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Travel in 2021 and beyond An eCommerce Perspective www.channable.com
Travel in 2021 and beyond:
An eCommerce Perspective
After decades of supersonic growth, in 2020 the travel
industry ground to an unprecedented halt. April was
flooded with images of empty airports and runways as
Forbes predicted 50 million travel industry jobs may be 120
lost. The reality was much worse. It’s widely accepted 100.8
that close to 100 million people in the travel industry lost
100
their jobs as a result of the pandemic. 80
Jobs loss in millions
63.4
60
Today, countries are slowly relaxing their travel restrictions
as the general population carefully considers their next 40
vacation. But things have changed. The future of travel is 20
13
definite but uncertain. For travel companies and eCommerce 8.2 7.6
4.7 2.6 1.2
0
businesses reliant on the travel sector, how they prepare for Asia Pacific Europe North
America
Africa Latin America Middle East Caribbean Total
this unknown is crucial.
Drawing from the experience of Channable and their clients,
this industry insights article intends to help you prepare your
business for the future of travel in eCommerce. Discover
which eCommerce practices are best to employ, insights on
the direction travel in eCommerce is heading, and what is
required to remain competitive in this sector.
4 The recent history of Travel in eCommerce
5 The impact of Travel Technology
7 Channable and the Travel Industry
8 Channable and Pierre & Vacances - Center Parcs
10 Channable and TUI
12 Channable and Norwegian
14 An uncertain future for travel
15 PPC and Feed Management in the Travel Industry
16 Channable’s Feed Management Software
20 Channable’s PPC Tool
Table of 22 Channable’s most valuable Rules for Travel
26 Feed Management, PPC, and the Holiday Season
contents 31 How is Channable preparing for the future of travel?
32 The Future of Travel: An eCommerce Perspective
33 Channable and the future of travel
34 Travel predictions in 2021 and beyond
43 What do travel experts Pierre & Vacances - Center Parcs say?
51 The Next Steps for your Business
52 Contact
53 References
The recent history of
Travel in eCommerce
Travel is in a Travel is in a unique position. It might be the only
unique position sector where consumers spend thousands of dollars
before they experience the product. You can touch,
test, and see a TV in action but with a vacation,
the value can only be determined once you’re back
home.
Travel in 2021 and beyond: An eCommerce Perspective | 4
The impact of Travel Technology
It wouldn’t be unreasonable to say that eCommerce has had Although growth is always welcomed, growing within your
the biggest impact on the travel industry since commercial means is vital. This requires preparation. If we consider
flights were introduced. Due to the dynamic nature of travel the connection between travel technology and search
companies and an increase in demand, it was natural for engines, knowing how to prepare becomes more obvious.
them to look for a more flexible method than the telephone or Travel companies must have an up-to-date, well-structured
travel agencies. With this in mind, the travel sector became data feed in order to implement a successful eCommerce
an early adopter of eCommerce. advertising strategy.
In the last 20 years, booking vacations online has become Whether you’re a hotel chain, travel agency, ticket sales
the norm with 80% of people now opting to do so. Exciting company, or airline, this is where the challenge lies. The
innovations in eCommerce have allowed travel companies complexities of the data within the feed of a travel company
to optimize both their advertising and data feeds. Whether are unparalleled. It’s often in multiple languages and, with
it’s finding hotels, planning things to do, or comparing flight prices and availability constantly changing, the data is
prices; grabbing the phone or laptop to use Google and Bing incredibly dynamic.
is now routine for holidaymakers. How has this changed
travel companies? Ultimately, creating a successful data feed is complicated.
This is why some of the biggest names within travel use a
With the innovations of travel technology, came the data feed management tool. Data feed management can help
aforementioned supersonic growth. There’s so much travel companies improve social media, PPC, retargeting,
choice when planning a vacation, consumers now have and more. Which begs the question, how has Channable
the opportunity to plan almost everything. There are now helped their travel clients with their complex data feed
transportation options to thousands of exotic and obscure management?
locations, and even more accommodations and activities
that can be pre-booked. This has encouraged consumers to
spend more each year in search of their dream getaway.
Travel in 2021 and beyond: An eCommerce Perspective | 5
564.87 billion
2016
In 2016, worldwide digital travel
sales were projected to grow
564.87 billion US dollars in 2016
817.54 billion US dollars in 2020
source: www.statista.com
817.54 billion
2020
Travel in 2021 and beyond: An eCommerce Perspective | 6
Channable and the Travel Industry
When you’re a leading name in the travel sector (or looking
to become one), it’s imperative you have the most agile and
simple-to-use process to secure your position. This is why
Channable works with some of the most recognizable names
in travel including TUI and Norwegian. Travel companies
essentially have an “end-of-season” sale every day. There
are multiple last-minute sales per day as well as last-minute
bookings that need to be pushed and filled. Without a proper
feed management tool, this is an almost impossible task.
