Though the kinds of app technology available to travel agents is slowly improving, it currently comes down to a hodgepodge of adapted consumer applications and one-off trade apps dedicated to solving a single need, such as itinerary management.
This condition can be attributed to several causes, and some say it's a matter of agents being unable to decide what they want or need.
In fact, the idea of some "Magical Agent App" is somewhat akin to the Great American Novel: more quest than reality, a fantasy that no two agents would likely see in the same way.
Is this Magical Agent App something that aggregates a number of travel-related functions, from itinerary management to weather alerts and flight information, into a single mobile portal for clients?
Is it primarily a communications app that makes text-based interactions between agent and client more efficient?
Or is it even an app at all? Are clients, in fact, better served by a responsive mobile website, with all the flexibility that technology embodies?
The most likely answer is, "Yes."
Developers and industry leaders spend a great deal of time trying to figure out the future of agent-supporting technology. Currently, the leading concept is an app that aggregates multiple services into one, including the all-important trend of in-app, agent-client messaging.
Another favorite concept is a consolidation of existing apps that can communicate with each other, resulting in multiple pieces of software that act as a single aggregated app with multiple functions.
Mobile-enabled websites are another important piece of the puzzle. Almost everyone agrees they are necessary in today's smartphone-obsessed world, and in some cases, the websites can take the place of apps by offering available content quickly and easily. The app vs. mobile website debate continues, and it no doubt will for some time.
David Kolner
David Kolner
David Kolner spends a lot of time contemplating the future of agent-supporting technology. Kolner, the senior vice president of global member partnerships at Virtuoso, which sponsors the Virtuoso Incubator program, is dedicated to finding travel tech start-ups and helping to refine them.
Up to this point, Kolner said recently, agents have suffered from a lack of interest on the part of developers.
"I think, in general, agents are underserved by technology investment," he said.
But he pointed to an upside to that problem: In recent years, new start-ups have come online, "founded by disgruntled travel agents who just got tired of waiting for Silicon Valley to finally take five seconds and focus on our little channel, vs. chasing the eternal opportunity of direct-to-consumer [apps], which has sunk several billion dollars of venture capital into absolutely nothing."
Still, developer interest appears to be growing. More than 100 companies applied to be part of the Virtuoso Incubator program this year, with 12 making the cut.
Kolner said that some past developers supported by the Incubator have gone on to become Virtuoso partners.
The all-in-one app
Some in the trade see the Magical Agent App as an aggregator that combines the functionality of several apps into one.
Lili Chemla is a developer who is currently creating a white-label itinerary manager that features agent-client messaging. Her first client is Altour, whose agents will be able to ask their clients to download her app. Should someone stumble across the app on their own, it will connect them with an Altour agent. It will also give agents' clients access to Altour's 24/7 client services if they run into trouble while traveling.
"A lot of people who are developing apps currently are really aiming for this all-in-one type of travel app," Chemla said, "having your itinerary, directions, features as small as currency exchange, the weather and alerts about flight changes, etc., all of that at your fingertips."
In her view, the move toward an all-in-one app is about staying organized on both the agent and client side.
"I definitely see this theme of combining all the travel apps out there and putting them into one application," she said.
Libbie Rice
Libbie Rice
Libbie Rice, the co-president of Ensemble Travel Group, agreed that an all-in-one app is likely the direction development is heading. In addition to integrating services and features, she believes that such apps would have staying power on consumers' smartphones.
"People don't want to download [an app] for one instance of something they're going to do," Rice said. "So if you can get it to do lots of things, I think that's definitely a critical path."
Bonnie Lee, the CEO of Travel Quest, said she also sees apps heading toward the all-in-one model, but she said two things will be crucial for its success: It would have to perform all its functions well and would have to avoid complexity that might disrupt an agent's workflow.
Aggregation, integration, disruption
Combining solutions into a single app is a trend Karen Yeat