We asked Stacey Symonds, senior director, customer and journey insights, Expedia Group, her outlook for the travel and hospitality industry for the next several years as pandemic recovery ensues. Our interview with Symonds is part of Women Leading Travel & Hospitality’s recent report, Leading Through Crisis, which details how nine executive-level women in the travel and hospitality industry reacted initially to the pandemic, sustained their companies and teams over the last year-plus, and are now looking optimistically to the future.

Women Leading Travel & Hospitality: What is your outlook for the travel and hospitality industry for the remainder of 2021? The next two years to three years?
Stacey Symonds: A well-known motto at Expedia Group is “where there is life, there is travel.” This has been a trying time for many in the industry, but we’re incredibly optimistic that travel will bounce back in full force. Our teams continue to closely monitor many variables that contribute to our planning and outlook this year. We believe that as travel restrictions relax, vaccine rollouts increase, and traveler confidence returns, the stage will be set for travel to ramp back up.

Stacey Symonds, Senior Director, Customer and Journey Insights, Expedia Group 

Our recently launched 2021 Travel Trends Report reinforces that travelers are ready to get back out there, especially as vaccines become more widely available. Almost half of the respondents are more likely to travel when a COVID-19 vaccine is widely available, and 44 percent said they will take more trips in 2021 than 2020, with younger generations wanting to travel the most overall. We as an industry need to work on helping travelers travel safely after a long hiatus. At Expedia Group, we’re providing resources like the Expedia COVID-19 traveler hub to help prepare travelers with useful tips and links to government and travel sites with the most up-to-date information.

While it’s hard to make specific predictions, one thing we know for sure is that travelers are looking forward to connecting with friends, family and the broader world when they’re able to. Sixty-two percent of respondents in our survey said that travel helps them feel connected to the world. 

WLT&H: What steps is your company taking to plan for recovery in the sector?
SS: We’re constantly working to help our customers and partners as they navigate this difficult time. For our customers, we know there’s a lot of information out there and ever-changing restrictions, so we’ve enhanced our on-site messaging that lets them quickly access any travel restrictions in place for a destination and provide relevant travel tips and content that helps them make informed decisions. For our lodging and airline partners, we’re providing them with traveler insights and tools to help them navigate new traveler concerns and improve traveler confidence.

WLT&H: What advice/tips would you offer to others as they prepare crisis management strategies for future crises?
SS: Most importantly, focus on listening to your customers and what they’re telling you about their experience so you can make meaningful improvements as quickly as possible. We often have daily feedback reviews in order to make sure we’re keeping a close pulse on evolving issues.

Have strong cross-functional teams at the ready with processes that are standardized as much as possible. These teams can include service, brand, supply, PR/communications, and analytics, who can quickly work to solve problems together vs. in silos. We utilize a “swarm” model where we quickly assemble to assess the issues, meet daily to track progress, and resolve issues in real time.

Maximize self-service options and include flexibility in your products so that customers can adjust plans easily. The better the experience is for customers during a difficult time, the more likely they will come back and do business with you in the future. 

Lastly, recognize the impact of a high-stress situation on your employees and provide them flexibility as needed to take care of themselves and their families.

WLT&H: How are you handling the challenge of budget planning and forecasting during the crisis without the benefit of historical data and an uncertain future for the sector?
SS: We’ve been taking this time to focus on building and maintaining core capabilities to address the needs of our travelers and partners. We improved our self-service tools, which has the dual benefit of enhancing our customer experience and reducing servicing costs.

We also created new efficiencies and streamlined tools we use to remove duplication of resources where possible, and ensure we’re focused on asking the most important questions of our customers.