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Tourism & Hospitality Forum DES2019: Where the digital future is created

By 2024, 70% of hospitality organizations will have moved to the managed stage of DX maturity, reaping revenue gains of up to 25%, with the remaining 30% facing acquisition or complete failure.

By 2023, 20% of major airlines will have introduced virtual reality capabilities for in-flight entertainment, destination info, and shopping, thus increasing airline revenues while decreasing costs.

Through 2019, 50% of large hotel chains will have mobile robotic deployments with modular components to facilitate multiple guest experience–related use cases and will thus have achieved increases in productivity of 25%.

By 2021, 5G will have enabled innovative IoT use cases, resulting in hospitality organizations allocating 25% of their IT budgets to deploying connected devices and connectivity management solutions.

IDC latest Tourism & Hospitality predictions

It’s considerated the Spanish Davos. The world leading event in Digital Transformation. And it takes place in Madrid, for the fourth consecutive year, from May 21 to 23. I’m talking about the Digital Enterprise Show-DES2019, a place where the synergy between knowledge and experience is achieved, where new ways of doing business arise, implementing new solutions and ideas.

I’m talking about the global exhibition with more than 300 leading technology companies in the world, the Congress with the 450 best digital experts in the world and that in its 2018 edition received 21,000 visitors, professionals who meet every year in Madrid to analyze how the Digital Technology changes the business, and to acquire the knowledge, skills and crucial tools to shape the future of the industries.

I’m telling you about the Congress where the future is not analyzed: it is created

DES connects the most innovating companies, providers of tech solutions based in AI, IoT, Blockchain, Cloud, Cybersecurity, AR/VR, Big Data, Marketing Automation, and products dedicated especially for Digital Marketing and Industry 4.0, with C-Level Executives and purchase decision makers, who attend DES aiming to find the best solutions from the following key industries: banking, the public sector, health, energy, transport and urban mobility, industry, telecommunications and entertainment and, of course: tourism and hospitality.

DES2019 dedicates a forum to digital transformation in Tourism and Hospitality, forum that I introduce and moderate and that is organised in eight temathic keynotes and debates in which we will address key issues for the digital future of the Tourism & Hospitality industry such as the use of Data and its implications in the hyper personalization of the travel experience, the hotel distribution challenge, the future of the travel industry through the cases of leading startups or how to build a great Voice First Strategy.

Together with leading world wide experts in digitalization, tourism and Horeca, the forum will define the future lines of the hospitality sector in a session of almost five hours in which more than a dozen top experts as Lennart Dobravsky (Trend & Market Intelligence Director, Lufhtansa Innovation Hub), Luca Pronzati (Chief Innovation Officer, MSC Cruises), Francisco Javier Sanz Sanchez (Flight Operations Director, IBERIA) or Arturo López Fernandez (Ground Operations Director, IBERIA) will take part.

Tourism & Hospitality Forum: Digitalization to transform the sector

As I explain in my article ‘Where is the digital transformation of the tourism sector going? Trends Report ‘, technology has changed the way tourists look for, plan and organize their trips and how to relate to destinations.

Technology forces companies that operate in a traditional way to reconvert and makes emerge companies with new organization & business models that redefine in a disruptive and dynamic way the sector’s value chain.

This new value chain puts the traveler at the center of the entire tourism business, thanks to the hyper-personalization that allows the use of Data, and pushes companies to rely on technology to manage their services and operations in a more efficient way, access more distribution channels and new markets and continue to improve the customer experience, for example through the implementation of innovative strategies such as voice strategies.

We will talk about how digitization transforms the sector at the Tourism & Hospitality Forum and we will do it in two sessions:

What can move faster than a plane…? Digital Data

Tourism & Hospitality Forum starts with the study case ‘What can move faster than a plane…? Digital Data’, in which Francisco Javier Sanz Sánchez and Arturo López Fernández, executives of Iberia, will explain how they are solving the problem of managing all the data generated when operating each flight, based on digital transformation. Sanz and López will explain how the digitalization of processes that up to now were done manually allows to automate, manage, store and process this data through digital documents and workflows within a single platform.

Creating a Voice First Strategy

Voice is becoming the primary interface into our digital lives, both business and personal. As a business, how do we begin the journey to a voice first strategy? Where do we draw the line between privacy and profits? Do we roll our own, or leverage one of tens of vendors offerings? What’s the best place to start to ensure early success? Together with Brian Garr (Senior Creative Technologist, Virgin Voyages), we’ll discuss the best outline to plan, and learn on how to execute a successful voice first strategy.

At the conference on digitalization organized by The Valley DBS in Barcelona last December, Elena Cano (Ayre Hotels) and Laura Fernández (Hotel Barcelona Princess) already advanced the importance of chatbots in the evolution of customer service at the hotel. Listen to Elena here, and Laura here.

