What’s Agoda’s outlook on travel recovery?
Ultimately, recovery for travel will depend heavily on the vaccine roll out to curb the severity of new COVID-19 cases.
We remain cautiously optimistic and do already see a positive bounce in markets where the vaccine roll-out has been swift, but the reality is that there will be start-stops and travel will only resume when it’s safe to do so. We know that while almost all markets will open domestically first, and then internationally, this will happen at a different pace worldwide. There is no one size fits all solution, and thus as an industry we need to be nimble with our products, pricing, and marketing, to work together to get back to where we were in 2019.
We think positively and consider this moment as an opportunity to help shape our industry’s future like never before. Collaboration across the travel eco system, with partners and governments too, will ensure we can rebuild a more interconnected, resilient and sustainable industry.
Agoda has worked with Governments across the Asia Pacific region to support their aims of stimulating domestic travel – for instance with the TTogether campaign in Thailand, GoTo campaign in Japan – where we quickly developed tech solutions to make the booking and payment processes more efficient for travellers wanting to participate in these programmes.
Domestic travel initiatives with partners, like GoLocal or GoLocal tonight, Hygiene Plus, and EasyCancel, as well as newly launched Agoda Special Offers are innovative product responses to the changes in consumer travel behaviours.
We will continue to collaborate with governments and partners across the industry ecosystem to stimulate and capture local travel to support tourism dependent economies, in turn safeguarding jobs across the industry, striving to drive technological innovation to cater for this new reality.
When, where and how will international travel resume? Do you think we will be traveling internationally soon?
It’s difficult to predict for certain where, when or how international will resume, but we do know that Agoda’s data – search and booking trends – will be crucial insights for hoteliers to set pricing, inventory allocation and marketing spend to make sure they are ahead of their competitors when markets do open.
What we know is that domestic travel will come first, and we are already seeing international travel open up, particularly in Europe. We expect it will be slower here in Asia Pacific. Our “Next Steps to Travel” and “Return to Travel” surveys in multiple markets show that vaccine roll-out and health and safety protocols are two of the top five biggest considerations to traveling internationally again in Vietnam, health and safety protocols is most important for Filipinos when booking accommodation, and getting a good deal and cancellation flexibility most important to Israelis when thinking about travel.
Close to 40% of people in Vietnam expect that international travel will be back on the agenda within the next six months, compared to 11% in the Philippines. Almost one in five Malaysians are looking forward most to traveling internationally when the pandemic ends, and in Israel, 11% are more likely to travel overseas compared to pre-COVID.
And we are seeing governments striving to reopen borders, as soon as they can safely do so. Here in Asia Pacific, New Zealand has indicated international travel will resume in early 2022, Singapore has started to open up quarantine-less travel between Germany and Brunei for fully vaccinated travellers, building on the less restrictive quarantine options for travellers from Australia, New Zealand, China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Thailand has opened the Phuket Sandbox and Samui Plus to attract vaccinated international travellers to the country. After spending 7 days on the island, they can travel out to other places in Thailand. Taiwan recently resumed their long-suspended travel bubble with Palau. Other markets, like Indonesia and Malaysia will be watching and learning as they put their own plans for border re-openings back on the table.
We do see searches surge the moment discussions around corridors opening are announced, for the SG/HK bubble searches surged by 14 times. People are chomping at the bit to get back exploring the world again, and we are busy developing innovative initiatives for our partners including the GoGlobal/Welcome Back products that use our tech to optimize marketing to ensure as soon as markets open, travellers will be able to access the best inventory at the price.
What consumer travel trends now are you seeing in the region / (market)?
A recent survey for the launch of Agoda Special Offers found that people are taking shorter trips, exploring new local destinations, looking for experiences as part of their accommodation, using online travel agents (OTAs) like Agoda to search for travel deals and choosing their accommodation as a destination itself, not just a place to sleep.
Product innovation is needed by us at Agoda and our partners to address these changes.
Previously hotels might have been a base for exploring the locale, especially for international vacationers. Now with domestic visitors and staycation travel dominating travel plans, people want to enhance their accommodation experience as they may spend more time inside, and are looking for the hotel to provide the entertainment. Whether that’s additional activities or simply those added luxuries like F&B or spa package, or the decadence of a late check-out, how people are getting their holiday highs have changed. And Agoda is helping consumers find the best deals with its new Agoda Special Offers product to help consumers get a more fulfilling travel experience at a great value as they continue to travel hyper local. Agoda Special Offers to help hotels leverage its technology and marketing reach, offering Agoda’s platform exclusive and non-exclusive packages of value-added benefits with their rooms, such as early check-in and late check-out perks, food and beverage vouchers, onsite or offsite experiences, and special room upgrade deals. Participating hotels will benefit from Agoda’s extensive reach and insight into local and global travellers, as well as its robust marketing technology and strategies to drive higher exposure and conversion of guests who are looking out for such deals.
Instead of being disappointed at not being able to travel internationally, what we have seen is people get out and exploring more of their own countries, visiting less touristy destinations, revisiting places they might not have visited for a while, doing staycations closer to home and booking more spontaneous travel.
What advice would you offer hotel partners to help them stand out and survive this pandemic?
Content is king. Ensure their content is inspiring, eye-catching and flawless. Highlight the experience of staying at their hotel, showcase what’s different and unique so they stand out. Think about what the traveller is looking for to suit their needs, be that a gym, pool, babysitting, large room, on-site dining, close to nearby attractions or transportation. Make sure their customer experiences result in great reviews because these carry weight.
What tools does Agoda offer hotel partners manage their performance on Agoda and shape their marketing strategy?
Agoda’s Partner Hub and YCS extranet are the go-to platforms with easy-to-use dashboards for properties to manage their own presence and reach new customers. It enables properties to receive intelligence and insights on travel trends. For example, currently our partners are benefitting from Agoda’s GoLocal product that is driving more domestic travellers to them. Our local market managers use evidence and data to find the best value solutions for our partners.
