Booking.com Area Manager Australia, Melissa Ellison, says travel is an incredibly resilient industry, and we have been through so much already but we remain confident that as a part of our commitment to rebuilding the industry together, that we will continue to innovate and respond to the needs of our partners and customers along the way.
“Our mission is to make it easier for everyone to experience the world and that goes far beyond just the booking. We’ve focused on delivering a great booking platform and that’s something we’ll continue to do, but increasingly we’re looking at ways to be with our customers throughout their trip.”
“We will be there for our Australian travellers and our partners as they recover – offering the widest choice, great value and the easiest experience from anywhere and on any device – so people can reclaim their travel mojo and enjoy all of the unforgettable experiences this world has to offer.”
Travel Monitor caught up with Melissa Ellison in this week’s Talking Travel. This is what she had to say.
What does your job involve?
I lead a team of passionate travel experts across Australia who support our partners with their online business strategies, enabling them to grow their business and bring value to our mutual customers.
I also support our Booking.com strategy by creating medium to long term plans for the country which ensures we have the right availability at the right time for our customers, making it easier for them to experience Australia and eventually the world again.
How have you tackled the difficulties caused by COVID-19?
Personally – Personally I found routine to be extremely important – waking up at the same time, exercising before work and going for a walk after work. Staying connected to friends and family through phone calls or video chats was a good reminder that even if you are physically apart, you still have support.
For partners and consumers – Our mission is to make it easier for everyone to experience the world, so when COVID-19 disrupted the travel industry we needed to adapt quickly for both our partners and customers.
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to evolve, we have made it easier for both customers and partners by rapidly building and innovating simple tools on our mobile app and website – from making reservation modifications, date changes or cancelling in a quick and easy way, on both sides.
As the situation evolves, we continue to update the support we provide, including with regard to providing enhanced transparency to consumers around cleaning and hygiene information when booking on our platform. Booking.com provides solutions to ensure they feel confident about travelling again. Some examples of Booking.com’s recent initiatives include:
- Safety & Sanitization: Booking.com launched a new set of health and safety features for properties specifically for the pandemic:
- Cleanliness Advisory Toolkit: Booking.com developed this toolkit to help partners navigate health and safety regulations and traveller preferences. More than 17 million of our listings have implemented health and safety hygiene practices qualifying for this new feature.
For staff – At Booking.com we’ve also had a tremendous focus on the health and wellbeing of our staff. This includes the ability to work from home until offices are deemed appropriate to open, the ability to work abroad from home countries for 20 days when borders open, and additional paid time off for COVID-19 related events such as vaccinations or care. In honour of our 25th anniversary, we will be giving every employee the gift of time: 2.5 days to celebrate 25 years – starting with a half-day on 10 November until 12 November.
What do you enjoy most about your profession?
I’ve been lucky to have travelled quite a lot – from family holidays around Australia, to international solo trips and with friends. These experiences taught me a lot about myself and the world. I believe everyone should have an opportunity to travel so knowing my work helps others to do the same makes my profession very enjoyable.
What are the biggest challenges for you in your profession (outside of COVID-19)?
We know travel is fundamental to people’s lives and they look forward to travelling again. To deliver a world-class travel experience means we remain focused on leveraging cutting-edge technology to deliver innovative products that enhance the customer and partner experience and take the friction out of not only planning travel but the in-trip and post-trip experience as well.
As we move forward, we know that people will again want to experience the world, with it becoming more important than ever before for brands to leverage technology to create a seamless, frictionless experience, perfectly tailored to each and every customer.
Ongoing technology advances in AI, machine learning and data science are already empowering Booking.com to make increasingly personalized recommendations for our customers, and these technologies will continue to play a crucial role for us in delivering on customer needs and building loyalty in the future.
Coupled with this, customer behaviour has changed over the last months, with our digital lives – the platforms we use and how often we use them – becoming more robust, accelerating a path that we were already on. At Booking.com, we’ve seen mobile bookings continue to gain share and about two-thirds of our total bookings come from mobile, the majority of which are through our app.
Tech innovation will play a crucial opportunity in facing our industry’s challenges rebuilding traveller confidence and we will see the accelerated use of tech to adapt to a new type of travel. Tech could help us regain the spontaneity, confidence and ease of times past, while at the same time helping people travel safely and responsibly.
What do you think are the biggest challenges the industry faces?
We expect COVID-19 to affect the travel industry for years to come before travel rebounds to pre-COVID 2019 levels. Travel was one of the first industries to be hit and will likely be the last to recover.
