The Challenge Of Travel Customer Experience

Why travel nowadays is increasingly stressful for travellers.

Travel by its very nature is a collection of emotional and technical friction points. Since the end of the pandemic, these friction points have been exacerbated by repeated bouts of disruption due to industrial action, staff shortages, provider IT failures and exogeneous shocks such as wars, natural disasters, and extreme weather events.

While the travel landscape has become more challenging, there has been a lack of a matching service response by providers. US Department of Transportation data for 2022 shows a 55% increase in airline complaint levels with the highest category relating to cancellations, delays, or other deviations from airlines’ schedules¹. Similarly, a sentiment analysis by McKinsey²of TripAdvisor reviews from the United States, Europe, and Asia found the emotional intensity of customer reviews of hotels increased considerably between 2019 and 2021.

It is no surprise that, post-pandemic, with disruption and uncertainty becoming endemic in travel, there is a heightened focus on the traveller experience.

What initiatives is Key Travel implementing to enhance the Travel Customer Experience for its clients?

Key Travel is an international travel management company dedicated exclusively to serving the travel needs of humanitarian, faith-based and academic organisations. We have launched a programme to boost our customers’ control of their travel through enhanced self-service while at the same time making available more support by agents.

Enhanced Self-Service

At Key Travel, we offer an award-winning self-booking tool, KT Online which has delivered the highest online adoption rate in the non-profit sector worldwide. Its user-friendly design and logical workflow allow travellers to Look – Click – Book without requiring significant training or guidance. KT Online also has the ability to embed travel policies and approval processes to ensure proper checks are in place before finalising any booking.

Since launch, we have enhanced KT Online further based on user feedback with:

Self-service disruption management including the ability to cancel or change flights.
Live webchat with direct access to a customer service agent during booking.
The ability to book international train services in addition to flights, accommodation and domestic trains.

Alongside our online booking tool, we offer a Key Travel mobile app, co-developed with Amadeus, the world’s leading provider of travel technology. The app enables travellers to view all elements of their trip in one place, from itineraries, flight and hotel bookings to rail and car hire. Travellers can make changes or book additional trips. The app also prompts travellers when check-in is open and links through to the airline check-in page. Furthermore, the app incorporates weather forecasts, destination risk assessments and live risk alerts, and informs travellers in real time of any alterations or delays that may impact their journey, enabling them to avoid last minute surprises and make the most of their time.

One of the key benefits of our app is that it acts as a digital assistant for travellers across their whole itinerary. Travellers frequently point out that their itineraries are split amongst multiple providers who only offer brand-specific travel assistance, and that data sharing between providers is limited. This fragmentation of supply and support forces travellers to switch between apps as confirmed by research indicating that travellers use 10 to 12 apps throughout the searching, booking, and traveling parts of their trip³.

In addition to self-booking tool enhancements and a mobile app, we have launched the Key Travel Customer Portal where customers can view and manage all their queries relating to past, current, or future bookings in one place, obviating the need to contact an agent.

Customer feedback has confirmed that enhanced self-service through automation not only delivers instant results but also puts travellers firmly in control pre-trip, in-trip and post trip.

Additional agent support

While Key Travel continues to invest in enhanced digitalisation, we understand the continuing need for human support. A recent study by travel technology company Travelport⁴ shows that, despite or perhaps because of the drive for higher automation, three-quarters of travellers still want the option of talking to a person. The human element is crucial, and personal service can be a major differentiator particularly for complex bookings or itineraries. To that end, alongside our digital booking channels, we offer an offline booking service resourced by experienced, multi-lingual travel consultants with an average tenure of 8 years at Key Travel and industry experience of 13 years.

We complement our offline travel consultant teams with a 24/7/365 customer support team. This 24/7 team, which is 100% in-house and whose services are offered as an inclusive benefit to customers, can handle any query out of working hours and has significant experience in global travel crisis management - previously supporting clients during crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic, Ebola outbreaks in West Africa, hurricanes in North America, and terror attacks in Western Europe.

Finally, with travellers wanting to engage with providers across both physical and digital channels, we have introduced three ways for customers to contact us for support in addition to phone and email - SMS, WhatsApp, and Live Webchat. This omnichannel capability gives customers the flexibility to choose how they want to get in contact and also provides additional flexibility for communicating from locations where internet bandwidth or network connection is limited.

Conclusion

The travel experience for most has been impacted by the increased complexity and volatility of travel. We at Key Travel have responded by enhancing self-service while at the same time investing in additional human support at the vital junctions in the travel process where travellers are more likely to want support from humans rather than from machines. The challenge with automation is how to maintain customers’ emotional commitment and ensure they feel supported while reducing face-to-face interactions. We believe that providing more engaging customer service experiences is vital in overcoming this challenge.