Here Is Why Travel Businesses Should Consider Customer Loyalty Programs

In the highly competitive travel industry of the modern times retaining customers a difficult task. The challenging aspect of running a business successfully is quiet challenging. However, to cater to the attention of audiences, businesses are turning towards implementing loyalty programs. 

Customer loyalty management services influence the consumer’s willingness to buy a product/service from a particular brand repeatedly. Specifically, customer loyalty programs entail providing consumers reward or value for the repeated purchases they make through a brand. Loyalty services drive positive customer experiences and imbibe customer satisfaction, which is why companies prefer imbibing them for utmost gains 

Why is customer loyalty important?

These programs are the tested methods of raising and sustaining the brand’s value in the market. Customers who appreciate your services are likely to continue purchasing from you. This pool of customers also becomes the prime market for your new product launches. Opting for customer loyalty management services in the travel segment provide businesses multiple benefits that go beyond monetary rewards. 

Ways customer loyalty management programs benefit travel businesses?

·       Increase revenue: Customer loyalty programs attract new customers and retain existing ones. They aid in expanding the consumer base and establishing trust among the audience. Additionally, loyal consumers are likely to convert and spend more. Usually, 5 % increase in retention through customer loyalty programs can boost your revenue by 25 to 95 percent. 

·       Increase purchase frequency: Loyalty programs make the consumer feel associated with the brand. These non-monetary rewards attract consumers repeatedly due to their personalized experience. The customers are likely to feel more appreciated and inclined to purchase from the same brand.

·       Provide room for growth: Loyalty programs are self-sufficient marketing modes of driving uninterrupted business growth. Loyal customers trust you and help you spread positive word-of-mouth. They influence their friends and family members to purchase from a particular brand. 

So, don’t miss any opportunity to drive conversion and keep the audience engaged. With customer loyalty management services from IGT Solutions, you can easily simplify your customer participation. Additionally, implementing loyalty programs will drive your business impeccable revenue growth. 

Overview Of Business Intelligence In The Hospitality Sector

Business intelligence or BI helps to convert unprocessed data into information that enables the management to make business decisions that are profitable for the hotel.  BI utilizes a number of processes, technologies, and architectures to bring about this transformation.

Impact Of BI On The Hospitality Sector

Business intelligence helps the management take intelligent decisions for the progress of their business based on facts and not whims or gut feelings.  BI thus has an impact on

• The strategic business decisions of a company to target a specific audience or to measure the success of a marketing campaign.

• The tactical business decisions of a business organization such as inventory planning or investment in advertisement and marketing.

• The operational business decisions of an organization such as pricing of holiday packages, room discounts, or employee management.

How Do We Process Business Intelligence

• The raw data from different databases of the company is extracted.

• This data is cleaned and entered into the data warehouse.

• The BI system is used to conduct any type of analysis that is required for the growth and success of a business enterprise.

Importance Of BI To Business Organizations

• Business intelligence increases the transparency of the different processes within the business.

• It streamlines business processes with the help of benchmarking and computer modeling.

• This helps staff to work smarter.

• Productivity increases as reports and information are available at the click of a button.

• Companies are able to be on top of changes in technology.

• Helps you to retain your customers.

• Financial forecasting is liable to be more transparent.

• It fixes accountability for decision making.

• BI helps the management to get a bird’s eye view of the entire setup.

Who Uses Business Intelligence

Business intelligence is used by different types of people in the hotel sector:

• The professional data analyst uses it to get insights into business decisions and strategies.  It is based on their analysis that business plans are made

• IT users are responsible for maintaining the infrastructure of the BI system.

• The CEO and top management can make well-informed decisions based on the data provided by BI.

• F&B managers, revenue managers, sales managers and marketing managers. 

Changing The Way Travel Industry Works

Travel industry all over the world is using large amounts of data analysis to improve, change and compete in big ways. Take a look at some of the areas that are using travel analytics.

Expenses And Restrictions

Many travel companies spend exorbitant amounts on client entertainment expenses which can bring in greater ROI. These expenses though are difficult to control and therefore using travel analytics to track a client or a group of them may help reduce these hefty expenses. Depending on the data, policies can be amended without affecting customer satisfaction. From customer bookings to employee’s dry cleaning, everything can be tracked in order to minimize expenses and reimbursements.