Travel in 2021 and beyond: An eCommerce Perspective | 7
Channable and Pierre & Vacances - Center Parcs Pierre & Vacances - Center Parcs has always used feeds to optimize the distribution of its campaigns and, in particular, the creation of retargeting campaigns. Until they discovered Channable, they were depending on the solutions’ technical teams to create and modify their feeds. “The main advantage with Channable is the ability to create, modify and optimize our feeds independently. After a demo of the tool, we realized very quickly that we could easily adapt the feeds to our needs.” As a business, Pierre & Vacances - Center Parcs’ ROI isn’t only based on the investments a company makes but also on the team’s productivity. Channable therefore now also supports the Pierre & Vacances-Center Parcs Group on a daily basis by offering them the possibility of making their feeds more fluid and thus improving their productivity, CTR and ROAS. “It takes just 30 minutes to make changes to our feeds, where previously it was up to 48 hours.” Channable’s development team works closely with Pierre & Vacances - Center Parcs internal technical team. This helps Channable understand their needs which allows for quick integration and reduces the number of exchanges. Travel in 2021 and beyond: An eCommerce Perspective | 8
“ Channable teams are a true extension of
our internal teams. Thanks to a precise
and close collaboration, they support us in
achieving our objectives.”
Davy Bayonne
Online Acquistion Manager | Pierre & Vacances - Center Parcs
Travel in 2021 and beyond: An eCommerce Perspective | 9
Channable and TUI TUI has been using Channable to help manage their feeds since 2017. Today, TUI uses Channable for all digital marketing channels across the group, including display retargeting, affiliate marketing, and paid social. The biggest results TUI has seen since using Channable is in the amount of time saved across the group. In November 2019, Jeroen Maaijen (SEA Manager TUI Benelux) explained that Channable “saves us time, we don’t have to figure everything out each and every time, so there are synergy benefits for the source markets.” What has made Channable the ideal solution for TUI? In the tool, you can have multiple projects and users in one account. This allows you to copy rules and feeds across projects in a few clicks, streamlining company-wide approaches. This ease-of-use coupled with the flexibility of Channable’s “if-then” rule structure has been key to TUI’s continued growth with the tool. For example, TUI applies rules that ensure keywords and destinations in the feed are similar to the actual search terms used by potential customers. Read TUI success story here Travel in 2021 and beyond: An eCommerce Perspective | 10
“ Customers looking to fly to Gran Canaria,
are less likely to search for flights to Las
Palmas de Gran Canaria. We therefore
have to make sure that we are easy to find
on the searches that a potential customer
uses, and that does not always correspond
with how a product is listed in our systems.
Channable helps us with this. We use
SA360 to advertise for all of our stock – all
our keywords, all our destinations, all in
a dynamic way. Channable makes us way
more flexible when using SA360, compared
to being forced to make changes within
SA360 inventory management. Channable is
faster, and the UX is way better.”
Jeroen Maaijen
SEA Manager TUI Benelux
Travel in 2021 and beyond: An eCommerce Perspective | 11Channable and Norwegian Norwegian Airlines has a data feed that’s both incredibly big and incredibly complex. Before Channable, it was littered with outdated prices and misleading names. Today, Channable supports Norwegian’s impressive PPC automation, as well as display and social media ads. Channable is Norwegian’s bridge between their master feed and their feed-based PPC campaign creation systems. Norwegian restructures their data and apply rules to ensure that the information is of good quality and the way they want it in order to be the most efficient in their PPC strategies. For retargeting, Norwegian made a rule in Channable to generate a long-stamp in the URL for ads to identify consumers who searched but did not buy. Ole Henrik Hasle explained, “We improved our sales by showing personalized messages of the specific route people searched but did not buy. With Channable we further improved the quality of what we offered.” Read Norwegian’s success story here Travel in 2021 and beyond: An eCommerce Perspective | 12
“ We had many different kinds of
problems. The prices were not always
updated frequently enough, and the
same route would appear multiple times
but with different prices or the names
were misleading or incorrect due to
mistranslations. I started looking for a tool
where we could create rules and fix all the
problems. I found Channable. I thought
that this tool was exactly what we needed.
Today, we are using it for a lot more than just
creating rules.”
Ole Henrik Hasle
Global Digital Media strategist at Norwegian
Travel in 2021 and beyond: An eCommerce Perspective | 13An uncertain future for travel
With travel having two feet firmly in eCommerce, Channable
is as interested as anyone to discover what the future holds
considering the uncertainty created by 2020’s pandemic.
The pressure is on. If Channable’s travel clients, including TUI
and Norwegian, are to remain competitive online, Channable
has to be prepared for every potential outcome.
What does the future hold for travel in eCommerce? Here’s a
life lesson; the best way to prepare for tomorrow is to prepare
for today. To predict the future, we’re going to look inwards
at the best practices implemented today. We’ve focused on
the history of travel in eCommerce in general, but now it’s
time to deep dive into how travel companies manage their
feeds.
In the next section, we will reveal the best PPC and feed
management practices used by leading travel companies.
Then we will use the knowledge of [TUI and Norwegian] and
external sources to determine which of these best practices
will still be relevant moving into 2021 and beyond.
Travel in 2021 and beyond: An eCommerce Perspective | 14PPC and Feed Management
in the Travel Industry
If eCommerce has had the biggest impact on the
travel industry since commercial flights, then PPC
and feed management have an impact of equal
Let’s take a look proportion on travel in eCommerce. Maintaining
an up-to-date, well-structured data feed of a large
travel company could legitimately require an entire
team. Automating the repetitive tasks of managing
data feeds and PPC saves time, money, and reduces
human error. How are these tasks automated with a
feed manager?