We believe that vaccines need to be widely available, well distributed with effective treatment and medical care in place before people will feel fully comfortable travelling the way they did before the pandemic.
While we are encouraged by the decrease of cases in some parts of Australia and record levels of vaccine distribution, we still have a long road ahead to a full recovery. With this in mind, there is an opportunity for industry and governments to work closely together to greatly simplify travel processes and protocols as we transition from a low tolerance to eventually an endemic mindset around the current crisis.
While the virus’ impact on travel is unprecedented, travel is fundamental to who we are and while it may take some time to return to pre-COVID-19 travel, people will still want to experience the world, all of it, perhaps in a more meaningful way than ever before, with 64% of surveyed travellers saying travel is more important to them now than it was before the pandemic from a recent Booking.com Back To Travel report.
What do you think will be the biggest game-changer in the travel industry in the next 12 months’?
For Australia, the biggest game-changer will of course be the resumption of full domestic travel followed by international travel. As we await these key moments, we’re doing as much as possible to prepare our partners not only for the built-up domestic demand but also the tremendous influx we’re likely to see from international visitors in early-mid 2022.
Already, we’re seeing new aviation routes and travel bubbles opening in APAC with Singapore, Thailand and beyond. As both leisure and business travel resumes, the travel industry will need to be diligent and nimble in its approach to satisfying a vast and varied set of traveller demands.
Booking.com is working to provide the support and technology needed to ensure that its property partners are ready to meet and exceed traveller expectations by providing transparency, peace of mind and a custom-fit trip, as it becomes possible for travellers to experience the world again.
What destination/travel trend do you think is the next big thing?
The legacy of COVID-19 will inevitably see people continue to demand flexibility when it comes to their travel plans. The broader travel industry will need to continue to prioritize flexibility, as travellers rank reassurance that they won’t lose money (42%), the ability to cancel (33%) and the ability to reschedule free of charge (32%) as the top three most important priorities.
Given the uncertainty travellers continue to experience, it is unsurprising that flexibility continues to reign supreme but this outsized trend shows the opportunity open to partners that adapt their pricing, availability and flexibility and set themselves up for success in a way that works for their business.
In terms of destinations, our most recent search data shows Australia is very much still top of mind for a holiday at home once restrictions ease. Bali and London are only just starting to reappear on our search lists, whilst summer and metro destinations are starting to recover showing the pent up desire for Aussies to reconnect with family and loved ones is high. Our top domestic search destinations for October include:
- Gold Coast
- Perth
- Brisbane
- Adelaide
- Cairns
- Noosa Heads
- Darwin
- Airlie Beach
- Hervey Bay
- Mooloolaba
What are your thoughts on responsible travel and how do you try to implement this in your workplace?
As the world of travel starts to open up again, albeit slowly and at varying rates, Booking.com’s 2021 Sustainable Travel Report reveals that travellers are more committed than ever to do so in a mindful way, with two thirds (61%) stating that the pandemic has influenced them to want to travel more sustainably in the future.
In the future, we know that people will still want to experience the world, perhaps in a more meaningful way than ever before. It’s inspiring to see the awareness of the importance of sustainable travel consistently grow, both with travellers and accommodation partners.
Travellers’ day-to-day sustainable commitments are consistent with their intentions for future trips with 84% wanting to reduce general waste, 83% wanting to reduce their energy consumption (e.g. by turning off air conditioning and lights when they are not in a room) and 79% wanting to use more environmentally friendly modes of transport such as walking, cycling or public transport over taxis or rental cars
As part of Booking.com’s mission to make it easier for everyone to experience the world and as a leader in travel, the company believes they have an important responsibility to make sustainable choices easier, both for accommodation providers and travellers.
That’s why we’re currently rolling out a program for properties that will support them in taking the next steps to becoming more sustainable, no matter where they might be on that journey. This includes sharing guidance, insights and best practices with properties via various educational opportunities, including handbooks and dedicated content, all available via the Booking.com Partner Hub.
Who inspires you most and why?
My Dad is my biggest inspiration, he had a tough upbringing and worked extremely hard to create the life he has and support our family. He taught me the importance of having a strong work ethic, at one stage working three jobs to ensure we had a comfortable life. He is now a successful business owner and always pushes me to challenge myself every day. If your first way doesn’t work out then think outside the box and try a different approach.
What is your must-pack travel item(s)?
Phone for photos, toothbrush and hopefully one day soon, my passport.
Who would you invite on your next holiday if you could choose anyone and where would you go?
I would take my three best friends to the coast of Italy for a girls trip with pizza and Aperol Spritz.
