With its early use of online booking, the travel industry stands as one of the first successful adopters of digital marketing. But as tech’s effect on consumer behavior continues to evolve, so must the playbook by which companies operate. For travel companies, that means meeting customers’ rising expectations for assistance at every point of the purchase journey.
Today’s travelers are increasingly impulsive and want information quickly. A recent study that we conducted with Phocuswright suggests that more than 60% of U.S. travelers would consider an impulse trip based on a good hotel or flight deal.1 We see this trend reflected in our search data too. In the U.S., we’ve seen that travel-related searches for “today” and “tonight” on mobile have increased by 150% over the past two years.
And here’s where machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) factor into the picture. As we transition to a new era of computing with machine intelligence—equally significant to last decade’s move from desktops to mobile devices—machine learning unlocks new insights and opportunities for travel companies to deliver better, more useful experiences for users than ever before.
Automating marketing campaigns with consumer-intent signals such as purchase history and contextual relevance, coupled with customizing those experiences on the fly, is just one example of how companies will be able to use machine learning in more impactful ways moving forward.
Other big topics in travel are voice and digital assistants, with our data informing that people are using their voice to find and discover information.
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