Travel in 2021 and beyond: An eCommerce Perspective | 15Channable’s Feed Management Software Managing the data feed of a travel company is no easy task. An established feed management tool like Channable improves the quality of your data feed, meets the exact requirements of your export platforms, and automatically updates your product information. This allows you to focus your energy on other areas of your advertising strategy. Channable’s key features for the travel sector are smart categorization, high-quality data feeds that increase your online visibility, and powerful “if-then” rules that give you full control over your data feed and PPC ads. Travel in 2021 and beyond: An eCommerce Perspective | 16
Shoe
Smart Categorization
Categorization is a necessity for most export channels. In Apparel & Accessories > Shoes
order to get your products online, you’ll need to match the
category of your products with the export channel’s category Apparel & Accessories > Shoes Accessories
tree. Each export channel has different categories, so you
Apparel & Accessories > Shoes Accessories > Covers
will also need to categorize the products for each feed you’ll
create. Apparel & Accessories > Shoes Accessories > Spurs
With Channable’s Smart Categorization, a “smart suggestion” Apparel & Accessories > Shoes Accessories > Gaiters
will pop up for each of your products and suggest the most
logical category from the export channel’s category tree. This
allows you to quickly get your products online and available
for purchase.
Smart Categorization is only available for certain channels
not limited to but including Facebook, Criteo, and Awin.
Learn more
Travel in 2021 and beyond: An eCommerce Perspective | 17Custom CSVs/XMLs
With some of the largest data feeds, travel companies often
need to split their feeds into more manageable portions. This
could be per region, KPI, or even price range. Channable
allows you to easily transform your data into a simple custom
CSV or XML file.
By applying rules to a custom data feed, you can specify which
data and which products need to be modified, included,
or excluded. You can modify any names/descriptions (e.g.
change Chelsea & Kensington to London or Lower Manhattan
and the Financial District to New York), translate written If all
currencies to symbols, and much more.
Then take description and modify text
As well as creating custom data feeds for internal use, some
travel companies build specific data feeds for other channels
capitalize only first character
such as TripAdvisor.
Learn more
Travel in 2021 and beyond: An eCommerce Perspective | 18Powerful if-then rules
Whether they’re called rules, laws, commands, or filters, the
If image_link is empty
purpose of a feed management tool is to place the power in
your hands. With the sheer size and ever-changing nature of
a travel company’s feed, simplicity in applying this power is
Or title is empty
key. In Channable, we call this power “rules”.
You can find the best Channable rules for travel companies
in this article. Then remove all fields
Learn more
Travel in 2021 and beyond: An eCommerce Perspective | 19Channable’s PPC Tool A good PPC management tool is indispensable for travel companies. For example, Channable’s PPC software is ideal as it’s optimized for Google Ads and Microsoft Advertising. It enables users to generate campaigns, ad group ads, and keywords using the information from their product feed. And it lets you build each level of your PPC campaign with dynamic values or static text. For travel companies, this saves heaps of time as hundreds of ads will be generated for every item in the feed. Maximizing each offering’s visibility with minimal effort. Travel in 2021 and beyond: An eCommerce Perspective | 20
Dynamic Values country contains any of
Dynamic values in PPC management software is one of the 1 Germany
most profitable features for travel companies. For example, If
2
3
Spain
Italy
your PPC ad in Channable could say, “Flights to [destination] 4
5
Portugal
Greece
from [lowest price]”. As Channable fetches your import feed France
6
7 Austria
daily (or immediately with integrated APIs or up-to hourly
with extra runs), the price will be updated. This allows travel And availability_destination contains YES
companies to adapt their pricing based on availability,
demand, time of year, etc. without having to change their Then take all fields and do nothing
PPC ads.
Else take all fields and exclude
Learn more
Travel in 2021 and beyond: An eCommerce Perspective | 21Channable’s most valuable Rules for Travel
“Rules” are the foundation of Channable. And the foundation
for you to create a tailored feed to fit your travel company’s
needs and to optimize your data. Optimizing your data is
not only useful when meeting the requirements of an export
channel but also to make your products more appealing to
potential customers.
You can find some of the ways travel With rules, you can create PPC ads that exclude certain
destinations, set-up last-minute booking deals, ensure
clients use Channable’s rules in the that keywords and destinations match the search terms of
customers, and more. Many of the rules that you can use for
next section. feed management can also apply for your PPC campaigns.
All of Channable’s rules are created through industry-specific
investigation, necessity, or specific client requests. This
means that many of the rules Channable’s clients can utilize
have materialized due to a specific detail or issue within the
travel sector. This industry-focused approach is part of the
reason many of Channable’s travel clients have chosen to
use this tool.
Travel in 2021 and beyond: An eCommerce Perspective | 22Split Text Rule
The split text rule is perfect for large, difficult to organize
feeds. It allows you to split the content within a field on a
certain character or word.
If all
You can split your URL on the location and populate an empty Then take size and split text
field within Channable. This location field is then easier to
from description split on size: use till
use when applying location-specific campaigns, ads, deals, second second
etc.
