12 NEWS Alexander
12 NEWS Alexander Schwarz Country Manager DACH, Airbnb Marti Grimminck Founder & CEO, International Connector Your Big Year USA Marti Grimminck, founder and CEO of International Connector, was back at ITB Berlin this year. Grimminck works as an educator for many organisations, facilitating leadership teams through a paradigm shift in their approach to the emerging workforce today. She was at the show talking about a new project for young travellers. We asked her to tell us more. This summer, 4 young GenZs will travel from Chicago to San Francisco in the name of Your Big Year. With support from amazing US cities such as Nashville, St. Louis, Birmingham and the US National Parks Conservation Association, and a band of youth travel specialists including Smaller Earth, World Nomads and the Student Youth Travel Association (SYTA), we will see a new voice and perspective on travel. Who is Generation Z? This emerging demographic is just hitting adulthood, and the generation is bringing a fury of new technological habits, expectations and more importantly new social rules. Similar to Millennials, GenZs are keen to forge their own way and make their own decisions on products and services. The self-customisation opportunity allows them to authentically find what is their personal interest. Generation Z consumer is not to be overlooked anywhere globally. In the US alone there are 65 million, with a total buying power of bn. Furthermore, GenZs bring an additional 0bn of family purchasing power and 93% of parents of this generation say their children influence their family’s spending (Chamber of Commerce). What makes them a challenge to reach is that their media consumption is different than older generations. In fact, according to a study by the University of Maryland, 79% of GenZs display symptoms of emotional distress when kept away from their personal electronic devices. What exactly is Your Big Year USA? Your Big Year USA production will set off in July 2018 from Chicago with four young travellers and a filmmaker. The trip will explore all means of travel from flights, car, train, bus and even bicycle, as well as all means of accommodation from hostels, hotels, sharedspaces, camping and RVs! In each of the city stops, the Your Big Year travelers will explore what makes this destination unique including diving into historical, cultural and sociological elements. For example, in Birmingham, the youth will have a civil rights tour with a ‘foot soldier’ of the civil rights movement. The trip will be documented in a series of short-content webisodes, a reality-TV 3.0 format, supplemented by social posts, snaps, chats and tweets, again, reaching the Generation Z and millennial audience THE GENERATION Z IS BRINGING A FURY OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL HABITS, EXPECTATIONS AND MORE IMPORTANTLY NEW SOCIAL RULES. Business Travel Driving Airbnb Forward The world of business travel continues to change. Alexander Schwarz, Country Manager DACH at Airbnb, said that the accommodation group is looking to develop its business offer. We asked him firstly about current business travel trends. The lines between business and leisure travel are blurring; more and more of us are combining business trips with weekend stays. In fact, more than 50% of business trips on Airbnb in 2016 included a Saturday night. Airbnb gives travellers a chance to live in a city when traveling for work. How have you adapted the platform for the business travel market? We’ve made a number of improvements to make business travel on Airbnb easier and more convenient. We launched a third-party booking tool for example so both the employee who is managing travel, and the employee who is taking the trip, can book, make changes to the reservation and message the Airbnb host with any questions. What about Airbnb’s biggest partnership to date with Concur? In addition to working with Concur to help companies using Airbnb to manage travel and track expenses through TripLink, Concur will soon incorporate Airbnb listings into their search and booking tool. All of our efforts are paying off. 18,000 companies are signing up and booking with the Airbnb for Work program per month ITB BERLIN NEWS • Wednesday 21 st March 2018 www.itb-berlin-news.com
NEWS 13 Virtual travel at the Lufthansa Group stand Lufthansa Group Wows with Digital and Virtual Experiences at ITB Berlin The German airline conglomerate presented a stunning showcase of its diverse product line across three floors with augmented and virtual reality as well as 3D projections. With a travel portfolio that includes Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, Eurowings, Lufthansa, SWISS and Miles & More, Lufthansa Group’s motto, “Welcome to an open world”, was in full effect across an impressive 614 square metres stand offering visitors numerous interactive travel experiences. It was a statement of intent from a major global player showing its wares at the world’s largest travel trade show. On the front side of the stand, guests were greeted by a 40 square metre mega screen showing new Lufthansa Group destinations, among other insights into its brimming travel portfolio. A highlight was located on the ground floor, where the aviation group took visitors on an instant digital holiday. Thanks to augmented reality, it was possible to travel major global metropolises like New York, Mumbai or Shanghai in just a few seconds. Visitors could dive into virtual worlds and experience a street band in New York, a Holi festival in India or see Shaolin monks in Shanghai. A special feature of this experience was that guests can actually interact directly with their surroundings, for example by drumming with street musicians in New York. Every vacationing participant also received a small souvenir of their virtual trip. 3D PROJECTIONS, VIRTUAL REALITY AND #SAYYESTOTHEWORLD On the first floor, visitors were able to utilise HoloLens glasses to virtually fly various Lufthansa Group aircraft. Guests could use interactive 3D projections to fly holograms of the flagships such as the Airbus A350 over the surrounding exhibition stands. The Lufthansa travel feeling could also be experienced in the original seats of First Class, Business Class and Premium Economy Class. In order to make the travel experience even more authentic, Lufthansa offers visitors had the chance to put on virtual reality glasses that make them feel like they are on board a real aircraft. As a highlight, the newly developed Business Class could also be experienced in this way. Fans of the #SayYesToTheWorld campaign also had the opportunity to make their own film. Similar to the original Lufthansa advertisement, visitors could sit down in the Premium Economy seat and answers the question: “Why do you love the world?” The responses were cut into five videos and uploaded to the Lufthansa YouTube Channel. In addition, Lufthansa presented examples of new services on the ground and in the air on an interactive video wall. These included family offers, online services, lounges and on-board entertainment. ALL FIVE LUFTHANSA GROUP AIRLINES AT ONE BOOTH Austrian Airlines were also on hand to celebrate its 60th anniversary on the ground floor of the Lufthansa Group stand in Berlin, with guests making themselves comfortable in the new myAustrian Premium Economy Class seats. SWISS airlines also presented the new First Class Lounge recently opened in Zurich, while Eurowings, the first low-cost airline to introduce a Business Class: the BIZClass, presented the original seats at ITB Berlin. The flights with the new BIZClass seats are first scheduled at the end of April 2018. With visitors also able to find out more about Brussels Airlines, all five airlines of the Lufthansa Group were represented at the same booth for the first time. For the 25th anniversary of Miles & More, Europe’s largest frequent flyer and award programme, visitors were invited to an exciting mileage rally where they could collect miles by visiting partner booths. Those visiting at least ten partner booths were able to register to win one of ten 25,000 miles awards. No wonder then that Lufthansa Group’s ITB Berlin stand was awarded first place in the categories “Best Booth Design” and “Carriers” in 2017 ITB BERLIN NEWS • Wednesday 21 st March 2018
