Good Travel Experience and How to Achieve It?

Every year around this time the US travel industry gears up to meet the influx of July 4th travelers.?This year will not be any different. According to an?AAA prediction, 42 million Americans will get on the road for a trip of 50 miles or more this year. Americans may not be back in the air, but they are ready to travel. So, how do you get ready and apply the key ingredients of?customer experience design?to your property?

Last year, we shared our?bad travel experience?in Eastern Europe to showcase what NOT to do if you want repeat guests. Today, we are talking about what makes an enjoyable travel experience, by sharing what we learned from our Mexico trip last month.

So, what makes a great travel experience?

As with any complex system, there are many controllable and uncontrollable pieces of an end-to-end travel journey. For example, although the weather has a significant impact on the overall experience of a traveler, we cannot predict or control it. What we can do, is ensure travelers have something to do when it is raining outside. At the end of the day, a person on vacation wants to be entertained. If you provide a fun alternative to a rainy day at the beach, they will still be happy with their stay.

Museums, walking tours, boat excursions, and authentic local experiences are just a few examples of activities a Bureaus of Tourism can support in its city to get repeat guests. I noticed this right away on my trip to Mexico. The difference between Guayaquil, Ecuador (where I traveled for New Year’s), and Playa del Carmen, Mexico, is that in Mexico, the country offers regular tour guide training as part of a tour guide licensing program. In contrast, we found only one tour guide, marketed as the leader of an English speaking local history experience, in Guayaquil. She had no knowledge of city history, or the English language.

The Power of Discovery

Why do we start with this point? Because the primary purpose – and motivating emotion – of travel is discovery. Travelers leave their homes to expand horizons, experience new cultures and challenge themselves to step outside their comfort zones. For me, water activities like snorkeling and scuba diving are scary (don’t judge!). However, as I grow older, I venture to do them on great vacations for the thrill of the unknown.

My mother, a 74-year-old woman in Bulgaria, is terrified of flying. That did not stop her from getting on more than one plane so she could experience the completely unique environment of Las Vegas. The feeling that you are part of something bigger than yourself and your daily grind is addictive and special. It is at the core of travel. This is the beauty and true meaning of travel when it is experienced well.

Good Travel Customer Experience Ingredients

Now let’s get back to Mexico and why that last trip is worth writing about.

1. Seamless transportation transitions?are key to good travel experience.?Memorable experiences are never limited to only one mode of transportation. You will almost always use at least two. The connections between cars and train/plane are critical. Yet, they remain a challenge for all of us. That is why an Airport Shuttle still has value to travelers. It connects people to their final destination in a seamless, effortless way. Now, if only we could get those shuttles to come more frequently…
2. The arrival experience?is an important touchpoint on our travel journeys. Even after?technology customer experience?advancements like self-service kiosks and digital key apps, we continue to line up on long queues in lobbies. What made our recent Mexico trip such a great experience was the smooth check-in to the Airbnb property. All we had to do was punch four numbers on the door digital display and the door opened! I could not have asked for anything more. There was literally NO CHECK-IN process.
3. Great Hospitality?today is a combination of amenities, service, and technology. If you want to offer good (or great) travel experience, you must understand the meaning of “home away from home” for travelers right now, and work across mediums to achieve it. Last year during our bad travel experience in Eastern Europe, we had to buy our basic amenities in the local grocery store. This year’s great travel experience in Mexico included an Airbnb with a toilet paper roll folded in the shape of a flower in every restroom! Last year, we barely had internet. This year, we had Netflix and Amazon Prime on our TVs without being charged to sign in. Last year, we were at a pool property with no equipment or pool toys for the kids. This year, we had direct pool access and countless rafts and other accessories in the house. Neither property was a hotel in the traditional sense of accommodations. The difference is, one host will never see us again, and the other will see me annually. That is?the business case of customer experience. When done well in travel, it leads you to the definition of the lifetime value of a customer!

The Design Difference

One note on interior design. I have mentioned this previously, and want to make sure we do not forget the design aspect of travel. It is a real art to design a space that offers the familiarity of a guest’s home as well as the luxury and class that makes one feel special and pampered. We are not talking about spending a lot of money. We are talking about designing intentionally.

So, make this a goal for your property, whether it is a boutique Airbnb, or a major hotel chain. Once again, it comes down to the small things. It can be a lamp, like the one?our Mexico host?chose to display; a bouquet of fresh flowers with a card; or a basket of local fruits. Anything that is personal and elevated will create a?Wow Moment?for your guest. And that will make him/her talk about you when they return home.

The ROI of Memorable Customer Experience

Last, but not least, let’s talk about restaurant hospitality. Another reason people travel is to try new cuisine. Food quality and presentation can make or break a travel experience. Mexico won in this aspect with a restaurant called?Porfirios.

In less than five minutes, we had our wine served through an air diffusor, and our bottle of water in a cooler. We were also served olives that the restaurant staff procured from another location, and we were offered a plate with cut fruits and vegetables to choose from to add flavor to our chilled water! They put cloth napkins on our laps and brought a personalized wooden hanger to hang our belongings next to us at the bar. All this service was performed with a sense of ease, and reflex. Like it was nothing special. It was just what they did for anyone who entered their establishment.

This reflexive hospitality is a level of service that turned two tourists stopping by for a glass of wine into diners who stayed for dinner and closed the place! And, we told several people about the restaurant, I am writing a blog about it, and we will definitely be back. All of that because of flavored water and a hospitality standard that is followed by a team of four.

No one says it is easy to offer great travel experience. What we are saying though, is that it is possible to deliver a good experience, and to bring people back. There is a science and a system behind this, so you can do it too. Look for the opportunities in the end-to-end journey to ease the traveler’s pain, and get generous on hospitality. It is an investment in your future. Literally.