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1、Personalizing the Travel Experience Using Data and AIPresented by:+PAR TNERPersonalizing the Travel Experience Using Data and AI2SKIFT+AMPERITYTable of ContentsExecutive SummaryA Message From AmperityAbout Skift and Amperitys“Customer Data Initiatives in the Travel Industry”SurveyIntroduction:Rethin

2、king Travels Approach to LoyaltyControlling the Data Deluge Pivot to First-Party Data Take Better Advantage of Loyalty Data Build a Unified View of the TravelerQ&A:What Is a CDP,and Why Should Travel Brands Be Using One?Case Study:Vail Resorts Pillars for PersonalizationUsing AI to Personalize the T

3、ravel ExperienceQ&A:How Can AI Help Travel Brands Build Better Customer Relationships?Conclusion3467101113151718202324Personalizing the Travel Experience Using Data and AI3SKIFT+AMPERITYExecutive Summary In this report:How the concept of loyalty is changing in travel and hospitality Why travel brand

4、s should be focused on first-party customer data across all channels How to use a customer data platform to develop a unified view of each traveler How generative AI will drive personalization and real-time offers that increase traveler loyalty Case studies showcasing creative and effective uses of

5、customer data in travel and hospitality Amid the ongoing shift toward digital experiences in travel,brands have had to adapt and innovate their strategies around customer data and loyalty.Historically,loyalty programs have been the most effective way for companies to corral their best customers and

6、keep them in their ecosystems.On one hand,travel and hospitality brands are simplifying their loyalty programs because tiers and status levels have become overwhelming.At the same time,marketing is getting infinitely more complex as brands try and stay top of mind,especially with leisure travelers.L

7、oyalty programs focused on lifestyle are becoming more common,which require an intimate understanding of individual customers.Travelers are now more likely to be loyal to brands that provide them with personalized experiences and effectively demonstrate an understanding of their needs,with or withou

8、t“official”membership status.By leveraging artificial intelligence,especially new applications for generative AI,travel brands that use data to develop a unified view of the customer will be able to provide more personalization,deliver better service,and increase loyalty,leading to greater customer

9、lifetime value.Photo by John Schnobrich on UnsplashPersonalizing the Travel Experience Using Data and AI4SKIFT+AMPERITYWinning customer loyalty in the travel and hospitality business has always been involved,but recently its also gotten really complicated.There are more channels to reach customers t

10、han there ever were before.There are more tools to coordi-nate in building your strategy.The third-party data sources brands once relied on to reach customers and measure results are becoming more expensive and less effective as cookies phase out and privacy regulations ramp up.Theres the glittering

11、 promise of generative AI and the scramble to find a way to make it work for you.And amid all this,customer expectations for experiences that are smooth,memorable,and above all personalized have reached new heights.Of course,new complexity brings new opportunities.How can you make the most of the ev

12、olving digital ecosystem to build traveler loyalty?By starting with accurate,complete customer data.Tech tools and AI initiatives demand high-quality data input other-wise its more garbage in,garbage out.But if you can harmonize all your data into a clean,privacy-conscious customer data foundation,y

13、ou can serve up personalized interactions everywhere a customer goes.The travel and hospitality brands that are able to unify masses of data into a single asset a foundation to power and tie together all their operations are the ones that will thrive.This will mean being able to take full advantage

14、of the best-performing channels.It means using tools to their maximum poten-tial and making good on the tech investment.It means elevating your game with generative AI.It means staying compliant with privacy rules.And it means being able to satisfy customer expectations so that you can build loyalty

15、 and drive business value.Put simply,its better data in,better results out.Im so excited that Amperity is able to help brands achieve this vision by working with them to build a unified data foundation to power their business.And Im thrilled to partner with Skift and AWS on this report to highlight

16、the opportunities and share guidance on bringing it to life.Happy travels!Barry PadgettCEO,AmperityA Message From Amperity3624157Amp_IDAI-powered identity resolution built for enterprise companiesEvery system has its own way of identifying customers,and the longer a person interacts with your brand,

17、the more fragmented their identity becomes.This leads to inaccurate insights,mis-attributed segments,and personalization that just isnt personal.AmpID changes all that,consistently resolving identities spanning every system and interaction so the customer experiences you build drive the results you

18、want.Amperity CDP featuring:Identity Stitching at Massive ScaleAccurate Identity&Household GraphsFlexibility and ControlCorrectly identify every customer,every time.AmpIDTMPersonalizing the Travel Experience Using Data and AI6SKIFT+AMPERITYAbout Skift and Amperitys“Customer Data Initiatives in the T

19、ravel Industry”SurveySkift and Amperity partnered to conduct a research survey with travel and hospitality business leaders in IT,marketing,and analytics in February 2022.The survey yielded responses from 286 travel and hospitality decision-makers(manager level and above)in the U.S.and Canada,captur

