The Google pixel will translate through the earbud when another person will speak to you. The dream of traveling having the opportunity to constantly interact with the local population and always obtain the maximum from your vacation is finally here. Well, that’s what they say. Andrew Sheivachman illustrates on Skift the real features of this product and tells something a little bit different.

“Your earphones hear you and your Pixel’s speaker will play the translation in another language. When the other person speaks, you’ll hear the translation right in your ear.“ Sheivachman reports directly from Google advertises (Sheivachman,2017). Anyway, that’s not completely true and here it is the first problem: apparently it isn’t easy as they say and the user still have to put out its phone. The main feature is gone, along with a less fluent UX (User Experience). Then, the quality of the translation it is not the best possible either, as the device uses Google Translate. You will be able to reach your final goal (get the direction and reach your chosen restaurant, order the dish you wanted), but still a good grade of human action is required to clearly understand all the information. Therefore, the main critic addresses the lack of functionality of this new gadget, because the earphones are not able to listen and translate. Not many travelers will really be able to freely go around and easily interact with locals in the end. This technology is more a gadget which will target a niche product of Google fans.

However, the author finds also a good point from this new tool pointing out how it represents a first step toward the end of language barrier. Now it’s again the turn of  Big G and his friends (Apple, Samsung, Microsoft, etc.) that will have to improve their AI (Artificial Intelligence) to extend the functionality of Google Pixel Buds, because for the moment “from a travel industry perspective, there’s no real need to equip front-desk workers or anyone else with these pricy headphones when a cheap smartphone can do the same thing on its own.”(Sheivachman,2017). Finally, a first step toward an easier travelling, but not much more than that.

Giulio & Valentin

Sources:

A.Sheivachman, (2017) “Google Earbuds With Real-Time Translation Aren’t Much More Than a Gimmick”. Skift. Retrieved from : https://skift.com/2017/11/16/google-earbuds-with-real-time-translation-arent-much-more-than-a-gimmick/

A.Champy (2017), “Seven things you can do with Google Pixel Buds” Blog.Google. Retrieved from https://www.blog.google/products/pixel/seven-things-you-can-do-google-pixel-buds/

Voice’s disruption of the market

Great convenience for the users…

Econsultancy.com focused on January 2018 on the growing importance of voice in our booking behaviour. The huge changes that voice-controlled devices imply are the ease and convenience they are offering. Rather than typing selective key words (because search engines are not optimised for full sentence queries), here the artificial intelligence of those devices (such as Alexa, or Google Home) enables to ask what comes in mind directly, without thinking of the best words to find out what you are looking for. Moreover, it also reduces the potential misunderstanding that could emerge when searching online. Using the example of Econsultancy: is the user looking for a service or a product when typing “window cleaner”? The convenience is also the multitasking it enables: asking your smart speaker anything, even when you are already busy at something else.

… resulting in huge challenge for the companies!

This improvement is actually facilitating things mostly for the customers’ side. Indeed, digital marketing through Search Engine Optimisation will completely be disrupted by the voice-controlled devices. Here, the suppliers cannot expect the user to go through the top results: the smart speaker will only present hardly more than two suggestions. The latter will basically depend on the customers’ reviews, i.e. the ranking of the products (although the argument on whether Amazon, and others could give biased suggestions, deliberately more expensive, is not yet solved). That is to say that digital marketers will have to focus more than ever on good reviews, i.e. high customers satisfaction, as these devices will not leave huge chance of a visibility, even though the product is in the top 10 results.

The specific case of the tourism industry:

This article referred to voice-controlled devices in general, without really targeting one segment in particular. But we can deduce the implications of this change in booking behaviour in the specific case of the tourism industry. Indeed, this importance of customers’ reviews is already highly dominant, especially for hotels, with potential clients using metasearch to find the best deals, but above all the best value for money! However, this reduction in number of results showed, is a huge threat for small and independent hotels. Competing with big chains will be even more difficult for them, as more time, and effort (and obviously investment!) will be required to have an effective and efficient digital marketing, regarding these new devices.

On the other hand, the disruption will not spare the hotel chains, as it will completely reshape the loyalty framework. With voice-controlled devices, loyalty’s aim to have customers identifying to the brand will be less relevant. Regardless of the brand, the customers will value the products and services that appear at the right time, “i.e. at the point of user-need”.

Loyalty programs, and other CRM strategies, will have to evolve and accordingly adapt to the users’ new preferences. The improvement of technology, here with the example of voice-controlled devices, is getting more and more into immediacy, and the trend of “everything now”

Noëlie & Aziz 

Source: Gilliland, N. (2018, January 16th). How will voice technology change consumer behaviour? Retrieved from Econsultancy: https://www.econsultancy.com/blog/69724-how-will-voice-technology-change-consumer-behaviour

Google’s Latest Insights on Travellers’ Behaviours

Now that we are living in such a digitalised world, with our phones or other connected devices there to answer all our questions, customers worldwide want everything, immediately, and in a personalised way. 

