Servy Chief Experience Officer Jeff Livney comments on the scaling up of the company’s capabilities over the past seven years, and the journey to enhance the hospitality experience at airports.
As we toast to a year since the rebranding of Servy and seven years since the founding of the company, one thought stands out among the rest – the immense gratitude and appreciation I have that we have been able to recognize, adapt and pivot to the changing needs of the traveling consumer.
Saying this is something of a business cliché, but our awareness of the changing market and willingness and ability to modify our platforms to consumer expectations has been one of the most important elements of our achieved business growth.
Even we couldn’t see how much the world would change when Mark Bergsrud, Michael Natale and I came up with the idea to optimize the airport experience by transforming digital commerce within the airport industry through a mobile ordering app for food and beverages by the name of Grab.
Self-service, digital commerce technology was beginning to become a more prevalent part of everyday life beyond the airport, and was integral to our thought process as we looked at ways we could use it to upgrade the hospitality experience at the terminal. From the very beginning, our intention was to enhance the hospitality experience, rather than replace it.
We first launched restaurant mobile ordering for busy travelers on the go at Hartfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in 2015 and have since worked diligently to think of new and better ways to further elevate the guest journey and provide value for our clients.
With our rebrand as Servy, which matched our evolution and placed an increased importance on self-service and contactless options from our partners and guests, we have innovated to bring technology forward that enhances hospitality.
Recognizing the different ways in which people were beginning to use technology, we refined and added additional solutions to our portfolio – Order@, which allows guests to order and pay directly from their device without the use of an app; the Grab Airport Marketplace, which combines multiple dining and retail options in one user interface and is accessible from the user’s mobile device; and self-service kiosks.
A visual of how the Servy platform works
The scaling up of Servy hasn’t come without its challenges, and of course it’s no surprise that the most problematic of these was the Covid-19 pandemic. This forced us to be nimble and reconsider our approach to hospitality and self-service solutions. However, through strong relationships with our partners and our underlying belief that technology should enhance the hospitality experience – not replace it, a solution that helped guests experience hospitality safely and seamlessly through our technology was widely welcomed.
As the demand for greater choice in ordering at the airport and beyond is increasing, Servy’s leading products, including the Grab Airport Marketplace, continue to expand our network in global travel and hospitality hubs throughout the world.
Most recently, we were thrilled to announce the award of the San Francisco International Airport (SFO) Mobile Ordering and Delivery Platform, which is set to launch this summer. This announcement, along with a few more on the horizon, is both a strong indication of Servy’s growth and the desire for a seamless, digital, user-friendly experience.
We’re very proud to have built what is now the largest airport e-commerce platform, having processed over 12,000,000 orders to date and with a presence in 80+ airports across ten countries.
Looking to the future, travel hospitality will continue to see an increased focus on digitalization and seamless, accessible and convenient customer experiences. We remain committed to our goal of providing hospitality and retail partners with the right tools they need to advance their digital capabilities, enhance the guest experience, and drive commercial benefits to the business.
It’s our aim at Servy to continue to lead the industry in the evolving landscape of consumer expectations and work with our partners to meet the ever-changing needs of their guests to elevate hospitality across the globe through innovative, seamless digital products.
What started in 2014 as Grab, an app aimed at transforming digital commerce within the airport industry, has grown into Servy, an omnichannel platform that serves the full spectrum of the hospitality industry – and we’re excited for what is to come.
See full feature in The Moodie Davitt Report.