Learn more
Optimize Titles
You can optimize the structure of your titles using dynamic
filters. This helps you to quickly meet the requirements of If all
export platforms, uniforms your titles, and allows you to
Then
make them more descriptive and more appealing to potential take title and combine value
customers. theme to title in place - country
Learn more
Travel in 2021 and beyond: An eCommerce Perspective | 23Maximum Length Rule
Some export channels have a maximum length for their titles
and/or their descriptions. This is also the case for PPC ads. If all
Channable allows you to cut the content of a field at a certain
number of characters in order to avoid errors. You can have a Then take title and maximum length
direct cut, which will cut through a word, or you can trim on
complete words that fall within the character limit.
to 30 characters and trim on words
Learn more
Custom Labels
If price is in highest 10
Custom labels allow you to be creative with how you promote
your products. For example, if you have review score data
within your feed, you can create labels based on your highest Then take tier and set to value 10 Most Expensive
rated products. You can also create custom labels based on
pricing, availability, location, weather; almost anything you
can think of. Then use these custom labels to improve your
If review_average is greater than 8
product listings and ads.
Learn more Then take rating and set to value Top Rated
Travel in 2021 and beyond: An eCommerce Perspective | 24If country contains Spain
Calculate Rule
The ‘calculate’ rule is one of the more popular rules among
And price is greater than 100
Channable’s travel clients. It allows you to make basic
calculations with any given number. You can add or exclude
tax, calculate discounts, increase your prices, and more. Then take sales_price and calculate
As we know by now, the travel industry is very dynamic,
take price and multiply by 0.50
especially with pricing. This rule allows you to handle this
dynamism with ease.
And take title and combine value
Learn more
title 50% OFF
If all
Add Google Tracking
You can track the performance of your products and
Then take link and add google tracking
campaigns in Google Analytics by adding UTM parameters.
Analyzing the performance of your products and campaigns Source Company Name
can be invaluable. It can help you refine marketing strategies,
Medium cpc
your portfolio, and give you insights into how to create more
effective campaign calendars. Campaign Google Shopping
Term e.g., title
Learn more
Content e.g., brand
Travel in 2021 and beyond: An eCommerce Perspective | 25Feed Management, PPC,
and the Holiday Season
The holiday seasons are the most important and busiest
The total vacation spend for the periods for travel companies. Although they bring more
traffic, customers, and revenue, they require more staff,
US, crossed the $100 billion mark more products, and more availability. It’s a very stressful
period for a travel company and preparation is key.
for the third consecutive year in
Channable can be a fundamental tool for travel companies
the index’s history. when it comes to good preparation. With the dynamic data
source: Allianz’s Vacation Confident Index
options, powerful “if-then’’ rules, and integrated analytics
features, you can prepare for your most taxing periods
months in advance.
Travel in 2021 and beyond: An eCommerce Perspective | 26January February March
1 New Year’s Day ± Winter sales / January sales 17 St. Patrick’s Day (UK, US)
1 Unofficial start of 14 Valentine’s Day
European Ski Season (UK, Nord) ± Spring break across US
± Winter sales / universities (US)
January sales (UK, Nord) ± Half-term (School Break)
± Unofficial start of cycling
holiday season (UK)
Here are the most popular April May June
holidays in the UK and Ireland,
± Easter School Break (UK, Nord) ± Half-term (School Break)
(UK, Nord)
± Summer Sales
the US, and Australia. As you can
see, there are important holidays July August September
each month that presents the ± Summer Sales
± Summer School Holidays
± Summer School Holidays
± Summer Holiday Peak (UK, Nord)
± Summer School Holidays
± Back-to-school
± Last-chance Sun (UK)
opportunity for an influx of
potential customers.
October November December
± Half-term (School Break) 25 Thanksgiving (US) ± Christmas School Holidays (UK)
(UK, Nord) 26 Black Friday 25 Christmas Day
31 Halloween (UK,US) 29 Cyber Monday 31 New Year's Eve
Travel in 2021 and beyond: An eCommerce Perspective | 27Date Rules
If current_date is equal to exact 11 August 2020
With Channable’s date rules, you can plan your holiday
campaigns well in advance. You can apply rules that only Then take sales_price and calculate
affect your products on certain days, months, weekdays,
or times of day. This allows you to create sales windows, take price and multiply by 0.50
exclude or include certain products on certain dates, or tailor
the product info to each particular holiday. And take title and combine value
title Now 50% OFF
Learn more
Item Group Rules
Group items based on location or type and create rules for the
If all
group rather than the individual product. You can group the
same types of holidays in a specific region then create more
general product listings based on the group. For example, Then take item_group_id and calculate item group
“Beach holidays in Croatia” or “Ski trips in Austria”.
count items store in item_group_count
Learn more
Calculate Item Group Rules
Calculate data of the entire group. For example, you can find If all
the total number of hotels or free rooms within a city or even
find the number of hotels starting at a specific price. Then take item_group_id and calculate item group
calculate sum of stock store in item_group_sum
Learn more
Travel in 2021 and beyond: An eCommerce Perspective | 28Is in highest X/ Is in lowest X rule
Find the best and worst performers or the highest and lowest
If price is in highest 10
values within your product group. Use them to exclude
products or assign that value. For example, you can find the
50 most expensive hotels, flights, etc. and create a campaign Then take all fields and do nothing
around them. Or, find the 20 products with the lowest rating
and exclude them.
Then take all fields and exclude
Learn more
Add weather data
Channable allows you to import weather data that you can
combine with your product feed. You can add rules and
If text_weather_symbol contains sun
labels to exclude certain destinations, push destinations, add
discounts and sales, and optimize descriptions and titles all
Then take description and set value to Use sunscreen!
based on the data from the weather feed.
