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 modern options to reshape buyer expectations and experiences.

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

Below his management, Allianz Companions cemented its place as a number one insurance coverage supplier for modern 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 trade gamers and the way know-how developments remodeled the trade to create unique and localised experiences.

Together with your intensive expertise, may you elaborate on how modern 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 adjustments and developments which have redefined buyer expectations. Travellers of immediately need options and companies which might be only a click on away, offering seamless journey experiences.

Two key areas the place modern 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. In terms of personalisation, it’s about synthetic intelligence (AI) and information analytics. For instance, offering airline or hospitality workers with visitor particulars and preferences at their fingertips in order that they’ll present options or affords primarily based 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 quite a lot 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 modern instruments could be a part of the answer. For instance, one of many instruments Allianz Companions affords is Allyz, a one-stop-shop digital platform which supplies journey recommendation and experience together with built-in companies. Options embody vacation spot itineraries and real-time flight and security data.

In your opinion, what are essentially the most important challenges presently dealing with firms within the journey and hospitality industries, and the way can they handle these challenges successfully?

Shoppers of immediately have gotten extra demanding, anticipating environment friendly and intuitive experiences that ship prompt gratification. This immediacy has led to better competitors amongst journey suppliers for loyalty, prompting firms to give attention to eliminating friction by know-how while sustaining a human contact in journey companies.

Because the pandemic, folks have additionally change into warier earlier than travelling with issues reminiscent of getting sick or caught in a rustic resulting from sudden lockdowns, including to journey pressure. Trade gamers have to ease these anxieties and supply peace of thoughts.

To assist mitigate traveller issues, journey suppliers can associate with ecosystem companions reminiscent of journey insurers, as the fitting insurance policies can handle a few of these anxieties and reassure travellers from the beginning. Insurers like Allianz Companions present worth by insurance policies that help customers throughout unexpected circumstances reminiscent of flight disruptions and cancellations. We provide clients 24/7 help with help groups throughout greater than 70 international locations, offering high-tech and human-touch experiences. In terms of our product improvement, clients are on the centre of all the pieces we do, and we use their suggestions and the newest market information to form our product improvement.

Given your confirmed observe report, how do you assume sturdy B2B2C partnerships contribute to the development and success of companies within the trade?

Partnerships throughout the journey ecosystem are key to making sure seamlessness, which travellers of immediately are demanding. Trade gamers have to work throughout silos in order that collectively we will help travellers have memorable experiences that can hold them coming again. What’s necessary 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 seek out methods so as to add worth to the shopper.

As an trade, the extra we are able to 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 change into. For instance, firms that associate with journey insurance coverage suppliers to reinforce buyer care can differentiate themselves by providing peace of thoughts all through all the journey expertise, eliminating travel-related issues together with disruptions and unexpected circumstances, reminiscent of flight delays, private emergencies, or baggage points.

The truth is, our clients 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 trade?

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

This additionally makes communication extra prompt, 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 international travellers who could have issues and are available from completely different time zones, as they’ll demand responses immediately or inside minutes, with restricted ready time.

Know-how may assist form the trade by serving to to bridge gaps by way of labour shortages and improve journey experiences. In a 2023 examine by Deloitte, half of the accommodations and 99 p.c of airport managers surveyed mentioned that they undertake new applied sciences to deal with workers shortages they expertise. It additionally discovered that 74 p.c of airport respondents and 57 p.c of resort normal managers anticipate automation to spice up visitor experiences and in the end their backside strains. Fortuitously, instruments like AI will help to hurry up responsiveness and servicing by assembly clients proper the place they’re.

With extra seamless communication and better connectivity on-line, journey experiences change into a two-way avenue. Technological transformation has supplied travellers with a voice to share overtly about their experiences for different customers to learn, so there’s much more transparency and openness internationally now. What’s crucial is that as phrases can unfold rapidly by way of platforms like social media, trade gamers should keep conscious of what clients and travellers are saying, to allow them to act simply as rapidly on suggestions and issues.

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

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

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

Round 49 p.c of world travellers search immersion in native cultures and merchandise, they usually need personalised experiences and actions. To fulfill this demand, journey suppliers can curate extra native experiences by collaborations with different trade companions. For instance, accommodations can associate 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 the world over, seeing themselves extra as momentary residents than vacationers. Distant employees could not essentially be particular person travellers, they usually could carry 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 employees 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 judge the nominees?

A key criterion for me can be how nominees want to redefine trade requirements and elevate buyer experiences. Travelling can current sudden challenges for vacationers and journey suppliers who’re capable of cut back journey pressure go a good distance in enhancing the expertise of travellers, turning them into returning company. With enhanced buyer care, travellers usually tend to have peace of thoughts by 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 embody 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 issues, making certain that they’ve a clean and optimistic expertise while on their journeys.