Curbing Attrition And Vendor Preferences

Losing out on travelers is a big problem the travel industry faces each year. It’s not enough to make decisions on one-sided data, it requires a collection of information before and after a trip in order to analyze it. Data insights show you the preferences of the customer, their spending habits, dissatisfactions and issues they may have faced. Using travel analytics, managers can change policies to offer the best in prices, options and comfort to their travelers. By establishing periods of low pricing based on past trends, dynamic travel policies may be created to attract the customer. Another thing that, travel companies can do is to understand the vendors who are preferred by customers and to work on policies surrounding them.

Reimbursements And Personalization

Reimbursements can be a long-drawn-out process because of the many guidelines involved. By using data insights, this process can be made easier where customers can submit the receipts or a photo of it. Some travel companies use tools that can track a traveler's charges which can be analyzed on a regular basis. The success of the tool depends on the policy guidelines which results in compliance. The mantra in the travel industry is personalization. Travel Analytics can be used to pick a hotel, route, location, flight for a customer based on individual preferences. Personalization also creates some strict guidelines in terms of travel policies.

With data insights, companies can now anticipate future restrictions, guidelines or policies based on trends of the past.

Adding A Personal Touch To Air Travel With Call Centers

Now a days, there are many customers who either book online or pre order added in-flight services. The incorporation of airline call centers offers a balance between technology and personalization to customers. Check out some more benefits here:

Human Touch

Airline call centers are responsible for nearly 15% of the bookings which are more often than not of higher value as compared to online sales. Complex purchases, rerouting, altering of tickets, last minute bookings and adjustment of tickets all require the help of a call center agent. Travelers find it much easier to explain their predicament to a live agent than to the sound of a machine prompting them to put in their details to make the necessary changes. Call centers are also welcomed by those who are uncomfortable with technology or for those who prefer to deal with people. Time is everything and customers do not like waiting for too long. By using the services of an airline call center, chances are that the agent will be able to assist you promptly. The live agents are trained to provide the best in services and have in depth knowledge to ensure they provide you with the best reservation experience.

Convenience, Efficiency And Security

There are some people who manage most of their tasks on their phone and prefer modern methods of payment transactions and on the other hand there are travelers who are concerned with digital security, online theft and fraud. In order to bring solution between these two sets of people by creating a portal that uses the best of digital technology and human assistance. Many of the airline call centers have introduced a new approach of guiding customers through the selection of their tickets but completing the final transaction through a link that takes them to a secure payment platform online. Call centers can now be reached through digital channels or through social media platforms and chats. They provide multiple payment options as well as support and interaction where required.

Airline call centers will only be strengthened by digital technology and will remain an important part of air travel.

Why mobility services for travel and hospitality are important in the modern day world?

In this fast-paced world, performing almost any task has become extremely easy, be it for researching or booking travels. But what is it that makes it so convenient? Of course, smartphones! In fact, smartphones have become the most preferred medium for people to research on anything and everything. The same holds true for performing various types of transactions as well. 

This is the reason why mobility services for travel and hospitality have become a great prospect. They help various businesses to benefit from the growing market and create a very consumer-focused ecosystem. Here are some useful points you might want to know about mobility services for travel and hospitality. 

What are mobility services important for? 

The world is presently seeing a surge of connected travellers. Hence, it has become very important for the travel service providers to step up and provide better services, anytime, anywhere. This brings a very strong need for a technological infrastructure that is highly efficient. Additionally, it should also help the providers with ample backend mediums to provide the best mobility services for travel and hospitality. 

Benefits of mobility services 

If you get down to counting the benefits of mobility services for travel and hospitality domains, there would be quite a lot of points that would creep up. Here are prominent ones: 

• Smartphones have become the most favorable mode of communication in the present generation. Hence, a great mobile app can help you stand out in a world full of competition.

• The mobility services combine technology with extensive knowledge in the field, which is always a great combination to have.

