Arival, an information and insights provider for the in-destination experiences industry, is consistently raising the bar for the travel & tourism sectors, and its recent Arival 360 Las Vegas conference was not to be missed. But for those that did, RocketRez has you covered.
Day one at Arival 360
While operators checked in, vendors got set up in the networking lounge, and Arival 360 Las Vegas was officially underway. Here are some highlights from a quiet first day. Spoiler alert — it gets much more action-packed very quickly.
OCTO Forum
This was the first session since OCTO has officially become a non-profit organisation. There are many key players — res-tech platforms, resellers, OTAs, and operators — rallying around the idea of technical standards for connectivity in the industry, but the consensus is that it’s still early.
RocketRez is now officially a founding member of OCTO.
See also: Staying ahead of attractions trends with Arival
Meet the RocketRez team
A few early visitors to the RocketRez photo booth got to experience the technology that powers photo booths at attractions across North America and walk away with a digital AND printed photo. Although the networking lounge was still quiet, we were able to give the first operators a real demonstration of RocketPass — our newest tech that we’re rolling out this fall.
We were also privileged to host some close friends in the tours and attractions industry in what we would call a pretty swanky suite at Planet Hollywood.
Thank you to our industry partners at TourOpp Go!, Go City, CityPASS, Digonex, Protecht, Rezdy, Redeam, and Expedia along with our operator friends at Blue Hawaiian Helicopters, Kualoa Ranch, Coral Crater, San Diego Zoo, and Chicago Architecture Center, who could make it out to our exclusive event!
Arival Welcome Party
The Arival Welcome Party was bumpin’. For many, it was the first real club-like shoulder-to-shoulder, drinks and loud music type of atmosphere we had experienced in a very long time. It was clear, the crowd embraced it.
Day 2 at Arival 360
With Arival in full swing, there are a variety of ways to spend your day. The networking lounge was bustling. Tech vendors were showcasing their wares in demo labs. Then came the education sessions, where experts got on stage to discuss trends, challenges, and changes in the industry. Here are a few stand-out sessions and topics from Day 2 at Arival.
What’s Now, What’s New, What’s Next: Travel is Back
The opening session was as much informative as it was entertaining. Of course, the statistics presented are dominated by what we saw pre-pandemic, versus what we’re now experiencing as we return to normal (or live the new normal).
The tours and attractions industry is still playing catchup in the shift to digital. All other travel segments, including hotels and airlines, book more than 80% of their business online. Tours and attractions? Just 25%.
Experts believe this number will continue to grow, and res-tech will increase in importance as more customers, and operators, come online.
A big topic we’re seeing throughout the conference is the change in discovery and the rise of new social channels. TikTok has now become one of the most prominent channels for discovery. It’s personal, it’s entertaining, and more than any other channel, travellers can get a sense of what people are feeling when on a tour, attraction, or activity.
Research exclusive: The Global Attraction Visitor Research with Phocuswright
Traditionally, and based on 2019 data, historic sites and natural attractions get more visitors than tours and amusement parks. In 2022, sightseeing has taken the bulk of bookings. There has been a significant drop-off in travel to historic sights and amusement parks as the trend among travellers grows more experiential and immersive in local culture.
It’s no big surprise that mobile bookings have taken a big jump and direct offline (walkup) have seen a dramatic drop-off. This speaks to the 25% online booking figure mentioned above.
In general, travellers are booking more in advance, but closer in advance. The window to book has closed significantly with many more bookings occurring less than 2 days in advance, and far fewer bookings more than one month out.
The shift in booking window can be directly attributed to the pandemic, where people have become much more cautious about committing. It’s yet to be seen if this trend will hold for the long term.
Ultimately, travellers are looking for more flexibility, more information, and more availability for booking. This, we know, isn’t going backwards.
Channel Management: Strategy & Technology
Susan DeBottis from Rezdy put on a master class on Channel Management; the ins and outs, dos and don’ts. Jodi Cummings from Red and White Fleet also contributed to the panel and discussed the day-to-day channel management for their boat tour.
