While consumers and companies within the online travel and hospitality industry are already adopting to new technologies, it is expected that both the supplier and consumer side will continue to evolve during the coming years. Due to an increase in information overload from a consumer’s perspective and the future development of technology, presentation of information within the travel and hospitality industry will be more simplified and transparent; more developed at the supplier’s side and more accessible for consumers.

Jitendra Jain, who is employed with Starwood Hotels & Resorts in Dubai as an E-Commerce Manager involved with online marketing & distribution, has published an article forecasting future developments that will revolutionize online hotel marketing. The following article is elaborating on Jain’s forecasts and supporting his statements.

Choice is king
According to Jain, the obvious winners of the online distribution ‘race’ will be suppliers and 3rd parties that provide the most choice to the customer. “Experience building” will become important to the online booking process; successful suppliers will have to break down elements of their inventory and services into individual units. Using dynamic packaging suppliers will be able to personalize and tailor their services and products to meet the high demands of future guests. Technology that supports dynamic packaging is already available, future developments however will make this technology also available for less technology minded companies and third parties.

Search rankings become irrelevant
Whereas the current online market is heavily emphasized on search rankings and paid search, Jain is stating that search rankings will become irrelevant within the coming five years. Google is shaping search engine marketing and setting a standard with personalized search results, mashups of text, images, videos and rates. Personalization, multimedia, social bookmarking and niche search will all have it’s impact on the current search engine strategies of companies. As Jain is also stating, aggressive paid search and heavily focusing on search engine optimization just won’t be sufficient anymore. Instead, companies will have to focus on content and the accessibility of content.

From content to meaning. From interaction to relationship
Whereas supplier information has been the standard for a long time, user generated content is increasing it’s popularity and becoming more relevant and important. Consumers will become  more and more dependent on personalized content and value user generated content more relevant as supplier content. Consumers will use their social networks to read the news, share their opinions and collect information to drive their purchase decisions.

Supplier content will have to interact with consumers; Jain is referring to Google Lively as an example, where hotels will have their virtual guests lounges where guests and hotel staff can interact. Also, guests will continue to share their experiences in rich media such as guest review websites, image sharing websites and video hosting platforms. Guest social networks will become a strong niche referral and monetized distribution channel for hotels.

The real world and the virtual world collide…visually
Emerging technology will make reliance on supplier visuals (photo’s and video’s) history. Augmented reality will be a standard, which enables users to navigate full dimensional hotels through their computers, exploring every possible inch of a property, using all the material available on the internet.

Microsoft’s PhotoSynth, which takes a large collection of photos of a place or object, analyzes them for similarities, and displays them in a reconstructed three dimensional space is an example of how this technology will make hotel information more transparent and accessible.

As Jain is stating, many of the required technologies which are the foundation of his forecasts are already being developed or are even already in place. We agree with Jain that it’s just a matter of time and more important, consumer demand, before presentation and accessibility of hotel and travel information will evolve and change the current online industry.

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