Travel Technology, making travel easier and happening.

Travel technology has come a long way over the last decade. Traditional methods of travel planning and booking are almost vanished in thin air. Today, travelers use technology to great extent to plan the travel, book the travel deals there by making travel process easier.

Young travelers are the generation born towards the end of the last millennium and grew in the arena of wireless internet, smart-phones, considered as gen Y. The ratio of this generation using the travel technology is high, when compared to people with 40+ age. With smartphone and mobile internet in hand, travelers are searching all the travel deals on the responsive travel websites and mobile compatible travel software. Survey shows that major part of online travel booking now comes through hand held devices.

Travel technology 

Travel technology has evolved, not only as online booking and itinerary processing system, but it has become a way to plan the whole travel starting from flight booking, hotel booking, car booking, reminder for important documents, creating a common travel group and sharing the images / videos. The whole travel process and post travel activities are now all connected through the travel technology.

Travelers are checking the travel websites for everything, it may be weather, fight / train / bus timing update or any value added information. Mobile has become a tool for checking and sharing on the go. The mobile phone with the travel mobile app, has become an online travel agency. Searching, booking, sharing – everything is available right at finger tips.

Travel technology companies have taken a great part in this growth story. These companies have developed some great travel products in last few years. Travel website development and travel apps are much in demand. All the leading travel agencies are partnering with top travel technology company to deliver a product, which can actually create a wave in travel domain. Next two years, it will be interesting to see as to how the travel domain grows.

Author is a travel technology expert and has been involved in several travel portal development projects. 

How the new chat feature of Booking.com is going to favor travel technology business?

On 4 May 2016, Booking.com announced its new chat feature which allows the customers to text their accommodation soon after placing the hotel reservations. Though this advent is an old school feature, it allows any sort of conversations with the property owners. This is adding value to the business of travel technology companies.

Hotel Reservation System

All of us are accustomed to social media channels and several other chat applications to keep in touch with pals or family. This new feature allows the user to send a text within short span of time. Also, it avoids the time wasted by waiting for the response they expect through social media channels like Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter.

The chat interface will let you request for a early check-in, even on the way to your hotel. Language barrier is also eliminated through this add-on feature of the app. Pre-translated templates will allow to answer the most common queries raised by the users. This would be really grateful for non-English speaking people from various parts of the globe.

David Vismans, Chief Product Officer at Booking.com commented on the immediate response gained through this recent development, “We know that 75 (percent) of our customers prefer self-service options to take care of simple requests. With the new Booking Messages interface, customers can literally customize and manage their trips in the palm of their hand. This technology takes away the worry of a busy front desk, different time zones, or friction of communication between people speaking different languages.”

Online Travel Agency

The latest feature was released last week. So the company is expecting a positive response which leads to the enhancement of customer service offered by Booking.com. Booking.com gained the highest ranking among the travel apps, under the study conducted by ARC. By this new feature, it is emphasizing that this application deserves to be on the highest ranking position.