WHITEPAPER

How Travel and Hospitality

Companies are Transforming
their Customer Experience in the
Age of Kayak, Airbnb and Uber
Contents
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 3

INTRODUCTION 4
Companies need to compete for international

travel dollars 4

Expenses threaten to overcome revenues 4

Bigger businesses create bigger problems 4

Non-traditional providers create new competition 5

Legacy systems can’t handle the data 5

COUCHBASE IN ACTION 5
The Couchbase advantage 5

TRAVEL AND HOSPITALITY COMPANIES CAN MODERNIZE AND TRANSFORM 6

Amadeus successfully delivers personalization at scale 6

Marriott builds on NoSQL database to modernize infrastructure 7

United Airlines flight operations soar with Couchbase 7

The benefits of Couchbase 8

WHY COUCHBASE 8
Easier, more affordable scalability 8

Immediate responsiveness 9

Built-in high availability and disaster recovery 9

Lower costs, faster time to market 9

Support for Omnichannel experiences 9

W H I T E P AP ER 2
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

In the competitive hospitality industry customers are demanding a better, more

personalized experience. Despite increased consumer spending, operational
expenses are putting brands under pressure leading them to search for new
efficiency. Mergers, new partnerships, personalization, and digitization are causing
the volumes of data to grow. Older technologies aren’t keeping up with the change
despite rising maintenance costs.

Travel companies must contend with a complex set of ever-changing products and
services. Hospitality companies require the ability to provide premium services at a
lower cost. Meanwhile, airlines are forced to compete with low-cost alternatives.

Everyone in this sector must personalize the travel experience and cultivate
customer loyalty, and make each experience one that delights customers and brings
them back. Information is at the heart of all of these issues. Personalization and
digital transformation require data. The only way to meet all of the data needs
is to implement a database that supports these efforts efficiently even when
things change.

Flight availability, booking, Inventory and pricing Real-time crew

and pricing analytics recommendations management, scheduling,
and resources

W H I T E P AP ER 3
INTRODUCTION

According to the Deloitte 2019 Travel and Hospitality Outlook, the past 10 years have
seen a huge increase in travel. From 2009 to 2018, US hotel bookings increased by
$69 billion. Airline revenue surged by $67 billion. More consumers started traveling
again, benefitting the cruise, ground transportation, and restaurant industries as
well. Business travel has also been a driver in increasing the numbers for travel and
hospitality companies.
“Over the last 30 years, To facilitate travel smoothly, the travel and hospitality industry depends on a
Ryanair has experienced complex network of interactions between travelers, consolidators, suppliers,
maintenance providers, call centers, web services, and management services.
exponential growth. Since
Additionally, look-to-book ratios have doubled annually to a staggering 1000:1 in the
we launched our new mobile past decade alone. This makes it nearly impossible to support such an ecosystem
app supported by Couchbase, with existing transactional and analytical systems.

we have increased app Like many other industries, the travel and hospitality industry is seeing a need to

performance and decreased

improve customer service and use data more effectively to do so. Technology is
making the biggest impact on the industry, but customer expectations have also
flight booking times from
shifted as a result.
5 minutes to 2 minutes.

Couchbase Mobile has Companies need to compete for international

helped us achieve our user travel dollars
experience goals.” While plenty of travel occurs within the US, travel and hospitality companies also
must compete with providers who offer packages to destinations around the world.
—VLADIMIR ATANOSOV,
LEAD DEVELOPER
According to Deloitte, destinations like Portugal and Vietnam are seeing growing
visitation rates of 20 to 30 percent annually. Hotel and airline companies are
expanding into these marketplaces, particularly as the demand for inbound travel
into the US decreases – from 13.8% in 2015 to 12.2% in 2017.

Expenses threaten to overcome revenues

The ease with which consumers can book travel from aggregator sites, directly from
the provider, or even through a travel agent has only made travel and hospitality
companies more cost-conscious. Even as revenue is increasing, margins are
decreasing. Due to this pressure, travel companies fight for precious traveler dollars
against a glut of low-cost providers. This struggle is especially pronounced in the
airline industry.

