August 5, 2017 – Pathsight Predictive Analytics, a Connecticut Data Sciences Company announces today the release of its “Summer Series of Insights.” The first Article in a series of insights from the company is presented by co-founder Markus Deutsch resulting from a detailed study of 3,000 North American Travelers.
Self Service and Travel
Consumerism is a reality of the day. Independence is one of the most disruptive factors in today’s flat, crowded and connected world. Think of the peril that retail malls and department stores face as they confront the convenience of Amazon and its ilk. There is a dying belief that service, points or VIP status may serve to mute this effect. Travel is not exempted from these impulses. The results, however, are the same as detailed in this study of 3,000 North American travelers. Often and Always “do it myself stands” out.
The chart shows that the vast majority of travelers in North America often or always make arrangements themselves vs using a travel agency, credit card company, airline or rely on another such as one’s spouse. Broad social trends are very difficult to fight and the move to self-imposed self-service is strong and consistent in this case.
Related to this trend toward independence and self-service is the related topic of how one decides where to go on vacation. In this study, travelers could select from various motivators. They could select a bucket list item, a spouse or partner, online research, incentive pricing or VIP experiences.
Consistent with the above findings the highest rated choice was online research. It is somewhat remarkable that this trend to self-service is found even in the face of VIP experiences and incentive pricing.
It would seem that when seeking a sales advantage or marketing edge, one might shy away from challenging the instinct toward self-service independence.
Attributes and Location Choices
One of the vexing challenges facing the hospitality space is how to catalogue the relative value of the attributes of any location. In short, what drives purchase when it comes to location attributes. Is it the beach locale? How about an all inclusive package? Gambling? VIP experience? How about Great Dining? When 3,000 North American travelers where asked how much each of these attributes would influence their choice of a particular resort or hotel they proved that few single attributes stand out. These stand alone factors are insufficient and tend to cluster in similar patterns. In fact all of these descriptors scored pretty well (Very Positive or Somewhat Positive) when these travelers rated their impact.
The two factors that seemed to buck this trend were Gambling and a VIP Experience. Gambling as a resort or hotel attribute appears to be essentially neutral. Its highest rating was, in fact, neutral with negative and positive ratings roughly canceling each other out. This is somewhat surprising given the conventional wisdom that Gambling is a strong attraction to drive traffic. VIP experiences, often the method of choice to buoy sagging appeal is also mostly neutral but somewhat more positive than gambling as an attraction. The pursuit of Peace and Quiet received the highest rating as a distinctive attraction.
While not surprising that any single variable is not the magic elixir to driving traffic or appeal, gambling and VIP experiences do not appear to be the answer. If we look to broader social trends, it may be that the move to personalization and customized offerings will prove more impactful.
About Mr.Deutsch:
F.Markus Deutsch is an advisor and Co-Founder of PathSight Inc, a Predictive Analytics Company. He is an investor in Vacation Rental Companies and provides asset management services for Hotels in the United States and Europe since 2007 representing 12,000 vacation rental properties across multiple brands. He was previously the CEO of the Vacation Rental Group which owned and operated amongst others Holiday Cottages, LandalGreen Parks, Novasol with 60,000+ managed properties. Mr. Deutsch is CEO of Landmark Global Associates LLC. www.landmark-associates.net
About Pathsight:
PathSight Predictive Science has made it possible to accurately know how someone will respond to imagery, messaging and experiences based on instincts hidden in the deep brain and predict future responses Pathsight then helps clients construct the optimal Human Interface—at scale and across any audience channel and technology.
Applying a scientific approach to the art of communications, our solutions are based on years of brain research and millions of points of data gathered and analyzed in collaboration with data scientists at the ISI Foundation. It has taken decades for a number of different sciences and technologies to mature to a point that they could collectively deliver a solution like PathSight. Finally, what the entire marketplace has been waiting for has arrived.
PathSight was founded in 2015 utilizing a synthesis of data research CEO Bob Raleigh and ISI have conducted for over 20 years.
For More information about PathSight or this article contact bob.raleigh@pathsight.com. www.pathsight.com
Copyright: PathSight Predictive Analytics, Inc. 2017
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