Delivering on the experience, Eurostar’s top tips, BA in the news, Ready to GoEuro? and Wow for Wifi….our pick of the week’s stories

Digital dilemmas for a real world

With the huge amount of data available and the proliferation of smartphones, creating a different experience for your customer is not rocket science. So why aren’t more travel brands doing it? Is it because it’s quite challenging to marry the digital experience with what happens in the real world? These are questions that came up at last week’s Travel Distribution Summit in London where hundreds of industry executives gathered to discuss some of the pressing issues of the day. Speaking in the keynote, Jeroen van Velzen, chief executive of Sound of Data, said brands must be careful to give unrealistic digital expectations of the actual travel product itself. Richard Lewis, chief executive Best Western GB, spoke about the digital world as the hotel industry’s new ‘shelf’ which allows the travel industry to display its offering in a way never possible before. Stuart Jackson Group Distribution and Business Development Director, Monarch Airlines explained just how much you can do with data today. Finally Colin Lewis, BMI Regional’s director of marketing, pooh-poohed the hype around social arguing that to get this right is a hard slog and just not a priority today for the oldest start up in town. (EyeforTravel.com Ground Zero: How BMI is making a comeback May 13), Watch out for some in depth analysis and heated debate from the event in the coming weeks.

Little things matter

Also at the Travel Distribution Summit in London on Thursday and Friday last week we heard tips from Eurostar which has revamped and relaunched its website. For Neil Roberts, senior e-Commerce manager at Eurostar, if you are looking to boost conversions and improve the customer experience on your website, the first rule, is to forget about conversions. Then you need to look long term – that is because of the seasonal nature of the travel industry. The most important thing is to focus in and keep it simple and this, he says, is relatively easy with a few tools – some of which are free to use. By establishing where people are dropping out and why you really can make a difference. Roberts points to four main micro areas to understand what is happening with users on your site. These are: error type or the frequency of the error; exit rates and bounce rates; form field drop out; and payment profile. His top tip is: use free tools and invest in people. To find out more about how Eurostar improved conversions on its website read the full story on EyeforTravel.com.

BA says no way to compensation 

BA has taken a bit of a knock in the eyes of travellers this week. Soon after the Travel Distribution Summit got under way in London on Friday last week, somebody tweeted the news of the emergency landing at Heathrow airport. However, BA has now said it won’t pay compensation to passengers on the 193 flights delayed as a result of the airport closure because this could be classed as an ‘extraordinary’ circumstance. Under EU legislation travellers whose journeys are delayed by over three hours are entitled to recompense. BA did pay for food and where necessary hotel accommodation but insists it is not liable for further compensation of £214 a person for anyone travelling to Europe. That would have set them back millions. No doubt this case will be keeping regulators, the airlines and grumpy passengers awake for a few weeks to come.

New trip planner for Europe

If we thought we had enough trip planning tools, we thought wrong. GoEuro, which launches in beta today three months after securing $4m in seed funding, allows users to enter their starting point (city, town or even village), and specific destination. It then shows the user multiple solutions for air, rail, bus and car travel. The company’s chief executive, Naren Shaam, says the goal is to provide the best possible travel planning experience, as well as the most competitive fares, without any additional fees to our users. Though not a booking engine, depending on the search, the new tool will reportedly allow the comparison of various modes of travel, but will also combine air with ground transportation. The site covers the whole of Europe but has most transport options are available in Germany and the UK today – until that changes this could prove a little limiting for those travelling further afield. There are detailed journey plans and it finds the best options for different modes of transportation based on both total travel time and price. So far the rail companies signed include Deutsche Bahn, Rail Easy, a bus service via Eurolines and cars via Rentalcars.com. GoEuro has partnered with Expedia and Opodo, Fluege.de in Germany for airline content worldwide. Other agreements with operators across Europe are in the process of being integrated.

Wifi really is mainstream

WiFi is big business it seems and may just be worth the money. (Free WiFi: better than a free lunch but is it worth the money? EyeforTravel February 14). Travellers for sure increasingly expect it for free – in fact many would rather have free Wifi in their room than a minibar. This week BT Wifi said had reached over 5 million Wifi hotspots in the UK and Ireland. Furthermore, it has been adding more than 20,000 new hotspots each week over the past year. BT saw more than 400 million connections across the network in 2012/13 and latest figures show users’ online Wifi time is increasing, with minutes more than tripling in the same period. Research conducted by BT and ICM finds that usage trends for Wifi vary according to age. Most in the 18-24 bracket favour Wifi for social media, while the 35-44 age group chooses to shop online. Those aged 45-54 p use it for GPS and mapping services, while people over 65 are in search of a bargain – they look for discount vouchers or codes.