Deloitte offers transportation, hospitality, and services companies a comprehensive range of services, including assistance with branding, operational excellence, asset ownership and development, customer experience strategy, M&A services, and technology modernization.

Today the diverse and expanding range of travel and hospitality companies that move people and goods around the world and create memorable experiences generally share a core set of challenges. Deloitte’s THS practice provides insights to help meet the most complex challenges facing the travel and leisure industry today, including driving digital and technology innovation, attaining operational excellence, and elevating the customer experience.

Technology is no longer considered a “nice to have” or “perk” for customers: It can be a significant driver of brand value and an increasingly powerful influence in buying behavior.

Pure technology players in the travel and leisure industry, unconstrained by the day-to-day operation of physical assets like planes, hotels, and car rental fleets, are often leading the development of new functionality destined to be invaluable to future travelers. Digital assistants, intuitive research and booking tools, and augmented reality will likely lead to a stronger presence of intermediary players within the supplier-to-customer relationship.

For traditional players in travel and hospitality, digitizing operations can be key to successfully grow and compete with pure technology players. Emerging technology platforms—from artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud technology to automation, blockchain, and the Internet of Things (IoT)—are rapidly maturing, each creating a new window of opportunity to elevate the customer experience and drive operational excellence in the travel and leisure industry.

People and culture will likely always be a competitive advantage in travel and hospitality, making this aspect of operations even more strongly linked to successful business outcomes. Driving employee engagement through effective recruitment and retention programs, talent and strategy management, and leadership development is not just a human resources issue; it can be a strategic imperative that should be addressed and endorsed at the executive level, with accountability at every tier of the business.

Technology continues to be a powerful driver of operational excellence. Disruptive technologies, including AI/machine learning and cognitive computing, can create the foundation for analytics and conversion between physical and digital, transforming traditional, linear supply chains into connected, intelligent, scalable, customizable, and nimble digital supply networks.

Own disruption with a comprehensive business transformation strategy. Rethink, redesign, and move forward with fundamental changes to a business and operating model that can help reduce expenses, embark on a new strategic direction, and maximize value amid disruption.

The transportation, hospitality, and services sector is likely on the verge of an evolutionary leap where the relationship between customer and brand becomes real-time and relevant. Technologies such as AI, IoT, and near field communication (NFC) are coming of age, and together they share the potential to create personalized moments that matter and bring joy to an experience still often riddled with pain points, interruptions, and a lingering one-size-fits-all mentality.

The next wave of experience-changing tech will likely enable a true, real-time, 360-degree view of the customer. Project management systems (PMS), customer relationship management (CRM) software, and revenue management systems, as well as loyalty programs and employee-facing technology platforms should be woven into a unified, cloud-based data environment that can unlock the power of free-flowing data and provide valuable insights into the unspoken wants and needs of travel and hospitality consumers.