During the last 20 months the world has changed and unsurprisingly the travel landscape with it. A positive trajectory is emerging for the month ahead as the industry begins its journey to full recovery. Customers now display different behaviors and expectations – even the most confident travelers now require more support, and the least confident customers need more reassurance. 

Given the seeming contradiction between performance and satisfaction, the true situation may simply be that leisure travelers are happy to be on the road again after more than a year of being stuck at home. As travel volumes increase and business travelers return, there is potential for a wave of customer dissatisfaction – at a time when loyalty is up for grabs. 

Teleperformance’ knowledge service consultants and experienced operational experts in Travel & Hospitality domain are helping clients reset their customer experience journey before travelers’ “honeymoon phase” comes to an end, to avoid thinning customer patience shock their system/brand loyalty.  

The science remains clear: we have to learn to live with COVID-19. Total social and economic recovery is in for the long game. Traveler behaviors have been largely affected by the need to refrain from physical contact as much as possible and the continuing practice of social distancing. According to the Teleperformance CX Lab, our proprietary, award-winning research center, Travel hesitancy is a feature of the consumer landscape that airline companies will have to contend with. This makes intensified the digital business transformation all the more urgent. 

Furthermore, the CX Lab survey shows that in 2020 Millennials (63%) and Gen Zs (64%) are the top users of self-service options, specific to booking and re-booking their travel details. Customers heavily relied on Instant Messaging, Social Media, and Mobile Apps. These segments also show willingness to spend more on travel and tourist experiences, preferring brands that provide excellent customer service. 

Today, airline companies need not wait for market conditions to improve. They can start by having the right set of self-service tools and digital-first interactions powered by bots, analytics, and automation with the help of a strategic partner.

This approach was used recently with one of our major airline client. TP Interact, an AI-powered, speech analytics solution, was implemented across the company’s customer interaction channels. Insights derived using TP Interact played a crucial role in enabling operations teams optimize processes and even serve new services such as pre-travel COVID-19 testing for passengers. This proved to be indispensable, not just in maintaining cost-efficient operations, but even more so in sending the message that the company truly cares about their customers. 

Aside from optimized customer touchpoints, we’re using technology, analytics, and process excellence solutions to provide practical and sustainable business models with TP Cloud Campus, a cloud-based remote work and operations management solution fully equipped with quality and security features.

Fare calculations are now simpler and faster using TP Travel. High-contact, time-consuming processes, such as booking and rebooking, are reduced using Machine Learning-equipped AI-based solutions like TP Digital Assistant and TP Recommender. 

As the airline industry gears up once again, it’s essential for business leaders and stakeholders to make fast, data-driven decisions. With Teleperformance as your partner, you can rest easy that the runway is clear for recovery.