Travel Marketers Urge Fixes for Gmail Promotions Tab

Travel marketers, including Viceroy Hotel Group and Travelocity, are urging their customers to tweak the setup of their Gmail in-boxes because of Google’s decision earlier this Summer to divide them into Primary, Social and Promotions tabs.

Of course, Viceroy Hotel Group and Travelocity hopes users will actually be able to view their suggested remedies, given that these emails, too, may be buried within the dreaded Promotions tab.

Previously incoming emails merely appeared within Gmail in chronological order, but with the changes emails about sales, deals and coupons may fall under the Promotions category, and users may never see them if they view Promotions merely as spam or unwelcome sales pitches.

Viceroy Hotel Group recently sent the following email to subscribers, urging them to “update your Gmail settings,” and the message included the caution, “Don’t let our emails get lost in the shuffle…”

Meanwhile, Travelocity is making a similar appeal, urging users to “star our email” in the Promotions tab in the hope that future emails will be diverted to the Primary tab for more frequent viewing.

Travelocity’s email also links to Google’s instructions on how to tweek Gmail settings, including the option to revert to the previous Gmail layout without the three tabs.

Many companies in travel and outside it undoubtedly are sending similar appeals to their customers.

Which company — Viceroy Hotels Group or Travelocity — does a better job in its fix-the-Gmail appeal?