Future of Travel | Google Ads

Key Takeaways

[Music] hi i'm susie voenkel and i'm here today to share with you what we've learned this past year and how travel marketers can be ready for what's next in travel we've seen some notable changes these past 15 months as consumers turn to digital figure out when and how they could travel again this forced travel brands to re-evaluate the way they have always done things according to travel marketers the top areas of investment for their companies this year are revised health and safety measures contactless experiences and flexible booking cancellation and refund policies with this in mind only 62 percent feel prepared to meet the challenges ahead as a result we saw many businesses pivot and adapt their product and channel strategies quickly to meet the new consumer needs for example we saw hoteliers prioritize contactless technology and services while airlines optimize routes inventory and supply with real-time demand signals we believe the future of travel will likely be three things flexible intentional and up for grabs first travel will be more flexible 57 percent of consumers around the world say they expect travel booking to be flexible and easy to change or cancel without penalty second travel will be more intentional people will be more deliberate about what they book and with whom for example more than 70 of travelers think that travel companies should offer sustainable travel choices and nearly a third of consumers around the world say they are looking to visit family on their next trip and finally we think about traditional notions of loyalty travel will be up for grabs one in three consumers around the world say they are open to booking with a travel company they haven't used before to be ready for this moment and whatever comes next all businesses need to embrace digital transformation not just build better digital services but build an engine of change within your organization that pays for itself and achieves sustainable business objectives of the businesses that did well last year we saw three common ways in which they used digital to successfully drive growth first being insights led really understanding evolving consumer needs second being agile acting on insights in real time and with automation and third being data driven investing in measurement that's privacy safe i'll dive a bit deeper into each of these areas first being insights len people are engaging more on digital and through your sites and apps creating all sorts of new first party data but data is one thing and true insight is another given how complicated the travel journey has become with more and more channels to discover book and experience your products you can't intuit real intent just from last click let's take american airlines to match evolving customer behavior american used google search trends to better understand route coverage the insights they gleaned helped them refine their advertising and ultimately drove a 93 percent higher booking rate 1.2 million in revenue from just four rounds they've since rolled out hundreds of optimizations using these insights while the inside sled is the first step it's not enough on its own you also need to be agile and put those insights into action by using google's automation and machine learning tools let's look at amtrak amtrak provides service to over 500 destinations however the pandemic reduced their frequencies making it difficult for the brand to know how to efficiently reach people who still needed to travel by partnering with mediacom amtrak enabled real-time bidding to account for the volatility and variability across markets as a result amtrak successfully increased bookings by a hundred and fourteen percent quarter on quarter while decreasing their cost per acquisition by twelve percent finally you need to be data driven but in a way that respects user choice and protects user privacy this will help you continue to build trust with travelers while also enabling you to better understand where your dollars are working the hardest as covet brought travel to a halt hyatt knew they couldn't stand still they partnered closely with google to understand changing demand and customer sentiment they shifted their technology away from third party data and prioritize their first party data this enabled them to reach 13 times more customers while also automating their search marketing hyatt drove 143 percent more conversions at a 20 higher average order value looking back we can see the shifts in consumer behavior that were already underway before the pandemic hit now it's our responsibility to meet consumers where they are headed and where they are with the right insights and agile approach and an authentic commitment to responsible use of data we can all be ready for what's next next step you'll hear from my colleague nelson boyce who will speak with julia vanderplug the svp and global head of digital technology at hyatt who will share her insights into how hayah accelerated the digital transformation this past year [Music] thanks susie hey everyone i'm nelson and i'm here with julia excited to have you here with us so let's jump right into it we have seen a lot of behavioral shifts from consumers this past year what kind of an impact is that having on your business decisions thanks nelson well first of all there are fewer historical patterns that we can rely on to make decisions from going forward at hyatt everything we do is grounded in listening and fueled by care and this approach became even more critical when covet 19 hit with fewer historical patterns to guide our path forward we focused on staying close to our key stakeholders and leaned into our core behavior of listening so that we could take meaningful action hyde occupies a pretty unique position in the hospitality industry i should explain that we offer the benefits of a global network yet we remain nimble enough to create true personal connections with our gas and of course with our world of hyatt members on their preferred terms and so that's why focusing on personalization and the technology to make it happen seamlessly is just so important so travel's coming back which is so exciting but the consumer booking journey has changed there's a lot of searching and browsing that people do before making their booking increasingly consumers don't have a specific property in mind they just know they want to go guests want to experience the joy of travel again and they're looking to us for inspiration more than they ever have before and that makes it important for us to build on our deep relationships with our guests and our world of hyatt members and the more we can action what we understand about their preferences the more we can provide information that's most relevant to them how have you noticed specifically that preferences have changed a great question we actually have less in-person interaction than before in many cases and that's just because guests and customers increasingly prefer contactless modes of interaction even in something as personal as a hotel stay to be very clear though contactless does not have to mean less personal in fact the way we view it if we do it right we should be able to go the other way it comes down to again having