The digital travel platform “agoda” sells a variety of Japanese and international travel products, including hotel accommodations, airline tickets, and activities, through its website and smartphone applications (Android/iOS).
In this interview, we asked Mr. Yoshihiro Oho, Representative Director of Agoda International Japan, about the “Everyday, Everyday Discount” system, which is part of the brand message, and how to respond to problems such as “the reservation was not made when I arrived at the destination.
–Tell us about Agoda’s services.
This service (OTA) allows users to book 5 million accommodations, 130,000 flights, and 300,000 activities through websites and smartphone applications. The service is available in languages from around the world. Although Japan has a large number of inbound travelers (travel to Japan), domestic travel has also been growing over the past few years.
In Japan, we are also focusing on localization. When inbound sales fell due to the Corona Disaster, we decided to “focus on Japanese users” within Agoda, so that we can respond to more inquiries in product and sales activities, as well as in customer service, where Japanese people have particularly high expectations.
The brand campaign we started three years ago (including a commercial featuring Bananaman) has also been effective, and we are developing it every year with a different message.
In addition to Agoda, Booking Holdings’ brands include other travel booking sites such as Booking.com and KAYAK, which operate independently of each other, although they collaborate in some areas such as affiliate sales activities.
–What are your strengths as a global OTA and how do you differ from your competitors?
The best price is the lowest price. We offer four types of offers: promotions, coupons, Best Price Guarantee (BPG), and cash back rewards. Best Price Guarantee is the lowest price guarantee. Promotions include, as an example, Visa and JCB preferential offers.
The second advantage is localization. We have plans tailored to the needs of Japanese travelers, including child rates, meals, and beds. Other strategic partnerships include building JTB’s website for domestic travel and inbound travel, and inventory (reservation slots).
–When traveling abroad, there are many problems at the destination, such as “when I got there, the accommodations did not exist” or “I was not able to make a reservation. How do you handle customer support?
The main message support (in English) is available 24 hours a day. I understand that responses in Japanese are basically provided during Japanese business hours. However, since we have increased the number of staff in our customer centers in Japan by 30%, there have been recent cases of responses in Japanese around 2:00 am.
We also have a dedicated team in Japan dedicated to process improvement to determine how quickly we can resolve issues when we receive inquiries from users, and we place a high priority on service in Japan among other parts of the world.
–While “Rakuten Travel” and “Jalan” are strong domestic OTAs, what strategies do you plan to use to increase the number of users?
For example, if we receive the same rate and inventory from one lodging property as another, we are confident that we will sell more. This is because Agoda uses AI technology to better match users who want to find a good hotel with hotels that want to increase their guests.
Since the system determines which hotels to display as recommendations by guessing the user’s preferences based on past search criteria and other factors, the more you use Agoda, the more you will feel a sense of personalized accuracy.
We have also improved the UX (user experience) by providing a map of Japan on the top page so that users can intuitively select the area they wish to use. We have also enhanced content such as photos and introductions of accommodations, and support various payment methods such as PayPay, PayPal, and Paidy.
To increase the number of users, it is important to have people who have seen the commercials access Agoda and accumulate experiences such as “how inexpensive it is,” “the application is easy to use,” and “it is easy to pay the fees.
–What are the current challenges and future prospects?
How much more accommodations, transportation, and activities can we handle, and how carefully and accurately can we provide a series of experiences? In a nutshell, we want to create a “connected trip,” and we want to connect everything that is connected to travel, including transportation and insurance other than flights.
If you can travel easily, you want to go back. It’s fun to go, it relieves stress, and after you return home you think, “I’ll do my best so I can travel again,” but the planning leading up to the trip is a bit difficult.
Ideally, the moment a trip is over, you can open the app again and decide what to do in the next two weeks. I want to eliminate the “travel is a hassle.
–Thank you very much.
© Source travel watch
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