Skift Global Forum 2015: The travel industry's secret weapon is putting emphasis to vacations

Executives in the travel industry are shelling out cash to enhance their interaction with their guests. However, experts claim that it's the before and after effect which truly makes an impact on the guests whole experience at a hotel or travel getaway. 

"An emotionally connected customer is worth nearly twice as much as a customer who's simply satisfied," claimed Rick Wise, CEO of creative consultancy firm Lippincott, at the 2015 Skift Global Forum. Wise mentioned that the anticipation of travel is naturally better than the travel experience itself.

 At Skift, the creative business forum in the world- wide travel industry discussed certain issues regarding travelers' experience. Wise added that the clients rarely remember their travel experiences, which is why it is so significant for the trip's final memory to have been a blast for the customers.

Moreover, travel company Black Tomato backed- up this perception. The company provides its customers with a credit for laundry and takeout service upon returning from a vacation to ease weary travelers back into the everyday grind.

95 percent of companies believe the experience they deliver is important, and 80 percent of those companies believe they can deliver on that experience, as mentioned from a research firm Forrester. This is a bare difference to the 8 percent of clients who agree with them on these points.

Jeremy Jauncey, founder and CEO of the world's largest travel promotion on Instagram's Beautiful Destinations, stated that Instagram is a great. Although it is underutilized, tool in the travel industry tries to attract travelers with snapshots of what could potentially be their next travel destination.

Jauncey claimed that the average Instagram user utilizes about 21 minutes per day on the app, so for him it makes no sense why the travel industry is hesitant to use Instagram as a tool to heighten the customers' attraction.

Sasha Hoffman, a Skift attendee and CEO of the travel start-up Fuzzy Compass, said that it connects travelers to travel persuasion behind popular Instagram accounts, blogs and websites. "There is a lot of power in visual storytelling and travel is, of course, highly visual," she continued.

She mentioned that when Fuzzy Compass first started, Hoffman promoted her business by having a contest. The users had to pinpoint the exact location of 15 photos of travel getaways all over the world. If users guessed the origin country shown in the pictures, they would receive a bonus with Fuzzy Compass.

Meanwhile, the company stressed that some people started going on trips to these destinations after their promotional pictures. On the forum, it was also claimed that the more clients see these pictures, the more they would remember these destinations and would likely travel to these places.