Traveling for work is a necessity for many companies, a way to build customer loyalty or attract new customers. But in recent years, travel has been reduced due to the need of all companies to reduce their costs.
The most important thing for a business traveler is to perform their daily tasks and that customers do not feel unattended, for that reason contact with the company and with customers is essential. For this, we highlight some of the needs of a business traveler:
- Wifi
- Coworking centers
- Hotels with meeting rooms
- Work tables in the rooms
- Other services: such as laundries, gym, 24 hour room service etc.
- Late check-out
Business Travel Technology
Although there is still a way to go in terms of improving the speed, ease and personalization of all aspects of the user experience, some Tech Innovation on the horizon come to transform the world of work travel, such as:
The latest in personal assistants:
The platforms of chat and the chatbots that work with artificial intelligence are more and more advanced, and the more they learn, the more they can manage. These systems are able to gather information about what business travelers like or dislike, and give personalized recommendations. 29% of global travelers say they are comfortable with a computer planning their next trip using historical data from their previous trips.
For example, Booking.com Booking Assistant uses mobile messaging and a conversational user interface to provide first line support in an easy and close way, responding quickly with artificial intelligence to inquiries and requests about reservations made, conditions of accommodation and usual requests related to the stay. If you do not know the answer, you will redirect the message to the owner of the accommodation or to the Booking.com customer service team to ensure that the inquiry is resolved.
Robots at your service:
Robots that work with artificial intelligence can now manage interactions and simple face-to-face operations with clients. At the Geneva airport, for example, there are self-service terminals to check-in and issue boarding passes. Thus, airport staff can deal with more complex procedures or interactions.
In the hotel sector, concierge services are becoming increasingly automated so that some tasks are already done by robots. At the M Social Hotel, in Singapore, they use a robot called AURA (Automated Room-Service Associate) for room service and to make other deliveries to hotel guests. AURA is designed to walk the aisles, clear obstacles, use the elevator correctly and even warn customers when they get to your room. These butler robots can help business travelers to spend their time efficiently while receiving deliveries, special requests and personal details at their doorstep.
Mobile technology:
The door open to new experiences: thanks to advances in this technology, business trips are becoming more agile and can be booked on the fly. Almost all aspects of the search, booking and changes in flights and hotels can be made directly from a mobile device. In addition, mobiles are becoming the gateway to improved and personalized experiences for travelers, as they help them discover and explore the destinations to which they go according to their tastes and personal and professional preferences.
Business Travel Management
Nowadays there are countless applications of this type that are of great help when it comes to organizing a trip (without your collaboration they are not yet able to do everything, but time to time.
- TouristEye: It is a very complete and intuitive planner. It also has an app with online consultation and has the ability to share your trips with your friends on social networks. But beware that it has payment features.
- Trippy: This is the most visual planner I know, though perhaps less practical when it comes to the truth. Where this application is really useful is to find inspiration and know new sites that the same users publish. In Spain it still lacks a push, but for the United States and typical tourist areas it is highly recommended.
- TripWolf: It allows you to create a personalized travel plan from anywhere in the world. And it is also downloadable in pdf. The apps are a plus, since you can access the guides and maps without Internet.
- Amadeus: This website focuses more on organizing the practical aspects of your trip: booking flights, time, meter maps, currency conversions, etc. It could be very useful but for my taste it is not very intuitive.
- Troovel: In this application you can create your own guide for your trip or see guides of other users. You can complete it with places of interest, restaurants and hotels. To choose them, the opinions of TripAdvisor are shown. When you have it ready you can export your guide to PDF or print it.
- Tripomatic: This app allows you to create trips and add attractions to each of the days. The interesting thing is that it makes you an approximate time plan until it "fills" the day. It also has hotels, car rentals, weather forecast and offline maps.
- Triposo: From this app you can download guides of countries or cities of the users themselves and create your own. It is interesting because it proposes you plans in time taking into account your location and the weather of the moment. At the moment it is only in English.
Business Travel Services
For this new traveler, new technologies play a key role in the organization of their trip, because more and more these same travelers are those who plan, seek what to do in the destinations they visit.
