Technology as travel companion

How many times has this happened? You take an elevator to a hotel room on floor 15. Walk down a long corridor to reach the room. Insert the key card or perhaps wave it on the lock. A brief whirring sound and the door refuses to open. Suddenly you realise that the key card was in the same pocket as your mobile phone. Next step, trudge back to the front office to get the key activated again.
 

On the plate for a few years and rapidly making its way to consumers are mobile phone-enabled keyless entry for hotel rooms. The mobile which was a problem for traditional keys is now the solution for the global travel industry. 

Keyless entry using a mobile phone app is perhaps the simplest example of travel tech. There are several ways in which travel is being changed by artificial intelligence, augmented and virtual reality and such technologies. 

It starts from planning a trip. A family’s entire holiday can be planned by an algorithm based in their interests and past travel. High level of personalisation of tour is possible by using artificial intelligence (AI)-based trip planning services by various companies. 

Companies like Utrip offer several more options and holiday configurations that travellers can think of. Choosing the right hotel with the relevant facilities has already become a science for most portals and hospitality chains. 

Voice-based assistants in rooms can help the visitor in learning about the city or services within the hotel. The hotel’s virtual concierge will remember your preferences as a frequent guest and ensure your room is customised to your likes. 

Then there are travel guides. “Generic, comprehensive travel guides of the past will make way for increasingly short-form, hyper relevant and individualised content, which can be neatly integrated in travellers’ feeds. 

As importance deepens on personal, individual recommendations that unlock the most out of every trip, expect producers of rich and professional travel content to find even better ways of distributing this through the use of AI,” says a survey for 2019 by global travel portal Booking.Com

India is rapidly adopting tech-based options for planning and paying for their holidays. Indian travelers will spend an additional $24 billion on online travel bookings over the next three years, a growth from 25 per cent in 2018 to 35 per cent in 2021, says a survey by Bain & Co and Google. 

Tech start-up Flippar took up the challenge of recreating the glory of Hampi using augmented reality. Flippar developed a mobile app that helped people discover and engage with monuments, heritage buildings. 

It added stories in multiple languages and built in interactive experiences. Using the app the tourists can scan a particular section of the ruin and automatically the entire view of what it was would appear on the screen. 

The tourists can feel and see what it would have looked 500 years while standing in the spot surrounded by broken walls and pillars. Additionally, by pointing to the monument, the app will generate information about the monument for instant reference. 

The Bain & Co study says that travel spending by Indians will grow 13 per cent to $136 billion by 2021, mostly driven by access to internet and smart phones. 

The mobile will then be the real travel accompaniment, offering more than a readily available camera. From planning to booking to enjoying the experience, every step will be enhanced by technology. 

For the service providers, the data generated from the users will help create deeper insights. The industry will then be driven towards highly personalised and customised travel options.