On the Ground and Up in the Air: Loyalties Won and Lost

Applause regularly leverages its own specific survey data from areas of digital quality along with platform data, collected through our worldwide customer engagements, to benefit our global clients. This perpetual investigation of digital quality informs us on ways to help our clients improve their quality efforts and please their customers. For the third consecutive year, our State of Digital Quality report covers a broad swath of findings, including some industry-specific insights.

Access all of our State of Digital Quality 2024 resources here.

In this blog, I share some key perspectives from members of Applause’s global client team exploring travel and hospitality trends and issues they’ve seen in the field. These examples are drawn from our engagements with travel and hospitality companies around the world, and are offered to illustrate where testing with real users in real-world travel experience matters. These examples also demonstrate the contrast between travel and hospitality organizations that consistently invest in digital quality and those that are still establishing consistency around testing across different dimensions.

Don’t add complexity or anxiety to the trip itinerary

Travel is inherently complex. Weather, maintenance-intensive machines with wings, radar, humans, luggage and software – just to name a few factors – must fly in formation to get travelers from point a to b to c and beyond. Adding to the inherent complexity of this industry are all of the digital players that have a hand in getting you from point of origin to destination. On July 19, 2024, a Microsoft software outage grounded the backend IT systems of many airlines, leading to thousands of delayed and canceled flights. Cyber security firm CrowdStrike quickly disclosed that their software update affected Microsoft’s Windows OS, which many airlines use for reservations, flight scheduling and more. 

Of course, not all mishaps can be prevented, and perhaps that was the case with the CrowdStrike event. From a traveler perspective, I offer the above example as just one of many potential issues that add to the sense of uncertainty. Anxiety, starting from the point of ticket purchase, can persist until the traveler returns home, particularly when apps and technology designed to smooth the trip fail to do so. Being away from home inherently adds vulnerability and stress to travel. When brands add more complexity to the user experience, at best, they frustrate customers, at worst, they lose them. It should go without saying that travel brands – airlines, rental cars and car services, hotels and all of this sector’s related services – should strive to create value that attracts customers as opposed to pushing them away. So why do we all have our own stories of travel frustrations?

Inclusivity and testing the details

Our trip starts with building experiences with people and not for them. If you want everyone to board smoothly, or welcome them to your hotel, museum or any other element of a trip, you must first ensure you’ve considered all that your customers represent. Jonathan MacLennan of Applause has worked for many years on all aspects of client success and currently works on several airline accounts. “We’re seeing a major shift away from just thinking about compliance to WCAG standards and avoiding lawsuits to focusing on inclusive experiences. Of course, these experiences involve testing with a wide range of people with disabilities, but the outcomes from these tests inform travel brands around innovations that help all travelers. There’s been a noticeable uptick in the last year.” 

Applause’s 2024 Accessibility and Inclusive Design Survey with more than 3,000 respondents, supports MacLennan’s perspective. While the travel sector had the highest percentage of positive responses across our question set, there is room for improvement. For example, when asked: 

• Do you have processes in place to stop the release of inaccessible features into production? 73% answered yes
• Is there a group or person at your organization responsible for ensuring your products are accessible? 85% said yes
• Does the team or expert responsible for accessibility in your organization employ inclusive design principles? 85% said yes

On the downside, when asked:

• How would you rate your current understanding of digital accessibility? Only 38% said intermediate and 27% advanced
• How well-equipped is your company, in terms of internal expertise and resources, to test for accessibility on an ongoing basis, without external help? Only 16% of travel companies said they had adequate in-house expertise/resources
• What is your biggest motivator in achieving accessible conformance? 35% said building a positive public perception and 36% said improving usability for all end users.

As Adrian Garcia, senior solutions consultant, Applause indicates in his blog, Audit or Build Your Design System With Accessibility in Mind, leading accessibility and inclusivity organizations understand the importance of testing their designs systems, the foundation of accessibility and inclusive efforts. Our client teams note an additional focus by travel and hospitality development organizations on understanding the details of how customers interact with their brands.

For example, one of our global airline carriers – which has a large in-house UX team and is highly focused on the user experience – partners with Applause to undertake ongoing UX studies with real travelers and users of their app go through various flows to get a refund on purchased tickets. The study involves gaining very granular insights on how travelers feel about the app generally, how they navigate to initiate a refund, and their thoughts on the specifics of completing the refund request. 

Why would an airline focus so much on refunding money to customers when its goal is to get you in the air? Because they know it’s important to customers and how an easy refund experience can make that customer return to purchase again. They understand that it’s also about the relationship.

Replace the frustration with delight

When asked about the state of digital quality in travel and hospitality, Alex Waldmann, manager of international solutions consulting, references the Kano model. This model categorizes customer experience attributes into basic hygiene elements, expected features and excitement factors. Waldmann emphasizes that companies need to go beyond simply meeting basic expectations and strive to create delightful moments that exceed user expectations. 