In their recent study, carried out in partnership with Phocuswright, Google let us in the head of travellers to know what they really want when planning a trip or even when experiencing the vacation itself.

In this study, more than half of the interviewees point out the multitude of sources they have to check to make sure they make the right decision for their holidays. Having one website that compares every option for them is substantial for travellers and would comfort them, and what best tool is there to search and book easily than their mobile phone? However, it appears that the travel industry is way behind on that matter: 1 in 3 traveller claims to not be comfortable with booking or even searching for their trip. This might be explained by the fact that mobile versions of websites are not always optimised and do not allow for a fluid browsing.

Even “loyal customers” might not be so loyal when it comes to getting the best deal. The study shows that a significant share of travellers involved in loyalty programmes with specific hotels or airlines still keep an eye on the competition in case they can find a better price with another company. This doesn’t mean that hotels and airlines should drop their loyalty programmes, but it should encourage them to reshape their customer relation management strategies to provide their customers with the high level of assistance they require and entice them to stay loyal customers. Travellers also appreciate when a company can significantly tailor their offer relying on their customers’ preferences or previous experience, and this could even be an attention they would be ready to pay more money for.

Another observation brought up by the study is that digitalisation led travellers to be more and more spontaneous, booking last minute short trips rather than planning for long stays.

Despite the climate of suspicion when it comes to sharing data online, travellers are more and more demanding when it comes to taking a vacation that fits their needs and their needs only. Travel companies have to be reactive and proactive to offer travellers what they want before they even think about it. To overcome the suspicion accompanied by sharing data online, companies should think of a way to be transparent and explain how their customers data is going to be used to fit their needs to reassure and encourage their customers to share them to optimise their online experience.

Written by: Marie Cyrot & Rodolphe Hermann

Sources: 

https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/consumer-insights/age-of-assistance-travel-marketing/?utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=thinkwithgoogle&utm_source=email&utm_content=age-of-assistance-travel-marketing

Google/Phocuswright Travel Study 2017, Base: Leisure Travelers: US: n=857.

Google/Phocuswright Travel Study 2017, Base: Leisure Travelers who participate in a hotel loyalty program: U.S. n=528.

Google/Phocuswright Travel Study 2017, Base: Leisure Travelers who participate in an airline frequent flier program: U.S.: n=571.

https://skift.com/2017/06/21/mobile-travel-bookings-to-reach-40-percent-of-online-sales-in-2017/ 

Online as well, it’s always the customer first!

The blockchain revolution?

Nowadays we hear a lot of talk about blockchain the new kid on the block. While it is not completely understood yet by a majority of people, this new technology is said to have the potential to be another major disruptor in our economies, and in the travel industry in particular. In short this technology is supposed to simplify the interactions and financial transactions between the supplier and the final customer while remaining safe and secure which would therefore eliminate the need of a middle man, that is to say the OTAs and the GDSs. Of course, travel suppliers see that at the same time enthusiastically as there is a potential to diminish the astronomical distribution costs they pay to these intermediaries, and skeptically as there is still not a complete understanding of the implications of this technology. For the consumer, it is also an opportunity to reduce his expenses even though it’s not as immediately obvious to him.

Towards the programmed death of OTAs?

Over the years, OTAs have earned a lot of bad press from the suppliers, in fact as much as their huge popularity with regards to their end users. The attempts at bringing them down through new technologies such as GNE and NDC were unsuccessful and it is now blockchain’s turn to have a go at them and make the suppliers dream come true. So far however, OTAs are holding on, stronger than ever. What suppliers forget is that those high distribution costs they pay are not just used to pay high dividends to the OTAs shareholders but invested in technology and development aimed at giving the users what they want which is: a user-friendly interface, a large choice of suppliers and efficiency, basically something simple and enjoyable. Consequently, if a new comer is not able to create a new business model and add value for the end user, it is unlikely to become a real threat to the OTAs domination. And blockchain does not escape this rule.

The law of the market will decide

It is not impossible that blockchain will indeed create a revolution, but there are other pretenders such as mobile applications like Hopper (which would remove Google SEO’s costs), Airbnb if they maintain their 3% commission fees while entering the hotel segment, and of course Google itself that is getting more and more active with its travel applications. All these options sound like reasonable ones to reduce the huge costs of customer acquisition that OTAs are bearing, but it is not thinkable that this cost will be brought down to nil. In the end, these project will all require some important investment in order to attract potential customers, and as for any market the customer is king, and will decide towards which trend we will evolve, for better or for worse.