Bigger businesses create bigger problems

While business growth isn’t in itself a bad thing, mergers and acquisitions can
create their own unique problems. There’s the issue of integrating data to ensure
customers are receiving the best possible service, as well as storing and analyzing
that data.

W H I T E P AP ER 4
 Non-traditional providers create new competition
Customer service is even more important when travel and hospitality companies
face non-traditional providers. While the airlines are already feeling the pinch from
low-cost alternatives, ground transportation and hotel providers are also forced to
compete against ride-share services and private rentals. The only way travel and
hospitality companies can compete is to offer things that these alternatives don’t –
namely, personalized service.

Legacy systems can’t handle the data

Faced with the need for personalization, data security, and simply massive data
storage, legacy systems are taxed to their breaking point. Moreover, many are too
rigid to adapt to new and more diverse types of data. It becomes too costly for travel
and hospitality companies to keep adding to these systems. When they do, it often
results in a patchwork of solutions, particularly during mergers and acquisitions.

COUCHBASE IN ACTION

There are many ways that travel and hospitality companies can use Couchbase to
modernize their legacy systems and meet the challenges of the fiercely competitive
travel industry. Here are just a few.

• Inventory and pricing: Let customers search availability and compare pricing at
any time, on any device, in real time.

• Reservation and PNR: Keep up to date on availability, changes, promotions, and

4K passenger name records (PNR) to provide the best possible customer service.
transactions/second
• Price/product catalog: Add a flexible, scalable price/product catalog to booking
engines and keep up with changing inventory.

• Booking engine: Add a shopping cart service and get customers to book now
instead of abandoning their shopping cart. The booking engine can include
components like the price/product catalog, an inventory/pricing engine, and more
and leverage Couchbase’s built-in cache.

• Crew services: Maintain accurate and up-to-date information from multiple

application data silos, service all information channels, and build and maintain
FAA-approved mobile applications to improve the employee experience and
increase efficiency.

The Couchbase advantage

Many databases can be used in one or more of the applications above. When it
comes to running in production, there’s a tradeoff. To achieve flexibility in the data
model, organizations may not be able to add or remove nodes without seriously
impacting performance. Couchbase delivers an excellent developer experience and
is administered easily, all while providing outstanding performance at scale.

W H I T E P AP ER 5
 With years of experience in the travel and hospitality industry, Couchbase offers
a breadth of expertise and knowledge to keep companies competing in an ever-
changing world. Our customers include airlines, hotels, ground transportation,
travel aggregation sites, and train operators. We help them manage customer data
and handle booking, inventory, and pricing, leveraging APIs and microservices for a
seamless experience.

TRAVEL AND HOSPITALITY COMPANIES CAN

MODERNIZE AND TRANSFORM

These challenges aren’t insurmountable. Travel and hospitality companies have the
ability to modernize and undergo a digital transformation to compete with their
vbiggest sticking points: airfare and hotel aggregators, private rentals, or ride-share
providers. They can attract new customers and retain their most loyal ones. One
of the biggest ways they can do that is lay the foundation for their data by using a
NoSQL database.

Amadeus successfully delivers personalization at scale

As one of the largest processors of travel bookings in the world, latency is an
important matter for Amadeus, which handles 3.7 million bookings per day. Look-
to-book ratios were increasing, but the performance of its existing database was
not. Scaling the system to meet the performance needs required for the increased
demand and new customers would be a costly undertaking, one that potentially
would not yield the results it sought.

Amadeus had already started moving its traffic-heavy applications to a Couchbase

NoSQL database to take advantage of the horizontal scalability, increased flexibility,
and high availability. The ability to cost-effectively scale the database to onboard new
customers and provide an exceptional customer experience was paramount. Moving
the customer experience management system (CEM) to the Couchbase database
made the most sense. Couchbase’s SQL-based query language (N1QL) made it easy
to translate the data model and queries from a relational model to Couchbase.
8M
ops/second Reusing their existing SQL language skills was a big win in terms of accelerating the
adoption and migration. Minimal training was necessary to take full advantage of
Couchbase using SQL, and the project could be completed in-house, creating further
<2.5ms
response time cost-savings. This new flexibility allowed Amadeus to unlock previously unachievable
personalization scenarios for travelers around the world. For instance, the digital
data of airlines can now be linked with their reservation systems. in order to provide
personalization across the whole journey, from booking to flying.

