Face-to-face: David Chapple, event director, Travel Technology Europe
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What’s new for this year’s TTE?
2016 is the thirteenth year of Travel Technology Europe (TTE) and the event is packed with new features. As well as the showcase of products and services for travel agents and tour operators, in 2016 we have added exhibition and conference content for hospitality professionals with a new dedicated Hospitality Tech Showcase. This element of TTE features over 40 specialist suppliers and a supporting conference stream called ‘Experience’. This new content will focus on how accommodation owners can maximise technology to grow their business or improve profitability. We also have great extras for attendees such as a highly coveted report – Digital Trends in the Travel and Hospitality Sector’ – produced by Econsultancy and Adobe available free for those joining a session hosted by Econsultancy experts on digital disruption on Wednesday 25 February. There are also new advice clinics and opportunities to hear from the most exciting travel technology start-ups who will be changing how we do business in the future. It’s definitely the must-attend event of the year for travel tech, hospitality and marketing professionals.
What’s the main theme for the show and why?
We organise our exhibitors and speaker conference sessions into five key themes – Promote – creating new income flows; Accelerate – making your business more efficient; Innovate – thought leadership in travel technology; Disrupt – shining a light on cutting edge technologies; and Experience – technology and innovation in hospitality. It is hard to choose one theme that is the major strand, however attendees will find that innovation and disruption are topics driving both business challenges and opportunities across all areas of TTE. We aim to highlight how to maximise the main technology innovations for your business, and what is worth taking notice of to grow your individual business.
What trends are you noticing in terms of what products and services your tech exhibitors are offering and market need they are meeting?
Personalisation and mobile are major trends taking any sector of industry by storm. The customer-service focused nature of the travel and hospitality business means that mobile technology is empowering greater personalisation, and there are more and more ways to do this. At 2016’s TTE we are definitely noticing that the amount of advice, information, services and content dedicated to marketing has greatly increased. We have more exhibitors than ever before in this area, more conference sessions focused on marketing opportunities and advice, and more marketing professionals registering to attend. There are some high calibre speakers and panels that will definitely cause powerful debate for those looking to learn how to improve and enhance their online marketing.
What latest tech innovations can visitors expect to be showcased at TTE?
Personally I’m excited to learn more about mobile payment across Apple and Android platforms and the future opportunities for the travel technology and hospitality industry. There are also sessions on fascinating topics such as ‘machine learning’ and how artificial intelligence can increase customer conversions. Plus our exhibitors are highlighting new things such as Travel Automation’s new booking technology that allows agents to create a waiting listing for seats on sold-out flights; Travelogix’s automated data cleansing to correct common errors; a new price comparison tool from Codegen; Xn protel’s new partnership with Neorcha that will see the myHotel and myCheck-in apps available in the UK; Slate’s new in-room concierge portal for the hospitality sector; new software called Travel Builder from Open Destinations and much, much more.
Of course, the Launchpad includes eight start-ups who will be promoting their new travel technology ventures. From new personalisation tools to mobile platforms for the hospitality industry that maximise guest information available through Facebook, and even social travel planning or clever day-by-day travel itinerary creation taking into account factors such as weather forecasts and opening times, all the newest tools and applications are on show.
Why is tech important for the industry in terms of keeping connected with customers, particularly for marketing and personalisation purposes?
Technology is changing things faster than ever before, and we are a more and more mobile-screen dominated society. New technology is evolving consumer behaviours and impacting businesses at a rate of knots – it is now business critical to be mobile accessible but this brings big changes. TTE is designed to help business owners, IT professionals, marketing specialists and those who want to achieve the next great thing for their travel or hospitality business learn which of these tech trends is relevant to their business, and which is a mere distraction. Focusing on highlighting which technologies can empower greater revenues through more effective marketing and personalisation will be a major outtake for anyone attending the event.
Register to join Travel Technology Europe at www.traveltechnologyeurope.com/register.
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