20、ing common objectives and challenges across customer data programs in the industry.Unless otherwise noted,the data cited in charts and graphs throughout this report are sourced from this survey.Key themes included:How customer data informs business strategy How they are capturing customer data Their

21、 confidence level in their ability to use data effectively including both loyalty and third-party data The technological capabilities theyve implemented,are planning to implement,or need to improve Which departments are responsible for data collection,distribution,and activationPersonalizing the Tra

22、vel Experience Using Data and AI7SKIFT+AMPERITYIntroduction:Rethinking Travels Approach to Loyalty The digital world has permanently changed the relationship between travel brands and their customers.Travelers are keenly conscious of the fact that theyre providing brands with more and more data,and

23、in most cases,theyre willing to share it in exchange for unique,personalized experiences.In step with this shift,the game is changing for travel loyalty.The traditional loyalty program model,on its own,appears to be failing to meet the demands of the next generation of travelers.For many travelers t

24、oday,loyalty means much more than having a membership number or collecting points.To reap the most benefits from a loyalty program,members often feel obligated to commit to one brand.The reality of their lives and personal preferences are often very different.Going all in with a brand makes sense fo

25、r a traditional road warrior or a family whose primary vacation preference is going to Disney World four times a year.But those types of behaviors are increasingly becoming outliers,and a majority of travelers want different experiences for different travel occa-sions with different travel companion

26、s in different types of destinations.“Consumers expectations for loyalty are changing in a number of ways,”said Jason Perocho,vice president of product marketing at Amperity.“They now expect brands to streamline reward interactions,allowing them to earn and redeem rewards quickly and easily,while al

27、so offering a variety of reward options to choose from not to mention exclusive,differentiated bene-fits in exchange for their spending.”For a peek into the balance travel brands are trying to strike,look no further than the recent updates to airline loyalty programs.These changes intend to recalibr

28、ate rewards so that elite Photo by Mesut Kaya on Unsplash Personalizing the Travel Experience Using Data and AI8SKIFT+AMPERITY“Consumers expectations for loyalty are changing in a number of ways.They now expect brands to streamline reward interactions,allowing them to earn and redeem rewards quickly

29、 and easily,while also offering a variety of reward options to choose from.”-Jason Perocho Vice President of Product Marketing,Amperitymembers will feel truly special,but the flipside of that choice may be that lower-tier members feel devalued,and therefore may not be as loyal to the brand.“The futu

30、re of loyalty,some experts predict,might not be alle-giance to a single brand at all but a pick your benefit or an la carte service that offers flexibility as a perk,”wrote Victoria M.Walker in The New York Times.“Loyalty members who once stuck with one carrier to gain status and earn upgrades and o

31、ther perks may no longer see a point in spending thousands of dollars to reach the next tier.”This seems to be the case with many younger travelers.A recent Morning Consult study found that just 46 percent of Gen Z travelers said that it was“absolutely certain”or“very likely”they would patronize hot

32、el brands in whose loyalty programs they were already enrolled.Moreover,33 percent said that they dont trust these brands,despite being members of the programs.These trends underscore the opportunity for travel brands to benefit by taking an open-minded approach to customer acquisition and retention

33、,focusing less on increasing loyalty membership for its own sake and more on earning travelers trust and winning their loyalty on a more personal level.of Gen Z travelers said they dont trust brands even when theyre already loyalty membersLoyalty programs are paying more attention to the less freque

34、nt leisure traveler,which requires staying top of mind through lifestyle marketing.Members still expect miles and points,but they also want recognition and experiences,which require an intimate understanding of who they are.The old way of attempting personalization was just“guessing”at it.Brands wou

35、ld make broad assumptions:If guests were in one demographic,they might like what a brand has to offer other people in that cohort.In practice today,personaliza-tion means building a customer data strategy based on a 33%Personalizing the Travel Experience Using Data and AI9SKIFT+AMPERITYunified,cohes

36、ive view of every traveler who comes through their purchasing funnel.This report will explore several key ways that travel brands can optimize their customer data initiatives to achieve these goals:Build out first-party data collection.Expanding privacy restrictions are making it harder to use data

37、provided by third parties,which comprise a majority of the customer data travel brands have today.Brands that evolve their data strategies and focus on first-party data will have a huge opportunity to provide better service using information theyve received directly from the customer.Reach beyond lo

38、yalty members.Combining data from loyalty programs with other sources helps to better under-stand each customer,effectively repositioning“loyalty”around the person instead of the program.By targeting customers with the greatest potential value in the moment and over a lifetime,regardless of status b

39、rands can start to formulate a more accurate foundation for their customer data and personalization strategies.Build a unified view of the traveler.Brands now have the ability to utilize platform technology that breaks down silos and collates data together into a unified view of each customer,which

40、will enable them to develop detailed customer profiles and support personalization efforts.Drive personalization to every customer touchpoint.There is a huge opportunity to use customer data to customize experiences for travelers throughout their jour-neys and todays consumers are clamoring for this

