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The Near Future of Travel
Q3 2015
TRAVEL DIFFERENT.
TRAVEL BETTER.
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LHBS // THE NEAR FUTURE OF TRAVEL TRAVEL DIFFERENT. TRAVEL BETTER.

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ABOUT.
At LHBS, we are curious about the opportunities that lie at the
crossroads of emerging consumer needs, enabling technology and
market dynamics. What we learn, we like to share. That’s why we’ve
created the Near Futures Series of inspiration and insights reports
designed to highlight what is happening today and how it can shape
tomorrow for brands and business.
This one is about The Near Future of Travel.
We hope you enjoy this deck and are able to be inspired by it in your
innovation process.
This report is powered by the LHBS Inspiration-Hub that
systematically tracks changes in culture, markets and technology and
how these signs collectively point to a bigger story.
INTRODUCTION
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UNDERSTAND TODAY. SHAPE TOMORROW.
Discover Define Develop Deliver

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INTRO
DUCTION.
By analyzing how the most progressive travel brands & innovative
startups shape customer engagement today, we identified
patterns pointing to an inversion of efficiency and excitement
along the travel journey.
Travel is not just moving from A to B— it is a whole journey that
consists of many little segments . The signs show that today’s
innovative travel companies pay particular attention to the
creation of instant travel excitement at the start of customer
journey, then make the transport experience feel more “at home”,
to furthermore facilitate the efficiency at the destination from
arrival onwards.
TRAVELING, FROM EXCITEMENT TO EFFICIENCY.
While in the past the travel industry used to concentrate on
designing the most efficient booking and travel experience in order
to create excitement upon arrival, it seems that this paradigm is
fundamentally shifting.
Tamara Stix
Consultant at LHBS
lhbs.com | ts@lhbs.com
INTRODUCTION
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CONTENT.
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FEELING HOME GROUND EFFICIENCYINSTANT EXCITEMENT
CONTENT
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INSTANT EXCITEMENT
INSTANT EXCITEMENT
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Platforms that rely on the visual content— such as Instagram and
Pinterest— help consumers to navigate through the flood of
information more naturally.
Innovative brands build upon this insight not only visually, but by
appealing to all senses. They also successfully manage to be
present wherever their target customers are, whether online or
offline, thus increasing the number of excitements along a
broader spectrum of touch-points.
That, in combination with ongoing implementation of click-to-buy
on platforms like YouTube and Pinterest creates a whole new
realm of possibility for impulse travel.
TREND OVERVIEW // INSTANT EXCITEMENT
6
For a long time, brands have been using multi-sensory stimulus
to trigger their customers’ imagination and create an instant
desire for their products and services. While the Internet has
mainly relied on keywords to trigger an already existing desire,
more and more brands today instrumentalize consumers’
preference for visual content.
INSTANT
EXCITEMENT
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THE RISE OF
IMPULSE TRAVEL
The switch to last-minute or “on-the-go” bookings— is a
notable trend. As consumers become increasingly
spontaneous, their smartphone is on hand for those trip-
planning moments.
7Source: Hospitality Net
LHBS // THE NEAR FUTURE OF TRAVEL WHY IT MATTERS // INSTANT EXCITEMENT

8.
40%
60%
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Impulse purchase on the
rise..
Percentage of millennials
say they are likely to take a
last-minute vacation in
2015.
Source: Priceline
27%
73%
73%
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LHBS // THE NEAR FUTURE OF TRAVEL WHY IT MATTERS // INSTANT EXCITEMENT

9.
40%
60%
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Why visual matters..
Percentage of users on
Pinterest that have an
immediate purchasing
intent.
Source: Ogilvy Slideshare
20%
80%
80%
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LHBS // THE NEAR FUTURE OF TRAVEL WHY IT MATTERS // INSTANT EXCITEMENT

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Brands are
exploring
sensory
experiences
beyond visual
to encourage
spontaneous
travel.
LHBS // THE NEAR FUTURE OF TRAVEL WHY IT MATTERS // INSTANT EXCITEMENT

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Sounds of the City
Appealing to all senses
To encourage travel, the international high-speed
train operator Thalys installed interactive billboards
featuring the destination cities and containing more
than thousand of real sounds. By plugging in their
headphones in a specific “district” of the city/map
users could listen to the “Sounds of the City” and
explore the city beyond the obvious visual appeal.
Explore Sign
Learning
Appealing to all the senses of customers creates a great
playground for brands. The full immersion allows the
imagination to thrive, but it also triggers an instant desire
of wanderlust.
LHBS // THE NEAR FUTURE OF TRAVEL SIGNS // INSTANT EXCITEMENT

