The next wave of innovations for business travellers will rely on tracking their precise locations
By B.R.
THE recent Business Travel Show in London was, as one would expect, chock full of companies proudly trumpeting their latest innovations, from fancy plane seats to super-comfy pillows for hotel beds. But if there was an overarching theme for those shaping the future of business travel, it was precisely targeted geolocation. Firms that use their services, they think, are becoming keener to know exactly where their employees are at all times. They are equally convinced that those doing the travelling are just as sold on the idea.
That expectation is not without logic. Companies have a duty of care to those they send abroad. Knowing accurately where their employees are helps them to execute that duty. Some travel managers talk grandly of marshalling their troops around the globe, as if they were second-world-war air commanders moving planes around a giant map with a stick. Equally, surveys suggest that business travellers are, beyond everything else, interested in a hassle-free passage to their destinations. And anything that can smooth that passage—particularly when plans go awry—will be welcomed. Nonethless, keeping tabs on people's movements will, unquestionably, be good for the travel firms themselves too.
Technology already exists that can pinpoint travellers’ exact position in airports, planes and hotels, although it is not yet widely deployed. This includes Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) devices, small transmitters with a limited range that can connect to mobile phones. One obvious application for this will be to allow stores in airports to ping business travellers with offers as they pass by. Travellers themselves will be split as to whether they think this a useful service. Much will depend on how often their phones vibrate and the ease with which they can customise what they are contacted about. It will also depend on the uptake of wearable technology. A report by PhocusWright, a market-research firm, found that in 2014 9% of American travellers already owned such a device—more often than not a smart watch. This could increase, they estimate, to as much as 20% by the end of 2015. That is important, because travellers do not want to have to pull out their phones at every turn to see who is trying to flog them something.
Being more precisely located has plenty of other uses. One is to help travellers navigate the airport. Those managing business travellers could, for example, calculate the current speed of security queues and let clients know when it is time to head airside (or, better still, sell them fast-track security). For the bleary-eyed or hapless, it could even warn them when they are queuing at the wrong gate altogether.
If that seems relatively straightforward, Carlson Wagonlit (CWT), a large travel-management firm, is working on something more fancy for its premium clients. It is acquiring access to live travel data from air-traffic control systems. This means, it says, that it will often know if a flight is delayed or cancelled well before airlines announce it to their passengers. CWT says it will be able pre-emptively book executives onto an alternative flight or into a hotel room if necessary, before having the app walk them to where they need to be.
Tracking will not stop once passengers board the plane. Joakim Everstin of Sabre, a travel-technology firm, says that he is preparing for a time when every seat on an aircraft is fitted with a BLE transmitter. Even after the cabin door closes, he suggests, airlines could target selected economy-class passengers and ping them an offer for a seat upgrade while in the air.
In fact, once executives’ instantaneous locations are available to travel firms, there is no end to the pampering they might expect. Other ideas being worked on by those at the fair include step-by-step directions from plane seats to train carriages (or to a pre-emptively booked taxi if that train is cancelled while the passenger is in the air). Or automatically ordered room service, including estimated time of arrival, for businesspeople likely to arrive after the hotel kitchen has closed. Once at the hotel, beacons that can recognise travellers' phones will mean that there is no need to check-in at reception; the device will guide a traveller straight to his room, where, in concert with that room’s BLE transmitter, his phone will also act as his key. Once he is ensconced in his chamber, establishments can keep tabs on whether he has remained there (in which case they can offer deals on dinner and the like) or left the building (in which case they can send the maid up to clean the room).
Some business travellers will marvel at how seamless their trips are likely to become. Others, though, will feel uneasy at the potential to have their every movement tracked. American Express Global Business Travel, another big travel-management company, already offers firms the ability to see exactly the whereabouts of their executives at any time via its app. It stresses that this is at the discretion of the traveller himself, and says that it is particularly useful in dangerous parts of the world. Knowing where staff are should trouble break out is key to removing them safely, it argues. Nonetheless, it is easy to imagine a firm insisting that the tracking is always enabled in order to keep tabs on what they are up to. As with many new technologies, it seems, there are risks to go with the benefits. Whether the business traveller has ducked out of a conference early, is frequenting the kind of bar that he oughtn't, or is up to something nefarious, the danger that someone back in the office will have noticed is likely to grow.
