CONNECTION IS EVERYTHING
JUNE 9 2026, MALAGA
A Strategic Playbook for Building Customer Loyalty, Brand Intimacy, and Emotional Resonance.
speech
summary.
We help our customers solve a problem. We do not sell hotel rooms, cruise cabins, flights, transfers or experiences. We sell anticipation, adventure, connection, discovery and relaxation. Often we are too functional with our customer communications, too transactional and we miss the greater opportunity to sell how the industry makes people ‘feel’.
Change in all forms presses down on every industry and the demands placed on the travel industry are no exception. Increased fuel prices, geo-political unrest, virus pandemics. Change comes at us as Technological, Economic, Social, Regulatory and most critically from our customers’ expectations themselves.
To survive (and thrive) every brand needs to exert a greater force against these changes, otherwise we will be crushed by them. To survive and ensure our businesses are future focused, we need to have the courage to embrace new directions, new ways of working.
We need to have both the agility and the courage to swim off in new directions, to fight the complacency of ‘returning to the shore’. We cannot drown in the ‘riptide of irrelevance’.
The old business models of the early 2000s are not serving the modern consumer of today. They seek information elsewhere, they are peer-led and the influence of social media and AI are significant.
It would be arrogant of us to assume that we can continue to run our business the same way over the next 10 years as we have over the past 10, as arrogant as Kodak thinking digital photography would be a fad. Arrogance kills entire brands and industries, and it could kill your business faster than you think.
As customer expectations change, alongside our business and service landscape, so must the way we do business. Staying relevant is key to survival and so we aim to focus on what our customers value. It is in exploring and understanding the values of the modern customer connection, we can build brands for future success.
Take your eye off what your customers value and you run the risk of becoming irrelevant.
We discussed several key values during the keynote.
01/AI AND THE NATURE
OF SEARCH.
There was a time when you simply paid your money to Google and up you popped in the sponsored content.
Today, search has shifted from Google toward peer-led social media platforms (TikTok) and on to Chat GPT and Gemini.
The next evolution is Agentic AI which will change the nature of the consumer decision making process and have a significant impact on the travel industry.
We have had B2B and B2C, but are we ready for B2M – Business-to-Machine?
As customers outsource their search, evaluation, and decision-making to their agentic AI assistants, what does that mean for brands? For pricing? For the industry as a whole? When there is no human involved in the decision-making process, how do we influence the market?
This shows us how important BRAND ADVOCACY and EXPERIENCE is becoming as we enter this new reality.
If we are to cut-through and be as successful as we have been in the past, we need to invest NOW in the Brand and CX so that the customer ‘calls for us’.
Agentic AI will not only change the nature of Customer Service but will also change the nature of how the travel industry works in terms of bookings etc.
02/THE GREAT
COMMODITISATION.
Using Kotler’s ‘5 Layers of Product’ model we examined the commoditisation of the travel industry.
To escape the ‘core’, ‘generic’ and the ‘expected’ layers of competition (where nothing delights the customer or stands-out over the competition) you have to invest in Customer Experience.
Again AI will commoditise a lot of the good customer service elements in the coming 2-years and so we have to seek to compete in the wider layers – the space where we have something truly unique to offer the market.
Your direct competitors also have good product offerings, good pricing, good promotional offers. These are no longer the tickets-to-win. They are the tickets-to-play.
03/CUSTOMER
INTIMACY.
Balancing ‘depth’ and ‘scale’ of connection is a difficult task. We discussed the lack of connection big hospitality brands are experiencing due to scale. Starbucks, Pret a Manger, Shake Shack, Hard Rock Café. All these brands have lost some of their authenticity and purpose due to expansion and scale.
I presented the Customer Intimacy ladder, a way to ensure we climb out of basic customer service provision and up to a space of PURPOSE. This is where we create brand advocates.
Recall Swiftmas and what surprise & delight looks like from the customer perspective. Recall the Spanish family being taken sledding in Central Park by the Eleven Madison Park restaurant. These are moments that go beyond customer expectation and create brand storytelling moments.
Intimacy fosters a sense of closeness, an emotional entanglement.
04/THE EMPLOYEE
EXPERIENCE & LEADERSHIP
It is difficult to achieve traction for CX if we first do not empower our employees to deliver this outstanding CX. Employee empowerment is key.
Remember that Ritz Carlton Laptop story and Raymond the hospital parking assistant – everyone can make a difference but they have to be empowered to make a difference and give the customer a brand story to tell.
It also has to come from the top. CX is a philosophy, and the most successful organisations have a leader that truly lives the CX perspective.
Recall the Dame Hays chocolate show story, or the Intermountain CEO with his dinner apron. CX is something that needs to be brought to life by leaders if we expect others to follow.
05/BUILD A TRIBE &
RELATIONSHIP.
Too much of the travel industry is transactional, and the customers feel it.
Where are the long-term relationships? We want their Customer Lifetime Value but how do we show up in this relationship for our customers?
We need to showcase our DTI – Desire To Invest.
We finished with an understanding that brands who invest in the relationship over time win big. Taylor Swift has risen to the top of the music industry not because her music or songs are better than everyone else. It is because she invested in the fan relationship and puts this at the core of everything she does.
Your Five Questions
Strategy Audit
01
How are you utilising AI in your own business today that not only increases internal productivity and efficiency but actually makes a customer feel better connected to your business? How will you leverage Agentic AI in your business to expand your market reach and customer connection?
02
Beyond product, promotion and price, how are you competing in a space that is a genuine competitive advantage? A space that is uniquely yours? In the times of the ‘Great Commoditisation’ of service, how will your brand experience and CX stand above others?
03
How do you go beyond customer expectations and create Customer Intimacy? Who is your ‘Excite & Delight’ Director in your business?
04
How can you better empower your employees to deliver this outstanding CX you seek? What are your current EX initiatives that you can pinpoint that truly inspire employees? What are you doing as a leader to motivate and inspire employee empowerment around CX?
05
What are you doing to build a tribe and relationship (and jaded loyalty point schemes do not count – they are transactional and data centred)?
More content
from Ken.
THE TRUST TOWER: WHY BRAND LOYALTY IS BUILT ON BELIEF, NOT BENEFITS
THE CUSTOMER INTIMACY LADDER: FROM SERVICE TO SOUL
DECODE, DELIGHT, DEVOTE: TURNING CUSTOMERS INTO TRIBES THROUGH GAMIFICATION
For those too lazy to read blogs, and to view further visual content and past performances from Ken Hughes, check out the YouTube channel where he discusses all things consumer and customer experience related.
If you want to develop a true understanding of Customer Intimacy and Brand Advocacy and understand the power of the EX/CX relationship, get yourself a copy of my latest book. Packed with inspiring stories around CX/EX, it is your backstage pass to brand brilliance.
