Skift Megatrends Travel Forecast Predicts Mobile Will Spur a Revolution in Customers' Travel Experiences For 2018

WASHINGTON, Jan. 17, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- In its recently released Megatrends Travel Forecast for 2018, Skift, the largest intelligence and media platform covering the travel industry, predicted that mobile technology will fundamentally transform the relationship between the travel agency and the traveler and will revolutionize the overall travel experience. This transformation is already underway and being led by Upside Business Travel, the first travel site exclusively for business travelers.

"Every year we identify at Skift the trends we see shaping the travel industry in the year ahead with our Megatrends," says Skift Founder / CEO Rafat Ali.  "We see the upheaval in corporate travel technology with AI, chat, data and location services at the very center of the biggest trends happening in travel right now."

According to Skift, "In 2018, a convergence of emerging tech tools like artificial intelligence, machine learning, location services, and cloud-based data will finally realize their potential on the smartphone." Skift predicts "a mobile-based revolution in travel services that will anticipate your needs in advance ? completely changing the experience, efficiency, productivity, and even the enjoyability of travel. The key will involve a shift in mobile usage from a device used reactively (when there's a problem) to one that proactively handles an issue before a traveler even knows they have one."

Upside Business Travel, the latest travel company from Priceline Founder Jay Walker, is a leading example of how that convergence is starting to take place ? and take off. Every day, Upside mines multiple terabytes of data, assembling a proactive information grid of airfares, hotel rates, flight status, local weather, and traffic patterns.

Upside uses this information to function as the business traveler's "Mission Control," anticipating and creating workarounds to issues that could detour or even derail a successful business trip, along with providing the customer with great prices, easy buying and a range of choices in air, hotel and ground transportation. While preventing problems is Upside's ultimate goal, business travel is filled with surprises. That's why Upside Business Travel has an expert team of customer service agents, called "Navigators," ready to tackle any and all unanticipated problems 24x7.

Launched in January 2017, Upside Business Travel has already served employees from more than 10,000 U.S. companies.

"Skift's annual Megatrends publication is a roadmap of tomorrow's travel industry," said Mr. Walker. "By identifying the dramatically enhanced role for mobile to impact the entire trip experience, from beginning to end, Skift has put its finger on one of the industry's most important innovations."

Walker continued: "Mobile is truly magical and transformative for the business traveler. That is the future we are helping to create at Upside Business Travel. We will always know who you are, where you are, where you're going, along with your travel history and individual preferences. We will know your schedule and all real-time traffic, weather, mechanical issues. and market fluctuations that can impact your trip. With this information hyper-awareness, we can anticipate endless travel problems, and frequently solve those problems for you in advance. That's Upside Business Travel and, thanks to machine learning, we're getting better at it every day."

Walker concluded: "With Upside Business Travel, now every business traveler can experience a better business trip, with no fees, commitments, or corporate approvals required."

About Upside Business Travel

Upside Business Travel (www.upside.com) is the first online travel service built just for business travelers, particularly the "do-it-yourself" (DIY) business travelers that can't access special pricing or quality customer service.

At Upside Business Travel, our whole reason for being is to make customers' business trips better, from beginning to end. We use big data to make buying business travel easier. We show great prices, the best flight times, and most convenient hotels, and then our customers pick what works best for them, including rental cars and Uber. Most importantly, we don't disappear once the trip is booked. Our customer service team of "Navigators" stays involved every step of the way. We can be reached on-demand 24x7 through our app, via phone, or email. At Upside Business Travel, we do everything possible to make our customers' business trips better.

Upside's leadership is a proven team of travel industry inventors and entrepreneurs led by Priceline founder Jay Walker. The company recently received Glassdoor's Employees Choice Award as one of the Top 50 Companies to Work For in America. The company is headquartered in Washington, D.C., with offices in Stamford, Connecticut.

For more information, visit: www.upside.com or follow us on Linkedin, Twitter, and Facebook.

For further information,  Contact: Steve Hofman 
[email protected] 202-741-0242

SOURCE Upside