The submit Allianz Partners HK’s Greg Plifka shares insights on innovation in the travel sector appeared first on TD (Travel Daily Media) Travel Daily Media.
Greg Plifka, Managing Director at Allianz Partners Hong Kong, not too long ago shared his insights with us on how firms are leveraging revolutionary options to reshape buyer expectations and experiences.
Plifka, a distinguished insurance coverage skilled with 18 years of intensive expertise in the Asia-Pacific area, specialises in embedded insurance coverage options the place related insurance coverage covers might be provided alongside the enterprise associate’s core product inside their present buyer journey.
Under his management, Allianz Partners cemented its place as a number one insurance coverage supplier for revolutionary options to the automotive, travel/airline, retail, and monetary service industries in Hong Kong.
At the identical time, Plifka’s focus on constructing easy, digital insurance coverage packages and fostering a customer-centric tradition led to the creation of quite a few long-standing partnerships, making him and a key contributor to the firm’s continued success.
As a choose at the TDM Travel Trade Excellence Awards Hong Kong 2025, he delved into how travel suppliers can improve their choices by partnering with trade gamers and the way expertise developments reworked the trade to create unique and localised experiences.
With your in depth expertise, may you elaborate on how revolutionary options form buyer experiences in the travel, leisure, and hospitality sectors?
Following the pandemic, we’re persevering with to see a digital transformation of travel and tourism, pushed by technological adjustments and developments which have redefined buyer expectations. Travellers of at the moment need options and companies which might be only a click on away, offering seamless travel experiences.
Two key areas the place revolutionary options are taking part in an enormous half are personalisation and fixing what we name ‘travel tension’, finally bettering buyer experiences and boosting loyalty. When it involves personalisation, it’s about synthetic intelligence (AI) and knowledge analytics. For instance, offering airline or hospitality workers with visitor particulars and preferences at their fingertips in order that they will present options or affords primarily based on these distinctive wants.
Travel pressure is what all travellers face all through their journey – from planning, researching, reserving, going and even when having fun with the journey itself. What we’ve witnessed is that, particularly after the pandemic, there’s a number of uncertainty – from vacation spot option to unexpected circumstances like cancelled flights, misplaced baggage, and even well being emergencies while abroad. What travellers need is for travel suppliers to scale back this pressure, and revolutionary instruments might be a part of the answer. For instance, certainly one of the instruments Allianz Partners affords is Allyz, a one-stop-shop digital platform which supplies travel recommendation and experience together with built-in companies. Features embrace vacation spot itineraries and real-time flight and security data.
In your opinion, what are the most vital challenges at the moment dealing with firms in the travel and hospitality industries, and the way can they deal with these challenges successfully?
Consumers of at the moment have gotten extra demanding, anticipating environment friendly and intuitive experiences that ship instantaneous gratification. This immediacy has led to higher competitors amongst travel suppliers for loyalty, prompting firms to focus on eliminating friction by way of expertise while sustaining a human contact in travel companies.
Since the pandemic, folks have additionally turn out to be warier earlier than travelling with issues akin to getting sick or caught in a rustic on account of sudden lockdowns, including to travel pressure. Industry gamers must ease these anxieties and supply peace of thoughts.
To assist mitigate traveller issues, travel suppliers can associate with ecosystem companions akin to travel insurers, as the proper insurance policies can deal with a few of these anxieties and reassure travellers from the begin. Insurers like Allianz Partners present worth by way of insurance policies that help customers throughout unexpected circumstances akin to flight disruptions and cancellations. We supply prospects 24/7 help with help groups throughout greater than 70 international locations, offering high-tech and human-touch experiences. When it involves our product improvement, prospects are at the centre of every little thing we do, and we use their suggestions and the newest market knowledge to form our product improvement.
Given your confirmed monitor report, how do you suppose robust B2B2C partnerships contribute to the development and success of companies in the trade?
Partnerships throughout the travel ecosystem are key to making sure seamlessness, which travellers of at the moment are demanding. Industry gamers must work throughout silos in order that collectively we may help travellers have memorable experiences that can hold them coming again. What’s necessary is that manufacturers are leveraging partnerships which might be complementary to one another, the place they’ve like-minded approaches to innovation, and the place they will proceed to collaborate to seek out methods so as to add worth to the buyer.
As an trade, the extra we will do for travellers to make their lives simpler and supply options in a well timed method alongside the approach, the extra loyal they are going to turn out to be. For instance, firms that associate with travel insurance coverage suppliers to reinforce buyer care can differentiate themselves by providing peace of thoughts all through the total travel expertise, eliminating travel-related issues together with disruptions and unexpected circumstances, akin to flight delays, private emergencies, or baggage points.