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Hotel Booking via
Instagram
From instant excitement to instant purchase
In order to tap into younger generation's visual
consumption habits and preference for imagery,
Conrad Hotels is partnering with Like2Buy to offer
people who browse the pictures the ability to book
hotel rooms directly from their Instagram page.
Explore Sign
Learning
Conrad Hotels successfully manages to speak with tools
of their target audiences such as Instagram to create an
instant visual excitement and combine it with immediate
purchase opportunities.
LHBS // THE NEAR FUTURE OF TRAVEL SIGNS // INSTANT EXCITEMENT

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Snapchat Travel Show
A coach travel company Topdeck, has created a first
travel show to be broadcasted on Snapchat and featuring
a famous millennial YouTuber Jimmy Hill as the main
actor. The journey is made on a tour bus and allows
Jimmy to be a part of extraordinary travel experiences.
Learning
Being present where your customers are to spark travel
inspiration and feature the voices your target group pays
attention to in order to be listened.
Snacking Holiday Offers
Transavia budget airline is offering flight tickets on the
packet of chips and gummy bears, that can be purchased
in supermarkets and vending machines. Prices for both
snack and a flight are €35 to Barcelona and €40 for
Lisbon and Dublin.
Virtual Reality Beach Vacations
Marriott is taking the immersive experience to new
heights by allowing users to feel sensory elements such
as heat, wind and mist as well as seemingly 'seeing' new
locations in front of them. Users are teleported to the
destination for a 100-second experience.
Learning
Showing consumers that making holiday decisions can be
effortless, spontaneous and accessible— and as casual as
buying something in a supermarket.
Learning
Playing with technology and addressing all the senses
provokes excitement & buzz for your brand and brings
customers one step closer from trying to buying.
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FEELING HOME
FEELING HOME
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In return, time seems to fly by faster and traveling is not
experienced as so long and uncomfortable as it usually would be—
which eliminates one of the key pain points of the holiday
experience. As of yet, most of the travel companies tackle this
problem by putting the focus on entertaining the customer during
travel time, speed of transit and efficiency of the process.
Progressive brands however, go beyond the entertainment and
create a comfortable and familiar experience on top. They
collaborate with partner platforms and embrace evolving
technologies to create a carefree and comforting travel
experience.
TREND OVERVIEW // FEELING HOME
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Travel has become more than just a way of getting from A to B.
As brands strive to enhance their customers’ experience to
differentiate their services, the ultimate goal becomes to make
customers feel like they are at home— comfortable, familiar and
with services tailored to their needs.
FEELING
HOME
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16.
40%
60%
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Personal devices preferred..
Respondents said that they
would be fine without the
fitted inflight entertainment.
Source: Smarter Travel
29%
71%
71%
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LHBS // THE NEAR FUTURE OF TRAVEL WHY IT MATTERS // FEELING HOME

17.
40%
60%
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It is not only about speed..
Expected increase in long-
distance European train travel
by 2020.
Source: Railway Technology
79%
21%
21%
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“What to do on a flight”
delivers 508,000,000
Google Search Results.
Flying is considered boring,
uncomfortable and “the time that is
wasted”. Customers have a high
need for distraction which is not only
entertainment— they want to make
the journey feel more comforting
and at ease.
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Hotel Remembers Your
Preferences
Always the way you left it on your last visit
Aria Resort & Casino in Las Vegas is a hotel room
that with each visit feels exactly the same. It stores
your preferences to make you feel at home— from
how you like the curtains, your favorite music or the
preferred room temperature. In addition the hotel
uses real-time information to highlight popular
dishes and nearly sold out dishes in the menu.
Explore Sign
Learning
New technologies allow for detailed behavior analysis
and further hyper personalization of the experience,
which makes the guest feel immediately welcomed, at-
ease and appreciated.
LHBS // THE NEAR FUTURE OF TRAVEL SIGNS // FEELING HOME

