“From a glance, you may think that booking travel is only about ensuring you have booked your flight, hotel or rail ticket.

“However, have you considered all the other great and useful ancillary travel items available when using the Gray Dawes Yourtrip Booking Tool or via our offline dedicated teams?

 “Of course, your trip may only consist of one or two of the essential travel options such as car parking or airport transfers, but to support your travel journey further and to save you additional searching and external effort you may want to consider booking some of the additional ancillary items available to you at the time of booking.”

“Through our unique and comprehensive booking tool YourTrip, you can book a complete trip from “door to door” making your travel experience fully encompassing and negating the need to book separate items independently. Equally in doing so, you can benefit from Gray Dawes managing the payment of these ancillary items for you and including them within your agreed invoicing process.”

BOOKING ANCILLARIES WITH YOURTRIP

CAR PARKING

If you need to leave your car for a prolonged period then let YourTrip find you the best option for parking. Simply enter the location that you’re flying from and let YourTrip find the spot that works best for you.

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#1

Augmented Reality (AR) Aircraft Repair

The recent launch of Apple’s Apple Vision Pro glasses demonstrated the powerful potential of wearable augmented reality (AR) tech. Via heads-up displays and AI-powered queries, users of AR can seamlessly occupy the real and digital realms to reap the benefits of both. Though the technology is still in its infancy, its future as an aircraft maintenance tool is clear for all to see: a fully responsive piece of wearable kit that will help engineers diagnose problems and conduct repairs.

The potential integration of AI object recognition software could take things one step further. Engineers could pinpoint issues in real-time through their AR glasses and be informed of the exact part or tool needed to make a repair. This speeds up the maintenance process, meaning airlines can turn around planes much faster, thus improving flight schedule targets and reducing passenger delays. It also means fewer plane ‘going technical’ on the runway.

The possibilities are endless! 

#3

AI Hotel Check-In and Concierge

When one thinks of AI, it’s hard not to conjure up images of semi-sentient robots. The two ideas seemed intertwined, a semiotic relationship instilled in our cultural consciousness by hundreds of books and movies, even if the idea of a human-thinking machine might seem faintly ridiculous. But as AI continues to develop apace, so too does the possibility of robots with the power to manage the day-to-day workings of hotels.

AI-powered concierges could soon be deployed in hotels to check in guests and deliver room service orders, all while learning an individual’s habits and preferences to ensure their stay is as comfortable as possible. These robot assistants will also be able to give up-to-the-second travel information and answer queries on the fly.

#5

Smart Trips Optimised by AI Learning

What if AI could allow train, car, and flight service providers to unravel the tangle of a traveller’s journey and keep them moving along one, seamless thread. Every stage of a trip could be managed by a single AI assistant, whether through an integrated app or via a chatbot.

A traveler could book a train ticket on an app, the AI assistant will determine whether a rideshare might be necessary upon arrival, and then – depending on traffic conditions, the train’s expected arrival, and individual preferences – will select a car that is most likely to be there on time.

People will no longer need to research routes or transport delays manually; everything will be delivered to their pockets (or AR glasses) in real-time.

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Innovation Hub Goes Global

Our clients are at the centre of everything we do. They are the beating heart to our business travel brains – a guiding force that helps to shape our services and mould our future. So, we’re always keen to have their input. At Innovation Hub we get to hear what our clients think about our technology first-hand: What does our technology do well? What are we missing? How does our ‘follow the sun’ strategy measure up? And most importantly: What can we do to improve?

Coming Soon…

Give us your feedback

Do you have any feedback about our technology or services? Talk to us about your objectives and priorities for your travel programme during the remainder of 2023.

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Enhanced Traveller Experience

NDC puts the traveller at the centre of the distribution process. By providing access to a wider range of content, including ancillary services, seat selection, and personalized offers, NDC empowers travellers to tailor their journey according to their preferences.

This flexibility also includes the ability to identify a frequent flyer or loyalty programme member and pass this information onto the airline in return for a personalised offer – whether this be a cheaper fare or free or discounted ancillaries.

Increased Choice

NDC enables airlines to showcase their offerings and differentiated services more effectively. By providing access to their full range of products and ancillary services, airlines can differentiate themselves from competitors and highlight their unique value propositions.

