Travel Business Ideas: How Your Brand Can Use WhatsApp to Reach Travelers
WhatsApp Business continues to change the way that large enterprises engage with their customers across industries as diverse as banking and entertainment. It’s easy to see why people are choosing WhatsApp to get customer support, buy data, pay bills, purchase tickets, and to complete a myriad of other everyday tasks that would otherwise require downloading an app, logging in to an online portal, or (shock, horror!) visiting a physical store. However, one of the industries best suited to using the WhatsApp Business API is travel, and we’ve put together a few business ideas to show you why this is.
The modern-day traveler doesn’t want to carry around pages with tons of information on it. Nor is it possible for them to sit down in front of a laptop to finalize and check up on transport or accommodation plans. WhatsApp makes it easier to plan your trip.
Considering that over 1.5 billion people use WhatsApp per month, and that the majority of hotels and airlines provide WiFi access, it’s easy to see why travelers are turning to the app to check up on their travel arrangements.
Responding to customer inquiries
Travel involves keeping track of many different logistics with a single trip often involving multiple flights, train trips, and hotels. Along the way, customers are likely to log at least one or two queries. Being able to do this by messaging a company on WhatsApp is a lot easier when you’re also lugging around suitcases, trying to negotiate with a cab driver, or finding out that your Italian isn’t as “grandioso” as you imagined…
Businesses using the WhatsApp Business API can take advantage of Templated Messages (also known as Highly Structured Messages). Instead of recreating commonly used responses from your business, the appropriate template message can be used to provide customers with the necessary information quickly.
An example of a proactive template message from an airline could look something like this:
Hi {1}, your planned flight to {2} will be departing at {3}. There has been a gate change. Please make sure you’re at gate {4} at least 30 minutes before departure. Wishing you a safe and pleasant flight.
Customer resolutions with WhatsApp
Life happens, and for your business, there’s a lot that can go wrong: maybe a storm has caused havoc with your airline’s scheduled flights, or perhaps there was an error with a booking logged on the system at your hotel.
Whatever the case, informing your customers about the problem as conveniently and quickly as possible can go a long way towards minimizing the damage to your brand, while giving people the opportunity to alter their plans. Calling each customer will be a logistical challenge, while sending an email always comes with the risk that it won’t be read in time, if at all.
Hello {1}, we regret to inform you your flight has been canceled due to severe weather conditions. Please make your way to counter {2} to have your tickets changed, or reply to this message for further assistance. You may use this map to find the designated support desk {3}.
Timely refunds — business ideas that add real value
As many travelers may decide to change their plans midway through a trip, one of their biggest pain points is a slow or tedious process for logging a cancellation and receiving a refund. Indian company MakeMyTrip is already using the WhatsApp Business API to provide refund status updates and deliver e-tickets, and the company has seen a 15% reduction in refund-related calls to their customer care centers.
Although it may seem counter-intuitive, offering customers an effortless cancellation experience can enhance their perception of your brand in the longer term.
Research from Phocus Wright states that by 2022, more than a third of bookings made through European travel agencies are expected to be via mobile.
Travel updates
The very nature of travel can be a tiresome experience: long waiting times, crossing time zones, hailing cabs in unfamiliar destinations… any business idea that your travel brand can utilize to make the journey easier for your customers will undoubtedly be appreciated.
Some of the travel updates you can provide via WhatsApp include:
- Passport requirements
- Travel tips that are specific to certain regions
- Roadworks in an area close to your hotel? Let your guests know of an alternative route
Think of your business’s WhatsApp channel as the personal, digital, always available travel guide your customers never knew they needed — they’ll love you for it.
In much the same way that companies big and small are embracing the concept of remote-working for their employees thanks to improving technologies, travel businesses are leveraging the power of WhatsApp Business to reach people anywhere, at any time. In an increasingly connected world, the business ideas that make customers’ lives easier will be chosen first. People are loyal to experiences — not brands, and your travel agency, airline, hotel, or cab service can use WhatsApp Business to set itself apart.
Thanks for reading! If you’re interested in the WhatsApp Business API, try testing with lower messaging volumes via an Entry Package from just $125 per month, then scale up easily. Apply here.
