Allianz Partners HK’s Greg Plifka shares insights on innovation in the travel sector

Greg Plifka, Managing Director at Allianz Companions Hong Kong, not too long ago shared his insights with us on how firms are leveraging revolutionary options to reshape buyer expectations and experiences.

Plifka, a distinguished insurance coverage skilled with 18 years of in depth expertise within the Asia-Pacific area, specialises in embedded insurance coverage options the place related insurance coverage covers could be provided alongside the enterprise accomplice’s core product inside their present buyer journey.

Beneath his management, Allianz Companions cemented its place as a number one insurance coverage supplier for revolutionary options to the automotive, journey/airline, retail, and monetary service industries in Hong Kong.

On the identical time, Plifka’s give attention to constructing easy, digital insurance coverage packages and fostering a customer-centric tradition led to the creation of quite a few long-standing partnerships, making him and a key contributor to the corporate’s continued success.

As a decide on the TDM Journey Commerce Excellence Awards Hong Kong 2025, he delved into how journey suppliers can improve their choices by partnering with business gamers and the way know-how developments reworked the business to create unique and localised experiences.

Along with your intensive expertise, may you elaborate on how revolutionary options form buyer experiences within the journey, leisure, and hospitality sectors?

Following the pandemic, we’re persevering with to see a digital transformation of journey and tourism, pushed by technological modifications and developments which have redefined buyer expectations. Travellers of at this time need options and providers which might be only a click on away, offering seamless journey experiences.

Two key areas the place revolutionary options are taking part in an enormous half are personalisation and fixing what we name ‘journey pressure’, in the end enhancing buyer experiences and boosting loyalty. With regards to personalisation, it’s about synthetic intelligence (AI) and knowledge analytics. For instance, offering airline or hospitality workers with visitor particulars and preferences at their fingertips in order that they’ll present options or gives based mostly on these distinctive wants.

Journey pressure is what all travellers face all through their journey – from planning, researching, reserving, going and even when having fun with the journey itself. What we’ve witnessed is that, particularly after the pandemic, there’s plenty of uncertainty – from vacation spot option to unexpected circumstances like cancelled flights, misplaced baggage, and even well being emergencies while abroad. What travellers need is for journey suppliers to cut back this pressure, and revolutionary instruments could be a part of the answer. For instance, one of many instruments Allianz Companions gives is Allyz, a one-stop-shop digital platform which supplies journey recommendation and experience together with built-in providers. Options embrace vacation spot itineraries and real-time flight and security data.

In your opinion, what are probably the most vital challenges at the moment dealing with firms within the journey and hospitality industries, and the way can they deal with these challenges successfully?

Shoppers of at this time have gotten extra demanding, anticipating environment friendly and intuitive experiences that ship on the spot gratification. This immediacy has led to larger competitors amongst journey suppliers for loyalty, prompting firms to give attention to eliminating friction by way of know-how while sustaining a human contact in journey providers.

For the reason that pandemic, folks have additionally turn out to be warier earlier than travelling with considerations similar to getting sick or caught in a rustic resulting from sudden lockdowns, including to journey pressure. Business gamers have to ease these anxieties and supply peace of thoughts.

To assist mitigate traveller considerations, journey suppliers can accomplice with ecosystem companions similar to journey insurers, as the appropriate insurance policies can deal with a few of these anxieties and reassure travellers from the beginning. Insurers like Allianz Companions present worth by way of insurance policies that help shoppers throughout unexpected circumstances similar to flight disruptions and cancellations. We provide prospects 24/7 help with help groups throughout greater than 70 international locations, offering high-tech and human-touch experiences. With regards to our product growth, prospects are on the centre of all the things we do, and we use their suggestions and the newest market knowledge to form our product growth.

Given your confirmed monitor file, how do you assume robust B2B2C partnerships contribute to the development and success of companies within the business?

Partnerships throughout the journey ecosystem are key to making sure seamlessness, which travellers of at this time are demanding. Business gamers have to work throughout silos in order that collectively we might help travellers have memorable experiences that may hold them coming again. What’s vital is that manufacturers are leveraging partnerships which might be complementary to one another, the place they’ve like-minded approaches to innovation, and the place they’ll proceed to collaborate to search out methods so as to add worth to the client.