She described how easy it is with a Channel Manager in her Res-tech, from RocketRez. We consider ourselves leaders in Channel Management functionality within the RocketRez platform, and it was great to see her affirm this in front of a well-attended audience.
The Google View on Things To Do
We’re seeing some very interesting data coming from Google (because, of course, they have all the data):
- When people search for a location on Google, there’s a 50% chance it’s because they plan to visit there.
- 85% of global consumers look at reviews and pictures to decide on which brand to buy from.
- Searches for “Unique things to do in” have grown globally by over 100% YoY.
Emmanuel Marot, director of product management for travel at Google, confirmed several times that Google doesn’t want to be an OTA, they will never charge for the Things To Do service, and that their goal is to make the user experience better.
In order to make the experience better for travellers searching on Google, it means they need to help grow your business. To grow your business, they need information.
They need you to get better at providing information through your res-tech. They need operators to claim their business on Google.
The biggest shift that we’re already seeing in the experience of searching for experiences is the prominence being given to short-form videos. Google is working to put this kind of content front and centre in their search results, knowing that travellers are gravitating to platforms like Tik Tok and Instagram for discovery.
Happy Hour in the Networking Lounge
After the Google theatre session, the crowd migrated over to the networking lounge to wrap up the day with some casual connection and a few cocktails. You could feel the collective tension ease as we are all now fully embracing that travel (and trade shows) are back.
Day 3 at Arival 360
Arival is at full momentum and we’re seeing some recurring themes and topics.
Discovery: Travellers are looking in more places to learn about what experiences are out there for them. TikTok is the newest platform to gain prominence in travel discovery. Instagram, Facebook and of course Google search still lead the way.
Specialisation: Niche marketplaces; niche tours; niche activities. Travellers are looking for unique experiences and operators are capitalizing on delivering these immersive cultural, local activities.
Cancellation Policies with OTAs: At the end of the day, both the OTA and the operator are working in the best interest of the customer, but sometimes their policies are at odds with each other.
Q. Are we headed for a recession?
A. Maybe.
Today’s Experiences Traveller: Exclusive Consumer Trends from Arival & Phocuswright
What do travellers want? Some quick hits:
- More outdoor active experiences
- Guided tours have taken a big jump in bookings
- Local and authentic and niche – connecting with locals as part of the experience
- Food tourism is a big part of it
- It’s all about the photo-op
- A trend toward much smaller groups/private experiences (Sounds like a COVID thing)
The path to purchase – how to find and book
Research happens everywhere:
- Friends and family, Google, social media, and then everything else
- TikTok now ranks above Twitter as a discovery platform
Where do they book? – everywhere:
- OTAs, google, destinations sites, social, and operator sites.
- There’s no global brand recognition.
- There’s no “go-to” place to book.
What influenced the decision to book?
- Description
- Ability to book online
- Ability to talk to someone
- A known brand is last
- Can I see myself doing this in the photos and videos?
The Need for Niche – The Rise of Specialty Marketplaces
The example: A platform for booking fishing charters
Marketplaces everywhere are massive companies that once were just categories on Craigslist, i.e. Airbnb, Tinder, and Fishing Charters.
How to accomplish a niche?
- Target a specific customer
- Target them in the right place
- Customers booking fishing trips are not looking at Yelp
Why Niche?
- Niche means better quality
- Quality of the marketplace
- Quality of the experience
Can speciality marketplaces scale? Yes. Airbnb is an extreme case, but a marketplace for fishing charters, rock climbing, or food tours are all able to scale.
The TAM on activities industry in the United States alone is in the upper hundreds of millions of dollars.
Sponsored Demo Lab at Arival 360 – RocketRez: Personalized Mobile Platforms and the Data-Driven Customer Journey
Our own demo lab was very well attended.
CEO John Pendergrast took the attendees through a narrative describing how the relationships we build with our clients and the customer experience that we strive for have led us to build a mobile guest experience platform that allows our clients to connect with their own clients.
The challenge is communicating while the guest is on-site.
The highlight of the demonstration was unveiling RocketPass — a mobile platform that transforms your ticket into a digital wallet, information system and communication platform.