Using the Kano model, product teams can weigh the cost of implementing a high-satisfaction feature to a product roadmap and decide if it makes strategic sense. Waldmann says,

“Since pricing has become, and continues to be, highly competitive between travel brands, distinguishing yourself with pleasing customer experiences is more critical than ever. Companies can stand out and increase their market share by a unique, polished experience that is just ‘better’ than the competition as it gets the users’ challenges right and makes their lives easier, showing them you care.”

Waldmann, who travels a lot for work, knows what that means. “There are times where a plane is late, it’s just part of any air travel. People know this and accept it, but it’s how the delay is handled that matters. Between two airlines, one will bombard you with badly timed inconsistent text messages, emails and push notifications all saying different times the plane will depart. The other airline gets this right and shows consistent messaging as they did proper end-to-end testing of their many subsystems instead of hoping it’s about right.” 

How do you remove sloppy, wasted communications and replace those with something useful, pleasant, even fun? By using the customer data customers give you to enhance their experiences – and by testing integrations across various systems.

How does Waldmann visualize his fantasy airport arrival/check-in scenario? It’s not as complicated as you might think:

• The airline carrier knows when he steps into the terminal, as he’s enabled geolocation data
• A message in the app confirms that he checked in the night prior, and that he can check his pre-paid bag at the counter and head to security
• He walks to the gate and the app knows he’s there and welcomes him, confirming boarding time, boarding group and flight departure time (and shows him his seat without having to tap into the app again and again and facing endless loading times for something that just doesn’t change)
• The app reminds him that his loyalty program has a free drink coupon to use at the nearby coffee shop
• Recognizing that it has begun to rain, and since boarding this small regional flight requires walking across the tarmac, the app suggests he grab his raincoat or umbrella from his carry-on.

These little things add up to big satisfaction and are opportunities for your brand to bond with the traveler – but thorough testing is necessary to ensure that each touchpoint flows smoothly. Brands should be in the game of helping manage the experience for their customers. Doing this, they create loyalty: people talk to friends and share on social media. This influence makes a difference.

Context is key to travel communication

Do travelers care where your plane is going after the last leg of their flight is done? Does the newsletter you’ve just sent show guests how well your hotel understands them? And, even if it did, did those guests need to receive it now? 

Thoughtless or ill-timed communication is just noise. Hamish Sherlock, VP, solution consulting, Applause says, “Obviously, travelers want information, but it has to matter. When travel and hospitality brands involve customers in the dialogue, a new level of trust, relationship and investment in the trip by the traveler is possible.” Airlines and all organizations within your trip ecosystem should contribute to a guided experience that pleases. Succinct updates with exactly what travelers need and no more, based on where they are on the trip, are key. 

For example, two hours before your flight, you get a message in the rental car app wishing you a safe flight. When you land, you’re welcomed to the area and given confirmation that your car is ready for you. That’s it. This is not the time for the company to prompt you to upgrade to a higher level of rewards, but perhaps that message would be well received when you’ve picked up your car and are resting comfortably in your room. This timely and low-touch communication eases your mind. It gives you what you want to know and nothing more. It’s simple, at least in theory. 

Mobile phone carriers and global networks can interfere with simple communications. For this reason, It’s critical to test your apps on a wide range of devices and operating systems and networks with real travelers. Is your application localized to account for elements beyond just accurate language translation – things like cultural references, preferences or taboos? Is everything the traveler needs easily found in the app? For example, if a flight is delayed, does the rental car app acknowledge the delay and assure customers that there will be someone available to help with their cars? Is the delay time consistent across the app, email and the departure board at the airport?

Waldmann suggests that many carriers don’t see these inconsistencies because they’ve not used real travelers to test and give insights. If there is an issue, is it the carrier’s issue or something relating to the mobile phone? How do text messages work vs push notifications? Customers don’t care how you are organized internally. It doesn’t matter to them if one team covers push notifications and another covers customer care; they just want a smooth end-to-end experience. Show one unified face to the customer.

Function and novelty must work as designed

Many hotels are shifting away from online aggregate travel agencies to reclaim their direct relationships with customers, cut down on intermediary booking fees and learn more about their guests. To do this, they’re driving customers to their own websites, but Applause teams note that, in many cases, the appropriate level of testing has not been done on the site. 

The result? Instead of creating a great experience for the very customers that they want to get closer to, the hotels push them away. This is a missed opportunity on three levels. These hotels have:

• created frustration in the immediate customer need: booking
• attempted to save money by removing fees from intermediaries but spent personnel time on building a substandard website experience without proper user testing
• tarnished their brand in the eyes of customers, perhaps pushing them off for months to years. 

