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Expedia launches its influencer storefronts (& what you can do about it)
Expedia this week did a big push out of their new influencer storefronts: Expedia Travel Shops.
Vice President of Expedia Group Media Studio, Angelique Miller said “By connecting video + social media more closely to the traveler journey we remove travel planning pain points for our customers and create new ways for our partners to engage with them authentically.”
Jeremy Jauncey from the agency Beautiful Destinations who Expedia brought on board to help them with this initiative said:
“Expedia’s Travel Shops initiative sets a new standard for how OTAs can embrace the social media era.
📹 Video-first content → Hotels and creators can showcase experiences, not just listings.
📣 Creator collaborations → Enabling personalized recommendations from trusted voices.
🛍️ Social commerce integrations → Seamlessly embedded within the Expedia booking experience.”
So what if you are not an Expedia partner? Or what if you are but want this experience for your brand without the hefty Expedia costs?
Videreo offers brand agnostic storefronts for creators meaning they get to choose who it is they want to work with and it is the supplier brand that gets to shine through directly with the consumer.
With Videreo, you set the commission rate.
Videreo is the place for brands and creators to meet & create a new sales pipeline together.
Check out more here to join brands already in the vector database like global hotel meta-search business Vio.com or see Videreo in action from creator Mely in Paris.
Open your business to social commerce today. Performance based and no upfront costs.
Literally nothing to lose.
Contact Adrian for more details on how to get your travel product loaded.
This content is provided by the (interim) newsletter sponsor Videreo.com
ABTA launches AI helpline
ABTA has released an AI helpline to help members to negotiate the legal implications of using AI within their business.
According to Travel Gossip, “The helpline is provided by ABTA partner Data Driven Legal, a legal practice specialising in AI Governance and Data Protection.”
The service is there to help “implement AI in a compliant and efficient manner.”
“Agents will get 30 minutes of free and expert advice on a range of compliance measures, including data protection, AI risk assessments, transparency, fairness, accountability, and ethical guidelines.”
If you’re an ABTA member, you’d be crazy not to make that call. I’d also recommend you record it, get the transcript and continue to utilise the advice given.
AI is a “one in a generation transformation”
Speaking at the WiT conference in South Africa this week, Chris Hemmeter, managing director of Thayer Ventures, laid out where he sees the industry going from here.
““I know we’re all getting a bit sick of it, a bit desensitised, and some cynicism building up – but I fundamentally believe it’s a once in a generation experience for all of us that is causing all kinds of dislocation and disruption across the travel value chain that will totally transform this industry.”
The article talks to changes to discovery, agency and adaption and also talks to how changes in supply, trip planning and the big B2B opportunity.
Google quietly shelves its AI trip planner
A scoop from Skift this week where they reported that Google had shelved its previously announced trip planner.
“Google is still adding AI tools that can help with travel, but a dedicated trip planner expected last summer is no longer on the roadmap, a Google spokesperson told Skift.”
Havard Utheim who is one of the many (many) who have found themselves on the trip planning scrap heap gave some really insightful thoughts as to why there is a huge paradox in this sector.
“The tech giant showcased the trip planner during its annual developer conference in May 2024, and said it would be coming to Gemini Advanced that summer.”
If Google can’t crack it…………
AI to the rescue to save Japan’s Cherry Blossom season
Kyodo News this week reported that there is a new AI tool in the wild that can help track the health of the cities famed cherry trees.
“The service called “Sakura AI Camera,” launched by Kirin Brewery Co., determines the age and vitality of cherry trees via users’ smartphone cameras. Local governments can check the data and use it in their efforts to preserve the trees.”
The service was developed after the company learned many local governments are unable to collect required data for cherry blossom preservation due to labor and budget shortages, Kirin said.
“The introduction of the service came ahead of the 2025 cherry blossom season in Japan, where many people will picnic under the blooms with their preferred drink in hand. The beer company said it hopes the service will contribute to the tradition continuing for years to come.”
Not to mention the literally millions of tourists who descend on Japan to be there for this phenomenon.
1200% increase in traffic from generative AI sources: Adobe
Adobe this week reported their research has detected a staggering 1200% increase in traffic coming generative AI sources.
“During the holiday shopping season, Adobe observed the first material surge in generative AI traffic to U.S. retail sites (measured by shoppers clicking on a link). Between Nov. 1 and Dec. 31, 2024, traffic from generative AI sources increased by 1,300 percent compared to the year prior (generative AI traffic was up 1,950 percent YoY on Cyber Monday).”
This has persisted through to February and outside of the sales periods for a 1200% increase.
“Compared to consumers coming from non-AI traffic sources (including paid search, affiliates & partners, email, organic search, and social media), consumers coming from generative AI sources show 8 percent higher engagement as they linger on the site for a longer period of time.”
Naysayers will point out the small overall number of traffic coming from this source, but blind Freddy can see this is the way things are going and is a clear sign of the market beginning to mature here.
If you think someone (or everyone) you know or work with could grow from being more informed on the topic of ai + travel (or could use the training above) then please forward this email to them and they can click the button below:
Marketplace Spotlight: MyTrip.ai
MyTrip.AI provides generative AI tools and services ranging from free, easy to use writing tools, to advanced high quality, high volume AI content creation services, to AI Assistants who assume different roles and assume different tasks in your travel company.
Their flagship service is a custom made AI Sales and Service Assistant that greets your users on your website or Whatsapp, helps them plan their trip using your website contents and sales process and works together with your sales and service team.
If you have a B2B business underpinned by AI and looking for people to notice you, you can sign up to the marketplace for peanuts (top right corner, 5 mins, bring your logo).
I’ve priced for bootstrapped startups but also accepting larger companies too.
Got a tip or seen a story I’ve missed? Let me know by simply replying to this newsletter.
Majority of business bookers would let AI do it for them
Phocuswire this week reported on new research which shows the majority of business bookers using travel management companies are happy for AI to do the work in making their “in policy” choices.
The report revealed 54% of business travelers would be open to AI “‘making bookings for me.”
The figure comes from a new study from Amadeus Hospitality entitled “Travel Dreams.”
If you’ve ever had to book your own business travel, this makes total sense. It has always been the job you’d hand off to someone else if you could. Generally you’ve got a lot on your mind about what you need to accomplish when you get there.
As long as the tech has your basic preferences locked in and knows the policy (definitely way better than you) then it will generally work out OK and yet save you a lot of time in making these decisions yourself and hopefully expensing them at the other end.
Slack Group!
The Slack group is full of the brightest minds in ai in travel.
This week there was talk about why travel planners fail and lots of other discussions.
Shoot me a message if you’d like an invite.
Shorts
Every week a lot of stuff is left on the cutting room floor. I thought maybe I’ll just lest those here for anyone interested in digging more:
Podcasts and Sponsors
Podcasts now on Spotify and Apple Podcasts:
New podcasts are now showing up on Spotify and Apple Podcasts for your easy listening pleasure!
This week we caught up with Ed Morris from Equator AI and had a great chat about AI + big data and sustainability.
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Most clicked last week was the link to Microsoft’s demo of their conversational booking helper.
That’s it – you’ve made it to the end of this edition. I’ll be putting the result of the most clicked post in next week’s edition so you can see where others are focusing. If I’ve missed something, you’ve got a tip or any feedback at all – you can simply reply to this email and it will come straight to me. I’m doing this for You so please don’t be shy to tell me what you think
