HOLLYWOOD, Florida—There’s a sense—and a buzz among the attendees at the PhoCusWright Conference in Hollywood, Florida, this week—that technology innovation in the hotel space is alive and kicking.
“Innovation in the travel industry is not just alive and well, it’s thriving,” said Philip Wolf, founder and chairman of PhoCusWright. “In the digital marketplace, innovation is required to differentiate.”
And the number of attendees would seem to back that up. The PhoCusWright Conference hosted roughly 1,400 attendees at the Westin Diplomat this year, “by far” breaking an attendance record, Wolf said. This year PhoCusWright welcomed an influx of attendees from outside the United States, specifically a jump in attendance from China and Brazil. Twenty-seven percent of attendees were from outside the U.S.
Technology Ad Will Appear Here
Wolf, looking back on his 17 years at the helm of PhoCusWright, said innovation trends prevail over the companies who participate in them. For example, the early Internet providers disappeared, but the Internet became relevant. Early search-engines have been phased out, but the act of digital search has become a daily household occurrence.
He said mobile is the most recent innovation that as a trend is here to stay, although it may not always be the same players that are involved today.
“The salient trend here is consumers responding to real-time location-based deals and taking action via the mobile device. That is huge for travel, tourism and hospitality,” Wolf said. “The global mobile platform has achieved critical mass … If you are late for mobile growth opportunities by under-allocating resources, the cost of this strategic error will be inestimable.”
Innovation helps steal market share
Wolf said, overall, the travel industry isn’t growing. Therefore, “the only way to win is to steal market share,” he said.
Rheem said macroeconomic factors leave the outlook for 2012 “clouded with uncertainty.”
“We’re seeing a big difference between corporate and leisure demand,” she said. “With fare hikes, we see leisure air squeezed out a little bit.”
On the hotel side, Rheem said suppliers are gaining electronic booking share by driving innovation and revamping their websites.
“Hotels have made a lot of progress,” she said. “Strength is coming back to supplier.com.”
So what were they all here to talk about? The speed by which technology is advancing and how travel companies are leveraging that speed to take lead roles in the industry.
Trends in travel innovation
Wolf presented six trends he sees in the travel innovation space:
1. The end of on/off—Wolf said travelers aren’t powering down anymore and that companies can take advantage of the 24-7 connection between suppliers and travelers. “Travel companies better power up,” he said.
2. Look who’s talking—with the proliferation of social-media and review sites, there are more outlets than ever to listen and engage with guests, Wolf said. “Everyone has something to say and ample means to say it,” he said.
3. The speed of smart—Wolf said new technologies that are brought to market are consequently adopted on a broad base quicker than ever before. For example, 35% of companies today use HTML5 as a component of their website, he said.
4. To boldly go—as the world gets smaller, innovative companies will take advantage of new and different consumers, Wolf said. Glamping (glamorous camping), he said, is an example of a nearly untapped market.
5. Capital comeback—Wolf said the upcoming initial public offering calendar is expected to break previous records, led by Facebook, which is expected to conduct an IPO in 2012.
6. Travel’s new PNR—the personal name record, or records in the database of a computer reservation system, will adapt and be shared between systems more than ever, Wolf said.
“Travel is unleashed and we know you have come to PhoCusWright to grab your share,” he told the audience.
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