Redpoint Global today announced new research revealing trends around personalization and overall sentiment toward travel in 2022. While most travelers are itching to travel after years of restrictions, 54 percent of travelers have yet to book their 2022 trips. Redpoint’s survey results reveal some of the key trends shaping travel plans as well as the expectations from consumers about how travel and hospitality brands can best guide customer experiences. The top areas that consumers cite concern for travel are around health and safety (29 percent) and costs around travel (25 percent) and gas prices (17 percent).
Customer satisfaction remains an opportunity for improvement for the travel industry. In 2021, only 36 percent of consumers were satisfied with their travel experiences, while 34 percent did not travel in 2021. The findings also cited that communication challenges and logistical issues were the main source of dissatisfaction among respondents. Only 27 percent of consumers feel that travel companies are effective at delivering personalized, consistent and seamless experiences pre-trip, during travel and post-trip – with 39 percent of consumers feeling that personalization has not been achieved by most travel brands.
“Adjusting to the personalized communication needs of consumers at every stage of the travel process and finding the right balance for each consumer is what can turn an ordinary travel experience into an extraordinary one,” said John Nash, Chief Strategy and Marketing Officer at Redpoint Global. “This is possible only with brands that have invested in gathering the relevant, real-time data for a single view of each consumer – and in the automation to scale those personalized recommendations. Redpoint’s solutions help travel and hospitality brands build the foundation for long-term, personalized relationships with each traveler across any number of locations.”
Many consumers (39 percent) want to easily communicate with travel brands via their preferred channels (email, app, web, etc.). Additionally, 31 percent planned travel through a vacation planning site or researched online (25 percent) – therefore digital communication was a huge factor in the planning process for most travelers. There are many ways in which personalization can be applied to different interests for various consumers: roughly 20-25 percent of consumers highlight the following types of communication as important:
- Pre-trip personalization
- Virtual tours of onsite locations
- Offers to enhance travel onsite
- Personalized safety and health communications
- Logistical information when onsite
“Having the most relevant information at our fingertips via Redpoint’s rgOne, we’ve been able to dynamically adapt when, where and how we communicate with our guests, at every point from pre-visit, onsite and through to post-visit,” said Andrew Heltzel, Director of Marketing and CRM for Xanterra Travel Collection. “Whether they are booking to visit national parks or biking tours, we want to have the most accurate information to deliver real-time offers and insight in a way that is seamless to the guest. Delivering personalization at scale is a big part of why our customer satisfaction remains high even in a difficult travel marketplace.”
About the Study
This survey was conducted via Dynata in April 2022 and targeted 1,000 U.S.-based consumers over 18 years of age. For complete survey methodology, please email contact.us@redpointglobal.com.
