- According to the Brain Trust CS Tourism Barometer, travellers' awareness of tourism brands is so low that defunct travel agencies appear in the top 10 most mentioned today
- In the case of airlines, only 4 brands appear in the top of mind of travellers above 5%.
- For the new traveller, price, digitalisation, personalisation of the offer and a good customer experience are more important than the brand when it comes to booking travel.
Madrid, 13 October 2016- Brand is no longer the main factor for Spanish travellers when booking their trips. This is demonstrated by data from the third wave of the 2016 Tourism Barometer prepared by Brain Trust Consulting Services, the Spanish multinational consultancy specialising in the tourism industry, among other sectors.
According to the Barometer, among the 10 best-known face-to-face travel agencies among travellers today are Barceló Viajes, Viajes Iberia, and Viajes Marsans, all now defunct agencies, which are ranked third, eighth and tenth respectively. This shows that travellers now pay more attention to other factors, beyond brand recall, when they consider contracting tourism services.
The top of mind ranking for brand recall of face-to-face agency brands is led by Halcón Viajes with 31%, with Viajes Corte Inglés in second place with 27%, followed by the now defunct Barceló Viajes with its new brand B the travel brand, Viajes Eroski in fourth place, and Viajes Carrefour and Nautalia in fifth place.
As for the ranking of airline brands (top of mind), Iberia is positioned as the brand most remembered and known by travellers, with 60% of mentions, as well as offering one of the best customer experiences, as stated by 34% of those surveyed. Far behind are Ryanair with 16%, Vueling with 10% and Air Europa with 7%.
Hotels fare no differently in terms of brand awareness (top of mind) and experience. With the exception of large chains such as NH and Meliá, mentioned by 42% and 21%, followed by Barceló Hoteles, AC Hoteles by Marriot, and the Accor group brand, Ibis, the diversity of responses from respondents confirms the theory that users do not perceive major differences between brands.
The Barometer data show that, except on rare occasions, for customers, practically all suppliers behave in a similar way. "This lack of differentiation leads users to show no great preference between one brand or another, and to opt for promiscuity in their choice of tourism brands. The new traveller knows what he wants, when he wants it and how he wants it, and the company that is able to give it to him will be the one that succeeds, regardless of its brand," says Ángel García Butragueño, Director of the Barometer and Director of Tourism and Leisure Consultancy at Brain Trust Consulting Services. " The price and the personalisation of the offer are what make a customer choose one brand or another, being the customer experience a decisive factor that induces or not the repetition, and that generates a greater memory in the minds of consumers than the efforts that the brand itself makes for its promotion or positioning".
"Marketing has moved from the supplier to the customer, and they use all their power in this new relational model, we have moved from CRM (Customer Relationship Management) to VRM (Vendor Relationship Management), where it is the user himself who has the data system of suppliers to which to resort at the right time, depending on different variables of attitudinal behaviours that suppliers need to know through Big Data and Small Data," says García Butragueño, who believes that companies in the tourism sector are increasingly requesting help in the knowledge and management of their travellers.
About Brain Trust Consulting Services and Ángel García Butragueño
Brain Trust Consulting Services is a Spanish multinational company with offices in Madrid, Mexico, Buenos Aires, Sao Paulo and Santiago de Chile, and a team of more than 100 professionals. Its staff of qualified consultants is dedicated to offering high added value business solutions and to the permanent search for differentiation, which has led Brain Trust CS to successfully develop new analysis methodologies and innovative solutions in areas such as business strategy, operations improvement, product and channel marketing, advanced customer management (customer intelligence and big data), competitive intelligence, customer experience and digital transformation.
The company has clients of very different sizes and sectors such as: Tourism, Telecommunications, Banking and Payment Methods, Insurance, Energy, Distribution and the Legal sector. Within the tourism industry, Brain Trust CS works for most of the leading travel agencies in Spain, major airlines, hotel chains and car rental companies, as well as technology companies specialised in this industry.
Since 2009, Ángel García Butragueño has been responsible for the Tourism and Leisure division and Member of the Advisory Board of Brain Trust CS with the aim of contributing to the development, growth and diversification of the firm and, through his work and thanks to his more than 30 years of experience, to promote innovation, competitiveness and profitability of companies and institutions in the tourism sector.
After working for Mondiale Tours, Viajes Triángulo Azul, Ibex-Iberian Express and Viajes Ecuador, Ángel joined American Express Viajes where he worked in various areas, reaching the position of General Manager in 2001. In 2008 he managed the company's merger with Barceló Viajes and was appointed Director and General Manager of the new joint venture.
He has been the European Vice President of American Express since 2005 and was responsible for designing the company's strategy in the SME segment in the markets of Scandinavia, Germany, France, Belgium, the UK and Spain. He was also a member of the Management Committee of American Express Spain and was Chairman of GEBTA, the largest corporate travel trade group in Spain in 2007 and 2008.
