After three long years with some degree of life interruption due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the summer of 2023 looks to be a bright spot for those in the travel industry. After watching profits slip away for years, countless brands are banking on a spike in revenge travel. NPR defined revenge travel as a considerable increase in people wanting to make up for time and experiences lost to the pandemic. Flight prices are through the roof, hotels are fully booked, and the general consumer is ready to spend some serious dough this summer.
But why should the airlines and hotels have all the fun? The travel industry isn’t just how you get to your destination and where you stay. Many European nations grant a minimum of five weeks of paid time off during the summer; indeed, these travelers plan on doing things beyond spending time in their hotel rooms. From purchasing new outfits to booking excursions, many folks will spend money this summer with travel-adjacent industries. And the best way for your brand to ensure it gets a piece of the pie is to leverage the power of omnichannel communications to get the word out. So before you pack your bags and throw on an extended out-of-office note, read this checklist to make sure your company is setting itself up for success this summer.
Retail
What person doesn’t buy a few new outfits before a summer vacation? Be it a new piece of luggage or a new swimsuit to rock on the beach, there is an increase in demand for retail shopping during the summer months. Use omnichannel solutions such as SMS to promote flash sales, inventory restocks or advertise an ongoing loyalty program. Nearly any type of B2C eCommerce can fit into a broadened definition of travel. Consider a family of four driving from Chicago to Florida for a holiday. The video games the son plays during the drive, and the books the daughter reads, are all part of the vacation experience. Finding an angle to connect your products to summer travel shouldn’t be challenging if you operate in retail.
Events
A treasured summer tradition is the road trip, especially when it climaxes at an event. One can think back to a handful of classic films that perfectly encapsulate this feeling. We can also look to this summer’s Eras Tour, which will see people from all over the world traversing long distances to see Taylor Swift. Concerts, festivals, and sporting events are all hallmarks of summer travel. If you play in these industries, you should take this summer’s travel spike as an opportunity to showcase a spectacular CX. Remember, these fans may be attending arenas/parks/venues they are not accustomed to visiting. SMS or WhatsApp reminders of the proper parking structures or entry gates won’t just be welcome; in many cases, they will be necessary.
Furthermore, a customer who has opted-in to SMS notifications might enjoy receiving a calendar of upcoming events so they can plan their road trip with your event in mind. One-third of customers will walk away from a brand after a negative experience, but on the flip side, customers are willing to pay more for a product they associate with excellent CX. Use your events this summer to entertain some summer travelers and build trust.
Sporting Goods and Camping Equipment
Nothing induces summer nostalgia for a specific segment of folks like the little league fields of their youth. Every summer means going on trips for travel baseball, and with those trips comes a new piece of equipment, maybe a bat or a glove. Likewise, across the globe, many consumers are adding a new golf club to their bag this summer or upgrading an old tent. Brands are targeting a captive audience by using digital channels to target past customers during the only season they can practice their hobby. This is a prime use case for loyalty programs. A simple SMS about the season’s newest gear and a 10% coupon will have people tripping over themselves to click ‘buy.’ Additionally, this is a great way to push through stock at the end of the season when you need to turn over inventory to make room for autumn and winter equipment.
Excursions and Booking Services
We mentioned hotels and airlines in the intro, which are indeed the travel industry’s main pillars. They should strive to provide an excellent CX. After all, about 9 in 10 Americans will never return to a hotel or an airline after a bad experience. But let’s think about how we book travel in the first place. Unless you enjoy status at a hotel chain like Bonvoy or an airline group similar to Star Alliance, many consumers use booking services, travel agencies, and aggregators.
One of the newer services these companies provide is the ability to book an excursion. What’s a vacation without a few fun tours, right? Booking services should use the same omnichannel messaging they offer with flight and hotel booking for their excursion vertical. And if you operate a small business that provides experiences, you should absolutely be leveraging omnichannel communications to delight your customers. Let’s consider a swamp tour in New Orleans. Booking, ticketing, promotions, and reminders can easily be offered via SMS or the chat apps your customers already use.
Compared to businesses with no omnichannel strategies, companies with complete systems were 4X more likely to report extremely loyal customers and 2X more likely to respond to customers in real-time. For a small business, positive word of mouth is everything, so why not develop a fully-baked omnichannel strategy to get your customers working for you?
Rideshare, Micro-mobility, and Car Rentals
Lastly, we look at ground transportation. Many folks will drive to their destinations this summer, but a lot won’t. These people will depend on rideshare, car rentals, or micro-mobility services to get around. The use cases for omnichannel communication for a car rental agency are plenty. Still, at the most basic level, a savvy company will use SMS or chat apps to smooth the check-in process, offer upgrades and cut down on customer support costs. For a more proactive approach, these brands should try out an SMS campaign targeting past customers to drive awareness about specific specials. “Drive across America this summer for the low price of X!”
As mentioned in Mitto on the Street [add a link to another post], many folks choose to avoid dealing with the hassle of a car in the city; this presents an incredible opportunity for rideshare and micro-mobility firms to target vacationers. For the uninitiated, micro-mobility encompasses electric scooters, shared bikes, and similar modes of transportation targeting that last mile to your destination. Still a relatively young industry, these companies could leverage SMS to drive awareness about their existence and how to use the service. Chat apps with rich media would also be an excellent way for these companies to share maps showing riders where to access their vehicles.
Many rideshare companies do a great job connecting riders with drivers, but a common complaint is that the communication channels can be limited. Innovative rideshare companies should consider the demographics of the markets they serve to use the channels that make the most sense. In Europe, this could mean offering Viber; in MENA, that might mean looking more toward SMS and chat apps.
This summer’s forecast calls for communication
We’re already in full swing of the summer holiday. Still, it’s not too late to develop a robust omnichannel strategy to deliver an excellent CX that will delight your customers during their travels. We’ve already shown how a handful of industries that aren’t specific to travel can get in on the fun, but really any company dealing with people on the go this summer can follow these same best practices.
With Mitto Conversations, anyone can deliver unified, two-way communications across all digital channels and provide immediate support and resolutions.
You can also add SMS to your communications strategies with Mitto Campaigns. Our bulk messaging tool allows your business to send deals, marketing messages, and reminders to your entire contact database. Contact Mitto today to learn how our solutions can help your travel adjacent brand delight and retain customers this summer while getting a tasty piece of that ‘revenge travel’ pie.
