Vaccinations = Vacations for Many Americans but Travel Providers Will Miss Out if they Don’t Tailor Marketing and Communications Appropriately
Redpoint Global, a leading software provider that helps brands deliver revenue-generating and personalized customer experiences, today announced new research finding that personalization is key to travel marketing. Conducted by Dynata, the survey of more than 1,000 U.S. consumers found that most remain wary of travel, and 67 percent express frustration at receiving vacation offers when they are unable (or unwilling) to travel. Ultimately, many are dissatisfied with the travel industry’s ability to deliver personalized communications during COVID-19.
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“Once travel brands prove they are listening and assure guests of the safety of travel, the growth can happen quickly”
“No sector of the market was hit as hard by the pandemic as travel and hospitality, and there is a big push to recoup the losses,” states Dale Renner, CEO and co-founder of Redpoint Global. “However, the biggest thing for these brands to understand is that their guests have very different needs and wants from travel than they have in the past. Personalizing the end-to-end experience and offering as much assurance as possible on safety trumps cost for most of today’s travelers.”
Only 24 percent of consumers believe that travel companies consistently deliver messaging pre-trip, during and post-trip. Yet, 73 percent expect personalized, real-time messaging to feel safe and comfortable this year. Right now, communicating with clear information on mask mandates, enhanced cleaning, social distancing protocols, possible COVID-19 testing and crowd management matter more than any other type of touchpoints or offers.
The research revealed that while 60 percent of Americans are not planning any travel this summer or fall, the appetite for travel is quickly ramping up, especially from those fully vaccinated. The survey showed that 46 percent of vaccinated consumers plan to travel at least once during the summer months, with a majority planning interstate travel. Among these vaccinated consumers, 79 percent say they eventually plan to travel more or about the same as they did pre-pandemic.
“Working with Redpoint for years we’ve been able to create a hyper-personalized guest experience that is customized from end-to-end,” said Andrew Heltzel, corporate director of Marketing & CRM for Xanterra Travel Collection. “Because of this access to customer data, we were able to hear directly from our guests about the type of messaging they wanted and quickly deliver that content. We have prioritized health and safety messaging since the early days of the pandemic and highlighted travel options based on guest behavior and travel preferences across our portfolio. We’ve already seen a lot of renewed growth and feel we are well-prepared to meet our guest needs now and into the future.”
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To interest others in 2021 travel and beyond, the data indicates that communications from travel brands should focus more on safety and personalized messaging rather than deals and low-cost options. Consumers want the travel industry to step up when it comes to personalized communication in general as 69 percent believe having seamless pre-trip, during and post-trip personalization is an ongoing expectation that will last long after the pandemic is over.
“Once travel brands prove they are listening and assure guests of the safety of travel, the growth can happen quickly,” said Scot Hornick, Partner at Oliver Wyman. “There’s a lot of pent-up demand for leisure travel; last year’s ‘stay-cations,’ foregone family reunions, and missed graduation parties have translated for many consumers, into a sense of entitlement to a great time this summer travel season. For those embracing travel, many will splurge to treat their families to something special this time around, but getting the right offer in front of them – particularly something that captures their imagination with a novel idea or extra-special activity – will be the key to tapping into this splurge mentality vs. letting others capture it.”