Airport Experience® News - Conference Issue 2024

ONE-ON-ONE

Left: Delaware North will pursue new opportunities, but focusing on existing operations (Summer House at MCO pictured) takes precedence. Above: Expanding Delaware North’s airport retail footprint is a key goal going forward, as is harnessing technology to improve the passenger experience. The Market on Las Olas, which Delaware North operates at Fort Lauderdale Hollywood International Airport, features Amazon’s Just Walk Out technology.

some of the slower styles of service versus the faster styles of service, which today are combined. How do you separate the two and use technology to help you do that? I think that’s something that the industry is still trying to fully figure out. WARD: Which technologies do you anticipate will come on stream in the airport environment? SOCHA: Certainly the traditional Amazon style self-checkout. I have yet to see in the airport space anything other than that. [In other sectors], you might see some different technologies. For example, we operate at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, and it’s a pretty frictionless environment from a ticketing, food and beverage and retail perspective. You can buy a ticket online or you can buy a ticket at the kiosk when you enter. You self-order and pay for your food and beverage, and then you self-check-out on the retail product side. It’s not necessarily that we’re saving labor, we’re redirecting resources to take better care of the guests to increase the speed of service for the guests. WARD: In addition to the Travel division, you’re overseeing the Parks & Resorts division and Australia for Delaware North. What are the synergies among those divisions? SOCHA: Our primary area of focus on the Parks & Resorts side of the business is in lodging and tours and attractions, and we are laser focused on consumer insights. What

is it that drives a great guest experience in lodging? In no specific order, it’s cleanliness and condition, check in and check out, and service delivery skills. If you can nail those three things from a guest standpoint, generally their satisfaction is rated very highly. We’ve done the same thing on the airport side; now [we’re assessing] how we implement it. There really are kind of five factors, [adding] speed of service and quality and variety. We have to figure out how that plays into the overall space from an airport standpoint. But consumer insights is something that we are very focused on. WARD: Consumer insights as in hard data? Or as in anecdotal or experiential data? SOCHA: Consumer insights in terms of hard data and then how do we work that into the guest experience. The other piece [we’re focusing on is retail]. We’re not big in the retail space in travel hospitality, but we actually are one of the largest retailers when it comes to parks specifically, and I think second largest on the sports side of the business. We recently entered the retail business in Australia. And I would like to think that we can bring that acumen to retail within the airport space. WARD: So you are specifically seeking to build up the retail side of your airport business? SOCHA: Yes. We have an existing book of business today I think we can do a better

job in, and then we’re looking at how do we grow from there. WARD: Currently, what percentage of your business in airports is retail versus F&B? SOCHA: We’re about 90/10 - 90% food and beverage, 10% retail. WARD: The retail field is very crowded…. SOCHA: They’re all very crowded, all very competitive, and I don’t think we can let that sway our decision too much. We have to do a better job of continuing to deliver on retail, but bring in some of the experience that we have in our other divisions to make that overall airport retail experience better. That’s where our focus is right now. WARD: You mentioned earlier the desire to figure out which contracts to pursue. Tell me a little bit more about your approach, how you decide which opportunities to bid on, and which to decline. SOCHA: I think the easiest way to answer is to [stress that we’re] really focused on the experience side. So, is it an experiential market? Is it an experiential customer? Is it an experiential location outlet within an airport? That experience of place is important to us. At the same time we understand that national brands are where the customer has a comfort, so there’s a balance. Also, I can’t stress enough that continuing to invest in our existing book of business is certainly a priority. It takes precedence.

90

AX NEWS MARCH 2024