Learn more
Travel in 2021 and beyond: An eCommerce Perspective | 29Master Rules
Channable’s master rules are a real time-saver. You can Set - 1 Settings Rules
create general and frequently used rules and place them into
a master rule format. Meaning, you only need to create a set
of rules once as a template. For example, you can create a Set - 2 Settings Rules
master rule that excludes products with no rooms, less than
10 seats, a specific destination, etc. or use master rules to
Set - 3 Settings Rules
optimize your feed.
New master rule group
Learn more
Extra Runs
Updating your feed multiple times per day could prove to
be extremely valuable to your travel company. All imports
Every Every Every Every
and active exports run by default once per day, but you day 12 hours 8 hours 6 hours
can increase the number of runs up to 24 times per day
(every hour) or more if you wish to create a tailored extra
run schedule. This allows you to have higher quality listings Every Every Every Every
4 hours 3 hours 2 hours hour
by having more accurate stock levels and prices. With the
dynamic nature of a travel company, multiple updates of
your feed is a necessity.
Learn more
Travel in 2021 and beyond: An eCommerce Perspective | 30How is Channable preparing
for the future of travel?
Predicting exactly what is going to happen with the travel
industry, especially from an eCommerce perspective, is
almost impossible. One thing that we know will not change
and will become even more prevalent is its dynamic nature.
For travel companies to succeed in 2021 and beyond,
flexibility and being able to make big last-minute changes is
Although the future of travel key. What does this mean for Channable?
is unknown, Channable will Channable is fortunate in the sense that flexibility is within its
continue sharing knowledge and nature. The feed management and PPC tool were designed
to be used by many companies, with many requirements,
working closely with its travel and from many industries. And many of the rules and features
within Channable’s tools allow for these big last-minute
clients in order to ensure that the changes.
tool is as future-proof as possible. By giving its clients total freedom with its feed management
and PPC strategies, by design, the Channable tool has
always been a “box of lego”. With a box of lego, there are
infinite possibilities meaning there are also infinite solutions.
You can build a car, a house, a plane; whatever you want. Or,
if we link it to Channable, whatever is needed. Channable
supplies the pieces but you can create your ideal solution.
In the next section, we will dive further into the future of
travel and how Channable can help you prepare.
Travel in 2021 and beyond: An eCommerce Perspective | 31The Future of Travel:
An eCommerce Perspective
The future The future is hard to predict. In 1985, writers Bob
Gale and Robert Zemeckis wrongly predicted that
is hard to predict by 2015 flying cars would be the norm. Granted, this
prediction was for a little-known comedic sci-fi film
called Back to the Future Part II. Nevertheless, they
were wrong.
Travel in 2021 and beyond: An eCommerce Perspective | 32Channable and the future of travel Though, there was no pressure being right here. It was art. People weren’t investing, financially or otherwise, into companies who were promising personal planes. At Channable, the predictions for the future of travel in eCommerce do come with pressure. Clients are relying on Channable to make accurate predictions and, thus, preparations for their feed management and PPC tools. Channable needs to ensure that whatever impact the pandemic continues to have on the travel sector, their clients are still leading names within the industry. Channable have used their own knowledge and experience, research, and the knowledge and experience of their clients to make predictions about the future of travel in eCommerce. In the next section, you will find these predictions. Travel in 2021 and beyond: An eCommerce Perspective | 33
Travel predictions in 2021 and beyond
It is now certain that the impact of the pandemic on the travel
industry will continue into 2021. If we look at the specifics
Within advanced economies,
of how things have changed since social distancing and
79% of tourism destinations have lockdowns swept over the globe, we can make educated
predictions for next year.
already eased restrictions. In
With the current situation, last-minute changes have
emerging economies, just 47% of become the norm. Destinations are deemed not-safe-for-
travel in the blink of an eye causing many travelers to cancel
destinations have done so. their vacations in the final hour. Managing these last-minute
source: unto.org (10th Sept. 2020)
changes will require a watertight feed with possible variables
and outcomes already considered.
Travel in 2021 and beyond: An eCommerce Perspective | 34It’s important to note that these are only predictions and should not be taken as fact. Unsafe Destinations & Policy Change Using the rules of a feed management tool like Channable will allow you to prepare for a number of probable situations that may otherwise be difficult to manage. For example, if a destination is deemed unsafe for travel (even if it’s just from a particular number of countries), setting up rules to exclude this destination from your catalog can be completed in moments. Another example of what could happen in the future are policies changing with regard to things like reimbursements and booking regulations. With last-minute cancellations becoming more common, travelers may be less inclined to complete bookings without revised reimbursement and booking regulations. This could affect pricing and profit margins and even cause travel companies to streamline their offerings. With Channable, you can set up a rule that calculates the profit margin of your products and another that removes products when the profit margin falls below a certain percentage. Travel in 2021 and beyond: An eCommerce Perspective | 35
Less Availability
It is highly unlikely that your travel business will be able to
advertise your entire catalog. With strict safety measures
being taken in almost every country, limited capacity looks
set to stay for the foreseeable future. Airline companies
will have to take social distancing into account and hotels
0
will have to ensure the cleanliness of each room meets the
-20 standards enforced by the pandemic.
