The latest Chat Commerce Trends Report: Travel Edition from Clickatell, a pioneer in chat commerce and a CpaaS innovator, offers new information on how modern consumers like to interact with hotels, airlines, and rental car providers via mobile messaging conversations and make purchases from them.
According to the survey, which included responses from over 1,000 US participants, 87 per cent of customers prefer to contact travel agencies via mobile messaging.
Clickatell’s latest research discovered a significant demand for personalized and convenient customer experiences through messaging conversations to comprehend how consumers interact with travel brands fully. For example:
- 92 per cent of participants would like to interact with hotels via mobile messaging,
- 89 per cent of participants would like to interact with airlines via mobile messaging, and
- 85 per cent of participants would like to interact with rental car companies via mobile messaging.
Younger generations are more likely to communicate with brands via mobile, as shown by the fact that Gen Z, Millennials, and Gen X all rank mobile messaging as their preferred method of contact with travel firms.
The report also emphasizes how the tourism industry has overlooked payments, a unique application of mobile messaging. Indeed, 73 per cent of respondents said they had never used an SMS payment link to make a purchase.
The opportunity for airlines, hotels, and rental car agencies to improve the travel experience and enable customers to browse, buy, and track their travel plans all on their mobile phones is significant. The research found that 77 per cent of consumers say they’re willing to use a mobile payment link with travel brands.
With any travel company, 81 per cent of customers would probably purchase through a payment link, with hotel bookings coming in the first place (58 per cent).
Additional findings
Airlines
When making a reservation, 48 per cent of customers want mobile communications from travel agencies, and 63 per cent want them within 24 hours.
60 per cent of customers wish to be notified of any last-minute changes to their travel schedule and would prefer to receive a message with critical information on the day of their trip.
48 per cent of customers say they would use mobile messaging to make a flight reservation with an airline.
Hotels
Compared to airlines (89 per cent), consumers would communicate with hotels (92 per cent) via mobile messaging.
Consumers’ top preferences for hotels are receiving a mobile message when their room is available and asking for early or late check-in. Fifty-eight per cent want a notification when their room is ready, and 41 per cent want to be notified to upgrade their accommodation.
The two services with the highest preference for using a chat payment link are hotel reservations and room upgrades (58 per cent want to make a reservation, and 47 per cent want to upgrade).
Car rental
On the day of their trip, 54 per cent of customers would prefer to get a message containing crucial car rental information, and 50 per cent of customers want to be notified of any last-minute changes.
Payments
71 per cent of customers said they would be more likely to use a payment link to book a trip with a travel agency only after speaking with a live agent or computerized chatbot.
Travel
Only 8 per cent of people prefer to communicate with a travel agency via website chat, whereas 27 per cent (the most significant percentage of any category) choose mobile messaging.
48 per cent of consumers would anticipate mobile messaging to start at the time of booking, and 63 per cent would expect it to begin 24 hours before their journey.
80 per cent of customers claim that using a travel desk through mobile texting is more convenient than other channels.
Compared to Android users, iPhone users are more interested in using mobile texting with travel agencies.
“By enabling communications and purchases for their customers in chat, Clickatell has opened the doors to convenience and personalization across travel brands,” said Pieter de Villiers, CEO and co-founder of Clickatell. “The data shows that there is an opportunity for travel brands to deliver services to their customers easily and conveniently via mobile messaging, which consumers desire and demand. Perhaps now more than ever, consumer loyalty is up for grabs and travel brands need to capitalize on every touchpoint.”
Do you have any industry news that you’d like to share? Send us your press releases, survey results, news, and articles, and we will publish them here on the IHS website. Just complete the contact form and get in touch.