41、.The next frontier will be using AI to learn what customers want and need without asking.By leveraging new technologies powered by AI,travel brands will be able to create clear,holistic customer data strategies that enable them to build more direct,personal relationships with all of their customers,

42、including those who are already in their loyalty programs and otherwise.Successful efforts to do so will lead to more bookings,additional cross-selling opportunities,and higher lifetime value.Controlling the Data DelugeSource:StatistaPersonalizing the Travel Experience Using Data and AI10SKIFT+AMPER

43、ITYThe amounts of customer data companies have at their disposal are simply staggering.Statista cited that more than 180 zetta-bytes of data will be created,captured,copied,and consumed worldwide by 2025,nearly a 3x increase from 64 zettabytes in 2020,which was already a 4x increase from 16 zettabyt

44、es in 2015.When numbers reach that high,its easy to abstract them.The bottom line is that these numbers will increase exponentially as cloud data storage continues to become more widely utilized,especially as companies use AI to collect,analyze,and activate information.Travel brands are among the lu

45、cky ones,as their customers provide multitudes of high-quality,personally identifiable information(PII)when researching,booking,enjoying,and reviewing their travel experiences.“The travel and hospitality industry is unique in two specific ways from a customer data perspective,”said Steven Elinson,Di

46、rector,AWS for Travel&Hospitality.“First,in many geogra-phies,travel and hospitality brands are required by regulation to collect highly sensitive personal data,including passport information.Second,unlike other industries which may only have a single interaction with a guest,it is not uncommon for

47、travel and hospitality brands to collect data at different stages of the journey.Data from the planning phase of the trip can be wildly different from the post-trip phase.”The trick,of course,is knowing which types of data to collect and how to funnel it to the right places to make it actionable.Thi

48、s section outlines three key areas where travel brands should be focusing their efforts to corral their customer data and put it to its best and highest use:Volume of Data,Worldwide16264179120181201620182020Year150100Zettabytes2022202450Photo by Jessica Knowlden on UnsplashPersonalizing the Travel E

49、xperience Using Data and AI11SKIFT+AMPERITYPivot to First-Party Data Established travel brands like hotels and airlines lagged digital start-ups in the early days of the internet boom,relinquishing customer data and customer service relationships to online travel agencies and other third parties.Acc

50、elerated by the 2008 financial crisis,the hyper-competitive market for online travel deals fragmented loyalty among consumers and complicated brands ability to connect with their customers directly.And now,with the decline of third-party cookies,which have been a key enabler of ad personalization an

51、d the ability to measure marketing effectiveness,customer data from third parties will become less robust and accurate and therefore even more difficult to access,manage,and act upon.By the NumbersAccording to executives surveyed by Skift and Amperity,a majority of customer data is coming from third

52、 parties.57%of respondents reported that at least half of their customer data comes from third-party sources 34%said they believed they were“very effective”in using third-party data to build customer profiles and relationships,showing that executives did not have high confidence in their ability to

53、use that dataPersonalizing the Travel Experience Using Data and AI12SKIFT+AMPERITY Make it easy for customers to provide their data.Offer customers value in exchange for their data,such as exclusive discounts or early access to new products.Be transparent about how you collect and use customer data.

54、Make sure your customers under-stand what data you are collecting and how you will use it.Give customers control over their data.Allow customers to opt out of data collection and to request that their data be deleted.Use first-party data to create personalized expe-riences for customers.This could i

55、nclude sending targeted email campaigns,recommending products or services based on past purchases,or offering exclusive discounts to loyal customers.“The stakes on prioritizing first-party data have been raised in the past year due to changes in privacy regulations,such as GDPR and CCPA,regulations

56、that make it more difficult for businesses to collect and use third-party data,”said Amperitys Perocho.“As a result,businesses are increasingly relying on first-party data to understand and engage their customers.”Considering the volume of potential first-party data thats available to travel compani

57、es which would include any and all information a brand can collect first-hand,such as a website visit,online booking,direct social media interaction,phone call,text message,email,on-property transaction,or of course,face-to-face interaction its easy to understand why an overreliance on third-party d

58、ata is unnecessary if brands have the system to support their own data collection and management efforts.“First-party data is important because it is owned and controlled by the business.This makes it more reliable and trustworthy than third-party data,”said Perocho.“First-party data is also more et

59、hical because it is data customers have agreed to share with the brand future-proofing it from the privacy expecta-tions consumers have.It is expected that brands will use the data to create more personalized experiences for customers.”“And remember,when customers give you their data,its a gift,”Per

60、ocho added.“So dont throw it away.Instead,take it beyond the trip and create a customer profile.”Here are some additional tips for travel brands to maximize first-party data:Personalizing the Travel Experience Using Data and AI13SKIFT+AMPERITYBy the Numbers While loyalty programs are low-hanging fru

