With 2018 around the corner, Phocuswright and PhocusWire are presenting snapshots of the 12 trends we think will be significant next year across six installments.
We start off with the The Travel Moment and Customer-Centricity.
This series forms the backbone of the PhocusWire Forecast 2018.
These 12 trends will be summarized in greater detail in a future Phocuswright Innovation report.
In addition, Phocuswright's analysts will take a deep dive on each of the trends we are showcasing over these next six days in analyses to be published throughout 2018.
Stay tuned!
The future of travel is NOW
Never before has there been a convergence of business experimentation, new technologies and an overall sense of change.
This convergence will drive new business models, new information providers, new relationships, open technology and new processes.
Several efforts have modeled the future of travel on various customer scenarios.
While this is classic strategic planning, the changes we’ll see in the travel industry are much more fundamental, and in most cases independent of traveler’s personas.
So you think you really know your customer? Think again
Customer-centricity, aka the customer experience, is more important than ever before.
Satisfying the customer has become de rigueur for any business looking to retain and grow its customer base in the social media age.
But where to begin? How to truly understand customers and build unforgettable customer experiences?
In the coming year, travel brands will learn how customer centricity requires analysis from a 360-degree vantage point.
For both leisure and business aspects of travel, this means pulling in first-hand data from multiple sources - from anyone or any place the customer may be touched.
This means gathering information from customers, employees and vendors alike, and deep datamining using new artificial intelligence-driven tools.