Passenger revenue in billions $
-40 In the diagram on the left, you can see the estimated loss in
passenger revenue in 2020 compared to 2019.
-60
-80 With less availability and thus less revenue, each of your
available products will become even more important. Having
-100 the correct PPC strategy in place with retargeting campaigns
and an optimized feed to ensure your products are more visible
-120
Asia Pacific Europe North Middle east Latin America Africa across all channels is vital. If your business is to perform well
America
during a period of less availability across the industry, almost
constant surveillance is necessary. Channable automates a
lot of this upkeep without need of your supervision. This will
give you time to refine your strategy using Google Analytics
(which can also be integrated with Channable) and market
research.
Travel in 2021 and beyond: An eCommerce Perspective | 36Pricing and Last Minute Sales With less availability and destinations being sporadically deemed unsafe, last-minute online bookings will increase in the travel industry. Though it would not be best practice for a travel company to simply decrease all their prices, setting up last-minute deals using rules is crucial. Travelers will be afraid to commit to their vacations early due to the unrelenting unpredictability of the pandemic. When booking a last-minute vacation, travelers will consider their safety, availability, and, of course, price. The mindset of a traveler booking last-minute is unique. They do not see their vacation as a necessity and will more carefully consider what’s in it for them. This is why a last-minute reduction in price works well, but not alone. Simply reducing the price to being the most attractive within the market may not be enough. Accompanying PPC sales campaigns will highlight this pricing change making the decrease in price more impactful. Travel in 2021 and beyond: An eCommerce Perspective | 37
Safety is key
What’s less crowded than a commercial flight? Your car.
What’s safer than booking a room in a busy hotel? Camping.
And what’s the best way to avoid all of these predicaments?
Staying at home.
Safety is key. As we alluded to in the previous section, the
first thing travelers will take into consideration is their safety.
It won’t matter if their respective country’s government has
indicated travel to their desired destination is safe, they will
be doing their own research.
Naturally, they will ensure the airline company they choose
adheres to social distancing and that they are aware of the
dangers. Adding safety information to your travel company’s
product information and even the PPC ads could influence
decision-making.
With the fears surrounding the pandemic, travelers will be
more inclined to avoid others and will spend more time in
their hotels. Not only will they want to see safety information,
but they will also read reviews of recent travelers to gain
more insight. You can set-up rules that are impacted by your
product’s review score or even find a brand-friendly way of
adding it to titles and/or descriptions.
Travel in 2021 and beyond: An eCommerce Perspective | 38Staycations are the new trend As we mentioned in the previous section, staying at home is the safest option. People will still have to book their holidays from work which is why we will likely see an increase in people vacationing within their own country (or within their own state in the US). “There has been a steep fall in demand for international trips this summer due to fears of cancellation, disease transmission, and quarantine measures upon return. According to GlobalData figures, international departures from Europe’s G7 countries* are expected to drop by 40% in 2020, which is a much steeper decline than domestic trips at 25%. This difference indicates that many would-be international travelers are now opting to travel domestically instead.” Ralph Hollister Travel & Tourism Analyst at GlobalData The growth of staycations will impact your marketing strategy. With Channable, you can set up rules for your PPC campaigns and your feeds that are targeted towards people within the country of your hotel or resort. This way you can adapt which products you list and on which platforms as well as the product data to ensure it is attractive to the local audience. Travel in 2021 and beyond: An eCommerce Perspective | 39
All-inclusive and private accommodation boom
As travelers will be inclined to spend more time in their
hotels, all-inclusive deals could become the trend. Another
viable possibility of becoming a trend is private/remote
accommodation.
Highlighting all of the perks of your accommodation including
room service, private pools, sports facilities, and more would
be a smart tactic to implement. Using Channable, you could
optimize the content of your feeds and your PPC ads with
this kind of information in no time.
The same can be said of private and remote accommodation.
Less densely populated accommodation will be incredibly
desirable for travelers. Never has there been more interest
in that private studio in the middle of nowhere you’ve been
struggling to book.
Travel in 2021 and beyond: An eCommerce Perspective | 40The closer to booking, the smaller the device We do not expect the booking habits of travelers to change dramatically. One thing that is often neglected is that with the actual booking of flights, hotels, and things to do, there is a sizable increase in desktop users. For example, vacation research is split between mobile and desktop but the actual payment segment sees an increase in desktop users. Even before the pandemic, there was a growth of actual bookings (vs research) on mobile devices. Nevertheless, 94% of leisure travelers switch between devices on the customer journey of planning and booking a trip. 46% of travelers with smartphones say they make their decision on mobile, but then book on another device. Channable carefully integrates the requirements of export channels with their tool. This means that for those export channels that are optimized for mobile, you only need to create one feed or one PPC ad to be able to target travelers in the research stage as well as the booking stage. Travel in 2021 and beyond: An eCommerce Perspective | 41
Huge demand for PPC, social ads, and retargeting
One thing that will definitely happen is a huge demand from
travel companies for PPC, social ads, and retargeting. Even
on a country-by-country basis, as soon as travel restrictions
are loosened, travelers will grab their laptop to plan their
vacation to the destination in question. If you were to prepare
your business for this inevitability in advance, the profits
you will generate in terms of traffic and ranking could be
astronomic.