Tourism & Hospitality Forum: The Future of TRAVEL

How will be the future of travel? Fernando Gallardo said on Tuesday at AEDH2030 that “technology with robots, virtual reality and artificial intelligence, among other things, will change tourism”. He added that “in a few years, the bulk of tourism will be in the hands of technology companies.”

In the Tourism & Hospitality Forum we will define the future of travel and we will do it in four sessions:

Hyper-personalization in travel, are we getting there?

Can we achieve nowadays a real ‘my travel the world’ experience? In this debate we will try to answer this question together with Philippe Garnier (Vice President, Third Party Distribution, IHG), Jussi Wacklin (Vice President, Brand, Digital Marketing & Culture, Amadeus) and Brian Garr (Senior Creative Technologist, Virgin Voyages). We will learn about how travel brands are struggling to achieve the real customization for its guests, what tools, stacks and teams are needed for it and what is their real competitive advantage in doing so. With the upcoming and rising of AI and XR and top notch connectivity technologies and new communication channels, seems that we are arriving into a hyper-personalization stage in where digitally savvy travelers can be tapped and be assisted in the most customized ways ever. Personalization seems the holy grail that all travel companies are constantly seeking for. Our top experts will give us the keys that will shape the future of the hyper-personalized travel industry.

The future of travel: startups spearheading innovation

The Travel & Mobility Tech landscape is changing dramatically: thousands of tech-enabled startups around the globe are working on disruptive solutions that make travel more efficient, frictionless and interconnected. The speed of (digital) innovation has accelerated dramatically within the last couple of years resulting in record fundings and valuations. Together with Lennart Dobravsky (Director Trend & Market Intelligence, Lufhtansa Innovation Hub), we will take a detailed look at the underlying venture capital investment trends that exhibits the drivers of this vivid startup ecosystem and helps to decipher and predict the future of travel.

Hospitality and Travel Accelerations: Designing the future

In this panel, leading travel accelerators will explain what the industry is heading to and what are the new tools, companies, products, solutions and technologies are currently being built to shape and set the path for the industry in the short run. Travel the future and get a broader perspective about what will be next in Tourism tech and how travel would look like in the upcoming times, together with the experts Daniel Wishnia (Chief Digital Transformation Officer, Aroundtown SA), Jaime Moreno Medina (CEO & Founder, Mormedi), Íñigo Valenzuela Cossío (CEO and Founder, Smartvel) and Begoña Rodríguez Romera (Manager, BCC Innovation).

How Modern Companies Will Manage Their Travel in 2020

The $1.3 trillion business travel industry has been stuck decades in the past, only recently being disrupted by new and old players, all shifting towards technology and automation. As more and more companies are looking for a next-generation travel management company, innovative startups like TravelPerk will have the potential to thrive. At DES2019 we will learn more about that with Gideon Pridor (VP Marketing, TravelPerk).

#DES2018 – Picture by Digital Enterprise Show

Tourism & Hospitality Forum: The Digital Hotel

92% of hotel customers are already informed online before making the purchase of a room. 72% of guests have purchased at least one hotel room online last year. 76% have done, at least, an online check-in in the same period.

The data, which you can read in my article What means being Digital?, clearly speak of the digital experience as one of the main challenges of the current and future hotel industry. Within that digital experience, distribution occupies a preponderant place.

In the Tourism & Hospitality Forum we will face the challenge of hotel distribution in a session:

The hotel distribution challenge

After debating about hyper-personalization of the travel industry, Philippe Garnier (Vice President, Third Party Distribution, IHG) will analyse in this keynote one of the most important challenges for the hotel industry in the Digital Transformation Era: the hotel distribution. Even though independent or brands hotels try and make the hotel stay as enjoyable as possible, the booking process can be confusing: which channels to use? why can hotel rates be different from one channel to another? how can large hotel chains offer consistent booking experiences across more than 5000 hotels? We will obtain some good answers to these questions together with DES2019 Top Expert Philippe Garnier.

Eva Ballarin at #DES2018

Tourism & Hospitality Forum: Caso de Éxito

Along with the seven sessions of which I have spoken so far, at the Tourism & Hospitality Forum we will also have the opportunity to learn about successful cases in digitalization, in this case together with Belén Díaz (Partner responsible for Financial Function in Management Consulting, KPMG) and Thierry Stucker (International Air Transport Association). Inspiring study cases through which professionals in the Tourism and Hospitality sector will be more clear about why Digital Transformation is unstoppable and how to get the most out of implementing it in their companies.

Check here the full Congress Agenda and here the full Agenda of the Tourism & Hospitality Forum

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Next week you will find me at the AECOC Horeca Congress (20 and 21), at the 15th Hosteltur Forum (22) and at DES2019 (21, 22 and 23)

We have an objective: Share knowledge to grow together and generate business that build a sustainable and happy society.

Keep in touch. Virtual hugs.

– Discover more about my activity and especially what we can do together for your company in Hiring.

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