Reservations.com provides the best personalized online travel experience
The travel industry has become highly competitive. Therefore, providing top-quality customer service is crucial to success.
By ADRIAAN BRITSReservations(photo credit: ADRIAAN BRITS)
As many business and personal travelers switch to Reservations.com, we take a closer look at what makes the platform so popular. The travel industry has become highly competitive – just like many modern industries. Yet, Reservations.com is one of the fastest growing travel platforms. Given their innovative approach to managing travel reservations, combining futuristic technology with a special human touch, they are likely to continue this upward trend. To understand the rise in their popularity, let’s dive into some industry facts.How the travel industry evolved:So much has happened in the last three decades since the advent of the Internet. Travel bookings are now done completely differently to the way they were done years ago. This space is rather dynamic too: constant change means that those travel companies who are quick to adapt and who are the most innovative, have the best chance to thrive. The focus as far as the average consumer is concerned is now returning to the consumer experience. People familiar with the industry over the last five decades will be fully aware of how things were done then, compared to how it is done now. Previously the industry saw relatively small travel agencies who were mostly serving a small base of consumers and were providing them with very high-quality service in order to ensure consumer satisfaction. This was a rather fragmented model with no scale advantage. In this way, they not only retained existing customers but they also acquired many additional customers because of the favorable testimonies of existing customers. But this quickly changed as scaled solutions rolled out online.The advent of online travel:The Internet has changed how humans do most things including work and pleasure. The Internet has also changed the way in which travel agencies operate. It disrupted the way most travel agencies started to operate online – with much more sophisticated applications today than even 5 years ago. The new strategy became providing minimum service to a very large target audience. This has resulted in an industry where exceptional customer care is no longer the focal point. The same value/price pattern occurred in many other industries.The primary point of focus for travel agencies today is the idea of providing competitive prices to travelers. Little or no effort is made to ensure a high level of consumer experience. In just about every industry, the value of customer experience has proven to be critical if a company or organization wants to enjoy the support of the consumer.The fact remains that the consumer wants to feel special and they also want to enjoy personalized service which makes them feel appreciated. When people spend their hard-earned money, they want to be treated like a VIP. They want people to acknowledge that they are one of a privileged group of people because not everyone can travel. They certainly want to an elevated experience for the duration of their holiday, before returning to reality. Well, most travel platforms fail at making them feel special – until Reservations.com came along with a more unique model.A new marketing approachConsumer and industry insights showed that marketing efforts which are focused on providing individuals with the impression that they are on a social pedestal have been highly effective. It has also been discovered that in the perception of the consumer, individual happiness is about something more than just income. There is an increasing number of people who feel that having travel experience is an indication of how well people are living their lives compared to those who are less privileged. Travel has, therefore, become a status symbol.Having personal exposure to another culture, cuisine, knowledge, and experiences are a way for individuals to distinguish themselves from family or friends. The surprising thing is that very few travel agencies are currently accommodating people as far as this critical need is concerned. Very few travel agencies are going out specifically to make people feel special. Travel agencies have to look at the entire experience from the time the booking is made as well as every other aspect of the consumer experience. Every effort has to be made to eliminate bad experiences because this will spoil the overall experience for that individual. Therefore, Reservations.com carefully plans the time before a departure and also the time after arrival to eliminate bad experiences to secure loyalty among consumers. This is done through the newly launched Runway Suitcase travel blogReservations.com launched a unique concept in content marketing for travel by means of the Runway Suitcase travel blog. We are living in a digital age and this has led to many changes as far as consumer preferences are concerned. This has also happened in the travel industry – folks research heavily prior to making any decision. People today are a lot more knowledgeable about a whole range of things and this also includes traveling arrangements. They will carefully weigh a whole range of factors and they will research many related topics in order to allow them to make a well-informed decision. Having as much knowledge as necessary allows the consumer to act with confidence and in this way, anxiety is eliminated.This is why one of the primary focus points for Reservations.com as it provides quality content. This is exactly why they have received recognition as an award-winning online travel company. Over the last five years, this company has been committed to reintroducing the personal experience back into the online travel environment. The more knowledge a person has about a specific topic the better their chance of making decisions which will be based on solid information. Unfortunately, there are still people who are impulsive and who will take off in any direction without any prior preparation and in most cases, these could often be the individuals who end up in some kind of crisis, due to a lack of preparation.Just as with any other industry, there is always a large number of available content on any specific topic. The challenge is to find content which is suitable at a specific point in time. Increasing numbers of travelers are now reading online hotel reviews, also on social media and on travel blogs in order to keep themselves informed as far as trends in the travel industry.This is exactly how Runway Suitcase came into existence. This is a high-quality travel blog which is endeavoring to provide the traveling public with all of the information they may need when planning their next trip. One of the things discussed in Runway Suitcase is all of the most popular travel destinations. This blog also provides people with tips on how to remain healthy while traveling. There is also excellent advice on how to find the perfect hotel for their particular needs. The primary purpose of this blog is to help people make the best decisions when traveling. This is why this blog is focusing on a wide range of travel-related topics, things which are carefully researched and then presented to the consumer in a meaningful and informative way.ConclusionMany online travel agencies have now been forced to take a new approach to the customer experience. Some, like Booking.com, Expedia and Airbnb are too focused on price reductions and lean business models to provide a positive customer experience. This is precisely where Reservations.com makes the difference. For instance, the company has now committed itself to provide all their loyal customers with round-the-clock access to customer support services which is manned by human agents. Extensive investment has already been made in order to ensure a better customer experience.There is already increased competition among travel agencies to provide customers with a better experience. Yet, only those online travel agencies with an in-depth understanding of what the industry needs next have come to the important conclusion of placing the customer experience first and competitive prices second. It will almost certainly be customer care orientated online travel agencies that will continue to attract the major share of the online travel market, especially as far as recurring business is concerned. It is also true that those platforms that are quick to adapt and innovative will come out on top in this highly competitive industry. With a CEO like Yatin Patel, who has a 20 year track record as a leader in travel technology and innovation, it is fair to say that Reservations.com is a company to watch closely!