• Adding relevancy and real-time features can help create loyalty among users.

Hence, the need for mobility services for travel and hospitality is evident to incorporate a sound infrastructure to your business. It would definitely help your company to progress excessively over a short period and experience growth like never before. 

The need of the hour 

To conclude, mobility services for travel and hospitality make up for an extensive medium of addressing the smartphone craze. The more you confide on these facilities, the better are your chances to gain traction in your business niche.

Your flight just got canceled: Managing IROPS

Dreaded words, but this happens almost every now and then in the air travel world! Cancellations due to unforeseen circumstances, mechanical issues, last minute flight delays are chaotic situations, popularly known as airline irregular operations (IROPS). 

Under such stressful circumstances, it becomes impertinent for airlines as well as airport authorities to provide effective customer service, answering queries and keeping the communication channels going. Modern day technology solutions have increased the use of social media platform for effective services and communication during airline irregular operations. 

The impacts 

A good percentage of passengers facing a flight delay or a disruption situation are more impacted by the lack of communication from the airline brand or the airport authorities rather than the actual situation itself. The frustration of ineffective communication, conflicting information regarding the cause of airline’s irregular operations and non-receipt of updates on the same is the biggest impact seen on the customers. Additionally, there is often a lack of apt initiative on the part of airlines to compensate for the disruption caused to the customers. 

The inability to resolve such situations has been seen to seriously impact the overall loyalty of the customers. While negative experiences are sometimes unavoidable, and most customers are willing to forget the same, it is hard for them to let go of a poor problem resolution plan. Quick and smooth problem resolution can create high levels of customer satisfaction, even in events like airline irregular operations. 

Requirements under IROPS services

Partnering with a reputed agency to device an IROP plan helps manage customer service during crisis situations which can turn into a disaster for the brand image. 

Some of the integral components of services under airline irregular operations management include working and communicating through real-time platforms like Facebook, Twitter, etc. Management of scheduled and unscheduled disruptions 24/7 is equally important. The same can be achieved through effective passenger management and process management. 

While passenger management involves resolving issues like re-accommodation, managing schedule changes, providing updated notifications through SMS, Emails and social media, working on claims, etc. Similarly, process management involves working on mishandled baggage, issuing refunds, seat management, visa assistance, re-validations, etc. 

Effective IROPS management has been proven to significantly increase revenue for major air carriers thereby retaining the loyalty of customers.

Benefits of incorporating a railway call center and AI-driven chatbot

Nowadays, consumers express more interest in availing personalized service. They enjoy getting extra benefits and tend to stay loyal to the brand. The same holds for services related to railway as well, which is where a railway call center fits into the picture. The railway service is a part and parcel for a major part of the population. By providing the right service and ensuring the best experience a railway service provider will be able to ensure a sound customer base. This is possible with the help of a professional call center. 

Achieving Customer Loyalty 

Preparing a base of loyal customers is not a cakewalk. It will need a proper strategy and a brilliant infrastructure, to begin with. Hiring a team of customer support executives will add more expenses. It will also need added provisions and infrastructure. This is the reason why most of the railway service providers are outsourcing the customer support segment to a professional agency. The digital platform and strong customer support will automatically build a unique medium where the leads will easily transform into loyal customers. 

Personalized Experiences 

Studies reveal that more than 80% of the railway service seekers want to experience personalized service to make their journey more comfortable. They like to find better benefits and prompt support from the brand. The ideal way to achieve this elegant position is by incorporating a team of expert professionals who could handle the queries via proven approaches. The incorporation of chatbots and AI-driven platforms in the system will also lead to a perfect medium to connect with the consumers properly. 

Resourceful Communication Channel 

Once a service provider incorporates this digital platform, the customer support and management system will become exclusively efficient. In fact, the auto-communication channel will also reduce the expenditure of the support system considerably. 

Wrapping Up 

Introducing a railway call center and an AI-driven prompt response system will be extremely beneficial for the concerned service providers. The data-driven results will help in tackling customers more wisely. Evidently, establishing a brand and generating revenue will become a lot easier. 

For more details visit https://www.igtsolutions.com/