EyeforTravel MD Tim Gunstone could justifiably suffer from conference fatigue but even he left Amsterdam feeling a tad anxious about the future of travel suppliers

A show about analytics may sound like a dry event, but a couple of weeks ago in Amsterdam it quickly became clear that the temperature is rising for many industry players. As well as the red lights faced between speaking, running mics, battling with audio-visuals, making sure the coffee was hot (thank goodness for cold beer), here are four that I saw flashing for travel suppliers today.

1.       Watch the door, it could soon be shutting on you: With soaring mobile usage, data analytics, the days of the Ryanair-style billboard website are over. If you can’t provide a contextualised mobile message to your customers, watch the door – it’s going to shut on you. The future will see travel companies having to sell core and ancillary products on just three to six phone slots. To secure those all-important conversions you’ll need to know how to analyse social, location and transactional data to push the right product to get the sale.

2.        Watch your back: The direct channel is being snapped up by OTAs because mobile has destroyed the direct booking channel for hotels. Figures abounded in Amsterdam, but the scariest was that 60% of the direct channel has been snaffled by mobile savvy OTAs. This could explain why earlier Booking.com bought the property management system (PMS) Hotel Ninjas. If this PMS grows and its data is harnessed (and with booking.com’s financial clout, that seems par for the course), this could pose a real threat to hotel brands. Do we really want a situation with one such powerful player?

66% of consumers want you to engage with them on trip

-  EyeforTravel Mobile in Travel Industry Report 2014

3.       Watch your closest relationships: Brands seem resigned to the fact that the OTAs are doing such a good job selling travel via mobile, that there is no real reason to put up a fight. What travel suppliers can and must do is build the relationship after the point-of-sale; the mobile device must be a core part of the service, serving to build consumer trust in the offering. Not only will this help travel suppliers control their supply chain better, it’s also the path to financial success.

4.       Beware: You could miss the opportunities: Good news is, they are huge! Words that stick in my head come from a speaker who caught me as I was rushing out to ensure the beer was cold. “It’s time we took ancillary seriously,” he said. The successful equation will look something like this: Mobile + Real Data Led Customer Insight + On Trip Inventory that’s now coming online = A Threesome Made in Heaven (Okay so this was Amsterdam). EyeforTravel research tells at that 66% of your consumers want you to engage with them on trip. So, travel suppliers need to partner with anyone that can provide them with a bookable database of restaurants, pubs, tours, taxis, activities and so on, so they can provide their customer with the services they really need. Lets face it who will the customer trust the most… a faceless OTA or an hotel or airline that keeps them alive, warm and welcome? To be honest, the OTAs may have a head start with data but it’s not too late.

There is plenty of grist for the up coming Mobile World Congress on March 2 where I’ll be challenging 16 board level execs from airlines to hotels, rail companies, metasearch, OTAs, tour operators and more to share the insights you’ll need in 2015!