In reality, our prospects have informed us that coupling travel insurance coverage with their core merchandise or choices resulted in higher conversions of their core product.
What position do you imagine technological transformations play in influencing the travel trade?
Technology has revolutionised travel and made many features of the journey much more handy, akin to empowering travellers to plan and ebook their total journeys from the consolation of their properties or on the go, managing flights, transport, lodging and itinerary choices.
This additionally makes communication extra instantaneous, and travellers can simply contact service suppliers to troubleshoot any points proper as they crop up. This additionally means, nevertheless, that buyer help have to be extra available to are inclined to international travellers who could have issues and are available from completely different time zones, as they are going to demand responses immediately or inside minutes, with restricted ready time.
Technology may assist form the trade by serving to to bridge gaps in phrases of labour shortages and improve travel experiences. In a 2023 research by Deloitte, half of the motels and 99 p.c of airport managers surveyed mentioned that they undertake new applied sciences to deal with workers shortages they expertise. It additionally discovered that 74 p.c of airport respondents and 57 p.c of resort common managers count on automation to spice up visitor experiences and finally their backside traces. Fortunately, instruments like AI may help to hurry up responsiveness and servicing by assembly prospects proper the place they’re.
With extra seamless communication and higher connectivity on-line, travel experiences turn out to be a two-way avenue. Technological transformation has supplied travellers with a voice to share overtly about their experiences for different customers to learn, so there’s much more transparency and openness internationally now. What is vital is that as phrases can unfold shortly by way of platforms like social media, trade gamers should keep conscious of what prospects and travellers are saying, to allow them to act simply as shortly on suggestions and issues.
Looking forward, what future tendencies in travel and hospitality do you suppose will current the biggest alternatives for progress and innovation?
Sustainability is more and more prime of thoughts for the travel trade, together with travellers who count on travel suppliers to deal with it. Consumers have gotten more and more eco-conscious and open to firms that provide eco-friendly alternate options. For instance, airways can supply cleaner gasoline by way of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) or give vacationers various choices to buy carbon offsets. Meanwhile, motels may focus on native produce to help surrounding communities and reduce their carbon footprint. With customers being extra conscious of the influence their actions have on the atmosphere, the trade has alternatives to reply with options that meet customers’ eco-conscious wants.
Their selections are additionally fuelled by wanting genuine and distinctive experiences, pushed by post-pandemic attitudes. Travellers are more and more transferring away from typical tourism, looking for extra personally significant locations and offbeat experiences.
Around 49 p.c of worldwide travellers search immersion in native cultures and merchandise, they usually need personalised experiences and actions. To meet this demand, travel suppliers can curate extra native experiences by way of collaborations with different trade companions. For instance, motels can associate with tour operators and nationwide parks to design unique packages.
With distant working right here to remain for the foreseeable future, one other alternative is focussing on digital nomads as the quantity is predicted to extend. These people travel freely and work remotely from throughout the world, seeing themselves extra as momentary residents than vacationers. Remote staff could not essentially be particular person travellers, they usually could carry their relations like their companions and kids. Hospitality gamers may have a look at digital nomad packages, which might be coupled with curated luxurious or wellness experiences for these staff to unwind on their days off.
As a choose at the TDM Travel Trade Excellence Awards Hong Kong 2025, what are the main standards you’ll use to judge the nominees?
A key criterion for me can be how nominees want to redefine trade requirements and elevate buyer experiences. Travelling can current sudden challenges for vacationers and travel suppliers who’re capable of cut back travel pressure go a great distance in bettering the expertise of travellers, turning them into returning friends. With enhanced buyer care, travellers usually tend to have peace of thoughts by way of their travel expertise in order that they will focus on having an unforgettable journey.
Innovation and the use of expertise is one other space to think about, as expertise will current infinite alternatives for nominees to ship high-quality experiences. Examples of expertise making a distinction in tourism embrace prolonged actuality (XR) and AI getting used to create novel experiences, utilizing data-driven insights to handle crowd management and guarantee a optimistic customer expertise and utilizing digital twins to reinforce occasions. These examples all return to mitigating traveller issues, making certain that they’ve a clean and optimistic expertise while on their journeys.
The submit Allianz Partners HK’s Greg Plifka shares insights on innovation in the travel sector appeared first on Travel Daily Media.
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