Four Travel Trends For 2011 - What They Mean To Trase Miller
Posted by scott bell on Fri, Jan 14, 2011 @ 10:19 AM
This time of year travel trade publications are rife with predictions about 2011. Trase Miller is a contact center service provider but we have never strayed from our vertical focus of leisure travel. The truth is we consider ourselves lucky to be a part of this amazing industry. When you talk to our team members you, get a sense that we have attracted a special breed of people that understand the importance and joy that leisure travel plays on society.
Travel trends often germinate on the business side of things which often begin in corporate board rooms. In 2011 we’ll see:
- Airlines hell-bent on profitability
- i.e. an all out war between airlines and distributors (Sabre vs. American Airlines)
- Consumers will continue to be increasingly nickel and dimed on ancillary sales initiatives
- Growth in vacation package sales will be fueled by new and better technology
- More widely available and increasingly bolted to supplier websites
Trase Miller works closely with leading airlines and their package vacation businesses. Packages are a way for airlines to offer great value without revealing what part of the package has been discounted. Partners in the business are hotel and car rental companies that get to move their inventory discreetly with a discount as part of the package. Consumers get a great value and airlines make a profit selling packages. Everybody is happy.
Travel trends are more often shaped by the way people think and feel.
- Consumers want to connect more with like-minded people in their consideration phase of travel purchase
- Scads of information AND opinion on travel experiences are available on sites like TripAdvisor (over 10 million unique visitors in many months of the year).
- Continuance of the unused vacation time trend
Right Management, a workforce consulting firm, said "pent-up fears about job security" might have been a factor in people being unwilling to use vacation. An increasingly popular vacation choice is the "breakation" which is a mini-vacation lasting less than the traditional 6 nights. Destinations like Las Vegas are important destinations for Trase Miller’s client’s customers much do to this trend.
Trase Miller takes thousands of calls each day on behalf of our big brand clients. When we answer the phone we are speaking to very well informed consumers which is a fact attributable to the amount of information they have access to these days. It takes an incredible amount of training but our Learning and Development team is on it 24/7/365.
It doesn’t matter if the caller is looking for a breakation to Las Vegas or a cultural tour of Europe, we answer the phones as experts. We’re looking forward to 2011 and embrace the trends that are unfolding.