Digital Travel Marketing This Week: Marriott’s New Photo-Sharing Partnership

This week’s update features news of an intriguing new partnership between hotel giant Marriott and photo-sharing firm VSCO. Travelers have an insatiable appetite for sharing and consuming beautiful travel imagery.

So far, image-centric digital platforms like Instagram and Pinterest have been the principal beneficiaries of this hunger for more photos.

But now a new range of up-and-coming services like VSCO appear to be gaining ground with marketers and consumers alike. Will they see more adoption? Read on below for more analysis.

Marriott Tests New Photo-Sharing Partnership with VSCO
Instagram is the perennial travel industry favorite when it comes to photo campaigns. But despite Instagram’s dominant mind share, photo-sharing company VSCO, which some sources estimate has close to 20 million monthy active users, is starting to gain interest with travelers and marketers alike. This week Marriott announced a new partnership with VSCO, launching a series of “curated travel guides” which are designed to appeal to image- and social-hungry millennial travelers. Read more

Google Urges Travel Marketers to Focus on Brand Building
It may sound strange to hear the phrase “brand building” come from the mouth of an executive at Google, a company that made more than $18 billion dollars in Q3 2015 primarily from selling direct-response-focused search ads. But brand building is exactly what Google’s current travel industry lead, Ruairidh Roberts, was promoting a recent industry event. According to Roberts, travel brands need to do more to use ad formats like digital video to engage travel buyers earlier in the purchase process. Read more

American Airlines Splits with TM Advertising, Agency Partner of 25 Years
American Airlines is shaking up its advertising agency partner roster as the company finalizes its two-year-long merger process with U.S. Airways. TM Advertising, which first teamed up with American back in 1981, will be replaced by creative agency Crispin Porter + Bogusky and media-buying firm MediaCom. Research firm Kantar Media predicts American will spend close to $60 million dollars on advertising media annually. Read more

Conrad Hotels Expands Mobile Concierge Offering
Conrad Hotels recently updated its existing “Concierge” app offering with a new mobile optimized website and a selection of curated itineraries travelers can reference once they arrive in-destination. The hotel chain, which has seen a significant uptick in room bookings made via mobile devices, hopes the new itineraries will provide added incentive for potential mobile bookers to complete their purchase. Read more

Hotel Marketing Evolves to Reach Millennials
An interview this week with the president of hotel reservation technology company Travel Tripper examines the adjustments hoteliers are making to cater to the swelling ranks of millennial hotel customers. Among the top millennial “must-haves” mentioned are fast and free WiFi, less emphasis on room design and more on common spaces and emphasizing local knowledge and experiences for guests. Read more

Emphasizing Email Marketing for Hotel Owners
Most hotel marketers will confirm that they capture guest email details when a customer books directly or during check-in, but according to a recent opinion piece, not nearly enough are trying to capture email addresses before the purchase is made. According to the piece, written by an executive at hotel marketing firm Spring Metrics, a smart evergreen email strategy can help marketers maintain relationships with potential guests during what can often be a drawn out decision-making process. Read more