Adrien Della Valle and Mamoun El Youssi

Original source: Quinby, D. (2018). Only One Thing Will Disrupt OTAs (and It Ain't Blockchain): Phocuswright. Phocuswright.com. Retrieved 28 March 2018, from https://www.phocuswright.com/Travel-Research/Research-Updates/2018/Only-One-Thing-Will-Disrupt-OTAs-and-It-Aint-Blockchain

Destination Marketing: How Social Influencers Have Become the New Trend

Destination Marketing: How Social Influencers Have Become the New Trend

One of the most popular trends in digital marketing nowadays is the growing power of influencers. With the development of social networks and their importance not only for consumers, but also for companies, influencers’ role has become more and more crucial. In tourism, over the last few years, many destinations have used influencers to drive sales and attract more travelers to their destination. The article The Power of Social Influencers in Destination Marketing posted by Millionmetrics on their website illustrates how crucial it can be for destinations to use this new trend to boost not only their reputation, but their attractiveness as well.

Over the last few years, social networks have gone one step further: people no longer use it to interact with their friends and family, but more and more to keep up with what is going on around them and in the world, especially when it comes to traveling. Whether you are looking for a restaurant or you are planning your next road trip, it is now normal to check your Instagram feed for some inspiration before you go. And who helps you finding the inspiration? Influencers, of course. Those individuals, who have the ability to influence customers’ purchase decision, are being tracked by companies to gain exposure.

Social influencers have almost become like relatives to which we refer when we are looking to book our next trip. We follow their everyday life and we trust them almost to the point that they have become our closest friend. They have the power to influence our choices and that is why we follow them: become we recognize ourselves into their personality and tastes. According to the article, “40% of people have purchased an item online after they saw the item being used by an influencer on Instagram or YouTube. Hence when it comes to product recommendations, people find that social media influencers are nearly as trustworthy as friends”. A huge opportunity for destinations then…

In the article, not only does the author explains the importance of using social influencers for tourism companies who want to promote their destination, but he also explains what is important to consider before reaching out and working with influencers. Indeed, it is essential to build a strong relationship with the influencer, examine his/her audience, his/her values and his/her relevance to ensure the brand is correctly associated with the image.

This article is interesting in the sense that social marketing is nowadays increasingly common among the new generation of Millennials, to such a point that everyone can become an influencer. Indeed, according to a Chase Card Services, 97% of millennial travelers post on social networking sites while traveling, which shows the growing importance of social media for travelers and people seeking new destinations.

The growing power of social influencers and the rise of the Millennials generation should therefore be well anticipated by destinations, who should propose activities and facilities that match their expectations and needs, and by creating a destination which has to be “Instagram-able”.

Lucas Daigle & Nicolo Farina

https://www.millionmetrics.com/influencers-destination-marketing/

In-Flight Connectivity

In recent years, Airline companies had to improve their facilities within their aircrafts notably with the Wifi on board due to an increasing demand in connectivity. Indeed, nowadays people want to be connected everytime and everywhere. Today, it is possible to check emails or watch streaming movie at 35.000 feet.

Source: http://www.futuretravelexperience.com/2018/02/airlines-inflight-connectivity-uptake-continues-to-rise/

Not so long ago, in-flight connectivity was not easily available  especially on flights outside of the US. Now, thanks to improvements in high quality connectivity across more of the globe from the supplier, more and more airlines go for it. However, it remains a big differentiator for the compagnies and the customers.

According to 2018 Wi-Fi Report by Routehappy, 82 airlines around the world now offer inflight connectivity which it represents a 17% increase compared to last year. In addition to an increasing number of compagnies which have Wi-Fi on board, the quality of this service is also improving dramatically. Thanks to the same study, there was a 129% year-on-year increase in the availability of what is called "Best Wi-Fi". These numbers will continue to growth in the next few years. For example, British Airways, the first Wi-Fi equipped aircraft, plans to have 90% of its planes connected by 2019. 

This new service is seen as both service enhancements and product differentiation by airlines according to Connectivity Survey from the Airline Passenger Experience Association. As said before, the Wi-Fi on board meets the new passengers needs and behavior. Indeed, they are increasingly likely to be able to stay connected during every stage of their travel experience. 

However, this service may lead to some questions: Do not we go too far with connectivity? Do we reallly need to be connected everytime? Even if inflight connectivity has some advantages for example you can have access to your emails if you need to or call someone by Wi-Fi, can not we disconnect for few hours? 

And you have you already tried Wi-Fi on board? What do you think about it? Do we go too far ? 

Source: Airlines Face big decisions as inflight connectivity uptake continues to rise, February 2018

http://www.futuretravelexperience.com/2018/02/airlines-inflight-connectivity-uptake-continues-to-rise/