The ‘Aha’ moment was when the audience learned that this guest experience platform also acts as a giant listening device and tracks every touchpoint that guests go through on their customer journey before, during, and after their visit.
Attendees were led to imagine the types of data they could report on, gain insights, and implement new strategies to improve the guest experience. Imagine being able to see which ticket buyers also bought retail items and food & beverage.
Imagine being able to see that groups who arrive between 10:45 and 11:30 a.m. spend more on retail items than groups who arrive before or after that window.
And, imagine knowing exactly how many SMS notifications result in the highest rate of positive reviews.
If you’d like to learn more about RocketPass, visit this page or join the waitlist as it’s being rolled out at attractions across North America this fall and winter.
The Future of OTAs
In line with some of the themes we’ve already seen, although it seems counterintuitive, even OTAs are becoming more specialised and differentiated. We now see OTAs that may specialize in general categories like walking tours or even more specific categories like aquatic adventures.
Cancellation Policies with OTAs come up again!
- There has been a massive increase in same-day bookings.
- With that, travellers want to be able to book last minute. Why can’t they cancel last minute?
- The big question from the crowd is — why do operators have to conform to OTA policies that don’t match the experience they want to provide to their guests? (Cue the raucous applause from the audience).
- None of the OTAs had plans to revisit this policy.
Lastly, multiple questions on how OTAs can make it easier for operators to manage their pricing.
All panellists indicated that they are either moving toward or have currently enabled a pricing API, so prices can be pulled from your res-tech platform.
Meanwhile, some res-techs like RocketRez are way ahead and allow operators to set specific prices for specific tickets and tours for each different sales channel. As well, the ability to turn off or reduce the availability of tickets for OTAs to sell when direct sales are doing better is something that operators on RocketRez have enjoyed for some time.
The Future of the Experience Economy: Fireside Chat at Arival 360 with Michael Zeisser
The show headliner at Arival 360 Las Vegas was a fireside chat with Michael Zeisser, managing partner at FMZ Ventures.
The big question that many others have struggled to answer — are we headed for a recession?
Yes, prepare for a slowdown and potential recession. The primary factor is the cost of energy/gasoline. It will likely be more difficult for Europe than North America.
If you have a lot of capital and a couple of years of runway, you can be aggressive. Continue to market and grow.
If you only have nine months of runway, you need to take this slow-down very seriously.
Michael dug deep into who and why companies might want to raise capital. Ultimately the advice was that not many do. And too many do that shouldn’t. They end up in a very demanding relationship, not fully realizing what they were getting into.
VCs for Series A would expect a 100x return over 10 years.
Wrapping up day 3 at Arival 360 with a discussion on immersive experiences
The new wave of immersive experiences like Meow Wolf, and what you would find on Fever (one of those niche marketplaces) fits in with the evolution of experiences similar to evolutions we’ve seen in other industries like television, media and gaming.
We hope it doesn’t go away!
Wrap-up party under the Eiffel Tower
One of the things Arival does best is bring people together in absolutely exquisite locations. The wrap-up party poolside at the Paris Hotel did not disappoint. And for those who were in San Diego last February, this was the perfect climate for networking, partaking in a few cocktails, and leaving our toques and blankets behind!
Day 4 at Arival 360
Arival is winding down with a half-day of great content and breakout sessions. Here are the notes from some of our faves.
5 Ways to Maximize Your Revenue Per Customer
This is always a popular topic, which was evident from the packed room at Arival 360 to listen to Daniel Pino from TourOpp Go!
The overarching message is that tours and attractions need to think more like airlines and hotels, which are incredibly efficient at gaining more revenue from each customer. Airlines don’t just sell seats on a plane. Hotels don’t just sell hotel rooms.
Airlines charge more for preferred seats, carry-on bags, checked bags, and boarding first. If you want anything more than the bare minimum, you have to pay.
Hotels make money on everything beyond the room — a bigger room, a meal to your room, spa services, late checkout, and early check-in. They don’t even have coffee in the rooms here in Vegas!
In 2016, tour operators were saying dynamic pricing would never work. Now, they’re starting to come around.
5 ways any tour or attraction can add revenue today:
- Cross-sell additional items like merch with your tickets.