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Familiar Surroundings
On The Road
A lounge in San Francisco that adopts the creative
start-up feel of the city
Seeking to differentiate the passenger experience,
the San Francisco Airport has created a concept
lounge #CONVERGE @flySFO, inspired by the Bay
Area start-up culture where creatives and
technologists can ‘meet, greet, inspire, & create’.
Explore Sign
Learning
The airport creates a familiar environment that
understands the challenges of modern consumers’ busy
lifestyles providing them with an extension of their
everyday homes/offices that they can easily settle in.
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Traveling Without Luggage
Singapore-based Packnada enables passengers to travel
with only a passport, through a wardrobe storage service
that delivers things to their hotel every time they land.
Instead of packing up their clothes after a trip, Packnada
customers simply leave up to 20 items at the hotel.
Learning
Relieving passengers from usual travel burdens allows them
to fully relax and feel at ease in order to enjoy their travel.
In-flight Tray by Dutch Designers
KLM is collaborating with a mix of modern and classical
Dutch designers to enrich their customers in-flight
experience and add a local touch for their dining trays,
interior design and staff uniforms.
Barista Coffee on Your Flight
Passengers of Air New Zealand can now order barista-
made coffee via the ANZ mobile app in any of the airline’s
Koru Club lounges across New Zealand. The app allows
customers to save their orders for the next trip.
Learning
By partnering with local designers for the dining trays, KLM is
moving from generic in flight experience and adds a
storytelling layer, which makes dining feel more like a
restaurant.
Learning
Delivering services that customers are accustomed to—a
coffee just like the one from their local coffee shop— and
tailored to their preferences.
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GROUND EFFICIENCY
GROUND EFFICIENCY
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This gets especially important as customers’ preference for
spontaneous travel and short /weekend trips increases . With the
vast amount of information available to consumers online— from
flight comparison websites to thousands of hotel and restaurant
reviews— making a well-thought decision can be very time
consuming.
The innovative way becomes acting as facilitator and being a
useful travel assistant that “gets out of the way”— creating value
by providing optimized experiences that are personalized, pre-
vetted and tailored to the individual taste and interests. Making
experiences as efficient and seamless as possible, leaves plenty of
space for customers to fully enjoy their trip without the usual
hassles of traveling.
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Once you arrive at the destination it should be all about
enjoying the trip and avoiding all possible hassles. Instead of
just providing relevant information to their customers, more and
more brands are actually using the collected data to make their
trip more efficient once they are there.
GROUND
EFFICIENCY
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40%
60%
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Short trips are in..
The average holiday length in
the UK in 2014 and falling
each year by 10% since 2007.
Source: Visit England
3.4
nights
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25.
40%
60%
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Leisure travelers that spend
2+ hours only on the task of
travel booking.
10% spend 8+ hours.
WHY IT MATTERS // GROUND EFFICIENCY
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45%
55%
55%
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38 Hours in a City
A one-stop-shop to create a personalized trip
38hours is a one-stop travel agency that selects and
books European weekend trips. Travelers need only
to enter the destination & dates and will be given a
flight quota, boutique hotel recommendation, locally
trending restaurant and transport options. The
booking comes with a printed guide on local and
contemporary culture, and a smartphone app with
insider recommendations from local chefs or fashion
bloggers.
Explore Sign
Learning
The pre-selected set makes both the planning stage and
the time away efficient. The curated content eliminates
possibility of wrong choices and allows to explore the city
from the perspective of locals.
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Real-time Journey
Comparison
Making each step of the journey efficient and
seamless
With the "journey comparison generator" at
Heathrow Airport, the airport assist passengers in
planning their journey by combining real-time traffic,
weather and train service information. The generator
delivers relevant information that help passengers
get into London as quickly, easily, and cheaply as
possible.
Explore Sign
Learning
The airport manages to eliminate the empty gaps
between the travel segments to combine them into one
seamless and efficient experience.
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Travel Flow With
KLM & Uber
Connecting separate parts of traveling into a one
seamless journey
Travelers can now use the Uber travel planner on
KLM’s website in order to get a price and an
estimated length of ride from their arrival airport to
their final destination. Those using the service
through KLM will receive €30 towards their Uber
rides.
Explore Sign
Learning
The partnership provides an added value to customers
by optimizing their trip and connecting the separate
traveling segments in to one journey.
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Only What You Like
HeyLets is a new location discovery app that delivers
personalized recommendations from other peers based
on specific—niche or general—interests.
Recommendations from peers with similar interests are
more likely to be most relevant.
Learning
Reducing & filtering information creates a more personalized
and relevant selection that ultimately leads to a more
enjoyable and spot-on travel experience.
Your Own Travel Assistant
Online personal assistants are available 24/7 to take
care of booking various requests: flights, reservations for
the restaurants in a local language or finding the
transport between two cities in a foreign city. The $25
fee is payable monthly, and includes unlimited requests.
Learning
Offering an holistic approach to take care of all customers’
needs in one place— especially once they arrive at their
destination— adds value by saving time and easing stress.
Swiss Launches SIM-Card
Swiss mobile is a new prepaid SIM-card from Swiss
Airlines that allows its users to call and surf international
at low costs, saving up to 80% of roaming cost. The card
can be ordered online or purchased directly during the
Swiss flights.
Learning
Cross-selling an extra products or service that enhances the
travel experience, and helps to avoid the unnecessary extra
cost of travel facilitates the traveling experience.
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IMPLICATIONS
IMPLICATIONS
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IMPLICATIONS.
IMPLICATIONS
31
EXPLORE TOMORROW CREATE THE FUTUREMASTER TODAY
The implications and recommendations resulting from the identified patterns & trends are outlined on the following
pages. We included the results in a hands-on framework to facilitate the application.
Master the things people are
already accustomed to with
existing tools & technologies.
Target the early adopters by utilizing
emerging technologies and
implementing novel services.
Explore new technologies &
innovations to shape
the future of travel.
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32.
REPORT TITLE // INTRODUCTION.
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MASTER TODAY // IMPLICATIONS
32
Provide more than a trip— a
seamless journey.
Travel is not what you do between rail stations or airports— it is a holistic
experience that goes beyond just transport. Every stage of this journey
provides countless opportunities for brands to create better travel
experiences for customers. Be proactive and go beyond your core
services to create a seamless and enjoyable journey— from the moment
the customers research to gather ideas for their trip, to the moment they
come back.
Help your customers to focus on
traveling again
It is not always easy to navigate around the abundance of information
and travel apps that are out there. This represents a great opportunity
for travel companies to act as a facilitator and allow customers to focus
again on the important aspects of travel— enjoying it. Providing curated
& filtered content and efficient travel support creates added value
beyond the core product or service.
MASTER
TODAY.
Ensure that you are aware of and respond to current expectations
of your customers and start immediately fixing areas that need
improvements. Support these with existing technologies that are
already adopted and deploy them in a new and more relevant way.
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33.
REPORT TITLE // INTRODUCTION.
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Be experimental with new
technologies
Be playful and do not forget exploring new technologies or emerging
trends to create a credible standing as an innovative and progressive
brand. Tackling communication from another stance and engaging your
audiences through all senses is one way of exploring tomorrow.
Establish cross-industry
partnerships
Collaborating with brands from other backgrounds and across
categories represents a potential playground to create distinct and
added value travel services. These collaborations help to develop digital
tools and tangible products of your brand that as a result enrich the
travel experience of your customers.
EXPLORE
TOMORROW.
Address emerging expectations of your customers and bring in
next generation products to create better services and establish
partnerships outside of your category that bring added value to
your consumers.
LHBS // THE NEAR FUTURE OF TRAVEL EXPLORE TOMORROW // IMPLICATIONS

