"Once a new technology rolls over you, if you're not part of the steamroller, you're part of the road."-- Stewart Brand
This "become your own travel agent" concept is becoming a part of the millennials' DNA, and it's spreading to older generations, as well.
In the old days, booking engines supplied by airlines were travel scripture. One went to a holy practitioner who would press keys to check things out.
The truth is, I have never sat in front of a GDS. I have sat in front of travel agents who sat in front of a GDS, and that was enough to sour me on the entire experience.
A few years ago, we consoled ourselves with the notion that the Internet was only a threat if your client base was listed in the local high school yearbook. We reassured ourselves that folks over 50 still depended on us.
Now, I've come to the realization that the Internet clueless represent less than 5% of my potential clients. To find travelers who actually need to depend on me for information, I might have to go fishing exclusively in Sun City. But even generalizing that seniors need us to translate data is wearing thin. What is the first thing residents do when they move to Sun City? I suspect they sign up for computer courses.
We all have to be Internet literate and, more importantly, Internet savvy. It's all about using computers to get the latest, the best, the most relevant information for our clients.
Never mind what you've heard about social networks. Yes, you surely know people who use Twitter and Facebook, and you might be winning lots of new clients as a result of the hours you've devoted to these marvels. But I doubt it.
The fact is, only about 15% of Americans ever use social networks. Most of the time, the folks who are telling us how crucial social media is to our survival are the ones who, for a fee, will teach you how to use the stuff.
Still, there are clearly opportunities to be realized in social media. Princess Cruises has found a unique way to tap its database by introducing "Roll Call" on its Facebook page. This enables anyone traveling on any Princess ship to meet fellow passengers in advance, exchange tips and advice and to organize onboard get-togethers. It also extends these new friendships; guests can use Roll Call to keep in touch, swap photos or share upcoming trip information.
But while we continue to go gaga over social media, it turns out 55% of Americans use the Internet every day. Of this number, most are checking and sending email or searching for stuff they want to know.
If you work in the travel industry and you merely wish to keep up with your base of customers and potentials, you would have to match the 60 hours per month that the average Internet user spends online. Even then, just keeping up with customers is not going to be enough: We have to know much more about using the Internet for travel than they do. We have to be the real information brokers. But how can we match the time our clients are investing in their self-education in the comfort of their homes or offices?
With growing alarm, industry sources tell me that clients increasingly seem to have more information about hotels or airlines, or about the details of their business trip or vacation, than their agents have. We try to be the repository of information, but how can we compete with the time the average American is willing to devote to surfing for information that used to reside solely in the brains of legends like Mr. Foster, the kindly man who worked another job while dispensing travel advice? Well, you can try to "Just Ask Mr. Foster" if you can find him, but I suspect that his grandkids are a much better source of up-to-date information as they type, tap or listen along the Internet speedway.
When airline apps are more intuitive and useful than anything the travel agent community has designed, we can see the Google on the wall.
Witness Lufthansa's new app designed exclusively for the iPad. It assumes consumers want rich media: raw data, video, easy-to-navigate reservation tools and an interface that looks like a game. The site features a world map. After you tap where you are and where you want to go, complete flight options appear, with beautifully rendered graphics and maps, airport profiles and good destination information that Lufthansa describes as "exclusive and unusual," meaning your local travel agent might not have it.
Should you wish to book in the comfort of your chair, every mileage benefit is highlighted in the navigation bar.
The fact is, the new information gatherers don't really need a GDS or a personal computer. Whether they're using Apples or Androids, they can do it all on a phone or tablet.
Techies refer to the future as AR, for augmented reality. So this is what I expect will happen when I use my smartphone in my beloved Florence next year: I will be standing on the Via Cavour and will realize that I want a really great bisteca alla Fiorentina for dinner. I press a button and tell my phone what I am looking for. The phone has my profile stored. It knows what I like. It literally points me in the direction of the restaurant that serves the best steak in Florence. I can click on several reviews. Some are in Italian, but no worry: My phone translates them into English.
The phone then asks me if I would like a reservation or if I want to see the menu. I tap the screen, and my reservation is confirmed.
Before dinner, I want to see a local shoemaker named Manini. My phone tells me he's good, but there is someone better, and he's closer. Do I want directions onscreen or read to me?
In the restaurant, I point my smartphone at the menu and everything is instantly translated into English.
During dinner, I decide that tomorrow I want to take public transportation up into the village where I once lived. I type in Mercatale Val di Pesa, and the Sita bus schedule pops up. I see a map, and I point at the villa where I once lived. The telephone number and name of the current owner are revealed, and I dial with a simple tap.
My sense is that there are two things we all ought to be doing as quickly as possible. First, find the best techies in high school. Have them teach you everything they know, then find and set up the most helpful links for your clients.
Second, schedule a weekend getaway to meet with your staff to determine the kinds of things you will need to do to remain relevant to your current customers.
And you had better hurry.
Contributing editor Richard Turen owns Churchill and Turen, a vacation-planning firm that has been named to Conde Nast Traveler's list of the World's Top Travel Specialists since the list began. Contact him at [email protected].