At the same time, Amadeus has also begun to move some of its offer applications
to public cloud infrastructure. As a cloud-native data platform, Couchbase is a key
enabler for this strategy. Thanks to cross datacenter replication (XDCR), a hybrid
cloud deployment has become a reality; moreover, very high levels of resilience
can be achieved by spanning data across multiple replicated regions. Last but not
least, as a cloud-agnostic solution, Couchbase helps Amadeus to not be locked-in

W H I T E P AP ER 6
 to any particular cloud vendor. The recent release of the Couchbase Autonomous
Operator for Kubernetes and OpenShift is a further step in this direction, and
Amadeus is looking forward to the new possibilities offered by this direct integration
of Couchbase with the Kubernetes platform ecosystem.

The benefits Amadeus has seen are already adding to its business. Traffic flows have
clearly improved as a result of reduced latency even while throughput continues to
increase. Where once certain complex queries were taking hundreds of milliseconds
under a relatively low customer load, Amadeus is now seeing those same queries
take single-digit milliseconds on Couchbase without any degradation as the load
ramps up. This simple digital transformation means that Amadeus will be able to
handle the demand from customers for years to come, scaling as needed.

Marriott builds on NoSQL database to modernize

infrastructure
Global hotel chain Marriott knew it needed NoSQL technology to replace its aging
legacy infrastructure. The company processes 38 million reservations annually; a
AFTER AN EVALUATION
single mainframe with 160GB of memory wasn’t what it needed to compete in what
AGAINST MONGODB™
it called the “digital economy.” It was a risk with a business as large as Marriott’s,
AND CASSANDRA, but ultimately it made sense to move its reservations and inventory systems off the
MARRIOTT CHOSE legacy mainframe and onto Couchbase’s NoSQL database.
COUCHBASE TO Now, the hotel giant can process 200 transactions per second. Marriott has also
REPLACE ITS LEGACY been able to make its move into the open source, cloud-based model that allows it to
INFRASTRUCTURE. quickly deploy applications and speed up its systems. Today, 13 million documents
are stored on Couchbase.

United Airlines flight operations soar with Couchbase

As airlines search for ways to improve their margins, modernizing flight operations
technology can prove to be critical in cost savings, as it leads to happier employees,
increased efficiency, and more satisfied customers. United Airlines, one of the
largest airlines in the world, embarked on its own modernization journey to upgrade
the flight operations technology for its over 40,000 pilots, flight attendants, and
flight schedulers. Called the “Crew Modernization” program, United Airlines knew
it needed a scalable, reliable, and flexible underpinning. It chose to house its
modernization on Couchbase Server and Couchbase Mobile.

The result is that United Airlines can maintain accurate and up-to-date information
from multiple mainframe application data silos. It was able to build a foundational
technology platform that services all information channels, and quickly build and
deploy FAA-approved mobile applications. The Crew Modernization program
now provides pilots with flight information, simplifies flight attendant tasks, and
streamlines information to personnel across geographies, time zones, and devices.
Going forward, United Airlines plans to roll out additional Couchbase-based
applications, including personalized customer information synchronization, airport
agent real-time flight updates, and gate display information management. This all
addresses the underlying challenges of providing a stellar customer experience in a
time of stiff competition from budget carriers.