61、it for good customer data,relying on them solely leaves significant gaps in developing complete customer profiles.70%of executives said that at least half of their customers are already members of their loyalty programs 24%of executives said they are“very confident”in their ability to access the mem

62、ber data they need to keep their customers 32%of executives said their company does not have a loyalty program at all Take Better Advantage of Loyalty Data Loyalty information itself cant just be taken at face value.Most companies have fractured customer identities based on incon-sistent and diverse

63、 identifiers(like emails,phone numbers,zip codes,and usernames),cobbled together from interactions in different channels,touchpoints,and devices.Therefore,assuming knowledge of people based solely upon behaviors in certain instances when they travel for work,on their annual family vacation,or even a

64、s they peruse package getaways they never plan to take leaves significant gaps in their overall customer profiles.Personalizing the Travel Experience Using Data and AI14SKIFT+AMPERITY“The more a customer interacts,the more fragmented that identity becomes,”said Matthew Biboud-Lubeck,vice president,E

65、MEA,Amperity.“Systems that arent equipped with the right intelligence will fail to identify the fact that Business Traveler Joe and Vacation Joe are the same person with different loyalty accounts.Without an accurate,unified view of the customer,brands run into downstream problems like poor personal

66、ization and inaccurate insights.Loyalty programs remain a great way to build intimate relationships with an engaged and enthusiastic group,yet too narrow a focus on this strategy leaves out too many potential customers.Some companies may discover that a hyper-focus on acquiring frequent flyers or ro

67、ad warriors for a loyalty program at the expense of all the other customers who come through their system will continue to be the right approach.By widening their view,others may realize that they have a dedicated customer base that spans demographics,psychographics,or geographies outside of the loy

68、alty program that they hadnt been able to see previously.Here are three ways that companies can respond to changing perceptions of loyalty and leverage their programs to build a more holistic view of their customer base:Diversify and simplify.Offering a variety of ways to earn rewards,such as throug

69、h bookings,credit card spending,and social media interaction,maximizes engagement opportunities.Travel brands can also make it easy for customers to redeem rewards by offering a variety of redemption options,such as discounts,free upgrades,and exclusive experiences.Use customer data to build individ

70、ualized jour-neys.Brands have access to loyal customer pref-erences across a large set of interactions.They should use that information to serve up offers,upgrades,and rewards that are most valuable to that consumer.Offer exclusive benefits.Travel brands can offer exclusive benefits to loyal custome

71、rs,such as early access to new products and services,discounts on exclusive experiences,and priority customer support.Personalizing the Travel Experience Using Data and AI15SKIFT+AMPERITYBuild a Unified View of the Traveler With myriad sources of data and the proliferation of individual touchpoints

72、during the customer journey,travel brands have been inundated by an influx of customer information.While thats a good thing,applying that data to provide personalized recommendations and service proves to be much more difficult.To make better use of their customer data,travel brands have to refocus

73、on collecting data beyond loyalty and owned reser-vations while focusing on the accuracy with which they are bringing together customer data records.This will allow them to create a unified view of each customer,in contrast to the frag-mented identities they have in the raw data theyre collecting.“I

74、dentity resolution is a crucial step in using customer data,”said Biboud-Lubeck.“All the other elements of personalizing marketing and service depend on first having a clear,coherent record for each customer.”“Managing customer data is not a new problem,but without common linking keys to connect dat

75、a points from multiple sources,they struggle to get a clear view of their customers or personalize services and experiences”-Matthew Biboud-Lubeck Vice President,EMEA,AmperityThe ability not only to collect data but also to process and distribute it to the right teams is also critical.Since data is

76、coming from so many different sources,companies may feel confident that their data program is successful if they can bring all of that information into their system.But using it more effectively is much more complicated than just collecting it.By the Numbers Skift and Amperity data found that a mino

77、rity of execu-tives had the highest levels of confidence in their data programs.41%said they were“very confident”in their ability to understand individual customer identities based on the data they have 33%said they were“ahead of the curve”when it comes to the maturity of their customer data initiat

78、ives 32%of travel leaders said that they were“very satisfied”with the volume of the customer data theyve collected 29%said that they have high-quality data defined in the survey as“complete and accurate customer data”Personalizing the Travel Experience Using Data and AI16SKIFT+AMPERITY“The complex a

79、nd multichannel nature of the customer journey in travel makes the industry unique from a customer data perspective,”said Perocho.“Online travel agencies(OTAs),social media,and banking/credit card partners,in addition to loyalty programs,are just a few of the ways customers may interact in any given

80、 transaction.All of these different entry points make it difficult for brands to get a complete view of the customer.”Every trip has numerous contributing interactions digital and in-person.The power of customer data comes together when travel companies can identify individual travelers preferences

81、and behaviors across touchpoints,which requires a platform that can handle messy data from multiple sources to create an individual identity for each customer and act on that information.Here are three factors that will set an intelligent identity solution apart from the rest:Complete data collectio

