Future Narrative #15 - The Faces of Travellers
Discussions from the American Hotel and Lodging Association’s 2022 conference meeting in Edinburgh iinformed this narrative. TravelTech for Scotland hosted a Hotel Futures Workshop with 50 participants from North America and Europe on the first day of that conference to explore the future of hotel and technology in 2032. This is a meta story, featuring one such travel professional who, inspired by personas surrounding him, changes his daily life to be a Digital Nomad in 2032.
Illustrated by James Albon and written by Máire Ryan.
The Faces of Travellers - Illustrated by James Albon
For the sake of convenience, let’s say that future travellers will often tend to fall within one of three categories. Traveller A moves with purpose, for business or for retaining connections: familial, friendly or (on magical occasions) romantic. Traveller B goes forth with adventure as the highest priority. Of course, they are driven to work too–everyone tends to be–but the pioneering spirit that sets them off on the road has emboldened them to assert a combination of work and play in their sojourning. Traveller C inspires the most empathy; they dearly wish to travel but they lack the initiative to do so. They remain static, hampered by the financial and psychological constraints that render travel an unrealisable mirage.
The categories are launched at the annual Hotel Marketing Association conference, with something of a proud flourish. There’s a sense that this will solve everything. The boutique hoteliers and the beleaguered chain marketing departments in attendance receive these “ground-breaking” new taxonomies with no small degree of angst. Everyone knows that while the A’s are the lowest hanging fruit, they tend to hit a natural travel wall, whereby they tire themselves out with all the socialising: they over-extend themselves. The B’s are all well and good when your resort is tantalisingly remote, reachable only via a breakneck trek, or nestled within the bush with only predators for company. What about the city premises? How are they to compete? That just leaves the
C’s. A dead end if ever there was one. You can’t very well reach into their homes, knock the digestive out of their hand and empower them to pursue budget travel now, can you? Well, can you?
Perhaps, the Asterley Group’s night manager begins to wonder. Perhaps…
Standing in for an unwell colleague, and feeling very much out of place without a desk to man, George surveys the conference hall. Despite the sneering tone of the general reaction to Team C, he feels seen and heard. Ironically, for a person whose industry is travel hospitality, George hasn’t actually ever left the country. His partner, Emily, is always away for work and he dines out on her anecdotes. As if he had tripped across a Prague street on the way to a work dinner. As if he was the one to race in at 6am, dumping his laundry from his travel bag before feeding it with fresh products, to motor out the door again. A stark contrast to the actual George, who is currently shrinking into his chair, feeling small-town and ignorant while surrounded by the international titans of hospitality. Still, actual George is having an idea. Even if he doesn’t quite realise how life-changing it will be.
George carries his thoughts all the way home. As he surveys the destruction Emily left in her morning’s rapid turnaround, she calls him. It’s lovely to see her face–a little tired but eyes a-sparkling–in the greenish light of a Jakarta taxi. She expresses her usual regret for the briefness of the time they shared this morning. Once again, she offers doom-filled predictions about the long-term impact of her back-and-forth existence. Disconnection and burnout are the two devils which circle Emily’s mind. George seizes on this, and begins to explain his epiphany. Massaged by Emily’s acumen, an entirely new lifestyle forms between them. It’s amazing how quickly likeminded souls can light a fuse.
This is the story of how George leaves home, for good. This is the tale of how Emily never has to back-and-forth again. Instead, they move forward, together. Using George’s hospitality connections, they scout a boutique venue in Antwerp (the location of Emily’s next meeting) happy to offer a mate’s rates discount. They pack their bags, and sell their flat. Phase One.
Then, the logistics start getting meatier. Given that Emily’s Antwerp meeting is followed by a conference in Bilbao, the pair have one week to leapfrog in a Spanish direction. George remembers a former colleague who now operates a successful skiing franchise in the Alps; out of season they surely must have a spare chalet or two on their books. Correct: the pair up sticks and establish a mountain home. Phase Two (the how can we get from here to there? stage) is complete. On it goes, forward; together. Increasingly, they come to live by one notion: that home is where the luggage is.
As they traverse the globe, and more of George’s hospitality contacts get wind of the endeavour, a system begins to bloom. Now a hospitality consultant and aspirant blogger, George–the classic C-type–is now permanently abroad. This demonstrates a potential to shift the group as a whole: C’s can be incentivised into travel where sensibly priced off-season lets (spread across a plethora of sought-after destinations) are made unavoidably available to them. The concept of "home" becomes more fluid, potentially bringing them closer to friends and family but raising complications in legal and administrative aspects. Questions arise about social and political responsibilities, such as tax payments and visa requirements. A tech monolith comes on board to demolish these barriers: algorithms are created to anticipate legal roaming legislature, auto-filled documentation and “rooting”, whereby a traveller can request to remain domiciled in one place at a given time with their original journey mapping either suspended or recalibrated, is established.
Opening the gate to a convergence of travelling and working highlights the need for flexibility and adaptation. Piloted by travellers like Emily and George, organisations are finding new ways for travellers to experience the world while maintaining their careers, blurring the lines between work and leisure, boldly demolishing the financial and psychological constraints to make travel a lifestyle choice.
Provocation Questions
Would you ever consider becoming a digital nomad?
What do you think is appealing about this, and what is not appealing?
What sustainability implications are there?
What do you think about a digital solution to manage taxes across borders?