Expedia Group Launches COVID-19 Advisor Tool
Expedia Group has introduced the COVID-19 Travel Advisor — a tech-enabled tool that provides travellers with current details about travel restrictions worldwide.
The new tool – powered by Sherpa — is now part of several Expedia Group consumer brands to simplify the experience for people seeking guidance in destinations they hope or plan to visit, such as quarantine and COVID-19 testing requirements.
In the pilot phase, over 1.6 million travellers used the COVID-19 Advisor across brands since the winter of 2020, and around 13 million pieces of communication were sent to customers via email, push notifications and SMS, with the sherpa link included.
The communication of destination-specific information – about restrictions and travel information – will be critical to rebuilding traveller confidence in the wake of COVID-19.
Since July 2020, there have been almost 10 million clicks on travel advisories from across Expedia Group’s core brands and in the month of March 2021 alone, more than 1.7 million clicks, a 97% increase from the month prior, suggesting an increased desire to travel as the industry recovers.
Cyril Ranque, president, Travel Partners Group at Expedia Group, said that: “Travellers are inundated with conflicting information about where and how they can safely travel as the COVID-19 vaccine rollout continues. This makes it challenging for our travel partners to know how and when to best position themselves online to capture fluctuating demand.”
Ranque continued: “Our goal is to reduce friction for travellers, and also further support our travel partners across lodging, air, car and cruise by removing the time-heavy task of managing individual traveller queries about restrictions and travel requirements for each destination. It’s another step in the right direction of connecting the right supply with the right demand, at the right time.”
Each Expedia Group consumer brand has incorporated the COVID-19 Travel Advisor. And the links are listed below:
* Expedia COVID-19 Travel Advisor
* Hotels.com COVID-19 Travel Advisor
* Vrbo COVID-19 Travel Advisor
* ebookers COVID-19 Travel Advisor
* Orbitz COVID-19 Travel Advisor
* Travelocity COVID-19 Travel Advisor
* Wotif COVID-19 Travel Advisor
