Travel Tech Space Needs More Intrapreneurs

Travel is big business. In fact, it is one of the biggest businesses around. In India, travel and hospitality sector accounts for over 7.5 % GDP.

As we have seen, innovation arrives out of necessity and there are entrepreneurs who are crazy enough to challenge the conventions. Let us see what corporate entrepreneurs or intrapreneurs have succeeded in changing things.

Business Models of Global Travel Startups

Big names like Airbnb bypassed the entire hospitality industry and created a major ecosystem of alternative short-term rentals. And while Uber isn't the first thing one would consider when one looks at the travel industry, they too have gone out to create a whole new ecosystem essentially by bypassing the existing companies.

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One could argue that the reason these startups came and stole so much market share is because existing industry leaders focused more on what they had, and lost the opportunity to innovate.

Let us learn from this example. TripAdvisor brought exactly the same thing what hotels didn’t feel comfortable doing, making reviews open to everyone. They now exert so much power that even the best hotels need to remain sharp to ensure they keep delivering great service. What they've done for the hotel industry is just a little less than a revolution. TripAdvisor has managed to change how hotels operate to the point where the guest once again is king. It all started as a small team with a polarizing idea.

Rise Of Online Travel Startups

When the Online Travel Agencies came along, way before anybody believed it could be done, they essentially did what many hotels didn't want to do – invested in new technology and attitudes towards the storage and management of valuable data (inventory, pricing, digital assets and consumer behavior). The result is that they've redirected hotel distribution from a game owned and controlled mostly by hotel chains and travel agents.

So, Why There Is A Need For Intrapreneurs?

The point is, hotel and travel technology needs operators and technologists who are ready to promote change –people who will dream big, challenge the status quo and do what existing companies won't do, because most hotel and travel technology companies are so busy doing what they do (operate), that they haven't have the time or focus inventing the future.

Conclusion

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It will take innovative intrepreneurs and hotel operators establishing in-house R&D teams, who are ready to take risks in order to evolve an age old and beloved industry into for the next generations. What all these visionaries will need is access to data. The less friction there is to exchange data, the faster and easier it will be to integrate systems and increase the potential for innovation.

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