- Upsell a better experience like VIP service.
- Partnerships: Sell tours together with other local businesses like restaurant tastings. Sell insurance with your tickets. Build an affiliate network to sell locally.
- Sell product variations such as a private tour option — something that’s become very popular since COVID started.
- Sell Packages: Travelers often travel in celebration of something — create birthday, wedding, and anniversary packages.
The point is to get creative. Selling the ticket is just the starting point.
Connectivity & the Case for Standards, presented at Arival 360 by OCTO
A group of OCTO founders put on an informative session pitching that a standardised language for building integrations between tour and attraction tech stacks, res-techs, and OTAs will lead to more innovation.
It was a ground-up session covering the basics and defining terms like ‘connectivity’, and ‘integration’ as they see it.
The crux of the pitch is that the idea of technology standards is not new, and the current state of connectivity is messy. No one speaks the same language. New integrations and endpoints need to be built for any new connection between suppliers and resellers want to make.
Example: Electrical outlets in our houses are standardised for every appliance to know how to connect.
OCTO’s aim is to provide documentation — a shared dictionary — for systems integrators to follow when connecting a supplier (tour or attraction operator) with a seller (OTA).
Chat & Messaging: Improve Guest Service & Grow Your Reviews
This session at Arival 360 Las Vegas opened with some dramatic statistics
- SMS open rates: 90%
- Email open rates: 20%
How operators communicate with guests:
- Email 90%
- Text 44%
- What’s App 35%
- Facebook Messenger 31%
- Online chat on the website 25%
- Another messaging platform 7%
- Customer support software 6%
- Chatbot on website 4%
- WeChat 3%
How operators use chat:
- Customer support
- Send booking confirmation and ticketing
- Guide to guest communication before, during, and after
- Guest reminders pre-visit
- Post-visit link to review
- Send link to waiver pre-trip/documents
- Link to guest photos
- Upselling or cross-selling
The benefits of automated chat/chatbots:
Save time answering the same FAQs. Here are the same Qs that everyone gets (that you can easily provide automated answers to save hundreds of support desk hours):
- Is the pricing per person?
- Do you have any openings?
- What’s the parking situation?
- What’s your cancellation policy?
- Do I need my ID?
- Do I need to sign a waiver?
- What’s your age policy?
- Do you have any discounts?
- What are your hours?
Do these sound familiar?
Enhance your CX
- 82% of consumers say that getting an instant response is important
- 0:52 average response time on live chat
- CX is the top competitive differentiator
Increase Direct Booking
- 90%+ of SMS messages are read within the first 3 minutes
- 150% higher conversion rate for bot users compared to all website traffic
- Check availability is the #1 most common FAQ
Increase Reviews
Automate requests for reviews on your top platforms.
- Trip Advisor
- Yelp
Tourism Marketing Benchmarks: Measuring your Marketing Health
And in the final session of Arival 360 Las Vegas — we got another master class on marketing metrics. This session was way too packed full of data to write any recap that would do it justice. If you’re an Arival member, the session recording and slides will be available soon.
In the meantime, here are some key takeaways.
1. Invest in clean, accurate data.
2. Use caution with broad industry categories.
3. Understand your channel mix.
- Organic
- Paid
- Direct
- Social
- Paid social
- Referral
- Display
- Affiliates
4. Don’t ignore referral traffic.
5. Invest in SEO.
- Build referral network
- Create a social strategy
- Don’t over-adjust (starve organic for paid)
6. Traffic Volume
- Is it performance issues, or a market decline?
- Use Google Search Trends
If you’re behind the market identify channels that slipped, check organic traffic, check free vs. paid traffic, and adjust.
7. Advertising – where are you best served?
- Tik Tok
8. **Most Important** Measure your return.
- CPM (cost per thousand impressions)
- CTR (click-through rate)
- ROAS (return on ad spend)
- AOV (average order value)
A successful visit to Arival 360 Las Vegas
Arival 360 Las Vegas — we came, we saw, we conquered, and we made quite a few friends along the way.
See you next time, and don’t forget to check out RocketPass — the future of mobile guest experience.