Using a feed management and PPC tool such as Channable
would allow you to create your ads and product listings well in
advance. Meaning as soon as travel restrictions are removed
from a popular destination where you have products, you
can immediately launch your already-prepped campaign.
Travel in 2021 and beyond: An eCommerce Perspective | 42What do travel experts
Pierre & Vacances -
Center Parcs say?
Channable had the pleasure of sitting down with
Pierre & Vacances - Center Parcs Online Acquisition
Manager, Davy Bayonne, who shared invaluable
insights into the travel industry, the effects of the
pandemic, and what the future may look like.
Pierre & Vacances - Center Parcs develops innovative
leisure and holiday concepts within respect toof the
environment in order to offer its clients the most
attractive seaside, mountain, countryside, and city-
center destinations.
Travel in 2021 and beyond: An eCommerce Perspective | 43What were things like before the pandemic? Groupe Pierre & Vacances Center Parcs offers over 250 destinations across Europe. Being in so many places means that they advertise on a whole range of products. Having such a large range allows Pierre & Vacances - Center Parcs to be successful in every season. Pierre & Vacances - Center Parcs is very active when it comes to advertising local destinations. Local travelers are a large part of their revenue. And, given the current situation, advertising local destinations will become more popular among travel companies. As Pierre & Vacances - Center Parcs is already very experienced in catering for local travelers, it puts them in a very strong position. “Summer and winter are key for us. Our most popular winter vacations are our premium resorts; especially in the French Alps. As well as our 25 Center Parc locations which are popular with groups of friends and families. In the summer, on top of our Center Parc locations, our guests love visiting Normandy and the French Riviera, Avoriaz, and Villages Nature which is close to Disneyland Paris.” Travel in 2021 and beyond: An eCommerce Perspective | 44
What challenges did Pierre & Vacances - Center Parcs
face before the pandemic?
There are a number of challenges for travel companies. The
biggest challenge being competition. “Competition is the
main challenge as the industry is stacked with big and small
travel companies, huge brands, resellers, and the list goes
on.” This is why having a watertight eCommerce strategy is
a must for Pierre & Vacances - Center Parcs and one of the
main reasons they chose to start using Channable.
As the travel industry grows year on year, Pierre & Vacances
- Center Parcs has more guests and more touchpoints with
each guest. The increase in exposure and consumers has
made the strength of their brand integral for growth. “It is
essential for brands to be consistent and to optimize their
communication funnels in order to optimize ROI and not
overexpose.”
Travel in 2021 and beyond: An eCommerce Perspective | 45Why did Pierre & Vacances - Center Parcs start using Channable? Pierre & Vacances - Center Parcs has always used feeds to optimize the distribution of its campaigns and, in particular, the creation of retargeting campaigns. Before using Channable, the French tourism giant outsourced the creation and modification of its feeds to the technical teams of another tool. “The main advantage with Channable is the ability to create, modify and optimize our feeds independently. After a demo of the tool, we realized very quickly that we could easily adapt the feeds to our needs.” As a business, Pierre & Vacances - Center Parcs’ ROI isn’t only based on the investments a company makes but also on the team’s productivity. Channable therefore now also supports the Pierre & Vacances-Center Parcs Group on a daily basis by offering them the possibility of making their feeds more fluid and thus improving their productivity, CTR and ROAS. “It takes just 30 minutes to make changes to our feeds, where previously it was up to 48 hours.” Channable’s development team works closely with Pierre & Vacances - Center Parcs internal technical team. This helps Channable understand their needs which allows for quick integration and reduces the number of exchanges. “Channable teams are a true extension of our internal teams. Thanks to a precise brief and close collaboration, they support us in achieving our objectives.” Travel in 2021 and beyond: An eCommerce Perspective | 46
What impact did the pandemic have on Pierre &
Vacances - Center Parcs’s online marketing strategy?
Like every business (and every person), Pierre & Vacances - “We relaunched our campaigns in May. We started very
Center Parcs had to adapt during the pandemic. They opted carefully with campaigns to communicate about our
to pause general communication in order to strategize on the measures of security, hygiene, and booking flexibility. We
best way to relaunch. With their main concern being the safety really wanted to assure our guests that we had taken every
of their guests. However, they had guests who had already step to ensure their safety and fairness.”
made bookings. Pierre & Vacances - Center Parcs was quick
to provide information on the closure and reopening of their And how did Channable help Pierre & Vacances - Center
accommodations and parks. And, most importantly for their Parcs with their relaunch? “Thanks to Channable, we easily
guests, key information on reimbursements and vouchers. reactivated our campaigns by restricting the distribution to
only efficient products for each market or product.”
As mentioned, Pierre & Vacances - Center Parcs has always
been an industry leader when it comes to local travel. This
has unsurprisingly been key for their relaunch. “Due to the
pandemic and travel restrictions, our guests mainly went on
vacation locally; within their own country. Therefore, we had
to set up relevant listings and ads in all our key markets.”
there is a demand for
“last-minute” options Alongside a huge increase in local travelers, Pierre &
Vacances - Center Parcs has noticed that there is a demand
for “last-minute” options. Whether it’s last-minute deals,
last-minute bookings, or last-minute cancellations; there is
a lot less planning and commitment from the average guest.
Channable was able to help Pierre & Vacances - Center Parcs
through such a testing period.
