Buying travel online is exhausting: nowadays, on average, we visit 38 websites to book a trip. That number includes social media for inspiration, video content for more detail, price comparison and the final transaction.
Amadeus Video Solutions is trying to cut that number down to size with a video player that allows us to watch videos for travel inspiration and then to book trips on the same page, with embedded clickable calls to action. The software also provides live information about attractions, hotels, restaurants and destination highlights, and how to get there.
The interactive player is built on HTML5 so you can embed it in your website, and the smart cookies at Amadeus have even made it available as an Apple TV application. Brand managers can also receive detailed analytics to measure the impact of their marketing efforts.
Lindner Hotels & Resorts is already displaying interactive videos created with Amadeus Video Solutions, collaborating with bloggers from ThatBackpacker.com and TravelDudes.org.
Oliver Stotz, corporate director marketing & distribution at Lindner Hotels & Resorts, said: “We didn’t just want to reach a wide audience, we wanted to reach the right audience at the right time, and give them the ability to book their trip immediately, without having to search across many different websites to complete their booking. Amadeus Video Solutions is helping us to achieve our customer engagement goals with authentic and engaging content.”
Amadeus Video Solutions is the result of two years testing led by Amadeus’ Horizon 3 team, based in Nice. This is the only team in the company dedicated to trialing and testing completely new ideas on a full-time basis. (I don’t know about but you, but spending all day every day just trying to build new stuff sounds like a dream job.) The team is comprised of experts in fields such as artificial intelligence (AI), UX, development, art history, entrepreneurship and more.
Steve Kopp, the head of Horizon 3 at Amadeus, said: “Improving the customer journey and making life easier for travellers is a key area of focus for us. Until now, there were plenty of interactive video players, but none specifically created for hotels, restaurants and other travel players. Amadeus Video Solutions is a direct answer to this problem which works in the interests of both the traveller and the industry as a whole.”
“Until now, there were plenty of interactive video players, but none specifically created for travel players”
– Steve Kopp, Amadeus
“Our internal culture of openness and experimentation means we can identify ideas for doing things differently from teams that work day-to-day with customers, and test prototypes across our customer base. We’re not only looking for the next ‘big idea’, but also for approaches that we can actually implement to help our customers to do things more effectively, more creatively, and more easily to deliver value to their business,” added Kopp.
If you want to check out the UX, or take the product for a test drive, visit amadeus-video-solutions.com.
