Today in Las Vegas, Expedia rolled out the red carpet for partners in every sector of the travel industry for the Expedia, Inc. Partner Conference. Over the next two days, the annual event will host and feature leaders from the travel and technology worlds.
Inside the Bellagio, one of the pillars of the modern Vegas experience, we, the Expedia Media Solutions team hosted a Learning Lab, debunking travel myths, sharing travel marketing tips from leading marketing executives at Expedia, Inc., and highlighting the findings of a new study on user attribution in a diverse travel ecosystem.
The team kicked off the interactive session with Chris Davidson, EVP at MMGY Global, offering up proprietary research and insights on many common travel and tourism myths, and how marketers can best debunk them and move forward with their strategies. Topics covered included Millennials’ sense of loyalty and the best way to reach the affluent traveler.
Next up, the marketing leaders of the Expedia, Inc. family of brands, including Expedia, Hotels.com, Travelocity, and Hotwire, shared the unique characteristics of their customers. The senior marketers also forecasted trends poised to emerge in 2016, and shared ROI measurements across various initiatives.
Finally, Wendy Olson Killion, Expedia Media Solutions’ Director of Product Management, walked the group through the key findings of the Traveler Attribution Study, commissioned by Expedia Media Solutions in partnership with Millward Brown Digital. The comprehensive study looked at 75 million clickstream data points over the 45 days prior to a hotel or airline booking, and analyzed how the interactions between a variety of touchpoints and travel booking websites affect traveler attribution throughout the funnel from inspiration to booking.
One of the study’s key insights focused on the mid-funnel period, the time between when a traveler begins looking at online options and when he or she actually makes a booking. Moreover, the study found that OTAs are used at all points along the purchase path, including inspiration, research, consideration, and booking. In addition, it found that consumers who initiated their research on a supplier site are more likely to book on a supplier site, but the mid-funnel touchpoints may influence which supplier site they book with. The complete findings underscore the importance of a full-funnel media approach to stay with customers through the entirety of their travel booking journeys.
Our Learning Lab provided relevant, actionable insights and key takeaways on marketing in the ever-evolving travel industry to panelists and attendees alike.
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