a smart first party data strategy so that we've earned the right to put the right content in front of the right guest at just the right time that's something that we call content in context so i'll give you an example it's definitely not unusual today to check into a hotel room online but it's actually only really valuable if we can know something about you your preferences your world of hyatt loyalty program membership those are the things that allow us to give you an upgrade that you deserve show you options that you care about like for example the restaurant if you're a foodie or the spa if you love relaxation and that's how our contactless experiences can stand out it allows our colleagues on property to shift a higher proportion of their time to more meaningful in-person interactions with our guests too and when our colleagues on property are free of the more transactional elements like taking down information then they can focus solely on caring for our guests and making their experience exceptional in light of these shifts how has it changed your focus going forward how have you had to pivot yeah covet was a forcing function to accelerate what we were already working on uh we had an initiative to build something akin to a central nervous system for our data technology stack just taking signals in working with it to send increasingly smarter and more personalized signals out um but we needed to retool certain capabilities so for example connecting data from advertising platforms to one data warehouse using google's bigquery platform uh standing up adds data hub for future needs putting a greater focus on bringing our first party data into google via customer match doing those things allowed us to accelerate quick feedback loops from the data and insights to in turn put more relevant content in the right context signals in signals out and because privacy and security are hallmarks of everything we do and build in our technology at hyatt we are definitely focused on making sure we adhere to the right privacy standards it's equally important to us to be smart with how we're using the data that a guest entrusts us with and so that's why we are very thoughtful about how we take those signals in to push signals out that our guests feel are valuable and very helpful so for example things like letting you know about travel delays in the city you're flying to maybe providing local experience availability options such as restaurants sporting events or concerts you know our goal is for our guests to feel at the center of the experience we deliver confident to book with us and can stay with peace of mind welcomed as they are and able to engage with hyatt on their own terms and that in turn drives loyalty to our brands julia what organizational changes have you had to make in order to build a digital first culture well we needed our teams to work closer together than ever before it i think it's kind of cliche to talk about breaking down silos candidly teams have to go beyond working together in this area at hyatt we work together in a strategic commercial services group and it takes a team of leaders across marketing data and analytics engineering digital product and beyond who can all talk about our technology stack together this agile way of working has been incredibly influential in our coven 19 response and will continue to be a priority for us even once the pandemic is behind us but we really have to be thoughtful in how we architect partnerships i mean i think for anyone looking at this it's really about understanding and leveraging the technology and making it work for your specific stack uh the power of targeting tools and data platforms comes not just from using them but in how you thoughtfully integrate them deep across your own systems in ways that maximize the power of what they can do so leaders need to be unifiers and connectors for this work for this to work very well and so for example when we think about audiences it's no longer just something that refers to a digital advertising buy for us it's really about how we connect people with experiences so we might want to use an audience cohort with similar interests to keep a more relevant dialogue going with you as you explore what's available at a property even if you haven't booked it yet or if you're new to our world of hyatt loyalty program so that's important for our teams to work on in the hyatt.com group and its content to understand it just as much as it is for our team buying google adwords how has google helped you navigate these uncertain times can you say a bit more about the partnership well we've always felt that google is interested in deeply understanding our business objectives and wants to help us achieve them an aspect of our collaboration that i've always valued and appreciated is how google understands and focuses on what we're trying to achieve google has an array of great solutions but for us it's really more than just about what the products can do really understanding our business objectives and how google's products work towards our business objectives is critical at hyatt we firmly believe in the importance of empathy to really listen and understand our stakeholders needs and to me it's clear that the team we collaborate with that google feels the same way and google's always been flexible in its approaches we've been evolving the design of our systems to put content in context in various ways and as we learn more about the power of doing so it's great to work with a company that is willing to meet with us often and strategize how we're driving changes in the landscape to be more responsive to the changes in our industry because hyatt's agile we can make quick decisions and move fast to truly delight our guests and if we do this right we make our digital platforms and products that much more relevant powerful and that creates a better experience for all our guests in everything that we do thank you so much julia it was truly a pleasure to speak with you today and next up you're going to hear about fueling recovery through our travel products from michael troutman store [Music] thanks nelson i'm michael troutmansorf and i head up product management for google's travel ads products as health signals steadily improve we see consumers are reapproaching the idea of travel searches for can i travel grew globally by over 800 percent year on year over the past 12 months we've focused our efforts on aiding recovery in three key ways first prepare for recovery by tapping into the full value of google with an open ecosystem second expand your reach by harnessing google's scale and insights to find more qualified customers and third rebound your revenue by driving performance with machine learning and automation with cautious optimism around the return of travel we see a strong need to do more to help the industry tap into the full value of google and connect with consumers whether that's through a free or a paid experience earlier this year we launched a free hotel booking link experience to support a more open ecosystem where any hotelier can participate and generate leads from google free of charge already we're seeing some promising results every segment from large otas to individual hotels is