The hotel and travel digital marketing trends of 2019 offer data that can help marketers plan strategies to satisfy consumers in 2020.

1. Hotel & Travel Digital
Marketing Trends 2020
Carmelon Digital Marketing | January 2020

2. Introduction
Every year brings innovative trends in every field and the hotel
and travel niches must keep up like all other industries, especially
considering that digital marketing must adapt to new technologies
and consumer trends too.
At the beginning of 2020, the trends reveal clear industry
tendencies with data that can help marketers plan strategies to
satisfy consumers in the future.

3. Mobile-first sites
Because customers favor brand websites and they use mobile
devices to book, the defining hotel trend of the year is mobile-first.
Out of 148.3 million travel bookings on average every year, 65% of
same-day hotel bookings are made via smartphone devices according
to EventForte. 65.4% of these bookings happen straight on brand
websites and 19.5% via OTA and other merchant sites.
Starting July 1, 2019, Google enabled mobile-first indexing by default
for all new websites since the majority of users access Google Search
with a mobile device. Therefore, it is also clear that Google favors
mobile websites.

4. Mobile-first timeline of implementation
April 2015 – Google
begins expanding the use
of mobile-friendliness as
a ranking signal and rolls
out the mobile-friendly
update globally.
September 2015 – the
first mention about a
separate mobile index
being developed.
November 2016 – the
open testing of mobile
first index begins.
March 2018 – Google
starts migrating sites
that follow the best
practices for mobile-
first indexing.
July 2019 – Google
enables mobile-first
indexing by default for
all new websites.
In 2020, mobile-friendliness is not just a trend, but an imperative.

5. Rise of voice search
From IBMs primitive voice assistant from 1961 until the smart voice and virtual assistants of today, voice search is the
next big trend in digital marketing.
Voice assistants are now on smartphones, PCs, and even through household appliances and voice search makes sense
as it is much faster than typing and enables hands free eyes free access to information. Travel marketers must pay
attention to voice search.
1961: IBM
introduces a voice
assistant in its
Shoebox device.
April 2011 – Apple
introduces Siri.
July 2012 – Google
introduces Google
Now.
April 2013 – Microsoft
launches Cortana.
November 2014 –
Amazon introduced the
Alexa voice assistant
and Echo smart
speaker.

6. • Voice search is mobile – and part of your everyday
life - 50% of all searches will be voice searches by
2020 (ComScore)
• The voice recognition market is a $601 million
industry. (Technavio)
• 150 million people use Cortana. (Microsoft)
• There are 375 million active Siri users and 500 million
Siri devices. (Voicebot.ai)
• Amazon and Google account for 94% of all smart
speakers in use. (Strategy Analytics)
Voice search is increasingly important for hotel and travel
businesses. Apple, Google, and Microsoft have already
enabled voice search for hotels and are working on
applications for users to complete bookings. With
technology advancing quickly, hotels must optimize their
sites for voice search right now. Delays may impact the
bottom line in the future.

7. Visual search gets more popular
“A lot of the future of search is going to be about
pictures instead of keywords,” said Ben
Silbermann, CEO of Pinterest in an interview in April
2017.
The image sharing site and app then launched Lens, a
first-of-its-kind camera search that recommends ideas
to try inspired by things users see offline. A year later,
the top categories for Lens searches on Pinterest were
fashion, home décor, art, food, animals, outfits, beauty,
vehicles, and travel. And currently there are 600
million combined monthly searches with Lens
technology on Pinterest.
Pinterest is just one of the companies that satisfy user
demand with visual search.

8. Google Lens was launched in October 2017. It has all
kinds of useful features, like:
• Scan and translate text in real time
• Find similar clothes, furniture, and home décor
without using a search box
• Look up dishes and see what’s popular, right on the
menu, with photos and reviews from Google Maps
• Learn more about popular landmarks. See ratings,
hours of operation, historical facts and more.
• Identify plants and animals.
Google Lens can detect over 1 billion objects.
Instagram Shopping incorporates visual search too.
Amazon Rekognition allows third parties to add image
and video analysis to their applications. It can identify the
objects, people, text, scenes, and activities, as well as
detect any inappropriate content.

9. Snapchat introduced visual search in September 2018.
This new feature allows Snapchat users to search from
products on Amazon right from the Snapchat camera.
eBay has Image Search and Find It on eBay visual
search abilities since July 2017.
Bing Visual Search was launched in June 2018. It allows
users to search, shop, and learn more about the world
through the photos they take.

10. Visual search is already used in the travel and hospitality
industry.
easyJet built a visual search tool that lets people book
flights based on just a photo in October 2018.
In April 2019, Lonely Planet announced it would acquire
Trill Travel for an undisclosed price. Trill enables users to
book travel experiences based on content creators'
Instagram posts. Trill uses artificial intelligence to
automatically link content to booking sites.
Search for images is not the only way users experience
visual search. In 2015, Thomas Cook commissioned
Visualise to produce virtual reality holidays on the
Samsung Gear VR. Try Before You Fly generated a
190% uplift in New York excursions bookings after
people tried the 5 minute version of the holiday in VR.

