Continuous Service: Mobile Services for Travel Counseling

Abstract

In this paper we describe a first investigation of continuous service for travel agencies that addresses an often neglected service part of a travel customer cycle: the trip itself. In a user-centred design process, we have developed a service and a system prototype to test our proposed design goals and system design, as well as the service in a realistic environment. We propose a three-level design consisting of an organizational, a user and a system level. As both the customer and agent participants indicate a high appreciation of the service and the system, both the implementation of live support on a trip and the motivational design of the prototype can be fruitful design solutions in developing new services providing continuous service provision in tourism.