Airport Business - 34

COVER STORY
that you definitely need to provide more
The frictonless experience and
information," Nakum said.
control over the purchase is embraced by
Sarah Naqvi, executive vice president, the travelers, Naqvi said, and it gives them
chief information officer for HMSHost, more options. HMSHost started looking
said the company decided to offer more
at data at kiosks and found sales are much
self-service options in airports given
higher compared to those at the counter.
the changing nature of retail and airline,
"People tend to feel more comfortable
where it has grown and become an
ordering what they want when they're
expectation for travelers.
in control of that experience rather than
speaking to an individual," she said.
"Our focus all along has been on the
needs of the customers," she said. "We "Our empirical data is in support of that
really understand the needs and the
experience and our understanding of
desires and the options that the customers
customer behavior."
are looking for when dining with us and
The utilization of self-service
really responding to those needs."
technology varies across the different
Naqvi said self-service also offers
types of travelers. Frequent f lyers are
speed of service advantages, which
going to use apps embedded in airline
reduces lines.
systems, Livney said, while kiosks are
Livney said feedback has been positive
drawing some business travelers and
so far, but they have been learning and
families.
adapting to enhance the system.
"If they can walk to the kiosk and see
"DFW is funding the cost of the
the restaurants in the terminal and the
delivery for the pilot," he said. "So there's
menu of each and we can all browse and
no cost to the guest between delivery or
find what we want in a relaxing, lower
stress environment," he said.
pickup."
They initially thought delivery would
There's also a generational shift
be the bulk of the transactions because
toward self-ordering systems. Besides
it was free, however, Livney said it has
comfort with technology, Livney said
been really mixed. Travelers want to have
there's also an aspect of control that
control over their experience, so they
younger travelers like.
want to go to the restaurant and pick it up.
They can also obtain easy access to
"It ranges from a quarter to three- information about dietary restrictions and
what offerings are available from vendors.
quarters of transactions are delivery or
pickup," he said. "Some days 75 percent
"The two things we see with about
are delivery, 25 percent pickup. Other
75 percent of travelers is the time savings
days it's 75 pickup and 25 percent delivery." and the convenience," he said. "It's the
While it's hard to say empirically that
ability to be able to multitask."
all of the transactions would not have
Naqvi said HMSHost is seeing a
higher level of adoption and a different
taken place without the kiosks, Livney
said they know some of the transactions
model of implementation of self-service
in a fast-casual food compared to sit
are incremental.
"Overall a kiosk product generally
down casual dining. Fast-causal tends to
drives a 10 to 30 percent higher average
have a full menu on self-service while
ticket, just because of visual merchandising, sit down concepts may not offer a full
great product images, upselling, cross- menu because it can be too burdensome
selling and so forth," he said.
for customers.
"Our strategy has not been to
Generations pushing
implement technology just because we
the change
want to implement technology, but we
"We've become very social. We seem to
want to strike a balance," she said. "It's
expect certain things either when we're
about options and experiences that's
doing online shopping, street side or
more important to us rather than which
within airports," Naqvi said. "There's an
technology we should be deploying."
evolution, a change in culture driven by
Naqvi said deployment of self-service
mobile evolution. There's an expectation
needs to be based on data. HMSHost will
of technology, maturity of technology
study customer behavior to understand
expectations, travel paths and dwell times
and maturity of understanding of
technology by our customers."
for travelers. The data leads to where

34 \ AIRPORTBUSINESS / AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2019

Jabbrrbox uses touchscreens
to allow travelers to work
and use their private space
without the need to interact
with a customer experience.
JABBRRBOX

certain technology should be placed.
"You certainly have to take into
considerations out there like volume," she
said. "What the enplanements are, what
types of airlines, the travelers' language
and what's the language requirement."
Self-service kiosks can also benefit
smaller commercial airports as well.
Livney said delivery service needs a high
volume of customers from an economic
standpoint and driving awareness can aid.
"We think the kiosk really helps in
that sense and alleviates some of the issues
of how do I get someone to download my
proprietary app," he said.
It can be difficult to justify delivery in
smaller airports, however, kiosk ordering
still can make sense without it, Livney
added.

Not just food anymore
Self-service is also growing as a popular
option for travelers looking for a quiet
space without accessing a lounge.
Jabbrrbox provides a private
workspace modeled as the "modern day
phone booth," where travelers can access
a private box allowing them a place to
work and hold phone calls without the
noise of the terminal.
The box has deployed in LaGuardia
International Airport (LGA), John
F. Kennedy International Airport
(JFK), Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky
International Airport (CVG), and
Pittsburg International Airport (PIT).
Company leaders said they expect to be
in 25 terminals by the end of the year.
Brian Hackathorn, co-founder and
co-CEO of Jabbrrbox, said there's a
need for some privacy in an increasingly
mobile world while still being able to
Airport Business

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Airport Business