11. Statistics show that visual search is a strong trend:
• 62% of millennials want visual search over any other new technology.
(Visenze)
• The image recognition market will grow to $25.65 billion by 2019.
(MarketsandMarkets)
• By 2021, early adopter brands that redesign their websites to support visual
and voice search will increase digital commerce revenue by 30%. (Gartner)
• According to a new study by the Intent Lab, 59% of users think visual
information is more important than textual information.
• The Global Visual Search Market is estimated to surpass $14,727m by
2023 growing at CAGR +9% during the forecast period 2018–2023. (Report
Consultant)

12. AI is still a strong trend
AI continues to power all kinds of technologies – particularly chatbots
in travel and hospitality.
This summer, Hopper, a travel app that uses AI to predict airfare
pricing, expanded its service to include hotels.
Mezi is an AI-powered app that can provide an end-to-end flight
booking experience, hotel reservations worldwide, and a unique dining
reservation experience.
Instalocate is an AI travel assistant that enables disgruntled flyers to
get compensation from airlines in case of flight delay, cancellation or
denied boarding.

13. Lola uses both AI and human assistants to offer corporate travelers access to
negotiated fares, refundable tickets, and automated travel policies.
Utrip is a personalization and AI recommendation platform that uses interests
and budget to sort through millions of options including must-see sites, activities,
events and restaurant recommendations to deliver personalized itineraries.
Claire is an AI-powered assistant that helps smaller businesses keep traveling
organized and transparent across companies.
Hipmunk uses AI to help travelers find everything from commercial flights, trains,
and charter flights to hotels and vacation rentals through Airbnb.
These are just some examples of AI-powered tools that are already transforming
the consumer journey.

14. AI is versatile and can be used to enhance every element of the travel process.
From website chatbots to in-room virtual assistants, this is a trend that will
continue to grow.
AI is also used for reputation management, social media monitoring, collecting
customer data, and much more.
• 85% of travel and hospitality professionals are using artificial intelligence
within their business. (TCS)
• 60% of companies plan to employ AI to their marketing efforts in the next
four years.
• By 2025, the global AI market is expected to be almost $60 billion.
(TechJury)
• 84% of global businesses believe that AI would allow their organizations to
gain or sustain a competitive advantage over their rivals.(Statista)
AI will continue to find its way in new
applications to improve customer
experience, but also conversions and the
bottom line.

15. Video marketing
The value of visual content continues to rise and marketers
use more than images to reach their audiences. Video is
particularly powerful for the hotel and travel sector, as it
inspires wanderlust. According to Animoto:
• 93% of marketers report gaining new customers due to
videos posted to their social accounts.
• 88% of marketers are satisfied with the return on
investment (ROI) of their video marketing efforts on
social media.
• 73% of marketers create at least two video per month for
social media sharing.
• 40% of marketers believe video offers the best social
media ROI
• DIY video marketing is on the rise: 69% of marketers
made more in-house videos in 2018 than they did in 2017
Facebook, YouTube, and
Instagram are the top 3
platforms for marketers posting
social marketing videos and
video ads.

16. Video content gains popularity especially because of sharing trends. For example, IG Stories and IGTV have a billion
active users every month – and are among the top platforms for video marketing.
• 400 percent as many consumers prefer to watch a video than to read about a product (Animoto)
• Social video generates 12 times more shares than text and images (SmallBiz Trends)
• Views on branded video content have increased 258% on Facebook and 99% on YouTube as of June 2017
(Tubular Insights)
• Online videos will account for more than 80% of all consumer internet traffic by 2020 (Cisco)
• Live Internet video will account for 17 percent of Internet video traffic by 2022 (Cisco)
• Over 500 million people are watching video on Facebook every day (Forbes)
These statistics prove that video marketing is the best way to reach consumers today.

17. TripAdvisor as a social network
TripAdvisor made an unexpected move in September 208,
when it relaunched its desktop site and a new mobile
experience – all aimed at making the travel experience both
social and personal. It uses machine learning to improve the
user experience on the site and in the mobile app.
This means, TripAdvisor is no longer just a review site – it’s
more complex as it offers a richer experience for its users,
beyond reviews.
It can be used for travel planning too, finding influencers,
reading information from industry leaders, and so on.
These changes impact the way content is shared on the social
network. Travel businesses still can benefit from the
TripAdvisor’s suite of advertising opportunities but they have
more opportunities to reach their audiences, with video, photo,
and links too.
• 10.3% of Global Travel Spend (US$546 Billion)
was influenced by TripAdvisor in 2017.
• TripAdvisor influenced more than 433 million trips
in 2017.
• The Harris Poll of consumers named TripAdvisor
the “2018 Travel Brand of the Year”

18. Influencer marketing continues to grow
Influencer marketing is not a new trend, but continues to evolve as
marketers find new ways to approach and to motivate social media
personalities. While measuring ROI is still difficult – in fact, 76% of
marketers cite measuring the ROI of influencer marketing as their top
challenge for 2018 (Linqia), marketers can still look at engagement, clicks,
and conversions as top performance indicators.
Instagram is the top platform for influencer marketing - 93% of influencer
campaigns. (CreatorIQ)
Instagram Stories in influencer campaigns grew 60% in the Q2 2018,
while the use of Facebook and Twitter in marketing campaigns declined
by 20% and 10%, respectively.
Most influencers – 80% – use Instagram as their primary network.

