A few days later than usual, EyeforTravel brings you the stories that engaged readers most in the month of April

Travel’s virtual assistants, getting buses online, personalisation, choice and multichannel marketing were among the themes explored in April. 

1.  Travel and the chat bots

With the newsy hook that Facebook is bring bots to messenger we took a look at how virtual assistants are being used in the travel industry today and what the future might look like. We speak to Erwin van Lun, CEO and founder of Chatbots.org about how bots are helping out in the travel industry today. In general they are a viewed as a cost-saving measure and a way to improve the customer experience. Queries can be answered 24/7 and you don’t have the issue of retaining staff, says van Lun. However, it is still early days and “in the long run bots won’t only answer questions they will anticipate them”. They will also respond more emotionally to customers needs to become “just like humans”.

2.  5 trends in bus travel: a €70bn global market that is speeding ahead

Innovation in the travel industry is alive and well and this is nowhere more necessary than in bus distribution where 90% of tickets are still booked offline. At EyeforTravel’s recent Travel Distribution Summit in London, technology firm Distribusion was named winner of the Start Up and Innovation Awards by aiming to bring bus distribution online. Not only is it aggregating, standardising and distributing intercity and long-distance bus data to resellers, it’s also helping with execution, payment and settlement between different partners. An interview with Checkmybus, a fast-growing metasearch, further highlights some of the emerging trends in bus travel.

3.  Personalisation and the paradox of choice in online travel

Also from European Summit, we document the thoughts of Day 1 keynoters Carl Michel, chairman of Veeve.com and Hugh Wood, managing director and VP for Disney Destinations. Both highlight the respective challenges they face in engaging customers who are more demanding than ever before. For Michel, who is helping to steer a new brand into the future, understanding the heterogenous behaviour of today’s customer will be crucial to their success. Meanwhile at household name Disney, Wood argues that the ability to simplify the environment is where the battle will be fought.

4.  Last-click attribution is so last year

Guest columnist Tom Bacon is in fine form as he considers the hot topic of multichannel attribution and three ways to get it right. His advice:

1. Account for all channels/sites in analysis of booking performance
2. Apply business rules for relative weighting among engagements
3. Map alternative customer engagement and purchase decision paths

5.  Getting mobile apps right is tougher than you think

There can be no disputing the importance of investing in mobile and there is growing evidence to suggest that apps are worth the effort. However, with over 100,000 travel apps available for download getting it right is not so easy. Andrew Hennigan delves into this subject a little more deeply and hears insights from European rail operator Thalys as well as Cabforce, a pre-booking platform for flat rate taxis and transfers. Exactly which metrics each company should use depends on their goals but what is absolutely vital is that firms build a product that users recommend to others. Looking at the ratio between acquired and organic users is a helpful indicator as it helps to understand the level of user satisfaction.

Join us at one of our upcoming events to hear more about developments in the shifting travel space