The great American manoeuvres in the world of travel

Who could be the next giant of the journey? If asked, you could answer Airbnb or Expedia or Ctrip. If they tell you Amazon, you’ll say they’ve already tried it and left. If they tell you about Google, you’ll say they only sell advertising. The arrival of intelligent voice assistants may disrupt consumers’ habits in the future. Are you skeptical? We bring you some elements to feed the reflection.

Amazon made a quick incursion

In 2015, Amazon launched » Amazon Destinations « . We were all convinced that the American company would be a hit on the trip. After a few months, Amazon closed its business.
Amazon never explained its release, simply stating that they « had learned a lot  » from the experience. It took the company 10 years to disrupt the food sector. It could take less time to enter the tourism sector.

Amazon says nothing but financial analysts add

Brian Nowak, analyst at Morgan Stanley said that Amazon’s more than 300 million customers would probably spend money on a travel offer on the Amazon site.

He notes that online travel companies like Booking and Expedia spend about $620 million a year to capture their customers. This would be a tiny investment compared to Amazon’s estimated revenues of $233.4 billion in 2017.

Google builds its offer step by step

When travel consumers think of the companies that are disrupting the online travel world today, they are unlikely to think of Google.

However, slowly but surely in recent years, Google has built a set of tools in the journey that are so far only steps.

Most users already use Google products every day, whether it is search via Google, email via Gmail, your route via Google Maps, translation via Google translate, Android system for smartphone or TV…the list is long.

Integrations are progressive

Google has already started integrations. When you use your mobile phone to search for a flight in the Google search engine you will see the Flight or Plane navigation bar. Users will be able to switch quickly between aerial and hotel search. This seems insignificant to you today, but make no mistake, the final objective is ambitious.

Google evolves quickly thanks to Artificial Intelligence

The system uses automatic learning algorithms to analyze flight data to predict delays, even before the airline informs you. In December, Google added to its flight price tracking feature to see if fares will increase or decrease in the future.

The intelligent voice assistant should be the common point between Amazon and Google

Google’s long-term vision is to move from a business model focused on advertising to a model focused on selling services and products just like Amazon.

The big battle today is the sale of vocal assistants. Amazon started early on the market for these devices, primarily in the United States.

The company has built an avalanche of new equipment including Echo Plus, Echo Spot, Echo Look, Echo Show.
In addition, partners such as Sonos and Ecobee have released their own products with Alexa, allowing you to talk (and buy) on Amazon. The vocal assistant Alexa will arrive in France this year.

Google catching up

Google was relatively late for the intelligent voice assistant but it was rapidly gaining ground. Google Home is available since 2016. But in the last few years