A guide for the Travel Industry
INTRODUCTION The global travel industry has been one of the earliest adopters of text messaging technology implementing a range of mobile services for travelers across the globe. Staying in touch with travel customers and stakeholders via their mobile phone has proved to be a critical component of any travel business strategy. In a recent survey conducted by Clickatell, responses show that 80% of companies surveyed in the travel industry use SMS to communicate with their customers, compared with 60% who use SMS internally to make business processes more efficient. The overwhelming majority of companies surveyed see SMS as a more effective marketing and communications tool that email and fax, and more discreet than a phone call. From airlines and airports, to hotels and travel portals, mobile messaging is here to stay. WHY DOES SMS MAKE BUSINESS SENSE? Real time delivery: A SMS is typically delivered within seconds and therefore valuable for time critical information High reach: The number of people with a mobile device in their hand, is growing at an exponential rate globally High response rates: SMS enjoys a higher response rate than email as it is targeted and personal, and is less invasive than a telephone call Cost effectiveness: SMS makes the most financial sense, especially for SMEs wanting to communicate with an audience on the move. Bulk buying lowers the cost even more. Automation: integration with your existing operational software and systems is easy, and SMS sending can be automated Trackable ROI: reporting allows you to determine exactly how effective you campaigns have been HOW SMS IS USED TO COMMUNICATE WITH CUSTOMERS The Clickatell Survey shows that 75% of responders use SMS for sending notifications to customers, 58% use SMS for sales verification and confirmations, and 50% use SMS for CRM purposes. Other uses include customer support, fraud reduction and emergency alerts. Internal communications and operations are improved by sending system alerts, notifications, and news, to enhance staff collaboration. 2
HOW SMS IS USED FOR INTERNAL COMMUNICATION SMS can also be used as an effective tool for improving operational efficiencies. Companies within the travel industry use SMS for employee alerts (such as salary notifications, reminders, training schedules, call outs, news and sales performance updates etc), as well as for system alerts (customer orders to be attended to, logging customer service calls, systems alerts to notify staff when there are program/ scripts/ machinery errors and faults). Top uses of SMS within the Travel industry Sales process: sending voucher numbers, one-time passwords, providing quotes, invoices and chasing balances due Confirmations and notifications: Confirming purchases, accommodation or flying dates and times, flight delays and cancellations, changes to itineraries Alerts: Weather or safety alerts, airport security alerts etc Travel promotions: Informing customers of upcoming travel specials including flights, accommodation, and car rentals based on their preferences. Travel competitions: Offering prizes in turn for information that will allow you to customize your offerings to suit your customers CRM: sending thank yous, free gifts and alerting customers to their loyalty bonuses A recent Clickatell survey revealed that 75% of Travel industry players agreed that using SMS provides their business with a competitive advantage. Top Success Factors when Implementing an SMS Strategy (source: Clickatell Customer Survey 2007) 3
SMS & TRAVEL: REAL LIFE EXAMPLES Leading online travel company, Orbitz.com offers alerts via the mobile phone, PDA, text message or email. Alert types include: flight arrival delays, flight cancellations, departure delays, or gate changes. severe weather update, emergency information briefings, 24 hour flight status check, and executive car service alerts. (source: Orbitz.com) Lastminute.com offers promotional travel offers to its subscribers via SMS. We will send information to SMS subscribers once each week," said Pete Flint, Head of Global Business Development for lastminute.com. "Subscribers select their preference (city breaks, hotels, restaurants, theatre etc). Our SMS will detail an offer which reflects their product choice. This represents a value added service for true 'last minute' customers and people on the move who can still access lastminute.com's extensive database of products." (source: m-travel) Online travel portal Travelocity.com has a suite of travel notification tools that allow Travelocity.com customers to take control of when and where they receive important trip updates. Notifications include: Customer Care Alerts Schedule Change: Provides information on changes to itineraries due to an airline Urgent Reach: Provides important information that could affect travel plans, such as airline labor actions or airport closures. Travel Alerts Arrival Status: Provides flight arrival time, gate and baggage claim information Connection Status: Provides information about the departure of a connecting flight, including time and gate information. Trip Reminder: Provides travel itinerary details for flight, car and/or hotel reservations Trip Status: Provides up-to-date departure information, including departure time and gate number. (source m-travel) The British Airport Authority (BAA) launched an SMS service called "Flying