82、n:Powerful identity plat-forms have the ability to ingest customer data in its raw,native formats,regardless of the source.This eliminates the problem of data silos and the unnecessary need for reformatting and conversion,allowing brands to preserve the richness of their data coming directly from th

83、e customer.Massive computing power:Petabytes of data come through identity systems each day.Plat-forms must be built on a robust infrastructure,so brands can have the freedom to scale up or down according to their business needs.Human-centric AI/ML identity resolution:By harnessing AI-powered algori

84、thms to establish identity matches,companies can make intelligent judgments and draw probable links between seem-ingly unrelated data sets and identifiers just like a human would.Unlike traditional rules-based or deterministic approaches(i.e.based on exact matches)that tend to be rigid and limiting,

85、proba-bilistic platforms allow brands to resolve identities at a much larger scale with the flexibility to update and adapt each time new data enters the system.Photo by Jakob Owens on UnsplashControlling the Data DelugeThe amounts of customer data companies have at their disposal are simply stagger

86、ing.Statista cited that more than 180 zetta-bytes of data will be created,captured,copied,and consumed worldwide by 2025,nearly a 3x increase from 64 zettabytes in 2020,a number which was already a 4x increase from 16 zettabytes in 2015.When numbers reach that high,its easy to abstract them.The bott

87、om line is that these numbers will increase exponentially as cloud data storage continues to become more widely utilized,especially as companies use AI to collect,analyze,and activate information.Travel brands are among the lucky ones,as their customers provide multitudes of high-quality,personally

88、identifiable information(PII)when researching,booking,enjoying,and reviewing their travel experiences.“The travel and hospitality industry is unique in two specific ways from a customer data perspective,”said Steven Elinson,managing director at AWS for Travel&Hospitality.“First,in many geographies,t

89、ravel and hospitality brands are required by regulation to collect highly sensitive personal data,including passport information.Second,unlike other industries which may only have a single interaction with a guest,it is not uncommon for travel and hospitality brands to collect data at different stag

90、es of the journey.Data from the planning phase of the trip can be wildly different from the post-trip phase.”Personalizing the Travel Experience Using Data and AI17SKIFT+AMPERITYQ&A:What Is a CDP,and Why Should Travel Brands Be Using One?In todays fast-paced digital landscape where customer loyalty

91、is up for grabs,travel and hospitality brands can utilize fast,powerful,and flexible customer data platforms(CDPs)to trans-form their end-to-end data management process.A CDP is a software solution that helps businesses collect,unify,and activate customer data from all sources.This includes data fro

92、m online and offline channels,such as websites,mobile apps,customer relationship management(CRM)systems,and loyalty programs.CDPs are becoming increasingly important as businesses strive to better understand and engage their customers.Skift:How is a CDP different from customer analytics tools or per

93、sonalization software that companies might be more familiar with?Perocho:Customer analytics tools typically focus on helping businesses analyze their customer data to identify trends and patterns.Personalization software helps businesses deliver targeted experiences to their customers based on their

94、 indi-vidual preferences.CDPs are different in that they provide a single platform for businesses to collect,unify,and activate all of their customer data.This makes it easier for businesses to get a complete view of their customers and to deliver personalized experiences across all channels.A CDP m

95、ay offer some level of analytics and personalization tools inside their platform,but more likely,the unified data that they provide can be fed out to robust analytics and personalization tools to achieve better outcomes with both.A conversation with Jason Perocho,Vice President of Product Marketing,

96、AmperityThe primary job of a CDP is to do the heavy lifting of turning raw data into a 360-degree view of your customer.CDPs are a multiplier,making all of your downstream systems more effective by feeding them with better data.Analytics and personalization software need clean data to be effective.S

97、kift:How does a CDP help manage exponentially increasing volumes of customer data from both online and offline sources?Perocho:CDPs are designed to handle large volumes of data from a variety of sources.They can automatically ingest and normalize from different systems,making it easy for businesses

98、to get a unified view of their customers.CDPs can also help businesses to manage their data compliance obligations.Skift:How can a CDP help break down silos within an organization?Perocho:CDPs can help to brek down silos within an organization by providing a shared understanding of your customers an

99、d where they are in their lifecycle with your company.This can help to improve collaboration and to ensure that all departments are working toward the same goals.Skift:How can a CDP help create a unified view of each customer to develop better customer profiles and support personalization efforts?Pe

100、rocho:Humans are complex.CDPs help businesses unpack that complexity to understand how customers evolve with their brand,across brands,and in their personal lives.An example of this is how a CDP can make the hidden connection between building a family and changes in their purchasing patterns.Busines

101、ses should look to CDPs with extensive AI/ML in identity resolution and predic-tive modeling to develop detailed customer profiles and to support personalization efforts.Personalizing the Travel Experience Using Data and AI18SKIFT+AMPERITYCase Study:Vail Resorts Pillars for PersonalizationWith 41 sk

