Why digital transformation is enough to make your eyes water

With new competition entering the fray all the time, it’s going to be survival of those who are able to keep it simple. Pamela Whitby reports

“Easy is the new loyalty.” Travel consultant Paul Richer kicked off EyeforTravel’s European Travel Distribution Summit yesterday morning with a statement that would define the theme of the day’s first speeches.

He was, of course, giving a nod the meteoric rise of firms like Uber, Airbnb and Skyscanner, which have made life simpler for travellers by building their product and service from the bottom up and with the user experience top of mind.  

Keynoter Richard Lewis, former CEO, Best Western GB was the first to agree saying that ease of doing business was crucial to loyalty customers.

In a similar vein, the word ‘simplicity’ was a common thread.  In what was a very male dominated conference hall, two women hoteliers - Catarina Randow, VP Revenue & Distribution, First Hotels and Kristin Intress, CEO, Worldhotels – highlighted the need to put the guest first.

Passion needs to come before product

Kristin Intress, CEO, Worldhotels

Intress stressed that “passion needs to come before product”.  Hoteliers needed to find out what people are passionate about by first listening to all the stories out there on the internet, and then creating products for the digital world. Big data would obviously come in handy. 

Ghosts in the wholesale closet

Randow got back to basics by saying that it was pointless focusing on the big data if you didn’t get the small data right first. She worried that hoteliers today are giving guests far too much choice in a world where there is already too much noise. She couldn't stress enough the importance of great content – hi-res images were a must - few, but efficient, room rates, the need to handle social media locally and responding to reviews.

On a serious note, Randow was worried about the “ghosts in the wholesaler closet” and said hotels really needed to get back in control and really empower their front desk. Two hoteliers, from smaller European chains later in the day, agreed that this was a real challenge and had become something of a taboo subject (please get in touch with pamela at eyefortravel.com if you’d like to share your views on this subject).

Getting back to fundamentals

Looking from the ‘outside in’ rather than the ‘inside out’ was a top priority for both Randow and Lewis. One thing is clear, embracing change and reinventing the business models of today is the only way forward.

Few could understand this better than theoretical physicist, Joerg Esser, Group Head of Longtail & MD Hotels4U, Thomas Cook, who has been closely involved in the digital transformation of one of travel’s biggest incumbents. That process, he said, resembled physics and he urged firms to think of it as peeling an onion, rather than operating in lines [or silos].

Every company is doing something around a core, he said, and it was important for firms – and especially incumbents – to establish what this is.

Only those who know how to thoroughly and vigorously peel the onion will come up on top

Joerg Esser, Group Head of Longtail & MD Hotels4U, Thomas Cook

"Digital change is really about getting back to fundamentals and working out what is core and what isn’t. Many incumbents just scratch the surface,” he said.

Like the other keynoters of the morning, Esser returned to the word ‘simple’. His five-action process to peel the onion was for firms to find a ‘solution’ that was ‘intuitive’, ‘mighty’, ‘practicable’, ‘light’ and ‘elegant’ – in other words simple. 

Even Newton’s law of gravity stemmed from the simplicity of an apple falling, a stone flying through the air and planet’s rotating, Esser said. He also cited other highly successful company moves that had put the customer and simplicity at centre. Disney’s MagicBand and AmazonDash were two examples.

His number one action was “to boil down the strategy” followed by the need to think anticipatory design, make scientific decisions, run the organisation as a network and, finally, declutter.

“Don’t get carried away by data. Just be scientific and work on hypotheses based on facts,” he said.

That might be really difficult to do but digital transformation is happening now. And it seems that only those who know how to “thoroughly and vigorously” peel the onion will come up on top!

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