What Does Online Travel Really Mean by a 'Connected Trip'?
Skift Take
Creating the connected trip means online travel agencies will have to become high-powered, tech-first, traditional travel agencies. It sounds cool but probably isn't feasible without major upheaval across the global travel market.
It looks like online travel's next buzz term has finally entered prime time.
The concept of the connected trip is making headlines as online travel leaders have done the rounds over the last few months, presenting a new paradigm of truly traveler-centric travel booking and service.
What exactly is a connected trip? Well, it is everything. The term appears to have appeared out of the ether over the last few years, being mentioned by online leaders across travel.
In recent months, the CEOs of both Booking Holdings and Expedia Group have used it as a placeholder for future growth possibilities. The stock value of the two companies has plummeted, the result of digital marketing on Google not packing the same punch as in the past. The connected trip seems to be the juicy nugget that represents the future development of online travel agency technology; imagine, if you will, a world where everything that is broken in online booking is suddenly fixed.
Online travel agencies want to move closer to the capabilities of the global distribution systems that power them, combining disparate trip elements into something of a dynamic package they can service once there is a disruption.
Algorithms will push other trip elements to customers booking a single element, allowing them to book personalized choices; travelers will even be able to import trip elements booked directly or on other platforms to have everything connected up in