102、i resorts across four countries and three continents,all centrally managed out of its headquarters in Colorado,Vail Resorts has undertaken a monumental effort to reimagine its customer data strategy.Growing from just 14 resorts several years ago,not to mention aggregating data from countless touchpo

103、ints online,on the mountain,and at the lodge,Vails marketing and technology teams had to be diligent and deliberate in building a CDP,knowing that they were not going to be working with static assets.“Growth of the business is fast,and its hard to depend on long-range planning,especially when it hap

104、pens through M&A,”said Matt Reid,vice president of omnichannel marketing,Vail Resorts.As a result,he said,the company set a path focused on whats always true:Scalability:Knowing the next acquisition is around the corner,and that likely means expanding to new markets,they needed data solutions that c

105、reate efficiencies.Agility:Whether its typical weather dynamics or the extreme example of the Covid-19 pandemic,they need reservations systems and marketing channels that are always prepared to respond quickly.Seasonality:Because the ski business isnt always on,there is a finite window of time every

106、 year where they have to clearly set out what theyll achieve.This ups the pressure to get it right the first time.If they miss their chance,they cant reset and just have to wait for next year.Photo by Tim Arnold on UnsplashPersonalizing the Travel Experience Using Data and AI19SKIFT+AMPERITYIn build

107、ing out the strategy for their data program,Vail landed on three pillars that would be simple to understand for any marketer and follow a linear pattern.That way,when speaking across the organization,theyd be able to point to potential quick wins in each scenario,effectively helping them scale.Enter

108、prise data enablement:Organizing data in a way that helps them better understand guests individually.That means they can start to personalize with more relevant offers and provide immediate value.Omnichannel orchestration at scale:The holy grail of building a single view of each customer and transla

109、ting that to everywhere they interact.Today,thats heavy in direct channels and digital media and moving more into digital and apps.In the future,it will lean more into customer service.Measurement and optimization:Knowing what to under-stand about the performance of the business.This includes a numb

110、er of investments to get out front of data deprecation and make sure the data is high quality.“In all of these areas,in the short window weve been working with Amperity,weve been able to prove true financial lift,”said Josh Hawkins,vice president of marketing technology at Vail Resorts.“As we look t

111、oward the future,we think about each of these swim lanes and what we want to understand.If you are successful in identity resolution,for example,you can move from a batch-based,trigger-specific campaign to more of an always-on,real-time,lets have a conversation approach.In other words,it all ties ba

112、ck to the individual customer and getting to the right person with the right message at the right time.”Photo by Andrea Stark on UnsplashUsing AI to Personalize the Travel ExperiencePersonalizing the Travel Experience Using Data and AI20SKIFT+AMPERITYTraveler satisfaction is becoming increasingly de

113、pendent on brands ability to provide a personalized experience for each individual from the time they start researching a trip until the time they leave a review.According to a recent report from Skift and McKinsey,“the variety and volume of customer data that travel companies can capture has increa

114、sed dramatically;new tools and technologies such as AI-powered assistants are only accelerating the trend.”The promise of being able to build a complete view of the customer by combining all possible data from those interac-tions has marketers salivating at the possibilities.However,the Skift and Mc

115、Kinsey report concludes,“The industry is reckoning with an important fact:some data points are more useful than others which poses an interesting challenge:how to distinguish the signal from the noise?”The answer by using AI is relatively simple in concept but much more complex in execution.AI is on

116、ly as good as the data its learning from,and only as useful as the decision-making power that its given.The vast majority of consumers have accepted the fact that by virtue of being online,they are giving up personal data.The flip side is that now they expect companies to use that data to help impro

117、ve their experience.The rise of AI in the public consciousness has only accelerated these preferences.Travelers no longer fear AI,they want companies to work faster and smarter to use it to the customers advantage.According to a 2022 survey of travelers worldwide,nearly 75 percent said they were eit

118、her“very”or“somewhat”inter-ested in AI that would analyze their data as a means to provide more personalized offers and customer service.Among those,approximately 30 percent said theyre happy with whatever it takes to make their trip better.Perhaps more tellingly,about 45 percent said they were inte

119、rested,but with the caveat that they are given the opportunity to consent for its use with the explicit purpose of using that data to present better offers and advertisements or provide more personalized service.“Personalization must be a holistic experience throughout the entire customer journey fr

120、om online booking to customer service,”said Biboud-Lubeck.“However,the siloed nature of data and the lack of trust in its accuracy make it challenging to provide seamless personalization at each touchpoint.Bridging these gaps requires a comprehensive under-standing of the customer journey and the ab

121、ility to infuse data into the personalization process.”Personalizing the Travel Experience Using Data and AI21SKIFT+AMPERITYBy the Numbers40%of executives were“very confident”in their ability to deliver personalized products,services,and messaging to their customers across the travel journey based o

