Racing toward tomorrow's travel experience

At one point in the not-so-distant past, travel agents were the primary travel architects, creating itineraries, making reservations and mailing paper boarding passes to clients. And then the internet opened up access to the world and reshaped the fundamentals of travel – how we book, certainly, but also when we travel, where we stay, and how we get rewarded for all of it.

As the post-pandemic flush of travel continues unabated – according to the Mastercard Economics Institute, nine out of the last 10 record spending days in both cruise and airlines have happened in 2024 – travel and tourism providers are now embracing digital innovation to turn the travel experience of the future into a reality.  

Just as the internet did in the early aughts, personalization, dynamic loyalty, artificial intelligence and other emerging technology are changing the way we travel, enabling a more seamless and custom experience from booking to wheels up and back.

The north star

So what does a fully optimized travel experience look like? At its core, it’s seamless and connected.

A travel assistant crafts the perfect itinerary, considering your demonstrated preferences, crowd-sourced reviews, budget and timing, and links your bookings through your central loyalty account. The traveler is empowered with the right expertise and supported at every turn. 

At the airport, you’re automatically checked in and directed to the right gate, where you’re served relevant offers you can take advantage of while you wait or at your destination. And once you arrive, your map can tell you where to go in real-time based on your pre-loaded itinerary.

While these are just a few examples of what a digitally enabled travel could look like, the goals are the same: a faster, elevated experience, a better connected and more knowledgeable consumer and more precise travel providers. 

Loyalty and personalization reimagined

Mass personalization may sound like an oxymoron, but it’s the linchpin to providing an elevated experience for travelers. While tailored engagement has crept into the travel space, a fully optimized travel experience goes beyond a timely suggestion on the booking website. And when responsibly and transparently collected and managed, data from loyalty programs can help power these tactics to ensure relevant and convenient recommendations that improve the experience.

Micro-redemptions, fast-track lanes, free luggage storage and more all represent economies of convenience, where providers deliver value through simple, useful perks. For example, if you travel occasionally and are a member of an airline loyalty program, you likely have enough points in your account to feel a sense of accomplishment, but not enough to redeem any kind of significant reward (like a free upgrade or flight).

But with a 360-degree view of its customers, the airline can evaluate your preferences and adjust what redemption options they promote to you. Rather than have you sit on a couple thousand points that will never return a meaningful reward, the airline can recognize that you typically buy in-flight Wi-Fi and instead allow you to redeem points for in-flight internet access – a relevant perk offered at the moment it can be used is a minor revenue concession for long-term loyalty. Micro-redemptions like this are only possible with the right architecture, rich data and a deep understanding of the consumer’s needs and wants.

Executing a dynamic program like this requires specific infrastructure on the back end, where data is connected across sources and there’s an organizational imperative to retain a share of loyalty consumers. And the appropriate real-time communications channels that enable well-timed dialogue are the perfect complement. This more elastic, customized approach to engagement can help providers be more proactive and less reactive while they build loyal relationships with their customers.

Make way for AI

While AI is crucial to realizing personalization at scale from a purely technical perspective, it’s also starting to make inroads on the front end. Generative AI has vast potential to alter the travel landscape, and the biggest opportunities are around AI-assisted travel planning and AI-enabled benefits maximization. These two areas are key to solving classic travel pain points around planning and booking trips. A virtual travel agent, for example, can provide dynamic responses to direct questions — curating itineraries, booking activities and automating payments — before connecting you with your card’s concierge services; or a tool that helps you figure out how best to maximize your loyalty points and activate card-linked offers. Generative AI can be the means to a more efficient and valuable end. 

The potential of generative AI is great, but the devil is in the details – or, more exactly, the execution. AI “hallucinations,” where a generative AI tool delivers inaccurate or absurd information, are a huge risk to a company’s credibility and a consumer’s satisfaction, especially when it comes to travel. Companies must take care to ensure their models are properly trained and continuously tested to safeguard the consumer while minimizing bias and risk.

People are traveling more than ever – not just for vacation, but for memorable events, from concerts to solar eclipses – and they’re looking for value, convenience and flexibility above all. Meeting today’s traveler where they are will require the industry to consider not just where they’re going, but what they’ll need to guarantee a smooth journey from start to finish. With a pulse on consumer behavior and a willingness to experiment with different approaches and technologies, the work of traveling can soon be as gratifying as taking the scenic route.