benefiting through increased traffic and simultaneously we've seen users react favorably to this new experience our experiments with vacation rentals is another example of how we're ensuring that consumers have access to all offers available to them we've seen that searches for lake house rentals have grown globally by over 200 percent year on year as users decide on their accommodations we now show vacation rental listings directly within hotel results page next to help you connect with consumers at any stage we want to harness the right information and streamline delivery to relevant users you may be familiar with google's universal app campaigns or smart shopping campaigns these scale the ads you've created to as many google services as possible for hotel ads this will mean using hotel ads inventory combining it with google's insights and showcasing your hotel wherever and however people are thinking about their next trip let me give you some examples of how we're starting to do this we recently introduced hotel booking extensions which services hotel ads data directly within text ads another example we launched a new upper funnel format called property promotion ads on the hotel search page to help users find last minute nearby states this promotes your specific property to travelers who don't yet know where they want to stay soon we'll bring property promotion ads to search results and youtube beyond surfacing your information to prospective travelers we've also focused on helping the industry recover through useful insights the destination insights tool gives travel businesses governments and tourism boards a clear picture of the top sources of demand for a destination helping them make choices about where to communicate with travelers we're also making it easier for small and medium-sized businesses to understand where demand may be coming from by providing them these insights directly within the hotel insights tool another key part of recovery is helping your business rebound by driving profitability to do that we focused on using our computing power to drive results that matter to your business take for example our suite of auto bidding solutions you've heard susie talk about the importance of being agile and the benefits brands like amtrak and hyatt are seeing using a smart bidding solution to help travel advertisers acquire visitors during recovery we offer three automated bid strategies first if you already have an in-house or third-party bidder you can use our real-time signals to capture shifting demand with enhanced cpc designed to increase return on ad spend while being compatible with existing bidding solutions second if you want low risk ways to acquire bookings while traveler trends are changing commissions per conversion gives you a way to do so while only paying for converted bookings third and lastly commissions per stay offers the lowest risk bid strategy by eliminating risk of cancellation just choose any commission rate and only pay for consumed guest stays today we're announcing ways to make commissions per stay easier than ever to use you told us reconciliation has been tough so now we're providing a per booking report where you review the bookings and tell us which were cancelled and which were stayed we also know that separately dealing with commission invoices is cumbersome so we're bringing credit card billing support for commission per stay into google ads as well lastly with improved reporting you can now easily see your post cancellation performance metrics together with your expertise and quality data and our technology and scale we can bring your customers helpful and comprehensive travel experiences wherever they're searching across google next up you'll hear directly from chandra davis vp of global brand for expedia group who'll share her perspective on the future of travel [Music] the future of travel will be earned and not bought for the past 25 years we've been focused on volume and transactions as the way of growing our business travel has become much more personal now and that's served as a big impetus for us to think hard about how we wanted the expedia brand to be represented in the future this renewed commitment to travelers comes on the heels of what's arguably been the toughest year for the travel industry this time of pause gave us an opportunity to go deep with customer research to understand and address critical traveler pain points this marks a pivotal moment for our brand as it looks to overhaul its business to better cater to travelers who value maximizing their time and want to make the most out of their overall travel experience brand building and travel will change as we have to put the traveler at the center of everything we do solving their problems anticipating their needs and helping travelers get the most out of their journey at every step we can do this by helping to deliver meaningful distinctive travel experiences providing everything they need all in one place by helping travelers achieve the most value for their dollar and above all ensure that they feel supported from the start of their trip to the end because every detail matters to our traveler the simplicity of the experience matters peace of mind on the trip matters and trusting that we will continue to learn from them and strive to give them all of those things matters the next major digital shift will be our ability to push beyond curation to personalization of end-to-end experiences helping travelers synthesize the abundance of choice they have in front of them we can empower travelers to build a complete trip that takes into account their needs and interests and bringing together multiple elements seamlessly we have to relentlessly craft simple and seamless experiences to support their travel dreaming and build that great trip as part of their ultimate travel companion the next big travel disruptor is travel is a force for good the pandemic changed the world but it also rallied every single one of us like never before as an industry we acted fast drove new innovations to serve the customer our partners destination and industry we took a deeper look into our cultures and reassess how we could best serve our customers in expedia groups 2021 travel report 63 percent of americans said that travel creates greater cultural understanding 62 said it makes them feel more connected with the world and 56 said it was healing healing when we power more travel we unleash more opportunities to strengthen connections broaden horizons and bridge divides inclusivity matters at expedia we recently shared our commitment to power global travel for everyone everywhere when i think about inclusion i think of what everyone means in that context it means pushing ourselves to think about the barriers we may inadvertently be creating for underrepresented travelers whose identities have not typically been at the forefront of our development and creative processes we have to make a conscious effort to research and understand the needs of all travelers and that is done more impactfully as we build more inclusive and diverse teams that can bring those perspectives into the room it is only through these efforts that we can more deeply serve the needs of our diverse [Music] communities you