Testing the site with real users would reveal not only a wide range of issues, but also provide insights that could lead to innovation. Is this shift to owning more of the initial customer experience really worth it? 

Waldmann cites a recent travel experience. 

“I was using a hotel app that lets you select available rooms. It was an interesting idea. You could pick the floor, room and room shape, select based on proximity to the elevator. This eliminates time at the front desk for me and the staff, and involves me more directly in my experience. However, when I made my selection, I got an error saying that the pass key could not be installed at this time. I had to go to the desk and get a traditional room key. So now all the “cool factor” and ease have washed away. One step forward, two steps back.”

The app must first do the basics. But if it promises more, then it must be rigorously tested to ensure that it delivers on that promise. Otherwise, the extra you are promising – previously considered a nice-to-have – becomes a liability. All too often, organizations fail to consistently and thoroughly test new features before rolling them out to customers. This step is an essential building block on the path to functional testing excellence.  

Convenience and functionality happens magically

Jennifer Waltner, director, global content marketing, Applause recently traveled to Amsterdam. She took advantage of the I Amsterdam City Card, which gives the holder access to major city highlights including more than 70 museums and attractions, city-wide public transport and more.

“This type of convenience is really appealing,” says Waltner. “In addition to saving money, through the app, I was able to easily research the attractions we wanted to visit and reserve entry times. What made it so pleasing for me was that, because of what I do, I’m aware of all the thought and effort that went into designing and delivering all aspects of the program. I was impressed with how smoothly everything worked no matter where we went using the cards – the zoo, different museums, a canal tour. It was great.” 

Regardless of the behind-the-scenes effort, when something is done well – most of the time – your customers will think nothing of it. And that’s the point. They’ll sail through admission to a museum after scanning entry tickets. Pay for a concert using the latest digital payment app. And, yes, some will notice the ease of use while they are in your app, but the majority will just use your app or digital property, again and again. That’s true magic. But how often does this happen?

Consider the complexity of a visit to a major city. Parking meter apps, rental cars, subway schedules and maps, museums, restaurants, just to name a few. Apps like TripCase or TripIt help you organize and build trip itineraries, then book reservations. TripIt can even access your email (if you let it) and pull out the most important bits of information for your use on your trip. To do this, back-end systems must speak the same language, and serve up just what the user needs at a given time. 

Testing with real travelers is the best way to ensure that a wide spectrum of mobile devices and OSes work on the various carrier networks in the urban landscape. The nature of travel applications means they must often test across a broader set of devices and OSes than apps targeting local audiences. Allowing data to inform the device coverage matrix ensures that teams focus testing resources on the devices that most customers use – part of the expansion stage of Applause’s functional testing framework (found in the main SDQ.  

AI and customer care

Our client teams are aware that AI in travel and hospitality holds great promise, as it does for so many other industry applications. Still, the bad taste of poorly designed interactive voice response (IVR) systems remains strong for so many.

“This is because IVR systems are made to contain the customer. Firms invest in this model to keep costs down by keeping customers away from live help, says MacLennan. “It seems counterintuitive to good customer service, but it’s about investing in a system that should be able to do the same thing as a real person. When customers break through containment and get a live customer service rep, that rep’s time becomes expensive to the organization because it includes all previous investment in the system that didn’t do its intended job.” 

The tension arises from this: can you provide a system that quickly gives a customer what they need? Incorporating AI into this process will make tremendous improvements, but it will still require significant testing. Chatbots have not helped either, as they pull from a database of FAQs, but often lack the sophistication to nuance answers according to the subtleties of customer inquiries. Online support engines are essentially the same. They simply pull from a database with generalized answers to common questions, but lack the sophistication of a well-trained live representative who can respond to the almost unlimited nuances of human query and communication. 

Waldmann says “Even when an automated bot gets it right, and reads you the 10-step solution to your problem, the experience is dehumanized, often alienating the customer more from your brand. You also take away any personal thinking of the involved stakeholders who could have creatively solved the problem for the client.”

The promise of AI in travel and hospitality is great, and will most certainly improve over the upcoming years. Still, it will need heavy testing with real travelers, as it moves closer and closer to approximating what a well-trained person can do, not just a general customer support person reading from a simple procedure list.

Reaching new heights in travel

“We have the technology for seamless travel,” says Sherlock. “We have AI that can help with check in, luggage tracking tech that is beginning to be more widely deployed through various carrier apps, and face ID, currently used by Customs in various countries. It’s just that these systems are not ubiquitous.” Of course, budgets play a role in this deployment.

Regardless of budget, however, there are crucial building blocks companies must implement to ensure high-quality applications. Due to the complexity of many travel and hospitality applications, establishing  these foundations (and then building on them) can take time. But as technologies continue to mature and organizations adopt thorough testing – particularly crowdtesting with real users in real-world situations –  both travel and hospitality organizations alike will experience less turbulence.