The personalized recommendation for OTA flight cancellation and change services during the pandemic

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a dramatic impact on people's travels. Due to the recurrent pandemic and regionally different policies in China, travelers must pay a lot for flight cancellations and changes. To accommodate this, online travel agencies (OTA) can provide a more flexible ancillary as a supplement to the airline company's services. Here, we introduced the upgraded all-in-one (AIO) service package, which offers compensation for flight delays, changes, or refund. We also designed a dynamic recommendation engine (DRE), which can make real-time personalized recommendations. Backed by AB testing, the machine learning-based DRE not only raises the package attach rate without interrupting the flight ordering process, but also helps the customers cut cost when making flight cancellations or changes.

Unraveling the Financial Impact of COVID-19 on the Tourism Industry through a Difference-In-Difference Analysis

“…The need to reassess business strategies, realign marketing efforts, and explore alternative revenue streams has become paramount for their survival and long-term sustainability (Crespí-Cladera et al, 2021). Given the profound impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on travel agencies, there is a critical need to evaluate their financial performance and understand the extent of the pandemic's effects (Gong et al, 2023;Guchait & Ann, 2022). Such an assessment would provide valuable insights into the financial resilience and adaptive capabilities of travel agencies in the face of unprecedented challenges (Sultan et al, 2023).…”