UK travel professionals favour a greater use of automation and AI tools

RateHawk research sheds light on major operational challenges

Despite 92% of travel professionals saying they’re happy in their jobs, new research from RateHawk reveals that many of them still face major operational challenges.

The biggest hurdles are intense competition, rising client expectations, and the time-consuming process of manually searching for the best deals.

Earning higher commissions is also a top priority. Technology is considered a comprehensive solution by every fifth, although desired innovations vary largely depending on the regional, generational, and company scale differences.

These insights come from the second part of RateHawk’s report, What Supercharges Travel Professionals. RateHawk, a B2B online platform for booking hotels, flights, and transfers, surveyed over 1,300 travel professionals across Europe, North America, Latin America, Asia, and the GCC.

The report highlights the sector’s key demotivating factors and specific tech needs for various segments of the global travel professionals community.

A quarter of travel professionals worldwide cited intense competition as their top challenge, with increasing pressure in fast-growing markets like the GCC (49%) and Asia (30%). In the UK, it also prevails, with 37% of respondents opting for it as their main challenge.

Rising client expectations are another challenge, with 24% of travel professionals struggling to keep up. In open responses, many specialists shared frustrations about travelers expecting pre-pandemic prices, making budgets unrealistic.

Maintaining the desired level of income is the third most challenging aspect for travel professionals, with 15% of respondents worldwide identifying it as a key concern. Additionally, 33% say that achieving higher commission levels is the most desired change.

“The travel industry is known for its low margins, and, with constantly rising travel costs, every opportunity to earn additional commission is crucial. Technology platforms can give this flexibility to support partners’ sustainable development. For instance, our users can set up their own commission levels, as well as loyalty points and other rewards,” says Astrid Kastberg, Managing Director at RateHawk.

Nearly half of respondents identified searching for competitive travel offers as their most time-consuming task — a figure that is especially high in the GCC region (52%) and Asia (49%), but also significant in Europe (40%), Latin America (44%), and North America (39%). UK respondents show the highest concern about it among European respondents (55%). Other top global time-sinks include managing booking changes (17%) and repetitive administrative work (16%).

“Finding the right option in such a complex and fragmented market is a real challenge, which is why we’re constantly expanding our supply and introducing advanced filters to make things easier for agents,” notes Kastberg.

“Each day, we process up to 10 billion hotel rates, using AI for smart search and rate matching, personalized recommendations, automated translation of millions of hotel descriptions, and even pre-booking checks with AI bots to prevent potential issues. These technologies help agents deliver more reliable and competitive options to their clients.”

Despite its reputation as one of the most conservative sectors, the travel industry professionals are showing greater interest in technology adoption.

Nearly a third of respondents (29%) say that better access to technology for daily tasks would be the most meaningful change to their jobs. Regional data highlights opportunity gaps in Latin America and Asia, where demand for new solutions is the highest (44% and 31% respectively).

At the same time, many agents still find it hard to keep up — 19% told us they struggle with adopting the latest tools. This challenge is especially evident in Asia, where almost a quarter of agents cite it as their main concern. It’s also a significant issue in Latin America and North America.

“Travel professionals believe that smart tools can help them manage administrative work and other time-consuming tasks more efficiently. In a rapidly changing market, innovations can help them stay competitive and deliver greater value to their clients, which is why supporting travel agents in technology adoption is so important,” shares Kastberg.

Among the most desired technologies, half of the respondents prefer various automation tools like new online booking solutions, CRM and mid-/back-offices. The highest demand for these solutions is registered in North America (61%), Europe (50%), Asia (47%), and Latin America (46%).

Notably, about one-third of travel professionals highlight interest in improved mobile booking capabilities (33%), with the highest demand in the GCC (53%) and Asia (44%).

“The survey results strongly correlate with our internal data: RateHawk’s mobile app, originally developed in response to rapid digital transformation during the pandemic, fits perfectly today’s market reality.

In the UK, 24% of respondents believe that technologies will boost their productivity. Notably, more than half opt for the greater use of automation and AI tools (57% and 55% respectively). UK travel professionals also demonstrate high flexibility and a tech-focused mindset, with only 11% of respondents struggling to adopt new technologies – the lowest rate across the surveyed markets in Europe.

“It’s encouraging that travel professionals view innovation as a positive force rather than a threat,” Kastberg concludes.