Page 461 - 360.revista de Alta Velocidad - Nº 6

Customer personalisation and service efficiency: the pillars of the new Renfe business policy

Renfe has also renewed its website (www.renfe.com) in recent years as part of its strategy to
boost online ticket sale. At present (July 2017), online sales meant 46.14% of the total sales,
that is to say, only through the internet channel, Renfe has sold 14,026,881 tickets between
January and July.

In recent years, the tickets purchased through www.renfe.com have risen from 26,040 in 2000,
when the channel was implemented, to almost 54 millions at year-end 2016, with a 47.40%
share.
Renfe website, one of the most visited in the transport industry, reached more than 136 million
visits in 2016; 56% of them came from mobile devices. In order to make online browsing easier,
more user-friendly and accessible, Renfe is constantly upgrading its website.

Renfe has also developed a new portal (www.renfeviajes.com), which offers a number of
products related to travel. Besides checking train schedules or buying tickets, the website
allows purchasing other products linked to the trip, as hotels, rental cars, theme park tickets
or a complete holiday package. All of this at a guaranteed minimum price and with every
guarantee offered by Renfe and its partners in this project. This online channel is available on
the usual Renfe web address, www.renfe.com, or on the portal www.renfeviajes.com.
To launch this website, Renfe has relied on leading companies of the industry, which sell their
products through the brand www.renfeviajes.com. The three companies working with Renfe on
this project are: Orizonia, the first issuing travel group focused on holiday products; Muchoviaje,
a company marketing hotel services around the world which leads online sales in the leisure
sector; and AutoEurope, vehicle rental consolidator. The incorporation of the travel portal into
the company website is a part of Renfe’s strategy to promote online sales.

At the same time, Renfe has also fostered in recent years a series of commercial measures
aimed at making sales easier in through all channels: reducing to 0% the processing fee for the
online ticket purchase, enabling auto-checking machines for ticket sales in most stations and
expanding the sale period to 120 days. The minimum time required for online ticket purchase
has also been reduced up to 15 minutes before the time scheduled for the train departure.

Beyond this and as a part of this commitment with our clients, last November Renfe introduced
its WiFi platform PlayRenfe, unique in the world, in AVE trains.
PlayRenfe is more than a simple WiFi signal distribution service. It responds to the digital
transformation and innovation strategy that Renfe is offering the customers of its AVE services.
This platform is a new WiFi connectivity window, which also includes exclusive contents for
every type of traveller and new services.

The actual project has a remarkable technical complexity and sets a new milestone in the
history of high speed in Spain, becoming a reference in the railway industry worldwide, as it
pioneers both connectivity during the trip and a content and service platform including live TV
broadcast, something unique in the world.
PlayRenfe includes, on the one hand, the supply, installation and maintenance of an
comprehensive WiFi system on board the whole AVE train fleet; and on the other hand, the
deployment of a network to cover over 1,600 km of high-speed tracks, including 75 tunnels and
540 LTE coverage locations on a combined and specific 800 and 1800 MHz network, combined
with a satellite solution.
The aim of the new PlayRenfe service window is to offer added value to the on-board WiFi
connection, long demanded by passengers, with a full offering of contents included by
Telefonica: latest film releases, TV shows, music, books and it even includes the possibility, for
the first time ever, to stream live contents while travelling at 300km per hour. It is a customised
on-demand service designed for every type of customer (family, leisure, business, etc.).

International Congress on High-speed Rail: Technologies and Long Term Impacts - Ciudad Real (Spain) - 25th anniversary Madrid-Sevilla corridor 459