Did you know that 73% of travel and hospitality companies think data analytics are either “critically important” or “very important” to their success, according to
a Statista survey
?Analytics offer companies valuable insights into where their travel budgets are going, allowing them to make more informed business decisions.
By tracking travel expenses, booking types, cancellations and more, travel professionals can understand where money is being spent. Tracking carbon emissions is also important for
meeting sustainability goals
.The right analytics tools will not only help travel managers track these metrics, but also create data visualisations that can be shared with key internal and external stakeholders.So how can you choose the best travel analytics solutions for your company’s needs?
There are a number of important factors to keep in mind when evaluating software solutions for business travel. Some of these include:To help you evaluate these factors and make the best decision for your company, we’ve put together this list of some of the industry’s top travel analytics solutions.
- Budget: How much money has your company set aside for a travel analytics solution? When setting a budget, be sure to take into account the cost of installation, the features you’ll want (critical, essentials and nice-to-haves), ongoing maintenance costs, training costs and any unforeseen expenses.
- Scalability: If the company grows, can the software easily be scaled to multiple departments, systems, offices, etc.?
- Ease of implementation: How easy is it to get the software up and running? How much time will have to be dedicated to its installation? Is there a need for employee training, and will productivity be temporarily lower while the software is being installed? How is the user experience when engaging with the software?
- Customer support: How well-rated is the software provider’s customer support? Are they available 24/7? Do they have a good track record of solving users’ problems? Is there installation support available if needed?
The top 5 travel analytics solutions to consider for your business
Best for business travel
If employees at your company frequently travel for work, you’ll want to invest in a travel analytics solution that’s specifically designed for business travel programmes.
1. TravelPerk
TravelPerk
is an all-in-one corporate travel tool for bookings, travel management, expenses, event planning and more. The platform offers a best-in-class travel management reporting
feature.With this feature, users have access to flexible corporate travel reporting via advanced travel and expense dashboards. They can break the travel data down by criteria like:
- Person
- Transport type
- Booking type
- Cancellations
- Recoverable VAT
They can also configure and schedule custom reports, which can be exported and shared with other teams.
For sustainability managers, there’s also the
GreenPerk carbon footprint report
, which is downloadable and can be configured to send alerts when your organisation reaches certain goals. It offers an overview of your company’s carbon dioxide emissions by flight routes and hotel stays, plus the cost spent on offsetting your carbon emissions.In addition, travel managers can track travellers in real-time using an interactive map, no matter where they are in the world and how they’re travelling.Best for the travel and hospitality sector
Different industries may benefit from travel analytics solutions that are specific to their sector. Here are some examples:
2. Teradata
Teradata is a platform designed for transportation businesses. With this cloud analytics and data software, teams can implement a modern digital transformation strategy across their departments and regions.
The platform:
- Features artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies, data storage, transactional workloads and more
- Allows customers to prepare data with powerful in-database functions and train models of various sizes to get the best results
- Can be deployed in the public cloud, hybrid cloud or on-premises
- Is a flexible option for businesses in the manufacturing, retail, healthcare or government sectors, among others
Teradata is used by a variety of travel industry businesses, such as airlines, transportation companies and railway companies.
3. Amadeus Travel Intelligence
Targeting online travel agencies, Amadeus Travel Intelligence uses shopping data to help identify traveller behaviour patterns and improve the efficiency of online marketing. Companies can identify seasonal search patterns and adjust their offering in response, leading to an improved customer experience and enhanced supplier management.
Using the actionable insights gained from customer data, travel agencies can:
- Improve their search engine optimisation (SEO) marketing
- Gain a deeper understanding of their agency’s relevance to partner airlines
- Identify new airline partners and capture new revenue streams
- Better assess opportunities for expansion into new markets
4. ACL Digital
ACL Digital offers an analytics solution for the travel and hospitality sector. They provide cargo and luggage transport analytics, as well as passenger behaviour data.
Using data science, they build fact-based prescriptive and descriptive analytics, helping businesses maximise their revenue. To do this, they use advanced analytical functions like:
- Text mining
- Statistical modelling
- Natural language processing
- Predictive analytics
- Neural science
- Machine learning
They offer personalisation, context-based data analysis, a 360-degree customer view and high-value data processing.
5. WNS
WNS has a travel and leisure analytics offering geared towards the hotel, airline, online travel agency (OTA), resort and cruise industries. Using WNS’s analytics services, clients can develop a better understanding of their customers and gain valuable insights to help them make data-driven decisions.Some of the solutions they offer include:
- Customer acquisition analytics: Using segmentation, clustering and predictive analytics techniques, WNS enables travel and leisure companies to identify customers who are most likely to make purchases or react to campaigns, promotions and communications
- Retention analytics: Helps identify the factors which are most likely to drive customer engagement with a product or service, and helps retain customers through targeted personalised offerings
- Cross-sell and up-sell analytics: Helps travel and leisure companies get deeper insights into customer expectations, and map the right products and services to existing customer segments. To do this, the solution leverages predictive analytics techniques such as look-alike models and response models.
- Customer lifetime value (CLV) analytics: Helps travel and leisure companies create sales and marketing strategies by forecasting the expected revenue from new customers and identifying high-value and profitable customer segments
Other services offered by WNS include database marketing and the Direct Channel Shift solution. In addition, there are also airline-focused analytics solutions for commercial intelligence, pricing and revenue management, flight operations analytics, and scheduling and networking.
Travel analytics can transform your business
With the right travel analytics solutions, your company can get the insights you need to make the most informed decisions. Whether you’re a travel agency looking to understand customer behaviour, a transportation business looking for a cloud analytics solution or a hotel looking to retain more customers, analytics software can help you meet your goals.
It’s important to look for a travel analytics platform that’s suited to your specific needs and budget. For companies whose employees frequently travel for business, a business travel software solution may be the best choice to discover insights on travel spending, transport types, sustainability, traveller location and more.