As an business, the extra we will do for travellers to make their lives simpler and supply options in a well timed method alongside the way in which, the extra loyal they’ll turn out to be. For instance, firms that accomplice with journey insurance coverage suppliers to reinforce buyer care can differentiate themselves by providing peace of thoughts all through the complete journey expertise, eliminating travel-related considerations together with disruptions and unexpected circumstances, similar to flight delays, private emergencies, or baggage points.

In reality, our prospects have advised us that coupling journey insurance coverage with their core merchandise or choices resulted in higher conversions of their core product.

What function do you consider technological transformations play in influencing the journey business?

Know-how has revolutionised journey and made many features of the journey much more handy, similar to empowering travellers to plan and guide their complete journeys from the consolation of their houses or on the go, managing flights, transport, lodging and itinerary choices.

This additionally makes communication extra on the spot, and travellers can simply contact service suppliers to troubleshoot any points proper as they crop up. This additionally means, nevertheless, that buyer help have to be extra available to are likely to world travellers who could have considerations and are available from completely different time zones, as they’ll demand responses immediately or inside minutes, with restricted ready time.

Know-how also can assist form the business by serving to to bridge gaps by way of labour shortages and improve journey experiences. In a 2023 research by Deloitte, half of the resorts and 99 % of airport managers surveyed stated that they undertake new applied sciences to handle workers shortages they expertise. It additionally discovered that 74 % of airport respondents and 57 % of resort normal managers anticipate automation to spice up visitor experiences and in the end their backside strains. Fortuitously, instruments like AI might help to hurry up responsiveness and servicing by assembly prospects proper the place they’re.

With extra seamless communication and larger connectivity on-line, journey experiences turn out to be a two-way avenue. Technological transformation has offered travellers with a voice to share brazenly about their experiences for different shoppers to learn, so there’s much more transparency and openness internationally now. What’s crucial is that as phrases can unfold shortly by way of platforms like social media, business gamers should keep conscious of what prospects and travellers are saying, to allow them to act simply as shortly on suggestions and considerations.

Wanting forward, what future tendencies in journey and hospitality do you assume will current the best alternatives for progress and innovation?

Sustainability is more and more prime of thoughts for the journey business, together with travellers who anticipate journey suppliers to handle it. Shoppers have gotten more and more eco-conscious and open to firms that provide eco-friendly alternate options. For instance, airways can supply cleaner gas by way of Sustainable Aviation Gas (SAF) or give vacationers various choices to buy carbon offsets. In the meantime, resorts may give attention to native produce to help surrounding communities and reduce their carbon footprint. With shoppers being extra conscious of the affect their actions have on the setting, the business has alternatives to reply with options that meet shoppers’ eco-conscious wants.

Their selections are additionally fuelled by wanting genuine and distinctive experiences, pushed by post-pandemic attitudes. Travellers are more and more transferring away from standard tourism, looking for extra personally significant locations and offbeat experiences.

Round 49 % of worldwide travellers search immersion in native cultures and merchandise, they usually need personalised experiences and actions. To satisfy this demand, journey suppliers can curate extra native experiences by way of collaborations with different business companions. For instance, resorts can accomplice with tour operators and nationwide parks to design unique packages.

With distant working right here to remain for the foreseeable future, one other alternative is focussing on digital nomads because the quantity is predicted to extend. These people journey freely and work remotely from internationally, seeing themselves extra as momentary residents than vacationers. Distant staff could not essentially be particular person travellers, they usually could convey their members of the family like their companions and kids. Hospitality gamers may have a look at digital nomad packages, which could be coupled with curated luxurious or wellness experiences for these staff to unwind on their days off.

As a decide on the TDM Journey Commerce Excellence Awards Hong Kong 2025, what are the first standards you’ll use to guage the nominees?

A key criterion for me can be how nominees need to redefine business requirements and elevate buyer experiences. Travelling can current surprising challenges for vacationers and journey suppliers who’re in a position to scale back journey pressure go a good distance in enhancing the expertise of travellers, turning them into returning friends. With enhanced buyer care, travellers usually tend to have peace of thoughts by way of their journey expertise in order that they’ll give attention to having an unforgettable journey.

Innovation and using know-how is one other space to think about, as know-how will current limitless alternatives for nominees to ship high-quality experiences. Examples of know-how making a distinction in tourism embrace prolonged actuality (XR) and AI getting used to create novel experiences, utilizing data-driven insights to handle crowd management and guarantee a optimistic customer expertise and utilizing digital twins to reinforce occasions. These examples all return to mitigating traveller considerations, guaranteeing that they’ve a easy and optimistic expertise while on their journeys.