Messenger" for passengers who are catching a plane or meeting colleagues at London's Heathrow or Gatwick airports. (source textually.org) Israeli airline El Al has also introduced an SMS service to provide flight, check-in or baggage information. (source textually.org) Travelers at Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta Airport can now summon assistance via SMS, such as requesting toilet paper or complaining about the airport taxi service. The service also lets people inquire about the status of departing and arriving flights." (source textually.org) London's Underground provides free text messages to mobile phone with real time travel news and details of delays before you reach the station. An SMS service is also available for Airport Express trains to Gatwick, Heathrow and Stansted. This service is also free of charge and available to customers who book a train ticket via the Web. (source textually.org) 4
Britons traveling abroad to exotic destinations are now able to receive immediate and free travel health information regarding malaria thanks to a new text messaging service developed by mobile healthcare specialist iplato. The service, funded by GlaxoSmithKline Travel Health as part of the Malaria Awareness Campaign, allows travelers to text in the name of their destination country to receive relevant information about the malaria prevalence in that country. (source SMStextnews.com) CLICKATELL TRAVEL SUCCESS STORIES The Fairmont The Fairmont Dubai is one of the premier hotels in the United Arab Emirates, offering 394 luxury rooms, and a wealth of other amenities to suit both travellers and local residents. The Situation The Fairmont Dubai hosts regular events and promotions which are generally attended by a number of local customers. The problem lay in making this customer base aware of these promotions at short notice. The Solution The Fairmont Dubai adopted Clickatell's Communicator product to keep in touch with their customers on a regular basis with short, direct messages. These were particularly effective for special events, as well as for food and beverage specials that needed to be promoted quickly. Since 80% of the population in United Arab Emirates have mobile phones, it was a natural choice to select mobile messaging to get the message across. According to Cleo Eleazar, the Food & Beverage Marketing Manager. "Clickatell Communicator has opened up a different market for us, and helped us reach our customers regularly." Cleo Eleazar, Food & Beverage Marketing Manager, Fairmont Dubai Hotelzon Hotelzon International is the leading European hotel reservation technology provider. The company is one of the oldest hotel booking agencies in Europe and has a staff of 75 in four countries. Hotelzon International offers a turn-key hotel booking solution for corporations and travel industry professionals, such as travel agencies, reservation companies and travel related portals. The Hotelzon Group will process nearly one million hotel bookings in 2005. The Situation In the past Hotelzon were forced to use different SMS software for sending hotel reservation confirmation messages to customers in different countries. Periodical upgrades and hosting of the software and introducing new countries and languages proved particularly tedious. 5
The Solution They opted to use Clickatell's SMTP (Email to SMS) API for all its SMS traffic around the world. Hotelzon implemented the API solution in approximately 10 days. Originally they had an existing SMS solution in place but with Clickatell's web service they were able to get rid of the maintenance of their SMS servers and gateways. The booking confirmation alerts enabled Hotelzon's customers to receive reservation codes, hotel names & addresses and arrival and departure dates. The Results Transparency and operability of the service is outstanding. Integration of the service to its platform was straight-forward and flexible. "With the Clickatell SMS solution we are able to deliver SMS to our customers all around the world in reliable and efficient way." Jouni Peltonen, Hotelzon, Finland 6
About Clickatell If you would like to SMS enable your business, then Clickatell has a range of products and services that you can choose from based on the volumes you wish to send and the amount you wish to spend. Take a look at our products table below to give you some guidance, or else contact our sales team who will be more than happy to tailor make a solution for you. www.clickatell.com Email: sales@clickatell.com Service Centre: +27 21 910 7700 SMS Volume Clickatell product / API Features 2,500-4,500 in one go Clickatell Messenger-PRO Desktop based application Includes contact/address book Import contacts via spreadsheet Import MS Outlook contacts Personalize sender ID Can send up to 10,000 messages at once 5 Free test credits 4,000-5,000 in one go Clickatell Communicator Web based application Includes contact/address book Upload contacts via spreadsheet Personalize sender ID Merge custom fields into message 10 Free test credits Greater than 10,000 Clickatell API Web based interface Immediate capability to deliver and receive messages to and from any application choice of connection options (HTTP/S, SMPP, SMTP, FTP, XML, Com Object Additional code scripts for use with all interfaces Message routing profiles to suit your budget and redundancy requirements 10 Free test credits 7