Social media’s role in the travel industry may grow only more crucial as it moves into the future.

As a travel professional, it is important to understand how the travel industry is being shaped by social media.  A conference was held in NYC on October 9 by Skift, a travel intelligence platform, to discuss these changing dynamics of the travel industry and its future. Thought leaders from travel juggernauts like Airbnb, jetBlue and Tripadvisor all attended.

Curation became one of the leading topics. Rafat Ali, founder and CEO of Skift, defined curation as using previous online activity of customers to create a streamlined list of options for them, tailored to personal preferences and trends. Five hotel options instead of 10. Thai restaurants instead of Korean. An article by News NY1 suggested that perhaps even influencing the way people reflect on trips through social media may be on the industry’s radar.

One of the interesting elements on the conversation about dynamic future uses of social media for the travel industry is that it circumvented the ways the travel industry is still trying to understand how to use social media in the present. Industry intelligence company PhoCusWright’s The State of Social Media in Travel delves into how the travel industry has failed to optimize social media as a tool for influencing key regional social media networks.

Conversely, companies like Amadeus, Concur and Sabre have embraced the longer sales cycle that comes with using social media to engage their enterprise and small- to medium-sized business customers in order to humanize their social media brand and provide a more nuanced perspective into the list of products and services they offer, subsequently optimizing engagement and the profits that come from it.

Travel Placement Services is always looking for travel professionals who stay up to date with industry trends and have expertise in Sabre, Concur, and any other GDS system. If you are looking to launch a career change within the travel sector, or know of someone who does, contact Travel Placement Service today!  We’ll help you find the career or recruit that you’re looking for.