In 2025, travelers will expect seamless and personalized experiences enhanced by technology. The most successful brands will leverage first-party data and integrate emerging technologies to anticipate traveler needs at every touchpoint.
Success in this new era means more than just offering top-tier flights, hotels, or entertainment. It requires an interconnected network — where airlines, hotels, entertainment providers, rideshare apps, and others work together to securely share insights and drive measurable marketing outcomes. With so much fragmentation in a traveler’s experience, it’s extremely difficult to see the whole picture. No one can do it alone.
Brands that embrace this shift have the opportunity to unlock significant potential—boosting loyalty memberships, increasing conversions, and opening new revenue streams. Data collaboration can benefit both customers and brands like never before.
Unique Customer Views Create Unparalleled Advantages
Travel and hospitality brands have a unique and unmatched view of consumer behavior that goes far beyond the transaction and exposure data captured by other industries. They gather a wealth of deep, specific insights—ranging from travelers’ hobbies and habits to their preferences— that other brands desire but simply can’t obtain elsewhere.
This holistic view of travel preferences enables brands to act on real-time behavior, ensuring ads, promotions, and experiences are integrated across multiple touchpoints, aligning with wherever the customer is on their journey.
For example: a traveler books a flight to Las Vegas. The airline gathers insights on destination preferences, seating choices, and trip frequency. The traveler then opts into in-flight entertainment services, exploring real-time engagement opportunities across screens. Once they land, they order a rideshare, signaling their arrival to local businesses. At their hotel, loyalty status then customizes their check-in experience, upgrading them based on past stays. By the time they step onto the Vegas Strip, personalized offers — exclusive concert tickets, curated dining suggestions, or even a targeted one-time casino promotion — are already waiting for them. These seamless interactions happen because partners across the travel ecosystem actively collaborate, using their unique first-party data to maximize impact for customers.
The Power of Strengthened Partnerships
In the example above, airlines, hotels, entertainment providers, and other touchpoints each hold unique yet fragmented customer insights. Brands that take action to securely bridge these data gaps will deliver the most seamless experiences.
Consider how Delta’s partnership with DraftKings enhances engagement for sports fans. Travelers can place bets mid-flight, and upon landing, digital ad networks recognize their interest, offering targeted promotions for additional local sporting events.
These industry partnerships aren’t just about convenience, they’re critical for scaling growth. They’re about improving connectivity to enhance engagement, streamlining workflows to increase revenue, and giving travelers more reasons to stay loyal – all serving as a foundation for future success.
Travel and hospitality brands rely on powerful loyalty programs as a key pillar of hyper-personalization. Through data collaboration, they forge and strengthen partnerships by gaining deeper insights into loyal members and learning how to serve them better. This deeper understanding unlocks new engagement opportunities, helping to sway customers away from competitors.
Turning Insights into Revenue
Beyond improving customer experiences, hospitality first-party data presents a new monetization opportunity. The travel industry is catching on to what retail media networks have already mastered: first-party data isn’t just useful internally—it’s a valuable asset for collaboration, partnerships, and advertisers.
Travel brands that successfully unlock their consumer insights for advertising partners can create a new, high-margin business line whether through a straight data monetization play or through a media network. Ad spending on travel-focused commerce media is projected to hit $2.96 billion by 2026.
Imagine an airline using its digital ecosystem to deliver targeted ads to travelers based on their destinations and preferences. A leading travel booking site could extend its reach by placing ads not just on its platform but also on social channels and connected TV (CTV). A hotel chain, in partnership with a major tech company, might build a media network that allows advertisers to engage travelers across display, mobile, video, email, and even in-room TV. A ride service app could gain consumer insights into popular upcoming travel destinations by partnering with an airline to utilize their first party data. These examples of data collaboration illustrate how it can transform travel brand data into powerful advertising ecosystems, enhancing both customer engagement and revenue.
Think about future opportunities- airlines and hotels are experimenting with shoppable ads and QR codes, incorporating Amazon-style “click-to-buy” features. These enable customers to book experiences directly from advertisements, streamlining the purchasing process and enhancing convenience. Brands that understand the power of perfect timing can optimize revenue opportunities. A traveler who receives a highly relevant dining suggestion while booking a hotel is far more likely to convert than someone who sees a generic ad weeks later.
The Road Less Traveled
The future of hospitality lies in scaling partnerships, deepening personalization, and making travel experiences more shoppable. In 2025, we’ll see more brands responsibly collaborating their data with partners and even launching full-fledged travel media networks, where advertising and personalization seamlessly merge.
Ultimately, the hospitality brands that embrace data collaboration will set themselves apart in an increasingly competitive market. The future of travel isn’t just about getting from point A to point B — it’s about creating a seamless, personalized journey that starts long before takeoff and continues well beyond check-out. For companies that prioritize working together, the sky’s the limit.
