Twitter Affecting Travel

Monday, March 9th, 2009

The internet is changing the world.  It has been since it first became part of the mainstream just a few decades back.  Now it is changing the way people travel in a surprising manner.   People are tweeting about their experiences and the travel industry is taking notice.

Twitter is a community of internet users that post short comments and remarks.  It also allows for easy sharing of photos.  Travelers have started using Twitter to discuss every thing from their immediate reactions to a crash that they walked away from to their annoyance at the check-in of the hotel where they are staying.

Nothing is off limits.  Because of the connection to the internet through cell phones and the limit in length of the Twitter posts, the information is almost instantaneous.  The recent plan crash in the Hudson River has really brought to light just how quick the information is getting out to a large number of viewers.

Hotels are also feeling the power of Twitter.  Travelers are taking to the internet to voice complaints instead of dealing with management.  Now those same hotels are learning to keep an eye on the internet to see those complaints and to deal with them as fast as they show up.  The quickness of the complaint and the speed of the response mean that situations can be fixed while the customer is still in the location.

Utilizing the internet is helping to make the travel industry more efficient.  It is one thing to work out a problem after the problem has occurred.  It takes customer service to a whole new level when the problem can be worked out WHILE it is occurring.  It will be interesting to see how far the internet and services like Twitter will continue to push the travel industry and other customer based industries as well.

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