4 min read
Big Data has already transformed most areas of industry, business, research and various other parts of our lives. It is the term that is today being used to explain our potential to make complete sense of the huge volumes of data increasing day by day in the world. Like for every other industry, big data analytics is benefitting the travel industry too. It had been around for a while but apparently, now, it is picking up momentum in the correct direction. It is said to be the next big thing in the travel industry. The ever growing chunk of data that is created every second online by travelers is being processed by big data analytics to give businesses an edge over their peers (also see - top reasons your business should consider real-time analytics)
While big data at a large scale, is described as a cultural movement by which we can discover how humanity is interacting with the world, it is also one of the most important factors driving the evolution of the travel industry today and for the foreseeable future. It has immense potential for a major drift for all the travel industries to embellish both the experience of travel and business.” With the help of Big Data, travel agencies can easily track their customer preferences of destinations, give them suggestions and then produce personalized packages for them.
Wouldn’t it be just amazing if we get on some site and get to see the beaches automatically without even giving our preferences? Or in just a few clicks book our dream holiday that best fits our budget, with airlines that we usually prefer and the hotels of our choice. This is all possible now with Big Data. And not only this, it would get consumers more personalized services at very high speeds. Whether it is travel agencies, hotels, airlines or just travelers, all would get the benefits of big data.
Travel management, airlines, railways, hotels, travel agencies, and cruise companies now have a chance to improve the customer experience and their business by efficiently handling the big data at their fingertips. Combine all the data that they have with a smart device and appropriate tools for predictive analytics, and they have a goldmine at their hands - waiting to be explored. While it's not easy to identify, collect and analyze the huge chunks of data types that make up the big data but ignoring that is not an option for the travel-focused businesses if they want to remain competitive in the long run.
Here are a few ways in which travel industry is benefitting with big data analytics.
1. Customized User experience
The data aggregated from the customers can be used to personalize various services like travel booking to make navigation easy. In fact, the biggest application of big data in the travel industry would be the extensive personalization of offerings made to enhance the customer experience. Like for instance, with big data, it is possible to come to an informed prediction as to who prefers hotels that are pet-friendly and who wants a hotel similar to that of their friends and similar patterns.
2. Pricing strategies
Price is the key component for travelers while they plan their trips. Big data analytics can easily index, track and analyze the competitors’ prices to gain a clear picture as to what’s trending. This real-time analytics with smart automation help companies track changes in pricing and build a consistent pricing strategy for better customer experience.
Being an industry quite sensitive to fares, pricing strategies can turn into a game-breaker for your business goals. Through different data streams like competitor prices, demand and by analysis of historical fare data, your business can execute optimum pricing strategies that would benefit both the customers and the business.
3. Insight into people's needs
Big data can help travel industries to identify patterns in consumer behavior and understand the ongoing requests of their customer base to provide offerings that they may need in the future. A travel booking startup, Hipmunk, analyses airline data, customer profiles, reviews, and social graphs to cater search results based on each shopper's needs and help accelerate the process of shopping for flights. Hipmunk gives customers what they need while looking out for travel accommodations, by analyzing all the data given to it, averse to the customers having to find it on their own.
4. Competitive differentiation
Companies can differentiate their services from their competitors using big data and that would instead make travel for the existing users a lot more pleasant than it is. One company that we know is using it already are the British Airways, which uses a ‘Know Me’ feature to make an in-depth analysis of data for every customer to provide customized results to them resulting in better customer satisfaction, boost in revenue and better look-to-book ratio.
5. Loyalty programs & improved Marketing strategy
The loyalty programs are quite helpful for gathering valuable consumer information which in turn relies on the big data analytics. Travel industries can implement insights generated from the data to maximize sales, loyalty and personalized promotions. This would lead to customer retention and acquisition, along with the profits.
The huge quantities of data from travelers that big data analyses help industries to optimize their marketing effort and deliver targeted offers to their customers. Not only the businesses, but Big data also helps advertisers maximize their ROI through enhanced marketing messages based on online user search pattern and their behavior. More budget-friendly, convenient and personalized travel will become, more would be the conversion rates and customer loyalty for businesses.
Big Data and Analytics will soon be able to devise solutions to large-scale problems in countless fields including travel, healthcare, banking & finance, retail and education thus augmenting human potential and enabling us to go further, farther and faster. NewGenApps recognized this early on in the race and we have already developed solutions for various industries using Cloud, Big Data, AI and analytics. If you want to know how Big Data and analytics can help your business or how to make sense of the vast amount of data at your disposal, please get in touch and lets get started.