Transforming travel through technology: Is the industry keeping up?

With technology – and consumer expectations – evolving at a faster pace than ever before, there’s a lot of discussion about what the future travel experience will look like. A future where travel is a truly seamless, personalised and contextualised experience opens up endless possibilities and rewards for both the travel industry and the traveller alike. But while the future is undeniably exciting, it can also be daunting for travel companies; how does the industry keep up with the future traveller’s ever-rising expectations? At this year’s Travel Technology Europe event in London, Sabre will be taking a closer look at some of the moves the travel industry needs to make now in order to reach this vision of the future.  We’ll be looking at emerging trends in travel and nascent technology – and how our travel industry can turn them into action today. Our headline panel, taking place in the Innovate Theatre on day one of the show, will be led by Eric Hallerberg, Sabre’s Managing Director for the UK & Ireland.  He’ll be speaking to a leading mobile technology company, a Top 10 UK travel blogger, a travel tech start up and a travel industry association to uncover the biggest pain points for today’s travellers and how technology can be applied to solve these. He will explore and consider challenges faced by the travel industry, looking at ways to transform these into opportunities. Above all, he’ll aim to spark discussion on how to bridge the gap between the travel experience of today and that of tomorrow. In addition, our very own technology evangelist, Joakim Everstin, will present Tomorrowland, a combination of the latest trends and innovations in travel technology. From virtual reality to voice recognition, from robotics to dynamic personalisation, Joakim will look at how these technologies are already being applied and how they will continue to shape the industry throughout the coming years. — Our sessions: The journey to the future:  How does the travel industry actually get there? Weds 24^th Feb, 11:30 – 12:30 Innovate Theatre With technology – and consumer expectations – evolving faster than ever before, there’s understandably a lot of discussion about what the future travel experience will look like. This panel will discuss what moves the travel industry needs to make now in order to reach to this promised future, and how it can turn emerging trends and nascent technology into action today.  Moderator: Eric Hallerberg – Managing Director, Sabre UK Panelists:

• Paul Wait, CEO, GTMC
• Monica Stott, The Travel Hack (Top 10 UK travel blog)
• Joanne Thompson, CEO, Penrillian
• Andy Owen Jones, CEO, BD4Travel

 Tomorrowland: Emerging trends in travel technology Thurs 25^th Feb, 14:30 – 15:30 Innovate Theatre Joakim Everstin, head of Innovation at Sabre, looks at some of the emerging technologies that are poised to transform the travel experience.  Joakim will draw upon some of the latest and most innovative examples of where this technology is already being applied to the travel industry and will look at how it could impact the travel experience of tomorrow. Hotel booking round table Weds 24^th Feb, 10:00 – 10:55 Experience Theatre Featuring Chris Ulph, Sabre’s global marketing manager, Hospitality Solutions Experts from a hotel chain, reservation system, mobile booking app, OTA and channel management provider debate the hottest trends and challenges around the booking journey. Experts session: who are next year’s disruptors? Weds 24^th Feb, 13:00 – 13:55 Disrupt Theatre Featuring Joakim Everstin, Sabre’s head of innovation, EMEA.