Travel in 2021 and beyond: An eCommerce Perspective | 47“ Channable was very reactive. Upon our
request, the team was able to easily
and quickly pause our campaigns at the
beginning of lockdown. We worked closely
with Channable to adapt our feeds to our
business needs so we could focus on the
specific priorities of each market. We really
appreciated their support throughout this
complicated time for the tourism industry.”
Davy Bayonne
Online Acquistion Manager | Pierre & Vacances - Center Parcs
Travel in 2021 and beyond: An eCommerce Perspective | 48What’s in store for the future of travel in eCommerce?
Pierre & Vacances - Center Parcs is rightfully optimistic Responsibility in 2017 by the Worldwide Hospitality Awards.
about the future of travel in eCommerce. They accept there
will be a continued period of uncertainty and adaptability will With the pandemic, sustainability has taken on a new
be the key to success. However, they also expect that some meaning. Now it’s not only about climate change and
trends will simply remain stable or grow as has always been the health and welfare of the planet but also about the
predicted. “Pre-pandemic, our users were searching more health and welfare of people. This includes things such as
on mobile and booking on desktop. Mobile share is currently overtourism, accomodation congestion, and overcrowded
up to 60% of our traffic and is still growing very strongly.” flights. “One thing that could be related is the fact that
mountain destinations were popular during the summer. This
As mentioned earlier, last-minute (which is actually more could be due to the want for space and as an alternative to
like last-second) is becoming more popular among travelers. the crowded beaches.” Pierre & Vacances - Center Parcs is
Over 40% of Pierre & Vacances - Center Parcs’ recent very conscious of the effects of the travel industry on climate
bookings are made for the weeks and days to come. There change which is why they have always had a large focus on
seems to be far less planning due to the pandemic. “Since local tourism.
the pandemic started, visitors have been waiting until the
last moment to confirm or cancel their holidays.” A new habit
born following border closures and the evolution of the
health crisis that we experienced a few months ago, as well Over 40% of Pierre &
as the quarantines imposed in a good number of countries.
Vacances - Center Parcs
One focus in the travel industry that has been growing in recent bookings are
recent years is sustainability. And sustainability is also a huge
focus for Pierre & Vacances - Center Parcs. One example made for the weeks and
of their focus on sustainability is that Villages Nature®
Paris, a holiday park close to Disneyland Paris, was awarded days to come
The Best Initiative in Sustainable Development and Social
Travel in 2021 and beyond: An eCommerce Perspective | 49Lastly, what’s in store for Pierre & Vacances - Center Parcs? “From a business perspective, the key focus in our immediate future is flexibility. Our guests now want to have more cancellation options as well as more last-minute booking options. This is something we are working hard on. We will continue listening to the requests and needs of our guests to ensure that the future of travel is a great one.” Travel in 2021 and beyond: An eCommerce Perspective | 50
The Next Steps
for your Business
We at Channable hope that the future of travel in
eCommerce seems a little more promising after
The best thing you can do for reading this industry insights article.
your travel business is to be
These are uncertain times and there has been a huge
prepared. And this is exactly impact on the travel industry. However, one thing
that will not be affected by the current pandemic is
where Channable can help. our innate sense of adventure. It’s cliched, but travel
does broaden the mind. Meeting new cultures and
new people, and experiencing new foods and new
cities, is an innate desire that we cannot shake. Once
travel across the globe is safer, things will pick up
once again.
Travel in 2021 and beyond: An eCommerce Perspective | 51Contact
If you’re feeling inspired by the learnings in this article
and want to know how you can prepare for the future
of travel using Channable, please get in touch.
+31 (0)30 260 08 21
support@channable.com
www.channable.comReferences Online sources https://www.forbes.com/sites/lealane/2020/04/26/50-million-travel-industry-jobs-may-be-lost-50-percent-of-travel-cut---due-to-coronavirus/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/1104835/coronavirus-travel-tourism-employment-loss/ https://www.travelweekly.co.uk/articles/41280/80-booking-holidays-online-finds-study https://www.allianzworldwidepartners.com/usa/media-room/vacation-confidence-index-19 https://www.statista.com/statistics/499694/forecast-of-online-travel-sales-worldwide/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/stephenmcbride1/2019/12/06/how-google-has-become-the-biggest-travel-company/#556169cd4e09 https://skift-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/skift.com/2020/07/29/evolving-online-travel-advertising-criteo-online-travel-summit-video/amp/ https://www.cntraveller.com/article/future-travel https://www.phocuswire.com/A-brief-history-of-travel-technology-from-its-evolution-to-looking-at-the-future https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/08/travel-and-tourism-recovery-south-asia-covid19-pandemic-economy-india-nepal-bhutan-sri-lanka https://www.travelpulse.com/news/travel-agents/new-travel-trends-shaping-the-future-of-travel.html https://your.rentals/blog/how-will-guest-booking-habits-change-after-coronavirus/ https://www.everymundo.com/how-did-covid-19-affect-airline-bookings-from-mobile-devices-vs-desktop-devices/ Back to the Future Part 2. 1989. [film] Directed by R. Zemeckis. United States: Universal Pictures. Mamaghani, Farrokh. (2009). Impact of e-commerce on travel and tourism: An historical analysis. International Journal of Management. 26. 365-375. Travel in 2021 and beyond: An eCommerce Perspective | 53
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