Video: Why Travelers Don't Trust Airlines on Personalization

Airline executives love to dwell on the revenue-producing potential of personalization — delivering the right offer to individual customers at the best time — but the concept is not so important to consumers, who fear an airline knowing too much about them, an Amadeus executive said recently at Skift Tech Forum in Silicon Valley.

"Usually, when we are talking about travelers, personalization wouldn't be the word that comes in their mind first," said Decius Valmorbida, president of travel channels for Amadeus, which operates flight booking systems used by many airlines.

Speaking to Skift Tech Tech Editor Sean O'Neill in June, Valmorbida said consumers are "quite worried about privacy," and may fear a carrier would share their data with others, perhaps without their permission. But while they don't crave personalized offers, travelers have other needs they'd like airlines to meet, Valmorbida said.

"They're really after speed," Valmorbida said. "They're saying, 'how can I have instant?'"

In addition, Valmorbida said consumers would more travel providers offer vacation packages, so they don't have to go to one company for air, another for hotel, and another for a rental car. He said too many airlines pursue a "silo" approach where they only handle airfare and air-related ancillary sales.

Still, Valmorbida said he understands why airlines keep pushing personalization, adding he does not expect carriers to change their strategies because of consumer preferences. Many of Amadeus' airline clients consider personalization "the holy grail" they can use to identify and retain customers, he said.

"Loyalty has become an expensive exercise" he said. "Going to the market and finding travelers every time on the spot market, that's very expensive."

He said providers such as Amadeus seek to give airlines what they want, while designing platforms passengers can embrace. "We're always trying to find that sweet spot," he said.

You can watch the entire interview above, or consider reading more coverage of Skift Tech Forum.

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