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REPORT TITLE // INTRODUCTION.
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Trigger instant excitement
across your touch points
The ever-present and constantly connected smartphones and their apps,
offer a vast range of possibilities to create numerous feelings of
wanderlust. Travel brands can profit by being present in those “moments”
and across different channels to create instantaneous desire to travel.
This feeling can be elevated by incorporating all the senses, particularly
the visual one.
Be there to turn travel
excitement into purchase
Travel impulses can be triggered in any category so think broad and
consider cross-industry projects and a range of social media platforms.
The second and crucial step is being proactive and allow for immediate
conversions by opening up new and creative ways of selling— utilizing
visual & sensual anchors for excitement and converting them into
immediate transactions.
CREATE THE
FUTURE.
Explore unknown territories, play with future technologies and
consider emerging channels and innovative ways of selling to
create desires and shape the future of travel.
LHBS // THE NEAR FUTURE OF TRAVEL CREATE THE FUTURE // IMPLICATIONS

35.
LHBS Put the Title of the Report here
HUB.
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www.inspiration-hub.com
INSPIRATION-HUB
INSPIRATION
-HUB
Our Inspiration-Hub systematically tracks changes in culture,
markets and technology and how these changes collectively point to
a bigger story that carries implications and inspiration for brands
and business.
LHBS // THE NEAR FUTURE OF TRAVEL

36.
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Discover
LHBS.
Define Develop Deliver
We are an unconventional strategy firm that helps clients to
better understand today and successfully shape tomorrow. LHBS
has extensive experience & expertise in business development,
brand building and customer experience. The firm works across all
major industries for clients from the FT Global 500, Mittelstand and
fast growing startups.
www.lhbs.com
ABOUT
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37.
Die in dieser Präsentation dokumentierten Gedanken und Vorschläge sind geistiges Eigentum der
LHBS Consulting Berlin GmbH und unterliegen den geltenden Urhebergesetzen. Die unauthorisierte Nutzung,
die ganze oder teilweise Vervielfältigung sowie jede Weitergabe an Dritte ist nicht gestattet.
LHBS Consulting Berlin GmbH
Köpenicker Straße 154
10997 Berlin Germany
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IMPRINT
www.lhbs.com
THANK YOU
LHBS // THE NEAR FUTURE OF TRAVEL