That is why it is necessary for the sector to adapt to the needs of these 3.0 travelers by offering them the service they request in terms of:
Destinations: developing Smart Cities plans, generating interesting content, expanding free Wi-Fi and even creating social applications where experiences can be shared.
Business world: putting the new traveler in the center, to meet their needs.
Traditional companies see how new digital native competitors appear - Cabify or Bla bla Car - which, using technology, offer a highly demanded service. In these business models, the opinion of others adds value: driver ratings, comments, photos, member get member actions, etc. Other examples, in the case of looking for accommodation, AirBnB or BeMate - since Room Mate, as a hotel chain, has been able to create a new business model based on what could be considered a threat.
Within the leisure offer have emerged many trends following this phenomenon:
Mealsurfing organizes a dinner for special friends as it is celebrated with strangers or invites to a dinner at the house of someone you do not know, spreading the event through platforms like VizEat -developed with this objective-. It is about applying new trends that combine technology and the need to live experiences.
Following this trend there are already airlines that allow a customer to choose a seat next to another traveler with a similar profile on social networks. Also in the case of hotels, which are reinvented by allowing all services to be paid by fingerprint or have applications that allow the entire digitized checkin process. Or the big resorts, which also use cutting-edge technologies such as beacons, signaling the way to one of their recreational areas.
Corporate Travel App
- Kindle: No matter how much you like the paper, it is proven that using Kindle when you travel is much more practical than carrying 10 books. Although with Kindle you will not be able to exchange books in local bookstores of second hand, the rest are all advantages. With the Kindle application you do not even need a Kindle, but simply a mobile phone. Carrying all the books on top is always practical and makes your life easier. (Available for iPhone and Android. Google Translate A classic (on the Internet).
- Google Translate has an amazing function: it works offline and translates in real time. Download the language you need, focus on the text you need to translate with the camera and ... pam! Automatic translation. (Available for iOS and Android)
- Prey Anti Theft: One of the biggest concerns when you travel and carry your expensive mobile is that they steal it ... or that you lose it. In case one of these two things happens to you, Prey Anti Theft helps you to locate your phone, to block it, to activate an alarm and many other things. The app is completely free and very useful. Available for iPhone and Android.
- CityMapper: With 36 cities, CityMapper combines all means of transportation available in each city to find the best way to get from one place to another. It is simple, easy to use and super effective. Try it! (Available for iOS and Android)
Peru Travels Online Review
- We traveled to Peru almost a month ago, with the 12-day circuit that includes Arequipa, Puno, Nazca and Cuzco and everything went very well. We were picked up at the airport, all the staff very friendly. The hotel in Lima was well located, although a bit old. Compared with the hotels on the rest of the circuit, this was the worst. From here we went to Nazca and stayed at the Majoro hotel. In Arequipa we were in Casa Andina and in Lake Titikaka in Posada del Inca. These hotels did have charm, the rooms good, the breakfast nothing bad and the staff charming. In Cuzco it was the only place where we chose one of superior category, because we were three nights and we saw the hotel Aranwa had very good reviews. Definitely. All very correct and very good attention. We are very happy. Marta Garcia
- We returned a few days ago from a two week trip in Peru. I want to tell you that the experience could not have been better. The country has enchanted us, the activities very well organized, in small groups with very good guides. In Cuzco we would have liked to spend some more night, because there is so much to see. But we ran out of days. It is a wonder. I congratulate you on the organization of the trip, which has been impeccable. Both the reservation phase and the advice. The post-trip contact is greatly appreciated. The truth is that both my wife and I have been very satisfied. Jose Colmenar
- We just landed like someone who says and we want to go again. Everything has gone very well. By parts, what we liked the most (besides Machu Picchu) was Puno, with the hotel right in front of Lake Titicaca. We did the tour to the islets that we loved. The journey from Nazca to Arequipa was a bit long but it is worth not returning to Lima and then continuing to Puno, through the Colca Valley has stunning views. We will return someday, without hesitation! Manuel Ferrara
