Technology will be important in the future of travel. This is not news. The travel business was at the forefront of technology whilst many of today’s travel journalists (and many of those generally in travel) were babes in arms – or even just a twinkle in their parents eyes. As long ago as the 1960’s airlines came up with the Computer Reservation System – and it was so far ahead of it’s time that one did not even need any further clarification as to what it did for a living. Within a few years, a system was available within the travel business that could book anyone from a point on the globe to another point on the globe, easily, quickly and securely – and this included car hire and hotels. When etickets came along, one just needed to turn up and take off.
What about Viewdata? Another ’70’s bit of technology that enabled agents to book holidays, ferrys and such in the same way. Instant guaranteed online availability and secure booking for all. Okay, so you had to go and visit a person in a shop to do it but it cost you (the customer) nothing. So sucessful was viewdata, that it survived for over 20 years with little change.
Nowadays I look with consternation as techy types try to emulate 1960’s and 1970’s technology within the medium of the internet. How can we have come so far, yet have so much trouble to replace that man in a shop? How can it cost so much? Why is the travel industry so keen to throw everything out of the window – before it has found something new – that works – to replace it?
It is not technology that is the issue. It is the thinking that goes with it. Many cannot see the wood for the trees. When the internet came along, travel providors made the leap from internet = cheap distribution to internet = get rid of all other distribution channels faster than you could say “… the flight departing from Gate 7″. People have now realised that it is not quite that straightforward. Even so, the travel business is still dismantling the age old distribution systems that already exist, without producing a viable alternative.
Legacy airlines (I do not include the low cost carriers – that’s another story) and operators alike suddenly see the holy grail of cheap distribution slipping from their grasp – worse, their control – and are invoking desperate measures to try and restore that control. This frightens them. With the traditional system of many small agencies, one could divide and rule. If airline A said this was going to be, it was so; because no-one was big enough to say any different. Many retailers did not like this, but the system worked and all in all everyone got along. Overnight, some opertors and legacy airlines decided that they did not like the established system and the new-fangled internet was the long awaited panacea. Airlines and Op’s arrogantly assumed that they would simply sell direct to clients, and the retail arm would just “go away”. Kismet.
They forgot (because they had, in the meanwhile, got rid of everyone with the experience of years who could have told them) that retail is King. Always has been, always will be. Therefore, retail is highly dangerous. It is a very brave person that removes “divide and rule”. They forgot that their skills are in providing holidays or flights and not in retail. This is why people like Thomsons acquired Lunn Poly. They had a company that was good at providing holidays and a company that was good at flogging them -even so, Thomson did not neglect the rest of the then agency network.
They also forgot that retailers are not stupid (in a nation of shopkeepers!!) and retail being retail, retail found ways around minor issues like the cutting of commission. Now, airlines and operators find that they have to fight rearguard actions on two fronts. Because of their actions, retail has consolidated (as it did in DIY or Computers and of course, food) Suddenly, airlines find that they are not dealing with lots of little people (who can be ruled over) but a large chunk of their premium traffic – premium traffic – is coming from a much smaller (and decreasing) number of large retailers. Tail wags dog. Front 2 is technology. Costs have just shifted from “commissions paid” to “technology” and in certain cases (as British Airways say) “bounty”. Millions of pounds are having to be spent just keeping up – worse, it is spending on keeping up with the cheap stuff. How much are you going to put behind selling a seat for £10? Why bother? How much are you not going to spend on looking after the person who sells the seat for £3,000? If one had thought this through, one would have let the retailers bear the burden of developing internet systems – even if one did have to pay commission. In any event, nemesis!
People need to see the wood for the trees. The Emperor’s New Clothes. It is not technology that is the issue, it is understanding where that technology may lead, what it is for, who may lead it, asking the right questions not just developing technology for technology’s sake – and is re-inventing the wheel the best use of resources?