19. To satisfy the growing need for influencer marketing, Instagram has introduced the “creator accounts” to give influencers
and brands more details about how or why their audience has shifted. This type of Instagram account also gives users
access to the Creator Studio to manage Instagram posts and get insights from the desktop. Creator accounts also have
access to in-depth analytics and stats.

20. Influencers usually charge for their services. While most in the travel
sector are happy with free stays and other perks, in other industries
prices may vary.
84% of micro-influencers charge $250 or less for sponsored Instagram
posts, and 97% charge no more than $500.(PMYB)
28% of 272 marketing managers surveyed by PMYB in 2017 named
influencer marketing as their fastest-growing online customer-
acquisition method.
The most prominent influencers (Chromo-Influencers™) are the most
effective. They produce high-quality content that triggers emotions and
generates high engagement. Micro influencers and nano influencers
may be effective too, depending on the topic and their audiences.
Brands also demand quality and creativity when they pay for influencer
marketing.
Besides professional-level photography, influencers may use other
forms of visual content: boomerangs, cinemagraphs, stop motion, flat
lays, stories, carousels, long video, slow motion, illustration, art, after
effects, typography, and drone footage.

21. Experience marketing
The guest experience is one of the crucial and most
important elements of hotel marketing, but it’s no longer
enough to offer satisfying accommodation and amenities.
Experience marketing means going the extra mile to make a
guest happy.
Guests are now looking for exciting activities, cuisine, and
Instagram-worthy moments that create memories.
For the hospitality sector, this means more partnerships with
local guides, restaurants, and attractions, to offer guests
what they expect to experience.
For instance, Airbnb understood the concept of experience
marketing as early as 2018 and offers Airbnb Experiences -
one-of-a-kind activities hosted by locals.
In September 2018, Booking.com expanded its Experiences
service to 60 cities worldwide.

22. Marriott has a huge selection of travel experiences to satisfy guests.
Same goes for Hyatt, which offer 150 experiences in 35+ destinations around the world, including a hike with a wolf.
Hoteliers and hospitality pros who understand experience marketing are more competitive and more successful in
attracting new guests, driving brand satisfaction, loyalty, and emotional attachment.

23. AR and VR technology
2020 expects more from AR and VR technologies. There
are many innovative ways to integrate AR and VR within a
marketing strategy.
Augmented reality can be used to enhance the pre- and
post-booking experience. It is available for destination tours,
guides, smart-room key systems, self-check-in, and other
applications.
An example of creative use of this technology is offered by
Marriott Hotels with their in-room augmented reality art
experience powered by LIFEWTR.
Best Western has VR experiences at all 2,200 of its North
American properties since 2016.
Both technologies are becoming increasingly popular and
52% of guests are interested in touring hotels in AR or VR
(Alice)

24. Metasearch still relevant and effective
Metasearch remains a relevant, highly effective digital marketing
channel to increase visibility and drive direct bookings. Nearly two-
thirds of independent properties now receive direct bookings from
metasearch according to Phocuswright’s Independent Lodging
Properties and the Online Marketplace. Key insights from the study:
• 37% of marketers said that they would use metasearch more,
a figure surpassed only by social media websites at 42%.
• Metasearch is an important digital channel for driving direct
bookings for independent hotels, generating significant
proportions - 13% in the US and 12% in Europe
• 60% of the hoteliers rated metasearch as a very or most
effective marketing channel and 42% stated they intend to use
it more in the future for distribution.

25. To conclude
Besides the trends, hoteliers and travel pro still need to focus on the consumer and online reputation remains a very
important facet of digital marketing. Google is not the second largest reviews site in the world, after TripAdvisor – but,
as it refines the way it displays hotels in search, it may soon tip the balance it is favor.
Other time-tested, strong marketing strategies, like Google Ads, Facebook Ads, and so on remain very valuable for
reach especially with creative visual elements.
Plan your marketing strategies in 2020 to satisfy the changes in search – including voice and mobile-first, and don’t
ignore the power of social media, particularly Instagram and the influencers.

26. Thank You!
The research was conducted by: Mihaela Lica Butler
for Carmelon Digital Marketing
More articles and researches on Carmelon Digital
Marketing website:
https://www.carmelon-digital.com