The thoughts of a CPTO focused on strategy, technology and sustainability.
I visited Singapore in 2018, and visited the ArtScience museum. Within the museum there is a permanent exhibit by teamLab which blew my mind.
teamLab creates digital borderless art, one of the installations had a path through a mirrored room, creating the illusion of moving through space.
I recently attended abba’s voyage concert which I have to admit was amazing, I had a great time.
ABBA developed a new digital show hosted in London in a new purpose built movable arena, designed and built for the experience.
Continue reading “Abba voyage : smart and very entertaining for a computer generated concert!”Apple presented yesterday at WWDC22 their new continuity feature, which allows you to use an iPhone as a wireless webcam.
We all know MacBook’s dont have the best front facing camera (2MP), they’re fine but not ground breaking – they may be good for light balance but they’re easily overshadowed by the iPhone rear facing cameras. This looks nice, but I can’t see myself strapping my phone to my MacBook just to increase quality any time soon. Although their top down desk view (for desktops was quite neat though)
If you’re missing emails in outlook, then its quite likely they’ve been quarantined via Microsoft exchange.
To find these emails you need to go to the security portal (goto your o365 portal, then admin, then security)
Background;
When a tour operator starts up, they will usually rely on ad-hoc flight seat purchase, but with variable pricing this soon introduces costs outside of their control which could limit the sale of their products. To overcome this a tour operator usually negotiates group rates with an airline to agree an amount of seats for a given price.
As demand increases further, a tour operator may schedule planes exclusively for their customers (a charter flight). They buy the entire plane for a fixed cost. A chartered flight isn’t published by the airline, and is exclusively sold by the tour operator (operated by the airline).
Continue reading “With increasing airline costs, will charter flights in 2023 be a luxury tour operators may not be able to afford?”When a new member starts, I find it good to provide some 3rd party training material so we can ensure we’re all at the same level. Udemy provides a great cost effective source for video led materials.I use this in addition to our own LMS materials (confidential!) to ensure there’ s a common business understanding.
Here’s a link to some of the videos I use;
Continue reading “Onboarding materials”Free Independent travellers like to make their own plans, build and book their own itineraries.
With lots of offers available its tempting to book that AirBNB, some flights, transfers and excursions (all on separate bookings)
Since covid, tourism is restarting but with staff issues, IT challenges, and increasing inflation globally, the risks of holiday disasters are higher than ever.
How can you protect yourself ?
Continue reading “With travel disruption on the rise, travel agents are more essential than ever.”Google Ads is an effective way of acquiring customers, but businesses often forget that they have great potential in the data they already have. Google has become the Amazon of marketing, it’s the go to place to capture leads and increase sales. More Ads = More leads = More conversions = More Sales.
Where this is effective, it bears a cost. As more agencies compete, the cost per click increases for the same consumer, the conversion drops, and the only real winner is Google.
With an average cost per acquisition of £50+, there are other ways to increase sales.
Customer Data Platforms. Know your customer.
Continue reading “Unlock the potential in your existing database with a customer data platform and rebalance your google ad spend.”I’ve been working on a project with Pat.ai/EC.ai for several months, and what those guys can do with linguistic understanding (and context) is pretty amazing.
Looking at a traditional customer experience in travel.
A traditional UI for example google’s multi-itinerary flight search form, has prescribed inputs
The customer enters data, select dates, and builds their itinerary. – comparing this to a dialogue with a travel agent the questions would be mostly the same. (“I’m interested in going to Singapore, I need to go via doha to attend a meeting but just for a day. Here’s my dates”)
Continue reading “Conversational vs traditional customer experiences.”Us humans are a funny lot! We’re quite stuck in our ways. We like to do things the way we do, we do not really embrace change even if it’s for the better.
Digital transformation is everywhere at the minute as businesses aim to become more efficient. But a digital transformation project isn’t a one size fits all plug and play solution.
Digital transformation requires the business to change, and that change is one of the biggests risks/success factors for a project.
A good team is one who can ask the right questions, determine un-biased answers to map out the essential parts of a system (systems theory) from the business stakeholders.
Then when suitable enabling software can improve a business, for it to be mapped against these goals and for the business to adapt for the benefit of the business.
The human engineering aspect is a larger hurdle than the technological one. People first, technology second. Strong leadership, guidance is essential.