Instagrammable Moments Drive the Modern Traveler

Tim Rosolio, VP of vacation rental partner success at Expedia Group, and Ben Wolff, co-founder of tree house hotelier Onera, spoke about how the modern traveler is looking for one-of-a-kind social media moments at Skift’s Short-Term Rental Summit on Wednesday. 

“They want shareable, Instagrammable moments, and they want to feel a genuine connection,” Wolff said. “People love people, they typically like brands and often detest businesses. So the more we can put people attached to a property and give it a personality and a story, the better we perform in reviews and just the better the overall experience.” 

Travelers want trips that arouse intense feelings and a narrative that speaks to the “emotive experience,” said Rosolio. Expedia created Travel Shops with recommendations from influencers.

“We’re really leaning into that social ecosystem because we know that all those kids that had the tablet in their hand when they’re three or four years old, a lot are probably old enough now that they’re booking their own travel. And if they are not old enough to book their own travel, they sure as hell are influencing their parents on where they should go,” Rosolio said.

Wolff said that about 85% of Gen Z is getting inspiration from social media and 97% post during trips. “They want stays that are shareable, that they are easy to take amazing video of, amazing photos of, and then post it and and they’re doing a lot of our marketing for us, which is pretty amazing. Instagram is our number one booking channel.” 

Over 80% of bookings come from the Meta-owned social media app, which helps save on OTA fees and gives Onera very high margins.

“They’re emotional, they see one of our custom tree houses that they love, and they have a dopamine rush, and they’re basically high, right, clicking on that, and then they’re very price insensitive. They don’t care if it’s $600 or $800 as long as they have the means to pay,” Wolff said.