Air Canada’s US$450 million acquisition of Canada’s beloved loyalty program, Aeroplan is further proof (as if more was needed) of the critical role loyalty programs play in driving airline and travel revenues. Air Canada’s access to and ownership of data of Aeroplan’s 5 million active members means the carrier can now integrate its CRM and loyalty systems to fuel revenue growth strategies and compete with other large multi-merchant loyalty programs in the market.

Travel brands that take control of the direct channel booking experience have the opportunity to build relationships with their customers, learn about their preferences and behaviors, present them with tailored content designed to maximize conversions, and ultimately generate more revenue.

Today, we hear a lot of talk about “personalization” of travel content, but much about less “curation” – expect this to change as digital travel content becomes too rich to ignore. Content curation is, in fact, the heart of travel management – connecting information and making it presentable and usable. Travelers want relevant content waiting for them as soon as they go to a booking engine. The less work they have to do to get content and information, the faster they can complete their path to purchase.

For airlines, hotels and other travel suppliers, the present and future opportunities for revenue and loyalty are ready for the taking. The complexities, however, are growing more vast and unmanageable under existing, legacy systems.

For travel merchants, having a loyalty program in place offers more opportunities to engage customers across more channels. But the course of loyalty is transforming. It’s no longer “travel on my airline, stay in my hotel, or buy my product” but “buy and be loyal to my brand.”

Over the next 20 years, global demand for air travel will nearly double to 7.2 billion passengers, while inflight broadband connectivity will add $30B of ancillary revenue for airlines by 2035. This generational wave of travelers will be open to packaged experiences far beyond just the airline ticket or hotel room, and their sheer numbers represent a new era of global travel that will radically increase opportunities for airlines, hotels and other travel merchants, strengthen loyalty and grow ancillary revenue.

How will changes in travel technology impact your business through the next decade? This question is a central focus for us at Switchfly, as we leverage technology to create new revenue opportunities and stronger brand loyalty for travel merchants. The answer, we believe, depends not necessarily on keeping up with the pace of change, but rather leading the way in creating more value for your passengers and customers.

The travel industry is complex and complicated. We could even call it what it really is: messy. Billions of travelers, millions of flights, thousands of hotels, hundreds of countries, dozens of apps per phone, a few major GDS systems and one question for travel technology: how do we connect everything seamlessly? This is a question Switchfly wants to discuss at The Phocuswright Conference in Ft. Lauderdale, November 7-9.

Imagine if airport desk agents had to work without a computer system, taking customer information by hand and physically shuttling updates between different departments. This is unimaginable for a reason – the global aviation system would grind to a halt – yet there is still one aspect of air travel that relies almost exclusively on manual and offline processes: the re-accommodation of passengers stranded due to irregular operations (IROP), which requires re-ticketing, generating vouchers and booking hotels.