122、n the data they have 41%said they were“very confident”in their ability to“understand individual customer identities based on the data they have”35%said they were“very confident”in their ability to use customer data organization-wide 38%were“very confident”they had the necessary technology/tools to d

123、eliver on customer data initiativesThe introduction of AI in general,and now generative AI more specifically,has leveled the playing field for travel and hospi-tality companies.In the pre-internet days,the highest levels of service came from ultra-luxury,up-market brands that could afford to dedicat

124、e personal assistance for every individual need the white-glove treatment,if you will.Now,at every level of hospitality,from budget to 7-star,brands can communicate on an individual level in ways that their customers feel most comfortable.Thats not only creating better traveler satisfaction,its driv

125、ing innovation faster across the entire industry.“Brands with a good data foundation will be able to use generative AI and create personalized experiences that will quickly become ubiquitous,and theyll shape customer expectations.”-Joyce Gordon,Head of Generative AI,Amperity“I think were going to se

126、e a lot of rapid innovation in the GenAI space over the next two years that maybe is faster than previous paradigm shifts we saw with internet,e-commerce,and mobile adoption.”In practice,individual travelers dont understand or experi-ence the health of a companys data program.They care about finding

127、 the right information at the right time as they plan their travels;they care about enjoying a seamless travel experience in the moment;and they want to be appreciated by companies theyve patronized after a stay and in between trips.By using all the data they have at their disposal,especially first-

128、party data,brands have the opportunity to build direct relationships with a much wider base of customers.Personalizing the Travel Experience Using Data and AI22SKIFT+AMPERITY“Brands can offer experiences that feel authentic if they use your first-party data,”said Gordon.“For instance,if a brand has

129、purchased all of this third-party data and Ive never been to their site and now suddenly they know all of these things about me,that feels creepy.Its like the person you go on a date with who has stalked all of your social media.But if Ive shared this information with you in the past for bookings an

130、d for experiences where I know that information has been used and if you use it well,its almost a relief.”The conversational capabilities that generative AI enables will be an important game-changer.Its more natural to provide preferences in a back-and-forth dialogue than checking a bunch In additio

131、n to customer service chatbots,which are the most common uses of generative AI today,here are several ways that generative AI will support the travel experience of the future:Personalized booking:Given a generative AI-pow-ered chatbot assistant vs.an open-ended search bar or filtering tool,travelers

132、 can react conversationally to suggestions,feeding more data back to the booking engine to create better and more specific recommen-dations.Ancillary offerings:Suggest the right add-ons based on real-time interactions and past preferences.Trav-eling by yourself?Heres a deal including a massage.Going

133、 with your three kids?Pre-purchase those flight snacks.Automated creative generation:Of all the possible images and descriptive information a brand has on file,generative AI can respond to interactions with the user and serve up the options which will resonate best.Customer insights and recommendati

134、ons:Under-stand patterns of actions customers typically take and give real-time recommendations for when customers want to redeem loyalty points,upgrade,etc.Simplified technology:The modes of how brands ask questions of their data itself will radically change,becoming more natural language-driven vs

135、.code-based.of boxes or filling out one-way,predetermined form fields.That said,Gordon warned that the No.1 issue holding brands back in deploying generative AI-powered agents is in fact that data foundation.A virtual agent powered by ChatGPT might seem cool,but if it doesnt have any knowledge of th

136、e customer at the outset of a conversation,its going to feel robotic.“Better data means better results in the world of generative AI,”Gordon said.“If youre in a conversation with a chatbot,its actually more frustrating if it feels like youre talking to a human,but it doesnt have any of the personali

137、zation that a real travel agent would be able to provide.”Personalizing the Travel Experience Using Data and AI23SKIFT+AMPERITYQ&A:How Can AI Help Travel Brands Build Better Customer Relationships?Skift:How Is AI supporting customer data strategies and personalization?Elinson:AI is critical in multi

138、ple ways.One,it can be used to de-duplicate customer profiles to ensure you have a unified view of your customers,which can then be used to segment customers,generate personalized offers and messaging,and provide tailored customer service.AI can also be used to personalize recommendations,imagery,or

139、 up-sell offers,as well as to automate and answer frequent traveler or guest customer service questions,or it can provide contact center agents with recommended actions.Skift:How can AI help travel and hospitality brands build a unified view of the traveler?Elinson:Classically,AI has been used to ac

140、celerate or augment data analysis,stitching together the unique and detailed profiles of individual guests/travelers to create a unified view of the customer.AI is not a new discipline but is perhaps one of the most rapidly advancing technologies.In its newest form,gener-ative AI has the potential t

141、o revolutionize the way that travel and hospitality brands understand and serve their customers.Skift:What are some ways travel companies can automate communications to help us serve relevant information while continuing to feel personal on the customers side?Elinson:By automating communications in

