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LivePerson Enterprise for Travel & Hospitality
Increase online booking, provide better customer service, and earn customer loyalty
The travel and hospitality sector is truly one of the great success stories of e-commerce. The category has topped the list of fastest-growing markets since the earliest days of the Web. Consumers and business travelers quickly grasped the profound convenience and cost advantages of researching travel options and booking online. And the proliferation of aggregated travel sites only enhances the individual's power by making it possible to compare the costs and bundle options of a wide variety of providers in a single search.
But success often has its costs, and for online travel and hospitality providers, those costs are proving to be steep. The ease with which travelers can find the lowest possible fare or rate puts tremendous price pressure on providers. Competing based on price has forced commoditization of the industry and has cut deeply into profits. As a result, providers have less capital to invest in improving customer care and enhancing services. And while cost-conscious travelers balk at paying a premium for such services, they're increasingly vocal about problems they encounter and are apt to voice them in consumer forums.
Readily available air travel and more affordable prices make it possible for people to go anywhere. As a result, destinations need to work harder to entice people to their regions and properties. This also means that providers can benefit from identifying who is on their site, and engaging high-potential visitors in real time. A single lead to a convention or tourism board can represent significant revenue, particularly if that lead is the director of an association or meeting planner of a major corporation. The ability to establish a real-time connection with a high-value visitor offers a significant competitive advantage.
Service bundles have been an effective strategy for increasing revenue. By offering attractive pricing for bundles of airfare, hotel and car rentals, providers have been able to boost the value of bookings, and market to the customers of their partners. In the high-value convention business, bundles often include the services of destination management companies, customs brokers and special event planners. But bundles can also increase the opportunity for error, making quality customer care even more important for this sector.
To meet the needs of today's airlines, travel agencies and hotels, LivePerson has introduced LivePerson Enterprise for Travel & Hospitality, a third-generation engagement solution that enables enterprise-class travel and hospitality providers to take control of their websites by applying to the online medium best practices long relied upon by their brick-and-mortar counterparts, specifically visitor segmentation and targeting.
“This technology (LivePerson) serves two purposes for Orbitz.com. First, the communication service enables our teleservice experts to operate more efficiently in serving customers in need, and second, OrbitzTLC Live Chat will help our business grow by completing bookings”
Bahman Koohestani
Chief Information Officer
Orbitz Worldwide
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