This transparency gives travellers a broader choice, allowing them to explore and select the options that best align with their preferences and budget. Ultimately, NDC fosters healthy competition, driving airlines to innovate and deliver more compelling offers to attract customers.

Seamless Integration

NDC offers a standardized, XML-based messaging protocol that facilitates seamless integration between airlines, travel management companies (TMCs) travel agents, and other travel service providers.

This interoperability ensures efficient communication and connectivity across the travel ecosystem. With NDC, airlines can directly distribute their content to various sales channels, including TMCs, online travel agencies (OTAs), metasearch engines, and corporate booking tools. This streamlined connectivity reduces distribution costs, limits intermediaries, and enables faster time-to-market for new products and services.

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Your technology and employees should work together in perfect harmony. After all, how can you get the most out of the tools at your disposal if your own people don’t know how to use them properly?

You should always provide training and support to help employees use your technology to its fullest potential. This can include:

• Online training sessions
• Accessible customer support
• Clear communication and feedback channels

Keeping your employees up to date with your technology comes with additional rewards. These newly trained users will bring fresh perspectives on the form and function of your tools – a potential treasure trove of new ideas on how to do things better.

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Nobody wants to wade through lengthy menus or impenetrable walls of text. Providing your travellers and bookers with a technology that is simple to use and easy to navigate will immediately win people over.

Here are a few key things you should consider when assessing a user-friendly interface:

• Make text short and easy-to-read with accessibility options.
• Design content to minimize the number of clicks needed.
• Ensure interfaces are responsive to fit different screen resolutions.
• Try to avoid clashing colours.

It is worth considering how your staff will be using the travel tools you select. For example, if for the majority of time your travellers will be interacting with the technology while on the road via phones, then your user interface should be optimised for mobile formats, dynamically responsive to different screen sizes rather than only built for desktops.

What if your technology goes wrong the moment someone needs it most? Even the most well-designed app or booking platform has the capacity to break from time to time.  You’re going to need a plan for when that happens. Here are a few steps you can implement to keep things moving while your technology needs fixing:

• A 24/7 helpline that can provide users with alternative solutions.
• An FAQ or error toolkit which users can follow.
• A chat function that connects users to support staff.

At Gray Dawes, we know how important it is to be available to employees and clients at any time of day or night. Our recent expansion into the USA and Australia means that we now offer a unique service that follows the sun – an ‘always on’ approach which allows us to manage travel programmes or deal with tech issues at a moment’s notice.

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With the ever-escalating security issues the world faces, particularly around increased global cyber-security threats, we want to reassure you that, no matter what the risks are, companies and their travellers are safe with Gray Dawes Travel.

Given the current climate, it’s understandable organisations of all sizes may be curious about what travel management companies are doing to mitigate the increased risk of a security breach. In short, here at Gray Dawes we’re all over it!

No matter what’s happening in the world, Gray Dawes has the backs of our client base!

While the NCSC (National Cyber Security Centre) has no specific intelligence relating to a cyber-attack on the UK, this could change quickly. We monitor multiple government websites for updates each day. We regularly maintain protocols to help protect our networks and clients from this type of attack and have increased our network security reviews during this unprecedented time.

Areas of security reviewed include firewall rules, network access, anti-virus definitions, and windows and software patches, which are recorded in a logged audit file. We have also been performing test restorations from our backup solution to ensure that in any possible situation, we can restore our data effectively. Most importantly, we are ensuring that all Gray Dawes employees understand the significance of cyber security and know how to identify and report suspected security events, especially during the current period of heightened threat.

As well as the increased security protocols we have in place to protect our IT infrastructure and your data, we’re doing just as much to protect your travellers. Of course, being a Gray Dawes Travel client, you’re already used to our around the clock support; travellers and bookers alike can contact a Gray Dawes Travel consultant 24/7 and 365 days per year. And our innovative suite of Traveller Security products have been designed specifically to meet your duty of care obligations while keeping your travellers safe.

StaySafe

StaySafe is the indispensable new traveller security feature built-in to our booking tool, YourTrip. Tailored specifically to an individual’s travel itinerary, ongoing destination updates are delivered directly to the traveller via email and mobile messaging. These include destination alerts, flight cancellations and notifications and changes to border immigration requirements and COVID restrictions.