142、a way that is personalized and relevant,brands are enhancing the customer experience,increasing customer loyalty,optimizing their oper-ations,and driving profitable growth.One way theyre doing this is through automation triggers.Some examples might be to send a communication at specific times in the

143、 guest/traveler A conversation with Steven Elinson,Director,AWS for Travel&Hospitality journey(e.g.hotel checkout)or driven by a real-time event(e.g.airport security lines are long,so we suggest you depart for the airport 20 minutes earlier than planned).In addition,travelers are growing ever more c

144、omfortable texting with chatbots that enable contactless interactions,question-answering,and problem resolutions,which are powered by machine learning.An additional benefit of auto-mating communications for guests is the ability for brands to free up their staff to focus on more complex tasks.Skift:

145、What are some examples of how travel companies are using customer data(and AI)to create personalized interactions at all stages of the journey?Elinson:Accor is using technologies that are fully integrated on AWS to create an innovative customer service approach,provide personalized experiences,and i

146、dentify potential members for its loyalty program.By migrating its databases and its infrastructure to the cloud,Accors hospitality ambas-sadors can retrieve loyalty program information up to six times quicker than with the previous system.Accor has also improved its service response times and incre

147、ased its visi-bility in order to adapt its customer service approach better.For example,Accor can now identify which customers are visiting its hotels for the first time and which ones are returning customers.They can create customer profiles that include individual preferences such as drinks,favori

148、te meals,and services required.In addition,Accor now uses AI to analyze conversations during a call to give agents recommendations for actions to take,which has directly led to a customer satisfaction rate of 97 percent.Personalizing the Travel Experience Using Data and AI24SKIFT+AMPERITYConclusionW

149、hether or not they admit it or fully understand whats happening travelers are craving personalized,curated information at every turn.In the world of predictive search,social media feed algorithms,e-commerce recommendation engines,and now generative AI,the bar has been set extremely high for travel c

150、ompanies to step up and provide similar levels of service to meet the demands of their customers.The good news for travel brands is that their customers are already willingly sharing detailed information about themselves.No matter how much a person regularly shops at a pet food store,theyre not offe

151、ring up intimate information about their day-to-day lives from work to family to individual wants and needs in the same way they will to enjoy a travel experience.With the tools available to aggregate and activate traveler information into a CDP,travel brands can create truly personalized relationsh

152、ips with their customers today.Getting started is easier than it seems.Because theres so much data out there,theres a temptation to think big and try to boil the ocean.By starting with what they have,travel companies will realize they have a lot to work with.“Travel brands can use customer data to m

153、ake better business decisions,such as optimizing their pricing strategies,developing new products and services,and targeting their marketing campaigns more effectively,”said Amperitys Perocho.“This can lead to increased revenue and profitability.”The most exciting part of building a strong customer

154、data strategy today is its potential for tomorrow.The physical and digital worlds are continuing to blur,and the ability to connect data intake and analysis to reflect this reality will give travel brands a significant advantage in their ability to serve their customers of the future.“Imagine youre

155、talking to the concierge at the hotel about your preferences,and you might articulate certain things that become part of your digital profile,even though it happened in the physical world,”said Amperitys Gordon.“All of your interactions with the brand will seem very seamless and continuous.I think t

156、hats really the future.”Personalizing the Travel Experience Using Data and AI25SKIFT+AMPERITYAbout SkiftAbout AmperitySkift is the largest industry intelligence platform,providing media,insights,and marketing to key sectors in travel.Through news,research,conferences,exclusive interviews,strategic s

157、ector-fo-cused newsletters,and more,Skift deciphers and defines the global trends that matter to the marketers,strategists,and tech-nologists shaping the industry.SkiftX is Skifts in-house content marketing studio,working collaboratively with partners like Accor,Dubai Tourism,AWS,Expedia,Allianz Par

158、tners,and many more to help brands solve problems,create unforgettable moments,and communicate big ideas through content,research,and event activations.Visit to learn more or email .Amperity delivers the customer data confidence brands need to unlock growth.We start by helping customer-centric brand

159、s build the vital,first-party,unified customer data foundation required to truly know their customers.Our unparalleled,innovative solu-tion stitches together every type of rich,customer data across multiple,disparate sources using patented AI and ML methods.Diverse teams,including Marketing,Analytic

160、s,and IT,can easily use this accurate,trusted profile foundation to discover insights,create high-value segments,analyze business results and fuel tools that deliver personalized,customer experiences turning data into business impact.Learn more at .About AWSTravel and hospitality companies around th

161、e globe are reshaping the way we experience the world using Amazon Web Services,Inc.(AWS),the most comprehensive and broadly adopted cloud.Offering industry-specific services,solutions,experts,and vetted partners,AWS for Travel and Hospitality helps customers of all sizes enhance the traveler and guest experience while improving operational efficiency.Visit learn how Choice Hotels Expedia Group,Hertz,Ryanair,TUI,United Airlines,Wyndham Hotels&Resorts,and many others are innovating on the cloud.