At this year’s World Travel Market Eyefortravel is hosting The Travel Leadership Forum, where industry professionals are discussing the future of online travel and hospitality, through several presentations, networking events and panel discussions.

In preparation of this forum, Eyefortravel is releasing some of the discussions they had with industry leaders, which can be downloaded as podcasts for your convenience. In their most recent podcast they are discussing the future of online travel with Mark Charron, managing director Europe at Tripadvisor, an online hotel review website with close to 30 million visitors each month and the living example of how user generated content is shaping the online travel industry.

Below is a summary of the discussion Eyefortravel had with Mark Charron, managing director at Tripadvisor for Europe. Download the original podcast here. More podcasts can be found at the eyefortravel website, featuring some exclusive podcasts with eyefortravel’s speakers at the upcoming conference.

Eyefortravel asked Charron to identify the key trends in online travel. From Tripadvisor’s perspective, Charron states that the biggest trend lies in the fact of consumer empowerment; consumers have multiple options where and how they want to book their accommodation and transport, travel has become affordable for mainstream public, consumers are having a strong desire to plan their trips in advance and consumers are hungry for all kind of information, resulting in a strong information overload.

Next to that, user generated content is ofcourse mentioned as an important element in online travel, something of which TripAdvisor is an example of. User generated content is getting more and more accurate, transparent and objective. Also, user generated content has become a major influencer in the travel decision making processes.

When Charron is asked for the next disruptive technology in online travel, without a doubt, he is is referring to mobile technology. Not knowing when or how, still he is confident mobile technology will be a major development in online travel.

To the question whether consumers are changing and how he thinks companies should adapt to these changes Charron replies; consumers are taking over control, they are deciding what channels are used to communicate. Reputations are made online, with or without brands participating in the discussion.

Instead of denial, companies should embrace this and start adapting their marketing efforts; stimulating guests to write reviews, use their feedback to learn about their needs and adapt services if needed. Customer service (responding to reviews) will need to be seen as a marketing instrument.

Charron is expecting the travel industry to be multichannel, whereas the online channel by far has the biggest opportunities for the future; services will need to further improve and are expected to help consumers make decisions, gain quicker results and filter relevant results. Internet should help consumers seek new options and destinations, confirm their choices and make them feel good about decisions they made.

related items

• Tripadvisor displaying rapid growth over 2008
• project about social media in hospitality and travel industry
• Eyefortravel travel summit, TUI Travel on social media
• Help Tripadvisor save the world
• social media project; Air France KLM launched social network Bluenity

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