Executive Insights at Digital Travel Connect 2023 – Mike Rawson, CIO, CitizenM
Executive Insights at Digital Travel Connect 2023 – Mike Rawson, CIO, CitizenM
Travel is back (fingers crossed). Where 6 months ago, many of those I spoke to within travel, from airlines to hotels to OTAs, were unsure of when and how travel would bounce back, it now seems that travel is defying expectations in 2023.
In a recent interview with Mike Rawson, Chief Information Officer at CitizenM Hotels, we at Digital Travel asked some quickfire questions that reveal an interesting trajectory for travel.
The biggest areas of focus for Mike in 2022 were “RPA and BPA”, “personalisation at scale”, and “digital transformation… for the whole company”. Many of the technologists and innovators I have spoken to across the travel ecosystem had, and continue to have, concentrated on these areas. As many legacy hotel chains and airlines seek to compete in the saturated digital market, these objectives are practically non-negotiable.
According to surveys of our delegates at Digital Travel Connect 2023 (May 11-12, UK), 88% of delegates list personalisation solutions as a top investment priority within less than 6 months. In my own conversations with other travel leaders, personalisation of marketing and eCommerce experiences are consistently top of mind.
Similarly, many senior leaders I speak to have mentioned that the next few years will see them continuing to accelerate their own digital transformations, with legacy systems, sticking around like a bad penny, remaining a key barrier to the agility that large hotels and airlines need to compete with their digitally native OTA competition.
For 2023, some of the biggest opportunities Mike highlighted included “digital identity in your wallet”, “AI productivity” and still greater promise in “automation”.
Digital Identity has been put forward as the solution to the challenges caused by the recent surge in air travel, with contactless experiences allowing for true seamlessness. IATA’s One ID, a digital identity scheme seems to hold great promise in speeding up the passenger experience by sending a traveller’s digital credentials, visas and flight details to the relevant government agencies for entry approval. This will, however, require standardisation across airports and countries.
AI, as has already been revealed by the seemingly endless coverage of ChatGPT, remains a wellspring of possibilities from customer care to ancillary pricing and marketing creatives. But in order to unlock the full benefits, many travel companies still need to overhaul their obsolete systems. That being said, ChatGPT seems to show far greater promise in terms of it’s conversational nature. Unlike the chatbots many of us are used to, it seems to best approximate a conversation with a real person and is even capable of replicating the styles of authors and actors alike – Ryan Reynolds’ use of the AI for his Mint Mobile commercial showed just how accurate it could be.
Tripadvisor’s CEO, Matthew Goldberg, stated in their 4th quarter earnings call that generative AI was “one to watch in the long term”, as many suggest that it could reduce the need for review sites.
Goldberg rightly stated that it was the foundation of data that would determine which companies were successful in harnessing the power of this new tool, given that the quality of data will determine the quality of the AI decision-making. The question on everyone’s lips is who will be the first mover? Who will be the early adopter that goes on to lead the market?
It is worth keeping in mind, however, that much of the conversation around generative AI is akin to that around meta, virtual reality and self-driving cars – much of it is speculative and may quickly disappear as the next shiny thing catches the world’s attention. As with any new technology, what we know about generative AI is still just the tip of the iceberg, far outweighed by what we don’t yet know.
Automation of processes is certainly a priority for the travel industry, particularly given that resources remain strained. It would also have a clearly positive impact on customer experience given that the speed to which customers are accustomed seems ever greater. Again, like any other solution, the barriers to further adoption are cost and ease-of-adoption. Solutions that can quickly plug in are far more desirable now than those that require lengthy, costly integrations.
Mike’s insights make it unquestionably clear that travel is firmly set on accelerating the transformations that started for so many just a few short years ago. And whilst we are at the earliest stages of use for some technologies, the risk for travel companies of missing the boat has never been higher. Those companies that move in, fail fast and adapt will become the next market leaders ready for tomorrow’s customer.
Want to hear more insights from Mike Rawson, CIO, CitizenM and other leading travel innovators? Join us at Digital Travel EU Connect – our invite-only executive retreat for travel’s most senior leaders.