W H I T E P AP ER 7
 The benefits of Couchbase
AMADEUS, THE LEADING The one thing Amadeus, Marriott, and United Airlines have in common is their use of
GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION an agile, flexible, and high-performance NoSQL database. Using this allows them to:
SYSTEM (GDS) AND THE • Work with changing data models. Couchbase allows developers to use a flexible
LARGEST PROCESSOR OF JSON model for continuous delivery and quick schema changes.
TRAVEL BOOKINGS IN THE • Leverage SQL to JSON. Storage, retrieval, structured queries, full-text search, real-
WORLD, LOOKED TO NOSQL time analytics, and triggers can all be handled in the cloud or on mobile devices.
AND COUCHBASE—SHIFTING • Scale without hassle. Application behavior stays the same on 1-node development
AWAY FROM ORACLE—TO laptops to multi-node production deployments.
MEET STRINGENT DATA • Achieve consistent performance. Intelligent, direct application to node data access
MANAGEMENT NEEDS WITHIN doesn’t require additional routing and proxying, and independent data and index
A DEMANDING INDUSTRY. IN partitioning optimizes various and mixed workloads.
2008, AMADEUS IMPLEMENTED • Lower total cost of ownership. A single platform integrates storage, access,
MEMCACHED ON A MYSQL transport, and enterprise-grade security on premises and across multiple clouds
DATABASE. TODAY, AMADEUS and mobile devices, making it easier to manage and lowering costs.

USES COUCHBASE IN SEVEN • Integrate mobile applications. Travelers rely on mobile applications throughout
APPLICATIONS WHICH ARE their journeys. Travel and hospitality companies need to extend their NoSQL

ABLE TO PROCESS PETABYTES

database to mobile applications.

OF DATA IN UPWARDS OF 2.5

MILLION OPERATIONS PER

SECOND.

WHY COUCHBASE

Easier, more affordable scalability

Couchbase’s network-centric architecture with a high-performance replication
backbone allows the database to be easily extended while maintaining
performance at scale. Unlike relational databases like Oracle and MySQL,
Couchbase supports ever-increasing look-to-book ratios and highly seasonal
workloads in heavy travel seasons which cause significant spikes in throughput
demands. Couchbase scales (in, out, up, or down) easily and without
disruption to meet these demands. Unlike MongoDB™, Couchbase won’t run
out of steam when you need it most.

W H I T E P AP ER 8
Immediate responsiveness
Aggregation sites such as Kayak and Skyscanner present results in the order they
get them – first come, first served. Customers see flights, hotels, and rentals that
are returned the fastest. At all layers of the booking experience, customers expect
immediate responsiveness, regardless of geography, time, or channel (web, mobile,
etc.). Through its distributed nature and fully integrated cache, Couchbase’s memory-
centric architecture gives your application the sub-millisecond responsiveness it
requires.

Built-in high availability and disaster recovery

Travel applications and services need to be available 24/7. Couchbase provides
five nines availability with built-in high availability and flexible cross datacenter
replication (XDCR) that supports disaster recovery and data locality requirements.
Couchbase also supports ship-to-shore topologies, allowing vehicles and machines
to operate even when not connected. With Couchbase, you have full control over the
topology – unidirectional, bidirectional, or any configuration you need.

Lower costs, faster time to market

The variety of products, characteristics, and options that need to be represented
is constantly changing. Integrating completely separate business systems, as the
result of a merger or acquisition, is an ongoing challenge. Couchbase’s powerful
query language allows developers to easily query JSON data using familiar, SQL-like
expressions. Tightly integrated full-text search, real-time analytics, and powerful
eventing services make it easy to add new features to your application on the fly
without moving data into and managing myriad database technologies, finally
putting an end to database sprawl.

Support for Omnichannel experiences

Couchbase is the only NoSQL database that supports experiences online, in store,
or on the go. Couchbase Mobile extends Couchbase Server to the edge with an
embedded NoSQL database (Couchbase Lite) and a web gateway (Sync Gateway),
includes peer-to-peer replication, and enables locally connected applications like
in-flight services. To learn more about what Couchbase can do for you, visit
www.couchbase.com/solutions/nosql-for-travel-and-hospitality.

W H I T E P AP ER 9
Modern customer experiences need a flexible database platform that can
power applications spanning from cloud to edge and everything in between.
Couchbase’s mission is to simplify how developers and architects develop,
deploy and consume modern applications wherever they are. We have
reimagined the database with our fast, flexible and affordable cloud database
platform Capella, allowing organizations to quickly build applications that
deliver premium experiences to their customers—all with best-in-class price
performance. More than 30% of the Fortune 100 trust Couchbase to power
their modern applications.

For more information, visit www.couchbase.com and follow us on Twitter.

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