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

Greg Plifka, Managing Director at Allianz Partners Hong Kong, just lately 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 in the Asia-Pacific area, specialises in embedded insurance coverage options the place related insurance coverage covers could be supplied alongside the enterprise companion’s core product inside their current buyer journey.

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

At the similar time, Plifka’s focus on 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 firm’s continued success.

As a choose at the TDM Travel Trade Excellence Awards Hong Kong 2025, he delved into how travel suppliers can improve their choices by partnering with trade gamers and the way expertise developments remodeled the trade to create unique and localised experiences.

With your intensive expertise, might you elaborate on how revolutionary options form buyer experiences in the travel, leisure, and hospitality sectors?

Following the pandemic, we’re persevering with to see a digital transformation of travel and tourism, pushed by technological adjustments and developments which have redefined buyer expectations. Travellers of in the present day need options and providers which can be only a click on away, offering seamless travel experiences.

Two key areas the place revolutionary options are enjoying an enormous half are personalisation and fixing what we name ‘travel tension’, finally enhancing buyer experiences and boosting loyalty. When it involves personalisation, it’s about synthetic intelligence (AI) and information analytics. For instance, offering airline or hospitality employees with visitor particulars and preferences at their fingertips in order that they will present options or provides primarily based on these distinctive wants.

Travel stress 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 loads 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 travel suppliers to cut back this stress, and revolutionary instruments could be a part of the answer. For instance, one in every of the instruments Allianz Partners provides is Allyz, a one-stop-shop digital platform which gives travel recommendation and experience together with built-in providers. Features embrace vacation spot itineraries and real-time flight and security data.

In your opinion, what are the most vital challenges at present going through firms in the travel and hospitality industries, and the way can they handle these challenges successfully?

Consumers of in the present day have gotten extra demanding, anticipating environment friendly and intuitive experiences that ship immediate gratification. This immediacy has led to higher competitors amongst travel suppliers for loyalty, prompting firms to focus on eliminating friction by way of expertise while sustaining a human contact in travel providers.

Since the pandemic, folks have additionally grow to be warier earlier than travelling with issues similar to getting sick or caught in a rustic as a consequence of sudden lockdowns, including to travel stress. Industry gamers have to ease these anxieties and supply peace of thoughts.

To assist mitigate traveller issues, travel suppliers can companion with ecosystem companions similar to travel insurers, as the proper insurance policies can handle a few of these anxieties and reassure travellers from the begin. Insurers like Allianz Partners present worth by way of insurance policies that assist shoppers throughout unexpected circumstances similar to flight disruptions and cancellations. We provide prospects 24/7 assist with help groups throughout greater than 70 international locations, offering high-tech and human-touch experiences. When it involves our product growth, prospects are at the centre of all the pieces we do, and we use their suggestions and the newest market information to form our product growth.

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

Partnerships throughout the travel ecosystem are key to making sure seamlessness, which travellers of in the present day are demanding. Industry gamers have to work throughout silos in order that collectively we may also help travellers have memorable experiences that may hold them coming again. What’s essential is that manufacturers are leveraging partnerships which can be complementary to one another, the place they’ve like-minded approaches to innovation, and the place they will proceed to collaborate to seek out methods so as to add worth to the buyer.

As an trade, the extra we will do for travellers to make their lives simpler and supply options in a well timed method alongside the manner, the extra loyal they’ll grow to be. For instance, firms that companion with travel insurance coverage suppliers to boost buyer care can differentiate themselves by providing peace of thoughts all through the total travel expertise, eliminating travel-related issues together with disruptions and unexpected circumstances, similar to flight delays, private emergencies, or baggage points.

In reality, our prospects have informed us that coupling travel 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 travel trade?

Technology has revolutionised travel and made many features of the journey way more handy, similar to empowering travellers to plan and e-book their total journeys from the consolation of their properties or on the go, managing flights, transport, lodging and itinerary choices.

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

Technology may assist form the trade by serving to to bridge gaps in phrases of labour shortages and improve travel experiences. In a 2023 research by Deloitte, half of the accommodations and 99 p.c of airport managers surveyed stated that they undertake new applied sciences to handle employees shortages they expertise. It additionally discovered that 74 p.c of airport respondents and 57 p.c of resort normal managers count on automation to spice up visitor experiences and finally their backside traces. Fortunately, instruments like AI may also help to hurry up responsiveness and servicing by assembly prospects proper the place they’re.

With extra seamless communication and higher connectivity on-line, travel experiences grow to be a two-way avenue. Technological transformation has supplied 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 is vital is that as phrases can unfold shortly through platforms like social media, trade gamers should keep conscious of what prospects and travellers are saying, to allow them to act simply as shortly on suggestions and issues.

Looking forward, what future traits in travel and hospitality do you assume will current the best alternatives for development and innovation?

Sustainability is more and more high of thoughts for the travel trade, together with travellers who count on travel suppliers to handle it. Consumers have gotten more and more eco-conscious and open to firms that provide eco-friendly options. For instance, airways can provide cleaner gas through Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) or give vacationers different choices to buy carbon offsets. Meanwhile, accommodations might focus on native produce to assist surrounding communities and reduce their carbon footprint. With shoppers being extra conscious of the affect their actions have on the atmosphere, the trade has alternatives to reply with options that meet shoppers’ eco-conscious wants.

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

Around 49 p.c of world travellers search immersion in native cultures and merchandise, they usually need personalised experiences and actions. To meet this demand, travel suppliers can curate extra native experiences by way of collaborations with different trade companions. For instance, accommodations can companion 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 as the quantity is predicted to extend. These people travel freely and work remotely from throughout the world, seeing themselves extra as momentary residents than vacationers. Remote employees might not essentially be particular person travellers, they usually might convey their members of the family like their companions and kids. Hospitality gamers might 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 choose at the TDM Travel Trade Excellence Awards Hong Kong 2025, what are the major standards you’ll use to guage the nominees?

A key criterion for me could be taking a look at how nominees want to redefine trade requirements and elevate buyer experiences. Travelling can current sudden challenges for vacationers and travel suppliers who’re capable of scale back travel stress 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 way of their travel expertise in order that they will focus on having an unforgettable journey.

Innovation and the use of expertise is one other space to contemplate, as expertise will current countless alternatives for nominees to ship high-quality experiences. Examples of expertise 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 boost occasions. These examples all return to mitigating traveller issues, guaranteeing that they’ve a easy and optimistic expertise while on their journeys.