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BRANDS GIVE TRAVELERS Writer: Andrew Sheivachman

MORE CONTROL OVER Sponsored by Illustrator: Vanessa Branchi

THEIR EXPERIENCE

Booking a trip is complicated, with dozens of As travelers choose travel apps over a hotel
platforms and providers jockeying to sell accom- desk or information booth for booking tours
Skift Take: modations, flights, and experiences. Yet as travel- and activities, though, a major opportunity has
ers have become wiser and more empowered emerged for established travel brands to sell
Creation is the new consumption, as travelers weary of commodity by digital tools, they are now looking to more those activities alongside their usual products.
travel seek to have a more active role in curating their experiences, actively determine the shape and contours of
their trips when they are already in a destination. Travelers want more control over their trips
and digital platforms more seamlessly mediate in-trip discovery than ever before, and new digital tools allow
increasing the opportunity for serendipity. Having an increased level of choice and flexibility them to co-create a trip within the structure
at the fingertips of travelers will lead to a new of the apps and services they already use. The
era as travel brands act as trusted guides and technical plumbing is now in place to allow a
enablers of the rarest and most valuable travel new wave of engagement with travelers from
phenomenon: serendipity. a wide range of industry giants ranging f rom
Google to TripAdvisor and relatively new players
The emergence of co-creation and collabora- like Airbnb.
tion between travel company and traveler has
become perhaps the most impactful change It’s still early days, but Airbnb has made one of
the industry has seen, the end result of a long the most robust efforts to integrate its Airbnb
period of digital development by the global Experiences venture with its traditional homestay
travel sector. The control that travelers now product, accompanied by a recommendation-fu-
have during every phase of their trip will begin eled itinerary management service baked into
to revolutionize the sector starting in 2019, and its mobile app.
smart travel companies are paying attention to
ways they can empower their customers without “We so far have seen that hosts can be empow-
eroding the value of their brand. ered to provide something that hits their passion
and also makes the guest’s trip a lot better,” said
For decades, the online travel revolution didn’t Joe Zadeh, Airbnb’s head of experiences. “We
really extend to the tours and activities travelers are seeing the growth experiences to be even
experience during a vacation. Companies like faster than the growth of our personal homes
Expedia and ITA Software pioneered the software visits because we already have an engaged
that undergirded e-commerce for flights in the travel audience that wants to have a real local
late 1990s, while Booking.com helped to bring experience.”
online the long tail of hotel properties in Europe
and around the world over the last decade-plus. Google has straddled both sides of the line this
decade, providing flight and hotel booking tools
Today, the tours and activities sector is under- to consumers while also deploying the capabil-
going a similar expansion in the digital space. ity for travelers to track their itineraries using
There are numerous reasons for the slow speed Google services.
of digital adoption, ranging from the extreme
fragmentation of tour operators to the buying Over the last year, there has been a major
habits of consumers, who tend to book activities convergence emerging from both sides of the
anywhere from a few days before their trip to a company’s bifurcated strategy; the Google Maps
few hours before a tour takes place, limiting the app now serves up dining and activity recom-
need for robust online booking. mendations, while the company’s traditional

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