Data accuracy has long been the focus of business travel buyers. Emerging trends in travel data offer buyers, as well as travellers, better access to data and more transparency in travel options and deals. Not only that information can be collected in a timely and cost-efficiently manner, but the increased capacity of analysing data also offers plenty of opportunities for buyers to cut costs and better manage the budget for business travellers.
Here are the top trends in travel data in 2018 that will affect your job one way or another:
You will see search engines grow even more powerful and work more efficiently. Empowered business travellers will be able to find more deals, personalised to their preferences, in much less time. More meta players will have both searching and booking functions offering travel planners an all-in-one platform to book, manage bookings and report expenses.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology will appear in more aspects of travel assistance to provide travellers with a smooth trip at the lowest possible cost. Watch out for chatbots, personalised recommendations, predictive alerts and push notifications based on travel data analytics.
The market for Voice Search is likely to stay fragmented, divided among big players such as Amazon, Google and Apple. However, more and more travel solution providers will allow information search and travel booking using a voice command. Travel planning will speed up.
Finally, the ability to analyse more data will increase faster thanks to AI and techniques around big data machines. Buyers who make use of this capacity will be able to see the full picture and spot the weak points in the travel policy. Together with the other three trends, the development in data analytics is a tremendous opportunity to cut business travel expenses and better manage the budget for travellers.